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The Academy - Your source for business growth.

The Academy - Your source for business growth.

By The Academy

Advice, interviews, conversations and more around improving and aligning your marketing, sales and operations to grow your business.


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75 - Annual Business Planning and The Clarity Break

The Academy - Your source for business growth.Oct 27, 2023

00:00
15:11
75 - Annual Business Planning and The Clarity Break

75 - Annual Business Planning and The Clarity Break

We're well into the fourth quarter of the year, so today on the Academy I wanted to talk a little bit about strategic business planning. If you missed the previous episode where I talked about our final, two day process for planning, check out episodes 53 and 54 now.

There are different approaches to strategic planning and ours at Sanctuary is continually evolving. Today I wanted to talk about another part of it...  it's a not-so-well-known technique that you might want to consider in your process: the Clarity Break. In this episode we'll uncover the true value of dedicating an entire day to this practice as you begin annual planning. It's not a mere escape from your regular work routine or a lazy day off; I believe that it can be a fundamental component of your planning process.

Sound intriguing? Let's jump into it.

Oct 27, 202315:11
#74 - Accelerating business growth with The Inbound Flywheel Model

#74 - Accelerating business growth with The Inbound Flywheel Model

Today on the Academy I wanted to compare the traditional approach of selling and servicing customers to a concept that I believe is a better way to grow your organization -- The Flywheel Model.

The flywheel model is a strategic approach to doing business that was introduced by author Jim Collins. It describes how businesses can create a holistic strategy to harness the power of momentum, and it's compounding effects, to generate sustainable growth. In contrast to a traditional approach where isolated teams worked to create revenue and service customers, the flywheel model is a continuous cycle of effort across your entire organization, geared to do one thing - create an amazing customer experience. These efforts feed into each other, creating a self-reinforcing loop that, over time, can propel your company's success in big ways.

Ready to hear more? Let's jump into it...


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠⁠⁠w⁠⁠⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.


We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Aug 28, 202313:14
#73 - The Value of an SEO SWOT Analysis

#73 - The Value of an SEO SWOT Analysis

Today is another Academy Quick Tip. We're all busy and need to continually learn. But sometimes we just don't have the time to even read entire articles or listen to a 30-minute podcast episode. This series will be a solution to that problem where I'll challenge myself to give you all the information you need to learn something new 5 minutes or less.


So with that... the clock is ticketing. Let's talk about how an SEO SWOT analysis can help you to create more leads and revenue at your company.

Ready to hear more? Let's jump into it...


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠⁠⁠w⁠⁠⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.


We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Aug 02, 202308:03
#72 - Why The Buyer's Journey is a map to business success

#72 - Why The Buyer's Journey is a map to business success

Today on the Academy we'll talk about a concept that should be central to everything your business does -- The Buyer's Journey.


The buyer's journey is your roadmap that keeps buyers' behaviors, information needs, and problems top of mind, and to reduce the friction that keeps your organization from creating more revenue, faster.


Closing new sales is just the start. By systematically mapping out the buyer's journey, businesses can not only create targeted marketing strategies that connect with new customers, but also create personalized experiences, and relevant content that resonates with current, and even past customers. This leads to increased engagement, long-term customer satisfaction, and yes, more revenue that ultimately leads to growth.


Ready to hear more? Let's jump into it...


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠⁠⁠w⁠⁠⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.


We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Jul 25, 202316:06
#71 - Why having focus, in business and life, is the key to success

#71 - Why having focus, in business and life, is the key to success

Today on the Academy I wanted to talk about having focus in business and in life. If you're continually struggling to achieve your goals, in business and in life, my thoughts here may provide an alternative approach to consider.


Do I have it all figured out? Absolutely not. Could you provide another argument that contradicts everything I'm going to say here? Absolutely. So feel free to chart your own course. But, in this episode, I'm going to attempt to build a strong case around why I think some small businesses, and people in general, either succeed or flounder because they simply lack the ability to really focus.


"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus." - Bruce Lee


This quote by the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee emphasizes that extraordinary success is not reserved for those with exceptional talents or abilities. Instead, it highlights the importance of focus, suggesting that being dedicated and single-minded in your pursuits can lead to remarkable achievements.


If you remember nothing from this podcast, I hope this simple quote sticks with you.


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠⁠⁠w⁠⁠⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.


We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Jul 17, 202310:58
#70 - INBOUND - 5 Principles to Grow Your Business

#70 - INBOUND - 5 Principles to Grow Your Business

Today on the Academy we'll talk briefly about 5 principles that summarize why Inbound, conceptually, is a game-changing strategy to grow your business.

Unlike traditional marketing and sales techniques, which rely on interruptive tactics and one-way communication with people who are generally not interested in what you're selling, Inbound is an end-to-end approach to revenue growth that seeks to align with the way modern consumers navigate their purchasing decisions, and connects with them where they're at within their own personal buyer's journey.

If we had to strip if down, Inbound is a methodology that creates revenue. Inbound provides the value and support that potential and current customers crave by offering relevant, informative, and engaging content and experiences that are tailored to solve their unique problems. The ultimate goal is to build trust and strong relationships. Not to just sell more at all costs.

This is Inbound in a nutshell, but there is a lot more to it. If you've been a believer in traditional marketing and sales tactics and best practices to this point, this summary of what we're about to talk about may cause you to roll your eyes. But stick with us. Traditional techniques can work. If you've been successful to this point, then feel free to stick with what works and move on. But, an Inbound approach has the potential to take things to the next level instead of just settling for the status quo.


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠⁠⁠w⁠⁠⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.


We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Jul 13, 202322:20
69 - From Leads to Loyalty: Harnessing Content Marketing for Marketing, Sales, and Service (Part 3)

69 - From Leads to Loyalty: Harnessing Content Marketing for Marketing, Sales, and Service (Part 3)

Today on the Academy we’re going to continue talking about Content Marketing and wrap up part 3 in this series. For those who are not familiar with the term or why it might be the single most important part of your marketing strategy, consider listening to episode 1 and 2 in this series for a solid overview where I'll explain why it's definitely a concept that, as a marketer or business owner, you may want to understand and consider.

In this episode, let's continue the content marketing conversation and discuss more of the foundational concepts and tactics that make up content marketing. It will help you not only market your business and attract new customers but sell more and ultimately ensure that your existing customers find success as well.


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠⁠⁠w⁠⁠⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.


We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Jun 06, 202321:15
68 - From Leads to Loyalty: Harnessing Content Marketing for Marketing, Sales, and Service (Part 2)

68 - From Leads to Loyalty: Harnessing Content Marketing for Marketing, Sales, and Service (Part 2)

Today on the Academy we’re going to continue talking about Content Marketing.


For those who are not familiar with the term or why it might be the single most important part of your marketing strategy, consider listening to episode 1 in this series for a solid overview where I'll explain why it's definitely a concept that, as a marketer or business owner, you probably want to understand and consider.


In this episode, let's continue our content marketing conversation and discuss some of the foundational ways that content marketing will help you to not only market your business and attract new customers, but sell more, and ultimately ensure that your existing customers find success as well.


Ready to hear more? Let's jump into it...


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠⁠⁠w⁠⁠⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.


We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

May 22, 202319:59
67 - From Leads to Loyalty: Harnessing Content Marketing for Marketing, Sales, and Service (Part 1)

67 - From Leads to Loyalty: Harnessing Content Marketing for Marketing, Sales, and Service (Part 1)

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about Content Marketing. For those who are not familiar with the term or why it might be the single most important part of your marketing strategy, this episode will explain why it's definitely a concept that, as a marketer or business owner, you may want to understand and consider.


Content marketing, conceptually, may seem simple -- and maybe it is. But, understanding what it is, how it benefits you, and exactly how you can do it has many different layers. Let's dive in and explore these layers and you can decide if it's something that you're able to tackle within your organization.


Content marketing is the art of creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and compelling content to attract, engage, and ultimately convert your audience into loyal fans and customers. It’s not about pushing sales pitches or bombarding people with intrusive ads. Oh no, my friends, it’s about building relationships, delivering value, and creating a meaningful connection with your audience that truly grows a company over time.


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠⁠⁠w⁠⁠⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.


We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠⁠.

May 18, 202316:34
66 - Marketing Content Creation: Leveraging A.I. for Greater Quality and Efficiency (Part 3)

66 - Marketing Content Creation: Leveraging A.I. for Greater Quality and Efficiency (Part 3)

Today on the Academy we’re going to continue our series about how to use A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) to jumpstart and improve your marketing content.

As Chris mentioned in previous episodes, if you’ve arrived expecting to hear that you no longer need a talented human to create content, then you’re going to be a little disappointed. In episode 1 Chris provided his thoughts on this, so head over there now to hear more.

But, if you’re looking for ways to stand on the shoulders of A.I. to create better content, faster, then you’re in the right place. 

And by the way, we have a guest host today! We hope you enjoy this experiment!

Ready to hear more? Let's jump into it…


About Sanctuary:


Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠⁠w⁠⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠⁠.

Apr 26, 202324:01
65 - Marketing Content Creation: Leveraging A.I. for Greater Quality and Efficiency (Part 2)

65 - Marketing Content Creation: Leveraging A.I. for Greater Quality and Efficiency (Part 2)

Today on the Academy we’re going to continue our series about how to use A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) to jumpstart and improve your marketing content. If you’re here expecting me to say that you no longer need a talented human to create content, then you’re going to be a little disappointed. In episode 1 of this series I provided my thoughts on this, so head over there now to hear more.

But, if you’re looking for ways to stand on the shoulders of A.I. to create better content, faster, then you’re in the right place.  If you’re a business owner or marketer that creates high-quality written, audio, or video content, you know that it takes a lot of time and a high level of skill. There's also a significant cost associated with producing content. 

For this reason, as we’ve discussed, many people are looking to the promise of A.I. to not only create content quickly and accurately but to do it all for free.  I made my case about why this is not ideal in episode 1. Great content will need a real human touch for the foreseeable future, and there’s going to be a cost to doing that. It’s also going to take time, and it’s going to take skill. So the purpose of the upcoming episodes is to zero in on some of the ways that A.I. may be able to help lift the load. 

In this episode, before we talk about actually creating content, I’d like to start off at the beginning with ways that I think A.I. may be able to help marketers and business owners research and strategize faster and better. 


About Sanctuary:


Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠⁠w⁠⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠⁠digital marketing services here⁠⁠.


Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.


We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠⁠Learn more⁠⁠.

Apr 11, 202319:34
64 - Marketing Content Creation: Leveraging A.I. for Greater Quality and Efficiency (Part 1)

64 - Marketing Content Creation: Leveraging A.I. for Greater Quality and Efficiency (Part 1)

Today on the Academy we’re going to kick off a series about how to use A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) to jumpstart and improve your marketing content. If you’re here expecting me to say that you no longer need a talented human to create content, then you might as well stop here and move on. A.I. Is not going to replace humans anytime soon when it comes to creating great, unique content that’s on brand. But, if you’re looking for ways to stand on the shoulders of A.I. to research, brainstorm, streamline, and create better, error-free content, faster, then you’re in the right place.

If you’re a business owner or marketer that creates high-quality written, audio, or video content, you know that it takes a lot of time and a high level of skill. If you're honest with yourself, you’ll admit that not everyone can do it well. So, because of this fact, many companies outsource their content creation to agencies or specialist freelancers. This helps them to recoup the time required, and it places the skill on the shoulders of a trusted person that has the required skills. But this approach obviously adds an extra layer of expense in trade. These days, many people are dreaming of how A.I. can remove the hurdles of time, skill, and the expense of creating content. Typing a simple prompt into ChatGPT can quickly produce content — and it’s not bad. A.I. essentially creates content in seconds, mostly without error, and, currently, for free.

This has sparked fear in many marketers and content creators that they’re going to go the way of the dinosaur. All we have to do now is type a prompt… job. done. But I don't believe that this approach is ideal.

Ready to hear more? Let's jump into it...


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your ⁠w⁠ebsite or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our ⁠digital marketing services here⁠.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. ⁠Learn more⁠.

Apr 03, 202310:36
63 - How the service function of your business can help you grow revenue

63 - How the service function of your business can help you grow revenue

Today's customer is extremely powerful. They're armed with knowledge from technology, social media, review sites, and access to reams of information and data. They have very high expectations too that are combined with low trust in businesses in general. Their willingness to put up with errors and poor service is at an all-time low. Competition is high these days as well. Increased competition in many markets has forced businesses to be more accountable to their customers. Companies that do not provide good customer service are likely to lose customers to competitors who do.

An unhappy customer is not only a lost opportunity, but they can work against you and the growth of your company in countless different ways.

In the past, many companies considered customers an output of their sales and marketing. You spent money on ads to convince the customer to choose your product or service. You closed the sale through pressure, scare tactics, and propaganda that ultimately created a sale on the books. The company drove the narrative in the past and it was relatively easy for them to influence the customer's thoughts and feelings, as well as the general reputation of the company in the marketplace.

But, in our modern world today, it's the customer and more specifically the customer's voice that defines a company's reputation, not the other way around.

It seems obvious, but you MUST put your customers first these days. This will result in long-term, sustainable growth. Many companies think they're doing great with customer service. But the fact is, so many companies are still operating from an old, outdated playbook. They're putting their internal processes and profit over their customer's needs and wants.

I know this sounds very "touchy-feely". Many businesses are just trying to keep up with customer needs. This is why the old playbook is appealing and even why many businesses think that they're doing a good job. But stick with me and I'll help to provide you with some ways to move beyond the old playbook and service your customers better with a more conversational, contextual, human, and helpful approach to service that will result in not only happy customers but the growth of the company over time.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Mar 08, 202320:31
62 - Growth with Instagram - Foundational tips and secrets - Part 2

62 - Growth with Instagram - Foundational tips and secrets - Part 2

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking again about Instagram. We're diving into part 2 of our series that's designed to help you with the foundational best practices that will help you rise above the competition on the platform.

As a marketer and business owner during the day and an artist in my free time, I've mentioned previously that I'm extremely interested in this platform. Instagram is a simple concept on the surface... people posting visually entertaining content. It's obviously a perfect platform for artists to showcase their work. But it can be a highly effective platform for any business to utilize photos, graphics, and especially videos to showcase so many aspects of what you do, who you are, and what you stand for.

Techniques and best practices are always changing with Instagram so I won't be going too deep into any technical advice. But I'm hoping that the information that I'll provide today will be foundational and stand the test of time - at least for the near future. If you haven't heard part 1 in this series, head over there now to get started on the right foot.

Ready to hear more? Let’s jump into it!

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Mar 01, 202319:06
61 - Growth with Instagram - Foundational tips and secrets - Part 1

61 - Growth with Instagram - Foundational tips and secrets - Part 1

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about Instagram. As a marketer and business owner during the day and an artist in my free time, I'm extremely interested in this platform. Instagram is a simple concept on the surface... people posting visual content. But, success with Instagram goes far deeper than just posting images.

Our goal with this podcast is to provide advice that's evergreen and stands the test of time. Things are always changing with Instagram so I won't be getting too deep into the weeds. But I'm hoping that the information that I'll provide today will be foundational and stand the test of time - at least for the near future. I hope many of these tips will not only apply to Instagram but social media in general as well.

Ready to hear more? Let’s jump into it!

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Feb 23, 202317:05
60 - How discovering your WHY can deliver true success and happiness

60 - How discovering your WHY can deliver true success and happiness

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about success and happiness in business, work, and in life. As busy working professionals and business owners we all struggle with balance. By that, I mean that we're trying to build and run and grow successful companies, all while working to find happiness and fulfillment along the way.

I haven't got it all figured out. I struggle every day to achieve balance. I'll probably be working to improve for the rest of my life. So with this thought to guide us, let me share some high-level concepts that have been helpful for me. I hope these ideas will help you to pursue success as a business leader, while also finding a little more happiness in your work, and ultimately in all aspects of your life.

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about success and happiness in business, work, and in life. As busy working professionals and business owners we all struggle with balance. By that, I mean that we're trying to build and run and grow successful companies, all while working to find happiness and fulfillment along the way.

I haven't got it all figured out. I struggle every day to achieve balance. I'll probably be working to improve for the rest of my life. So with this thought to guide us, let me share some high-level concepts that have been helpful for me. I hope these ideas will help you to pursue success as a business leader, while also finding a little more happiness in your work, and ultimately in all aspects of your life.

At our company, Sanctuary, the concept of being happy is deeply rooted. We have a simple saying "We Are Sanctuary" which means a lot to us. We strive to be a Sanctuary for all our clients which means that we work hard to make our clients happy and successful. But this statement is also focused inward on our team. By saying "We Are Sanctuary" we strive to create an environment for our team where we can be happy and successful as well. This takes many forms, from working to provide the obvious pay and benefits and the flexibility that everyone needs, to giving our team the support, training, autonomy, and trust that talented professionals crave.

Are we always successful? Absolutely not. But as owners in this company, my partner Kelly and I are always seeking out small ways to live up to this statement - We Are Sanctuary. At the end of the day, as business owners, it's not our responsibility to ensure that everyone is happy. That's a bit of an impossible goal. But, as I'll touch on today, we can do a lot and we can always strive to do better. We can learn from our mistakes, then take the next step forward. Becoming "a Sanctuary" isn't something that we'll really ever arrive at. The work of "becoming" is really all we can focus on as we take the next step and the next.

Beyond the tangible things that we can do for our clients and our team, we're always seeking to identify and live our top-level, guiding principles and beliefs. Many of these things reveal themselves in our stated values and our trusted best practices that we've adopted. But we've identified even another, deeper layer -- or maybe it's really the top layer -- that guides us as leaders, guides our team as they work, and guides our company and clients to success along the way.

In short, we've sought to explore and articulate WHY we do what we do as a company. And when it comes down to it, when you understand your WHY, it can guide you in many different, and important ways too.


Feb 14, 202325:10
59 - What the heck is RevOps?

59 - What the heck is RevOps?

Today we're going to be starting a new segment called Academy Quick Tips. We're all busy and need to continually learn. But sometimes we just don't have the time to read entire articles or listen to a 30-minute podcast episode. This series will be a solution to that problem where I'll challenge myself to give you all the information you need to learn something new in 5 minutes or less.

So with that... the clock is ticketing. Let's talk about a concept that may be new to you... RevOps.

RevOps is short for Revenue Operations and it can be the secret sauce that improves your customer experience, creates more revenue for your company, and ultimately scales and grows your business over time.

RevOps is all about aligning the people, processes, systems, and data that control how you do business and how you generate revenue.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Feb 01, 202305:26
58 - Frictionless Selling (Part 3)

58 - Frictionless Selling (Part 3)

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking again about sales. Sales grow your company. That’s the bottom line. But just pushing your salespeople to “sell more”, at all costs, is not the ideal solution. There’s more to it and in this 3rd and final episode of our series, we’ll discover why. We'll be exploring concepts around coaching, education, process development, collaboration within your team, consistency, and how to create a strong culture of learning, training, and certification within your company.

Before we get started today I wanted to call out again that if you haven't heard part one or two in this series, please head over there now. You'll get a good foundation about the goals of reducing friction within your sales team and how this can truly help your company grow.

Today we're going to be talking about the 3rd step in the frictionless selling framework. Going back through the previous episodes will help you to understand the first two which are enable and align. You won't be able to accomplish step 3, transform if you haven't completed the necessary work in the first two steps.

So, let’s get started by quickly recapping and reinforcing an important point about selling...

For many companies, exceptional service is something that happens after the sale - possibly by a customer service team.

But to truly begin to sell more and ultimately grow your company, exceptional service has to start at the very first contact and lead up to the moment that someone commits and makes a purchase. Your salespeople are a critical part of the inbound sales process because they serve as a bridge between marketing and sales, and they seek to provide a seamless transition between being a prospect and being a customer.

But it certainly doesn't stop there with sales, and it doesn't stop with customer service. Exceptional service must be integrated throughout all parts of your company -- from beginning to end. These efforts compound and begin to build momentum that feeds growth. These efforts ultimately attract, engage, and delight your customers and this, in turn, begins to create momentum that accelerates on its own, and results in the sales and growth that you seek.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Jan 26, 202311:12
57 - Frictionless Sales (Part 2)

57 - Frictionless Sales (Part 2)

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking again about closing sales. But the advice isn’t going to be obvious or the traditional things that you’ve likely heard in the past.

Sales grow your company. That’s the bottomline. But just pushing your sales people to “sell more”, at all costs, is not the ideal solution. There’s more to it and in this episode we’ll discover why as we explore the buyer's journey of your customer and the process that your sales people should go through to align themselves with their customers along the way.

If you haven't heard part one in this series, please head over there now. You'll get a good foundation about the goals of reducing friction within your sales team and how this can truly help your company grow.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Jan 16, 202317:25
56 - Frictionless Sales (Part 1)

56 - Frictionless Sales (Part 1)

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about closing sales. But the advice isn’t going to be obvious or the traditional things that you’ve likely heard in the past.

Sales grow your company. That’s the bottom line. But just pushing your salespeople to “sell more”, at all costs, is not the ideal solution. There’s more to it. Over the next few episodes we’ll discover why.

Most companies want to grow. But growth is found in more than just increasing sales. Growth is a process that requires multiple parts, processes and a discipline that ultimately enables the sales and growth that you're seeking.

Real growth is rooted in relationships, and at the core, a strong element of trust with the people you're doing business with. These relationships are meaningful and most importantly, they're lasting.

Strong relationships arre obviously important for your customers that you're actively doing business with. But it's equally important for your prospects that you want to do business with.

There's a metaphor that's been used to explain the parts, process and discipline required for growth, and that is the flywheel.

Listen and let us explain more!

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Jan 10, 202315:04
55 - An overview of Inbound Marketing and why it's a great investment

55 - An overview of Inbound Marketing and why it's a great investment

Today on the Academy I'd like to spend a little time talking about what inbound marketing is and why the approach is a great way to reach your target audience and ultimately grow your business.

Inbound marketing is different than traditional marketing and advertising. I believe it's a better way to approach your marketing strategy and invest in the growth of your company.

As a business owner, you're always working on the never-ending challenge of growing your customers and revenue. You can choose to go about this work in a number of different ways. You can go out there yourself as the business owner and network to drum up new business. You can hire and manage a team of salespeople. You can work your existing network of customers, partners, friends, and family for referrals. And you can spend money on an unlimited number of advertising opportunities and marketing tactics to fish for people who might happen to be looking for a company like yours at just the right time. There are many other ways to get the job done. And honestly, real success comes from having a successful strategy and system to get all of these tactics working together as a well-oiled machine.

But today let's focus on one of the parts - your marketing plan. Many business owners simply call this advertising. But an effective marketing plan must be more than an advertising spend. Today we're going to explore how you can make that happen by discussing a concept called Inbound Marketing.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Jan 03, 202319:50
54 - Our Process for Annual Business Planning (Part 2)

54 - Our Process for Annual Business Planning (Part 2)

Today on the Academy I thought we could spend a little more time talking about yearly planning since we’re approaching the end of the year. If you don’t actually have a yearly planning session at your company, it’s understandable. It’s the end of the year, work has been building up, and you’re just trying to get things done and settled before taking a little time off for the holidays.

Yearly planning is important though. It’s your opportunity to take some time and give yourself permission to stop working in the business and work on the business. In this episode, we’re going to talk specifically about running the 2nd-day agenda of your annual planning meeting with the leadership of your company. If you haven't listened to part one of this series I encourage you to head over there now.

Taking the time to work on your business, instead of constantly working so deeply "in" the business can be highly valuable. Especially at the end of the year when you have an opportunity to rise above the day-to-day work and identify what went well, or what went wrong throughout the year, and then make an effort to do things that improve and move the company, and your team, beyond the status quo, come the new year.

This podcast series is all about making sure that you carve out time to do these meetings. Then you need to add some structure to your meetings. High-level planning meetings without structure can lead to a lot of unproductive swirling and distractions at best. At worst you’ll just get pulled down into a completely unproductive spiral, that’s just a waste of time.

To help you run great meetings, I'm going to recommend again that you check out The Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS, from the great book Traction by Gino Wickman. I’ve covered this before in a previous episode if you’d like to explore a system to run your business. But today I’d like to briefly summarize the second-day agenda for your annual planning meeting that the author recommends. Then I'll sprinkle in a little advice and specifics about what we've done and learned as a team after years of following the recommended 2-day agenda.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Dec 08, 202214:31
53 - Our Process for Annual Business Planning (Part 1)

53 - Our Process for Annual Business Planning (Part 1)

Today on the Academy I thought we could spend some time talking about yearly planning since we’re approaching the end of the year. If you don’t actually have a yearly planning session at your company, it’s understandable. It’s the end of the year, work has been building up, and you’re just trying to get things done and settled before taking a little time off for the holidays.

Yearly planning is important though. It’s your opportunity to take some time and give yourself permission to stop working in the business and work on the business. In this episode, we’re going to talk specifically about planning and running a two-day annual planning meeting with the leadership of your company. This will be a two-part series since the event is run over two consecutive days.

Yearly planning is something that many companies skip. I’ve been there because we all know that running a business can be all-consuming. We’re all just trying to stay ahead of the tidal wave of work and responsibilities every day. To actually stop working to work on the business for a day, let alone several days can be impossible and more than just a little stressful.

But taking the time to work on the business can be highly valuable. Especially at the end of the year when you have an opportunity to identify what went well, or what went wrong throughout the year and then make an effort to do things to improve and move beyond the status quo come the new year.

For those that are able to make time to work on your business, I’m going to recommend that you add some structure to your meetings. High-level planning meetings without structure can lead to a lot of unproductive swirling and distractions at best. At worst you’ll just get pulled down into a completely unproductive spiral that’s just a waste of time.

To help you make the most of your valuable time, let me suggest that you check out The Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS, from the great book Traction by Gino Wickman. I’ve covered this before in a previous episode if you’d like to explore a system to run your business. But today I’d like to detail the specifics around the annual planning meeting that the author recommends so you can add some structure to your planning and ensure that you’re maximizing your time with your leadership team.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Nov 30, 202216:16
52 - Essentialism and the 80/20 Rule in business and life

52 - Essentialism and the 80/20 Rule in business and life

Today on the Academy we're going to do another segment that's quick and direct, but hopefully helpful to those who are working hard to start, manage, market, survive and grow in the world of business. This week is a short holiday week, and because of that, I think my advice today will resonate. It's all about using your limited time wisely.

Before we get started, I wanted to just say how thankful I am for everyone that's been a regular listener of our podcast. If you like what you're hearing, please subscribe and provide us with a review wherever you enjoy listening to podcasts. It really helps us to spread the word and help more people to grow their businesses.

“You know when you make a copy of a copy... it's not as sharp as the original.” - Michael Keaton, from the Movie Multiplicity

As I was preparing the podcast today, I was reminded of the movie Multiplicity. If you haven't seen the movie, it's silly, but a classic flick in my mind. The premise is that Doug Kinney, who's played by Michael Keaton, is just too damn busy. He can't keep up with all the demands of his crazy life, so he devises a plan to duplicate himself. He successfully makes a copy,  and this helps him immensely. But then the copy makes a copy of himself because he thinks he's too busy. The responsibilities and work just expand to fill. From there it goes south as more copies are made and they become lesser versions of the previous copies and hilarity ensues.

It's a fun movie. And ever since I saw the movie for the first time, I've occasionally kidded with people that sometimes I feel like I need to duplicate myself when I get busy. I could easily use a couple duplicates of myself for work, several for my kids and home life, several for my hobbies... on and on.

But, unfortunately, we can't duplicate ourselves. When it comes down to it, we have 24 hours in a day. Ideally, we need to sleep 6-8 hours of the day, which is a full 1/3 of our available time right out of the gate. That leaves us with 16 hours a day to live life, and as we all know, life happens, and that available time quickly disappears.

Many of us feel that there is never enough time. We have constant pressure to be all things to all people - especially at work, especially if you're a small business owner. You are constantly stretched thin and overwhelmed by the demands as you simply try to keep things afloat every day. This pressure leaves less time for family, and for many people, there is zero time left for themselves. You end up falling into bed with the challenge of simply shutting down your busy mind so you can fall asleep and start it all over again the next day.

This is what many people call the rat race. It's a never-ending cycle that can be hard to get out of, and if you're not careful, it can begin to weigh on you with serious negative effects. It can affect your important relationships at work and at home, and it can even impact your mental health. It can even keep you from being able to make good decisions at work because you're simply unable to rise above the work and stay ahead of the constant, incoming tide of demands on your time.

Is there a solution? Yes, I think there is... if you're willing to consider and explore a couple simple principles.

Nov 23, 202218:05
51 - What is positioning, why it's important, and how it can grow your business

51 - What is positioning, why it's important, and how it can grow your business

Today on the Academy we’re starting season #2 of our podcast with a series around an important, but misunderstood and undervalued concept: positioning.

If you're trying to market your business or a product, or even yourself, proper positioning is a foundational and essential task.

But many people don't approach positioning properly, or at worst, they don't even understand what it is, why it's important and how to actually tackle the project in a meaningful way.

In upcoming episodes, we'll be exploring positioning and working to help you understand the concept and how you can work through the process. First, In this episode let's focus on what positioning is and why taking the time to solidify your foundation can lead to great things.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Nov 14, 202225:43
50 - Advice about podcasting after 50 episodes

50 - Advice about podcasting after 50 episodes

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about what I've learned and the advice that I have to share after successfully producing 50 podcast episodes. If you're interested in marketing and growing an existing podcast that you've been doing for a while, this episode probably isn't going to be for you. But if you need advice to just get started and take the first steps, or you need motivation and tips to keep going beyond your first few episodes, well then, this podcast is definitely going to be valuable, and right up your alley.

As far as podcasts go, 50 episodes are both a small number and a huge number. It's a small number because, compared to the top podcasts that have thousands of episodes, 50 episodes is a pretty small number. But, as far as podcasts go in general, 50 episodes is a big accomplishment because, out of the estimated 2.2 million podcasts available online, only about 700,000 have published more than 3 episodes. Over a quarter only have 1 episode published which essentially amounts to a lot of abandoned podcasts. Most podcasts, even if they've been doing it for a while don't even publish on a weekly or even a semi-regular basis.

So, with that said, today I wanted to look back and provide you with my thoughts about what I've learned after producing 50 episodes. I have A LOT to learn and I think we're just getting started. But I think I have some advice and thoughts to pass on that might help you if you're thinking about starting your own podcast.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Nov 01, 202222:28
49 - The Alarming State of Trust Erosion, and What To Do About It

49 - The Alarming State of Trust Erosion, and What To Do About It

Today on the Academy we’re going to be exploring the concept of trust in your organization and within your company culture.

It’s blatantly obvious to say that trust is important. The alternative is simply distrust and nobody wants that. But building and sustaining trust can be difficult, even for the most well-intentioned people. It’s a complicated goal that can impact your team, your customers, your partners, suppliers, your culture, and even the growth and viability of your company.

In the end, the benefits of repairing and strengthening trust are critical. A recent research study found that companies that are considered to be trustworthy outperform the S&P 500 by levels as high as 30%-50%.

So, let's explore further. Once again, I took the opportunity to collaborate and was guided by the advice and experience of my friend Gwen Walsh.

Gwen an accomplished corporate CIO, successful small business owner, and executive performance consultant. Gwen left corporate America and started her own company, TechEdge, where she built a career creating and implementing business and technology solutions that redefined the industry standards for both Fortune 100 corporations and entrepreneurial organizations.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Oct 25, 202229:49
48 - Everything I learned about social media growth, I learned from a book published in 1936

48 - Everything I learned about social media growth, I learned from a book published in 1936

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about how to really grow your followers and your business using social media. I’m sure you’ll be expecting me to unload a lot of specific tactical advice around “how” to do this. But today I’m going to focus on explaining one big idea that I think overrides most others. It’s something that goes against the natural inclinations of most people when they start out on social media. But once you realize what needs to be done, it can be a real game changer. My advice comes from a man named Dale Carnegie who published a book in 1936 called How to win friends and influence people.

We all know that social media can help us grow our business. But, If you're like me, you've got limited time, limited attention and limited resources. Just “posting” links to content is oftentimes all people can find the time to do, and most of the time we can’t even find the time to even do that! Many times if we post content and links, the links aren’t even to content that we’ve created because, well, it’s easy. It’s so easy to start by doing things that don’t take a lot of time to just be “active”. A common line of thinking is that it’s all about posting, as much as possible, so you’re not lost in the void right? You ultimately have to post to be seen. And when you’re seen, people will want to engage, follow and hire your business when the time comes.

But I think success on social media isn’t about posting all the time. In fact, it’s actually about posting less, and this goes against what most people start out doing on social media -- me included. Success can be found by being active. But it’s about being active in the right ways if your goal is to grow. Listen to today's podcast to learn more!

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Oct 17, 202220:04
47 - Your playbook for hiring using digital marketing

47 - Your playbook for hiring using digital marketing

Today on the Academy we’re going to be listening in on a recent community training event that we put on at Sanctuary that was led by our Director of Strategy Lauren Zils.

We know that many companies struggle with hiring and retaining employees. It can be quite a challenge these days to get the word out, to convince good people to even show up to an interview and to influence their decision to come on board, and stay.

Many companies are trying to achieve these goals but they need a good strategy. They need a good “playbook” that’ll achieve all their goals. That’s where we’d like to help.

Listen in today as Lauren discusses, not only how to get the word out, but what you need to be doing to convince great people to even apply. It’s more than just writing a job description and posting openings on job boards and your website. If you haven’t thought much past the basics then this presentation is for you.

Sound good? Let’s jump into it!

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Oct 10, 202250:51
46 - Rise above. Advice from "King James" about how to stay motivated and silence your critics.

46 - Rise above. Advice from "King James" about how to stay motivated and silence your critics.

Today I thought I'd take a different approach to the podcast and take a minor, but important detour and talk about motivation. 

Today's advice will be quick and direct, but hopefully helpful to those who are working hard to start, manage, market, survive and grow in the world of business. I'm going to strip away all the production today and just get right to the point and let you get on to the challenges of the day. 

I think the point of doing this is that we can talk about tactics, strategy, and best practices, we can talk to experienced professionals and successful business people, and we can be focused on the next thing, and the next thing and the next thing that we think will solve all our challenges. But sometimes we just need a little motivation to keep going. And this is what I'd like to explore today.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Sep 26, 202206:29
45 - Customer journey mapping to increase sales

45 - Customer journey mapping to increase sales

Today on the Academy I wanted to talk about how to close more sales. Sounds like a great topic right? I mean, who doesn't want more sales? But surprise, I'm not going to talk specifically about sales tactics today. What I want to talk about is how to effectively take the leads, and even the customers that you already have, and close more sales through the process of building an effective customer journey map.

In the days before digital technologies like the internet, selling was a very personal process. As a business owner or sales professional, you worked face to face with potential customers in an effort to convince them to make a purchase. Today, of course, most sales processes are digital and automated. So as marketers and business owners, we are removed from the customer, and many people can tend to think of customers as robots rather than people.

They are not robots, of course, and the customer journey from awareness on through to purchase and beyond, is just as important now as it ever was. Sure, it can be automated and optimized these days, but you still need to understand that journey just as clearly as you would have when using old-school, face-to-face selling tactics.

Today I’d like to introduce you to the concept of customer journey mapping. This is a useful technique to help you understand how customers are going to interact with your brand and how you can help move them through the journey toward a purchase as consistently as possible.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Sep 26, 202214:09
44 - How your relationship building type can bolster or derail your effectiveness

44 - How your relationship building type can bolster or derail your effectiveness

Today on the Academy we’re going to be exploring the concept of relationship building and going deep to uncover your own, personal relationship-building type.

For most people and businesses, relationships are at the heart of what makes them happy AND successful. As a business owner, I know firsthand how important relationships can be to your success and growth. As the old saying goes “It’s who you know” and it’s continually surprising to me how big things can come from your network of friends, partners, team members, and even your customers. It goes without saying that my relationships outside of business are critical to my own personal happiness.

But successfully building relationships in an authentic way is critical. You can’t fake it. For many, it doesn’t come naturally, even if they have the best intentions. Many people, need to continually work on it. Even if you’re genuine, it takes skill, practice, discipline, vulnerability, confidence and honesty. For most people, these things don't always come naturally, even if you’re striving to create relationships and looking for nothing in return. So let’s take a moment to day to explore further.

For this podcast, I'm going to be collaborating with, and guided by the advice and experience of my friend Gwen Walsh.

Gwen an accomplished corporate CIO, successful small business owner, and executive performance consultant. Gwen left corporate America and started her own company, TechEdge, where she built a career creating and implementing business and technology solutions that redefined the industry standards for both Fortune 100 corporations and entrepreneurial organizations.

With Gwen's guidance, we'll be taking in a continuous stream of valuable, actionable, real-world advice and stories from the trenches.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Sep 19, 202220:42
43 - An interview with Matt Bailey - Entrepreneur, Marketer, Author, Speaker, Educator

43 - An interview with Matt Bailey - Entrepreneur, Marketer, Author, Speaker, Educator

Today on the Academy I'm going to be having a wide-ranging conversation with Matt Bailey from SiteLogic. Matt is an industry-leading marketer, educator, speaker, author and entrepreneur. We'll cover everything from how he got started to where he is today and beyond. Along the way we'll explore many topics related to marketing and growing your business, we'll listen to his advice about being an author and speaker, and we'll dive deep into his thoughts around why training is important, what knowledge and skills are in demand these days, his advice about successfully working with an agency and much more.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our world-class digital marketing and website design services.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Sep 15, 202201:03:51
42 - Why defining your company purpose can be a game changer

42 - Why defining your company purpose can be a game changer

“I’m a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I’d like to put more in that jar. That’s where you come in.” - Adam Sandler

Today on the Academy I wanted to talk about goals and purpose as it relates to starting and running a business. For many people, goals and purpose are one in the same. The goal of a business is to sell something, and that something is sold with the purpose of generating money. Period.

This is the mentality of many business owners and managers. It IS extremely important to make money in business for obvious reasons. We all need money to keep our businesses going and growing. But having a singular focus on just making more money without understanding your real, core purpose is not going to be the path to your greatest successes in business or in life.

It’s easy to focus on making money. It’s equally easy to overlook the importance of clearly defining the purpose of your company and the real goals it's trying to achieve. Typically when someone starts a business they're usually more worried about getting the word out about their new business, making sales that pay the bills, and just focusing on finding ways to keep their new endeavor afloat. Getting started can be the most challenging part, and it’s usually all-consuming because this is what’s required to go from nothing to something viable. Making money is a critical element.

I get it. I’ve been there. I remember the early days of our business, Sanctuary, where it was just me. My purpose for starting the business didn’t go much farther than wanting to do something that I enjoyed, that provided an income for my growing family. I did everything from sales to billing, website design to marketing, and everything in between. When the printer was jammed or the network went down, I became tech support. There wasn’t much time to think at a higher level beyond just staying ahead of the tidal wave of work, issues, and never-ending challenges.

But, amongst all this chaos, I want to encourage you to take a moment out to explore the bigger picture and understand how defining your purpose and goals can help drive your business forward in a meaningful way. Specifically, it’s the clarity of having these pieces in place that will help you make decisions that really impact revenue and growth. The key word here is clarity because so much of running a new business can involve managing chaos every day.

My goal with this episode is to provide business leaders with the motivation and direction needed to manage the chaos. It’s important to rise above the day-to-day from time to time so you’re guided by something more than the fires that are immediately burning in front of you on a daily basis. Operating this way results in just shooting from the hip and making undisciplined decisions in the moment. You’re essentially unable to see the forest for the trees which means that your decisions will be driven by nothing more than what you see in front of you — and what you see in front of you during any given week can simply be chaos — which does not lend itself to making good decisions. Even if you’re running an established business that’s made it past the initial survival days, stopping to define your purpose and goals will help you to rise above the day-to-day work of managing what needs to be done, and make decisions and investments that keep you on track toward building something great and ultimately highly profitable.


Sep 06, 202216:46
41 - How inbound marketing can be different, and more effective, than traditional marketing

41 - How inbound marketing can be different, and more effective, than traditional marketing

Today on the Academy I wanted to talk about Inbound marketing. If you've never heard of inbound marketing, check out episodes  #30 and #17 for an introduction. I've heard many people say that they're confused about why inbound is different from traditional marketing. The answer is in the details and they're important. Today I'm going to discuss some of the main principles that separate inbound marketing from traditional "old school" principles and practices.

A deep understanding of inbound marketing can go a long way toward helping you get great results. The more you know about the process you are using to bring in new leads (in this case, inbound marketing) the more success you will have designing systems that will lead to desirable outcomes.

To help you get the most from your inbound marketing work, I’d like to take some time to break down the four core principles of this method: standardize, personalize, optimize and empathize. We’ll go through them one by one and we hope you’ll come away with an enhanced understanding of inbound methodology.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our world-class digital marketing and website design services.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Aug 29, 202217:01
40 - How to create and run a company that is Built To Last. (Part 2)

40 - How to create and run a company that is Built To Last. (Part 2)

Today on the Academy I wanted to talk again about how to build a lasting company. I'll do this by walking you through the 12 "myths" that are described in one of my favorite business books, Built To Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras.

Built To Last is a classic and timeless business book in my opinion. It's a foundational guide to building a company that's going to stand above the status quo and become a visionary company that endures for generations.

The concepts and insights contained in the book are baked into many of my own personal beliefs at this point and they tend to guide a lot of my opinions, best practices, and beliefs as a business owner.

In part 1 of this series, we talked about the first 6 myths that are described in the book. In this episode, we'll be discussing and wrapping things up with the next 6 myths.

If you haven't heard part one in this series, head over there now.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our world-class digital marketing and website design services.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Aug 15, 202225:46
39 - How to create and run a company that is Built To Last. (Part 1)

39 - How to create and run a company that is Built To Last. (Part 1)

Today on the Academy I wanted to talk about how to build a lasting company. I'll do this by walking you through the 12 "myths" that are described in one of my favorite business books, Built To Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras.

Built To Last is a classic and timeless business book in my opinion. It's a foundational guide to building a company that's going to stand above the status quo and build something that'll endure for generations.

The concepts and insights contained within the book Good To Great are baked into many of my own personal beliefs at this point and they tend to guide a lot of my opinions, best practices, and beliefs as a business owner.

Many of you might be reading this and thinking, man, I just need to get this thing off the ground. Or, boy, I'd like to just consider my business a relatively successful business already. I don't need to worry about it lasting forever. I'm just trying to make it right now. I get it. I've been there. But I think even though you're still ramping up, you need to be aware of these foundational observations. There's no better time than now to build a great foundation that you can build upon in the future.

Many times I make arguments and have strong opinions about things, and I've realized that I can connect those concepts and ideas back to things that resonated with me within this book. Every day we're making decisions, big and small, and if you can make those decisions based on data and learn from the experience of those who came before you, you're going to be much better off in the long run vs making "gut" decisions, or your own personal experience and biases.


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our world-class digital marketing and website design services.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.


Aug 09, 202222:38
38 - How digital marketing can help with hiring and retention

38 - How digital marketing can help with hiring and retention

Today on The Academy we’ll be talking with Cortney Ayers and Lauren Zils, two extremely experienced marketers who currently lead many of the efforts here at our digital marketing agency Sanctuary.

Some of the topics that you’ll hear about today include:

  • What does the Director of Strategy do?
  • What is the best thing about being a strategist?
  • What trends are we seeing right now?
  • What are the top business pain points?
  • How digital marketing can help with hiring.
  • Why you need to sell yourself as a company to potential team members.
  • How digital marketing can help showcase your company culture.
  • What issues are companies having with hiring.
  • Why telling your company story in your marketing is critical.
  • What we’ve done and where we’ve had success with our clients.
  • What industries are challenged right now?
  • What are people looking for in a job these days?
  • Why you always need to be thinking ahead with your strategy plans, and much more!

Lauren Zils is an industry-leading digital marketer with a solid understanding of the digital marketing ecosystem and what it takes to drive results. She is a driven professional, never afraid of a challenge and always willing to tackle even the most daunting project. As a Director of Strategy, Lauren’s primary objective is to ensure clients are meeting their business growth goals, ideally increasing leads and sales that grow their business.

Cortney Ayers is a digital marketing professional with a big passion for helping people meet their goals both professionally and personally. Her primary objective is to ensure that clients are meeting their business growth goals, ideally increasing leads and sales. She accomplishes this by digging in deep to understand the client and its market, coordinating with the strategy team to understand the best plan of attack, and orchestrating all the moving parts with the delivery team to achieve results.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our world-class digital marketing and website design services.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Aug 01, 202258:13
37 - An overview of how Traction and EOS - The Entrepreneurial Operating System can help you grow your business (Part 3)

37 - An overview of how Traction and EOS - The Entrepreneurial Operating System can help you grow your business (Part 3)

Today on the Academy we’re going to be giving you a summary of the book Traction by Gino Wickman. This is part 3 in the series that should wrap up our summary. So if you haven't heard parts 1 and 2, head over there now to start from the top. In summary, The book outlines a blueprint called The Entrepreneurial Operating System that's designed to help you structure and run things in a way that takes your business to the next level.

When I first started our company Sanctuary, I did what needed to be done to get things done. I was flying by the seat of my pants, just trying to survive. Honestly, I couldn't see the forest for the trees because I just took what came at me on a daily basis and just put my head down and worked hard to get all the work done. I did marketing and sales. I provided writing and design services. I even did the billing and accounting. I was also the computer tech and the guy who unclogged the printer when it acted up.

But this is not the way to run a business. When you're just getting started, you do what has to be done. But as your business matures you should be looking to slowly elevate above things and work to provide more structure, systems, and processes. EOS, The Entrepreneurial Operating System can help you to do just that.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our world-class digital marketing and website design services.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Jul 26, 202223:36
36 - An overview of how Traction and EOS - The Entrepreneurial Operating System can help you grow your business (Part 2)

36 - An overview of how Traction and EOS - The Entrepreneurial Operating System can help you grow your business (Part 2)

Today on the Academy we’re going to be giving you a summary of the book Traction by Gino Wickman. This is part 2 in the series. So if you haven't heard part 1, head over there now to start from the top. In summary, The book outlines a blueprint called The Entrepreneurial Operating System that's designed to help you structure and run your business in a way that takes your business to the next level.

So let's talk about The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and dig deeper into the 6 key business components that are at the heart of Traction.

To recap, they are:

  1. Vision
  2. People
  3. Data
  4. Issues
  5. Processes
  6. Traction

In part 1 of this series, we began discussing the six components and touched on #1 Vision and #2 people.

Today, let's move on to #3 Data and #4 Issues.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our world-class digital marketing and website design services.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Jul 18, 202219:04
35 - An overview of how Traction and EOS - The Entrepreneurial Operating System can help you grow your business (Part 1)

35 - An overview of how Traction and EOS - The Entrepreneurial Operating System can help you grow your business (Part 1)

Today on the Academy we’re going to be giving you a summary of the book Traction by Gino Wickman. The book outlines a blueprint called The Entrepreneurial Operating System that's designed to help you structure and run your business in a way that takes your business to the next level.

If you're just starting out with a new company, or you've been trying to grow your business and you feel stuck, the principles and processes in EOS can help you to move forward and grow in ways that you could only imagine through trusted processes and tenants instead of just relying on working harder and blind determination.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our world-class digital marketing and website design services.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Jul 12, 202221:46
34 - Pursuing personal and business growth through Intentional Reinvention (Part 1)

34 - Pursuing personal and business growth through Intentional Reinvention (Part 1)

Today on the Academy we’re going to be exploring the concept of reinvention. For me, this idea is closely linked to many of my personal feelings, and my company's core values. High-performing people and great companies that are focused on excellence are never happy with the status quo, they're always continually improving and growing, with the goal of working toward their long-term goals and pushing beyond what the competition is doing. To do this successfully you need to reinvent yourself on a regular basis and that's what we're going to talk about today.

"Intentional reinvention” – possibly the most powerful and defining action that we can take that can, quite literally, reshape almost every aspect of our lives – how we think about things (our thoughts, beliefs, judgments and decisions),  how we feel about things (our positive and negative emotions) and how we approach our physical wellbeing (our eating, exercising, sleeping, self-care and safety habits).

For today, however, we’ll laser focus on the business side –zeroing in on reinvention as it relates to growing our businesses and growing ourselves.

For this podcast I'm going to be collaborating with, and guided by the advice and experience of my friend Gwen Walsh.

Gwen an accomplished corporate CIO, successful small business owner and executive performance consultant. Gwen left corporate America and started her own company, TechEdge, where she built a career creating and implementing business and technology solutions that redefined the industry standards for both Fortune 100 corporations and entrepreneurial organizations.

With Gwen's guidance, we'll be taking in a continuous stream of valuable, actionable, real-world advice and stories from the trenches.


About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.


Jul 05, 202220:29
33 - How building trust within your team can ultimately help you grow your business

33 - How building trust within your team can ultimately help you grow your business

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about how we can work together better as a team. We'll be using Patrick Lencioni's book The 5 dysfunctions of a team as a guide along the way.

How does this relate to business growth? Well, in my opinion, the success of your department or company, as a whole, comes down to having the right people who are able to work together to accomplish the company's goals.

As a manager or leader it's extremely important to ensure that your team is continually working on this. It's not enough to just say that you've hired good people. Success will only come if they're able to perform at their best, together. So today let's spend some time discussing ways to do just that.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your website or digital marketing strategy and execution? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Jun 27, 202216:43
32 - Email Marketing Best Practices

32 - Email Marketing Best Practices

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about email. No, not how to send an email to your friends and family. We all know how to do that. But as marketers and business owners, we need to use email to create and strengthen relationships with our business friends that we call customers and clients.

We'll start by explaining why email marketing might not be quite as obvious as you might think and how you go about doing it. Then we'll work to share some specific, and actionable best practices that will help you immediately get started on the right foot.

I believe in the power of email marketing if it’s used properly. That includes everything from creating an effective strategy to encourage and grow subscribers, to effectively delivering content that actually drives engagement and retention of our subscribers.

Our company provides email marketing services and consulting that helps our clients maximize the potential of email marketing to grow their business. So in the spirt of that mission I’d like to offer up suggestions on how to get started and to improve your results. This is not a “best of” list or the final word on email marketing tactics. But it's a great list of core, best practices to jump-start your campaigns and get you headed in the right direction.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your email marketing? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

Jun 21, 202220:50
31 - Getting started with SEO - The Basics

31 - Getting started with SEO - The Basics

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about the basics of SEO, Search Engine Optimization. We'll start by explaining how it all works and then work to help you craft an actionable plan to get things rolling in the right direction.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important part of any online marketing effort. By moving up in search rankings, you can bring more visitors to your website without paying for ads — potentially growing revenue in a powerful way. Unlike paid advertising that only generates results as long as you're continually spending money, SEO is an investment that will keep bearing fruit for years to come.

But how does SEO work?

This is an enormous, sometimes confusing topic, but we are going to boil it down to give you a clear understanding of what SEO is, how it works, and why it’s so important when you’re talking about digital marketing and web design. There is a huge industry that's been built around being found in the search engines. The advice, tactics, best practices and the science of getting one site to show up above another in Google is vast. We definitely can't cover everything today. But later in this episode we'll do our best to get you started.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your PPC and SEO? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing and SEO services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.


May 31, 202212:59
30 - Inbound Marketing to Grow Your Business

30 - Inbound Marketing to Grow Your Business

Today on the Academy we’re going to be talking about one of our favorite topics, the Inbound Marketing Methodology.  Inbound is a popular methodology for today’s marketing teams, and for good reason. In this episode, we'll not only dive into the basics of how inbound can change your approach to marketing but also how you run and grow your business.

Inbound turns traditional marketing and sales on its ear. Instead of pushing content and ads out into the world, and hoping to get a few bites, you can shift your focus to positioning yourself in front of people who are looking to solve a problem that they currently have. This approach is actually incredibly empowering because you've now removed the demoralizing pursuit of selling something to an audience that doesn't care or need you most of the time. You're essentially putting all your time and effort into a message, and activities that help people who need you.

Outbound marketing can actually be done in an inbound way too if it’s helpful and not just trying to sell. Yes, I know, mind blown.

The next time you make a sales call, don't open up with a sales pitch that's designed to convince your prospect that they have a need and to ultimately sell them right then and there. Try to identify their actual need and then work to start building trust and a relationship. You might not actually talk to them directly about buying anything for a while, and this can be incredibly empowering for both sides. The next step might actually be to confirm their email address and send them a helpful article. Or it might be to refer them to sign-up for a webinar or attend an educational event. It might just mean that you give them some actual free advice about their next steps. Then ask them how they would like you to help them move forward.

This same approach can apply to traditional outbound advertising. Instead of running ads that basically say "hey, I have this product or service that you need to buy", you can run ads that talk about the problem first. Then you drive them to helpful content that solves their problem - no strings attached. You may never actually pitch them your actual product or service because you're goal at this stage is to start a relationship and build trust, not to sell. But when you've actually connected with someone that has a need in this way, and you remove the pressure of convincing them to buy right out of the gate, you've now begun to build the foundation of a relationship, and that is where inbound can ultimately be a very powerful approach to growing your business.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your PPC and SEO? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing and SEO services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

May 23, 202216:51
29 - Growing a Family Business (and Bubble Guns) - A discussion with Josh Hostetler - Hostetler Family Homes

29 - Growing a Family Business (and Bubble Guns) - A discussion with Josh Hostetler - Hostetler Family Homes

Today we’re going to be chatting with Josh Hostetler to learn how he made the jump from working in corporate finance to becoming a successful home builder.

Josh, who grew up climbing job site dirt piles and honing his hammering skills on scrap lumber, now runs the company after obtaining a degree in Business from The Ohio State University.  Josh later obtained his MBA in Finance and holds a Certified Management Accountant designation. Josh is working diligently to elevate the business and plans to continue their tradition of craftsmanship and excellence.

Hostetler Family Homes has been serving clients in Northeastern Ohio for 36 years. The company builds custom homes ranging in price from $150,000 to over $1 million. The business is guided by the values of integrity, hard work, honesty, and respect.  Hostetler Family Homes takes great pride in the exceptional homes they build, and they aim to create customers for life through quality craftsmanship and a lasting customer experience.

We're gonna be talking about starting and scaling a business, sub-contracting tactics, marketing and growing a small business, what Josh's growth goals are, and of course, bubble guns.

So, let’s jump into it! Today's episode is led by Tom Murphy who is The Director of Growth at Sanctuary. I know he enjoyed chatting with Josh, so I know you'll enjoy this wide-ranging discussion with a man that is doing great things in his community and the business world... Josh Hostetler.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your PPC and SEO? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing and SEO services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

May 18, 202221:29
28 - SEO for local businesses (Part 5) Offsite Local SEO Optimization

28 - SEO for local businesses (Part 5) Offsite Local SEO Optimization

Today on the Academy we’re presenting episode 5 of our series on SEO for local businesses. Are you in charge of marketing a business that serves a specific town, city, or local region? Would you like to be found online when local people search for what you do? Then this podcast series is for you. 

Getting found online if you're a local business is extremely important. It doesn't happen automatically. Google is smart, but if you don't do all the right things, they're not going to know that you exist. 

In this episode, we'll provide you with some specific information about the offsite tactics that you need to engage to rank locally online. This will be the last episode in our series around local SEO. So I wanted to take the opportunity to point you back to the four previous episodes that we created around this topic because they all build on each other. Head over there now to ensure that you’re doing all the right, foundational things when you’re getting started.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your PPC and SEO? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing and SEO services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

May 16, 202219:40
27 - SEO for local businesses (Part 4) Onsite Local SEO Optimization

27 - SEO for local businesses (Part 4) Onsite Local SEO Optimization

Today on the Academy we’re presenting episode 4 of our series on SEO for local businesses. Are you in charge of marketing a business that serves a specific town, city, or local region? Would you like to be found online when local people search for what you do? Then this podcast series is for you. 

Getting found online if you're a local business is extremely important. It doesn't happen automatically. Google is smart, but if you don't do all the right things, they're not going to know that you exist. 

In this episode, we'll provide you with some specific information about what you need to do on your website to rank locally online. If you haven’t heard the first episode in this series, head over there now to ensure that you’re doing all the right, foundational things when you’re getting started. All of that information will support the tactics that we're recommending here. 

I also want to mention that I'm fighting a little cold today so my voice may sound like I'm trying to channel my inner-Barry White. If you don't who Barry White is, shame on you. Just do a search for "Barry White deep voice top 10" for a fun little diversion during your workday today!

So let's get started with some recommendations beyond how Barry White can improve your day. Here's my advice about how you can optimize your website for local search and SEO.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your PPC and SEO? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing and SEO services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

May 09, 202222:35
26 - SEO for local businesses (Part 3) Google My Business - Advanced Recommendations

26 - SEO for local businesses (Part 3) Google My Business - Advanced Recommendations

Today on the Academy we’re presenting episode 3 of our series on SEO for local businesses. Are you in charge of marketing a business that serves a specific town, city, or local region? Would you like to be found online when local people search for what you do? Then this podcast series is for you.

Getting found online if you're a local business is extremely important. It doesn't happen automatically. Google is smart, but if you don't do all the right things, they're not going to know that you exist.

In this episode, we'll provide you with a little advanced guidance around what you can do to really optimize your Google Business listing.

About Sanctuary:

Do you need a partner to help you with your PPC and SEO? The Academy is a service of Sanctuary and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs. We'd love to chat with you about how we can help you grow your business. Learn more about our digital marketing services here.

Sanctuary, a digital marketing agency based in North Canton, Ohio, helps companies grow their businesses by developing and executing end-to-end marketing strategies. We believe in partnering with purpose to create and execute powerful marketing strategies accountable to measurable results.

We partner with you to build custom websites and use marketing tactics such as search marketing, social media and email to drive leads and sales for your business. Our team comprises highly experienced and creative specialists in a range of digital marketing disciplines, from marketing strategy and execution, writing, visual design and development to social marketing, user experience design, analytics and more.

We’ve been guiding passionate, thriving businesses like yours that serve owners, employees and communities since 2006. Learn more.

May 02, 202219:09