Blog

Julians’ Blog. Topics include HighLevel and marketing.

Why take still photos, when you can create video Glimpses

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I have been really impressed with this free iPhone app called Glimpse and I tested it out at a family party. But you could use it anywhere where you would normally take phones or shoot a quick video.

So if you go to a party or any other event you normally have two options to record the event.

1 Still images. So you go around getting everyone to pose and you create say 50 photos. That then have to be trawled through each time and you end up boring everyone. Very cumbersome.

or

2  You shoot short videos throughout the event and end up with lots of clips to wade through and possibly edit later. Again very cumbersome.

But there is an alternative.

A free smartpone all called “Glimpse – capture video moments”. This takes 1 second (25 frame) micro videos and creates a single file. Dead easy. Just wander around the event snapping away, no need for contrived poses and Glimpse captures the essence of the moment. Really easy, quick and convenient and really watchable.

Here is the video I created – this is 47 seconds. Imagine having to wade through 47 separate images! And see how it captures the essence of the moment. I heard about this on Radio 4 and they said it works in a similar way to the way the brain remembers, hence it is so interesting to watch (well if you know the people!).

Here is my first effort using Glimpse.

 

Here is a link to iTunes.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/glimpse-capture-video-moments/id969793701?mt=8

 

 

Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestley ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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oversubscribed book cover

I had to read Oversubscribed after my brother said that it contained many of the ideas and principles that I follow.

And he was right. This book resonated very strongly with me – it makes perfect sense.

Rather than think of the market forces of supply and demand being fixed, the paradigm shift occurs when you see how the factors governing demand can be changed by you, for your benefit.

Another paradigm shift is to think about getting new clients in batches rather than one at a time.

On page 159 Daniel says – “From now on you’re also in the IT business” – and that is so true. If you do not have systems in place (like Keap / Infusionsoft) to automate your marketing and business processes then you are in big trouble. So many businesses do not realise what technology can do for them or how the costs have come down.

What this book has done is given me context for the things that I have been doing and have given me success already. Now I have more structure and insight into how it all fits together, rather than just doing things off the cuff because they feel the right things to do.

Oversubscribed is one book I look forward to reading again and will be a book I recommend to my clients.

Link Amazon to buy Oversubscribed book (please note this is not an affiliate link)

Guerrilla Marketing and Keap / Infusionsoft

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guerrilla marketing and infusionsoftI have just been reading the book ‘Guerrilla Marketing and Joint Ventures‘ by Jay Conrad Levinson and Sohail Khan and it got me thinking about Guerrilla Marketing and Keap / Infusionsoft.

This is a very good book and I would recommend it, but I feel it is lacking in one area

In the book on page 62 they list 200 Guerrilla Marketing Weapons which can get your product or service noticed by potential customers. On the list at number 43 they have ‘List building (email/ direct mail)’ and at 55 they have ‘Auto-responders’

But what about Marketing Automation?

You see it is all very well using all 200 Guerrilla Marketing weapons to generate customer interest – but if you are unable to first capture that interest and then nurture that interest to a point where the prospect is ready to buy – then you are leaving so much money on the table. So in the book, they do mention briefly about building a list and using autoresponders but when you start to consider the power of automating your marketing then surely that must be a key weapon that underpins all the other weapons they refer too.

Having used Keap / Infusionsoft, the leading marketing automation software for small and medium-sized businesses for the past 5 years I have used many of the 200 weapons the book quotes and used Keap / Infusionsoft to support the guerrilla marketing activity for many clients.

If you are interested to learn how guerrilla marketing and Keap / Infusionsoft can grow your business then I would be delighted to speak with you. Feel free to schedule a Discovery call.

S

What is a Growth Hacker?

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what is a growth hackerI just realised that I am a Growth Hacker. One of those moments where something just resonates strongly with you. So what is a growth hacker?

I spent 4 years working for a large advertising agency and never really fitted in. To be honest too much corporate b***s**t and spin with a polished veneer for my liking. It was all about thinking up fancy strategies and ensuring the clients were ‘fairly’ billed! The priority was to produce advertising for the client and hopefully win awards. If we generated any sales then that was purely a by-product.

I was not happy there, the worst 4 years of my working life until I finally said enough was enough and handed in my notice.

That was in 2005 and was the start of my becoming a Growth Hacker although I did not know it at the time – as the term was first coined in 2010 by Sam Ellis.

So what is a growth hacker? A definition that fits me was coined by Andrew Chen – he wrote that growth hackers “are a hybrid of marketer and coder, one who looks at the traditional question of ‘How do I get customers for my product?’ and answers with A/B tests, landing pages, viral factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph.

For years I have tried to clearly define that I am part marketer and part techie  -I would say I am 66% marketer and 33% techie. In traditional recruitment this skill set does not tick the right boxes  – to them you are either a marketer or techie and never the twain shall meet.

So this led to many frustrating years trying to find fulfilling, conventional employment. That was until that day in March 2005 I took the step to leave ‘conventional’ employment and do my own thing, forge my own path.

This path eventually led me to Keap / Infusionsoft in 2009. I was working with a traditional direct markting client and we needed to get online ASAP as our sales were plumetting due to the recession and the growing competition online. I needed a way to do email marketing, take orders online, deliver digital product, run memebrship sites and manage affilaites. Keap / Infusionsoft does all this and was a turning point for me.

At last I had found somewhere to ‘hang my hat’, somewhere where being both a marketer and a techie was a definite advantage. Firstly I needed the marketign know how to figure out how we woudl market and them I needed the techncial ability to master the techie aspect of Keap / Infusionsoft. For the first time in my career I was playing to my strenghts.

Since 2010 I have worked with a whole range of clients where I constantly juggle my role between marketer and techie and I am right at home. In January 2014, after using Keap / Infusionsoft for 5 years I took the step to become officially recognised by infusionsoft and I took the exam to become an Keap / Infusionsoft Certified Partner.

So after all these years I can now define that I am a Growth Hacker.

Wikipedia definition of what is a growth hacker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_hacking

 

‘The Millionaire Messenger’ is the definitive Information Marketer career advice from Brendon Burchard

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Hi

If you are seeking to set out on a career as an Information Marketer then you will find no advice at libraries, job centers or career guidance services. If you do ask for advice at these places they will no doubt give you a funny look and ask what is information marketing.

You see information marketing on the internet is such as new field of endeavor and “under the radar” that it is a subject very few laypeople will know anything about.

So what is the answer? If you want to get your expert training and advice message “out there” and help people and at the same time make a very good living then your should check out Brendon Burchards book ‘The Millionaire Messenger’. When I read this I thought – if I were looking to start my career as an information marketer then this is all the career guidance you need.

So it is a great book and definitely a book worth a read by both seasoned pros and newbies alike.

Information marketer career advice. The Millionaire Messenger

Here is a link to Amazon for the book (please note this is not an affiliate link, I earn no commission from endorsing this book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Millionaire-Messenger-Difference-Fortune/dp/1442345683

 

Cheers

 

Julian

 

Jeff Walker video on old school direct marketing wisdom

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I came across this Jeff Walker video on Jeff Walkers blog where he talks about old school direct marketing and how the same thinking is still relevant to todays online marketing. This I fully agree with. I started my direct marketing career back on 1996 when the internet was still young, known as the Information Super Highway and the realm of geeks. But the same direct marketign thinking is still relevant to internet marketing.

 

Here is a link to the full blog post on Jeff Walkers site http://jeffwalker.com/understanding-your-prospects/

 

 

Math Men

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mathmen

To quote Tom Fishburne www.marketoonist.com

“One of the biggest shifts is data-driven marketing. Increasingly, today’s marketers have to be data-savvy. This means performance tracking, analytics, and using data to create better marketing that the right consumers actually want to see. This can also mean programmatic marketing, where more and more aspects of campaigns are automated by data.

A lot of creatives will recoil at that type of formulaic approach. Analyzing creative can be like the famous E.B. White quote: “Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.”

The future is figuring how to leverage the best of art and science in marketing.”

Looking for HighLevel help in Manchester?

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julian Mills highlevel

highlevel support julian millsAre you looking for help and advice with HighLevel in Manchester? I have helped clients with marketing automation for over 16 years and assist a range of clients in Manchester, around the UK and overseas in a marketing capacity to drive sales. I am more than just an “HighLevel techie” but direct response internet marketer who appreciates that HighLevel is the ideal tool to assist entrepreneurial clients.

I am based in Manchester and would be happy to meet up to discuss further how it could be instrumental in growing your business.

To arrange a preliminary phone call and subsequent meeting fee free to book a Discovery Call.

 

Why do advertising and marketing agencies never offer clients automated online marketing as a service?

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julian Mills highlevel

highlevel support julian millsMarketing agencies are always keen to jump on the latest trend – and right now, that trend is AI.

Everywhere you look, agencies are layering AI into their offers – from content creation to chatbots. But while it’s fashionable, much of it is still surface-level. What about services that actually move the needle when it comes to growing a business?

Let me make the case for marketing automation.

This is where I specialise – particularly using a platform called HighLevel. It’s a powerful all-in-one CRM and automation tool designed for small and medium-sized businesses. More importantly, it actually helps clients turn more leads into paying customers – and keeps them coming back.

Most agencies offer PPC and Social Media to drive traffic to a client’s website. A small percentage of that traffic converts – brilliant. But the majority leave without buying. That’s wasted opportunity.

Marketing automation solves this. It captures leads and continues the conversation – automatically – for as long as it takes. Weeks, months, even years.

And what about existing customers? I often see businesses relying on outdated email tools to send one-size-fits-all newsletters. With HighLevel, your existing customers can be nurtured, up-sold, cross-sold, and looked after – all through personalised automation.

Back in the 90s, when I worked in traditional mail order, the golden rule was: “Your customer list is where the gold is.” That hasn’t changed. So why do so many modern agencies overlook it?

I got into marketing automation in 2009. Before that, I was a direct marketer – catalogues, inserts, and postal campaigns.

A client of mine wanted to move online. We had a tiny email list of 1,200 contacts, a basic email platform, and a few PayPal ‘Buy Now’ buttons. Orders started coming in, but behind the scenes, it was chaos. Order fulfilment was messy. Reporting was non-existent. And because we had separate systems for email and orders, we couldn’t run targeted campaigns.

That’s where a lot of small businesses still get stuck. They start with a website, add a sales platform, tack on email, and before long they’re juggling disconnected tools. I call this “Multi-System Chaos”. And once you’re in that mess, scaling becomes nearly impossible.

That’s when I found HighLevel.

It gave me one platform, one dashboard, one database – and full control over the entire marketing and sales process.

Today, HighLevel doesn’t just help you automate emails and sales pipelines. It’s packed with AI-powered tools that handle customer interaction around the clock. The built-in AI Live Chat can answer website visitors instantly, in natural language. And Voice AI can answer your phone when no one’s available, take messages, qualify leads, and capture key details – all in real time.

This isn’t just clever – it’s practical. It means your business never misses a lead, never leaves a customer waiting, and never needs to rely on a human to say the same thing over and over again.

Here are just a few of the key benefits:

  • AI & Automation – Live Chat AI and Voice AI handle enquiries 24/7

  • Email Marketing – Automated, highly targeted follow-up sequences

  • E-commerce – Order forms, shopping carts, and integrated payments

  • Affiliate Marketing – Built-in module for referral programmes

  • Customer Service – Integrated support workflows and ticketing

  • Lead Management – Score, tag, and segment leads automatically

  • Opportunity Tracking – Turn more leads into booked appointments

  • Subscription/Membership Programmes – Generate recurring revenue

  • Product Fulfilment – Handle digital or physical goods with ease

With HighLevel, I helped one client go from zero to £500,000 in online sales in just five months. We built an email list of 300,000+ and launched a subscription product that generated £100,000 in its first year.

When marketing automation – now powered by AI – can have that kind of impact, it still amazes me how few agencies offer it as a solution.

To my mind, the smartest agencies today aren’t just generating traffic. They’re helping clients turn that traffic into long-term revenue using automation and AI. That’s the future.

If you’d like to explore how marketing automation and AI can help your business or your clients, book a Discovery Call and let’s chat.

👉 Book a Discovery Call with Julian