Jay Baer and the keys to becoming a top marketing influencer

In this episode of Tales from the PROS, I chat with the amazing Jay Baer. Jay is one of the top digital marketing and customer service strategists, world renowned speaker, New York Times best-selling author of five books, and a technology investor. He founded Convince & Convert, which is his fifth multi-million dollar venture. Jay and I talk about personal branding vs. company branding, the most effective social marketing strategies of 2018 and what is and isn't trending, building yourself as an authority and influencer in your space, the role of patience and empathy in marketing and business, and much more.    Specific Questions asked: To kick things off, tell us a little about your latest book? What really inspired you to getting into the content marketing and customer experience game? and also, how would you truly define content marketing for those who don't know? Do you feel that simply your experience and skills in content marketing lead you to becoming an influencer in the space or was it something else? For example, being unique, or hard work and consistency. How were you able to identify your audience on specific platforms and target them effectively? I've seen so many others that have wasted time and money on areas where there audience isn't even there. Do you believe that self-branding is more beneficial than using your company as leverage for credibility, and gaining self-influential recognition that way, or maybe both? I know your friends with Gary Vaynerchuk, and I hear your podcast interview with him, and it seems you both dive heavily on having good motives, empathy, and patience. I would think that played a vital role in your success right? I saw on one of your Youtube videos talking about how content is fire and social media is gasoline, can you explain that in a little more detail? Are there any influencer strategies that you feel are dying or ones that you see are growing? In your experience investing in startups, have you noticed a common mistake that they make while trying to market themselves and their companies? Do you see the same mistakes with larger companies as well? You obviously know that tech and marketing is booming and continuously evolving, what specific trends do you see emerging and which ones do you see dying? Maybe specifically SEO is always changing with Google updates. High Level Questions (Broad): IF you can explain, what struggles did you face while building your past companies, maybe specifically Convince and Convert, and how did you overcome them? I want to hear a story or two, haha. What advice or tips would you give future leaders and influencers on how to succeed? What character traits would you consider the most important in being a successful business leader and entrepreneur? (Passion, drive, work ethic, perseverance, etc.) Do you feel that entrepreneurship is getting harder in our economy? CLOSING: I always ask the THREE HOW'S: How do you define failure? How do you define entrepreneurship? How do you define success? Follow Jay Baer: Personal Website - http://www.jaybaer.com/ Company Website: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/      Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jaybaer   Twitter - https://twitter.com/jaybaer  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaybaer/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaybaer/  Follow Michael Georgiou: Podcast Website - https://www.talesfromthepros.com  Company Website - https://www.imaginovation.net  Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TalesfromthePROS/  Twitter - https://twitter.com/MGeorgiou22   Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/the_mgeorgiou/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJv9pbImovknEluSLzAPTpg/featured