Content Marketer and Creator of the "CAN" System| Ben Albert
Updated: Apr 19, 2022
Ben Albert has a holistic approach to online marketing that can revolutionize the way your business engages and markets online. Ben helps businesses save time and make money through proven marketing systems. He serves medium-sized business owners who NEED a marketing department, but may not be in a place to build one internally. On top of that, Ben unpacks his “CAN System” and shares a different way to network and grow your business that is honestly… downright refreshing!
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About Ben
Ben Albert is just an ordinary guy, no superhero, from Rochester, New York Upstate, New York. He likes to say he asks questions for a living, in that he hosts a few podcasts and owns a marketing company.
Ben asks a lot of questions because how else can you learn from someone? How can you learn and serve them without asking questions?
Ben's Podcasts and How to Listen
Ben has a music podcast that's on hiatus, but he also has a business podcast. The thing with the business podcast is that it has multiple segments. So there's the main interview show called Rochester Business Connections, and it's all about Rochester New York.
But then he wanted to expand and talk to mentors and influential people from all across the world. So then he launched Learn, Speak, Teach, which is a national podcast.
Then there's 5 minute Fridays, which is all about easy-to-implement business tips.
And lastly, we have Ben's Bites, which is just Ben talking about literally whatever he wants!
Since multiple things are going on here, he added Real Business Connections Network. Since they are all on one RSS feed you get all of them on one feed, so it's a little confusing.
He just tells people to subscribe and figure it out on their own :)
Ben's Business: Balbert Marketing
Ben comes from a sales background, and he found that marketing and sales in large companies, especially when there's this massive divide, are using different languages. The way they bring in leads and then sales is often more about being aggressive and not about being nourishing and nurturing.
With this background, Ben focuses on personal branding and social selling. This way salespeople can infuse marketing into their sales, whether it's a gift, giving, personal branding, content marketing, influence, or marketing. He is not the biggest fan of the traditional paper-click kind of methods, even though he does them, just because he feels like you're paying for their attention.
Ben likes to take the sales approach by asking, how can I get a sale? How can I connect to the customer? How can I be consultative and figure out exactly what they need? He then takes that information and infuses that into marketing.
That's why Ben comes in with a different style. He is not very numbers-oriented, he is big picture focused.
Let's figure out how to write copy that sells.
Let's think about content that's going to make people click, make them excited, and lead to a phone call... and all the other necessary things for business growth.
Holistic Approach to Marketing
Ben loves to focus on being holistic. Say you hire a personal trainer and you have a little bit of left arm pain. They say, "we need to do some therapy on your left arm. We're going to work out your left arm, but no right arm, no lower legs, no upper body. Don't worry about your health. Don't worry about sleep. You don't need that."
You would think this person was crazy!
But so many salespeople and marketers are saying "I have the best option, this is how I do it" and they focus on what gives them the highest ROI and the most commission in their pocket, basically saying, "This is the easiest thing for me to do so I'm going to sell you this."
Ben instead likes to look at the business holistically. He asks as many questions as possible. He is more of a generalist and not perfect at one little thing, but through his questions, he diagnoses the needs and tailor-makes a program.
Ben doesn't always do well with really large corporate businesses. He does great with smaller businesses that are mobile and are hungry, looking to try new things. Ben figures out exactly what you need and what can be tackled today and moves the business forward.
Biggest Marketing Myth
The biggest myth is when people think if they throw enough money towards marketing it'll make an ROI. Most businesses are so hardworking and they're so busy working inside their business, that they do not work on their business enough. They just want to hire someone to solve all their problems.
But going back to branding, sales, and creating a personal brand: Ben wants business owners to take the accountability to comment, like, and reply to their posts and post on their personal wall. You can't spend a ton of money on marketing and just assume it's going to work because you threw money at the wall. Now granted, if you have a larger budget, we can make it work. But if your budget's only a couple of thousand dollars, you want marketing to work on your business, not just in your business.
There are so many things that need to be in place to just crush it when it comes to marketing.
Are you ready to work with Ben?
You need to be willing to accept the reality that it costs money. But also understand that Ben will meet you at your level.
For example, Ben created a logo for someone twelve months ago. A year later he says, "Listen, I'm looking to invest in something further here." The logo wasn't a big investment, but the brand guided and got him started up on Google. Now he is ready for that next step.
Ben doesn't like people that are just kind of... say... dicking around. He likes to be with driven people. One thing about owning his own business is he gets to vet his clients. He doesn't work with someone that he doesn't think could be successful.
They need to be driven.
They need to want to succeed.
Ben likes it when they're hungry and it's good if they can afford him but if not - start small and work up from there.
Ben's "CAN System"
Ben is still working on an ebook and some training to teach this, but the CAN system stands for (there's lots of C's): Create, Content, Collaborate, and Network. When it comes to networking, we need to be more deliberate.
If you watch YouTube videos you see people jump on each other's channels all the time and there are always shout-outs and things happening. Or you see businesses working together on events.
But Ben finds that's the exception to the rule. He finds that a lot of people go into networking meetings with a bunch of business cards and they buy a couple of
cocktails and small talk. But nothing's accomplished! Ben likes to connect with people and feels disconnected when he's in that transactional conversation. He can't give good recommendations or referrals because... he doesn't know you.
So what Ben likes to do is infuse collaboration and creating content into his networking.
This podcast is a prime example. That's exactly what we're doing right now. In this case, Ben and Dani, get to know each other better.
We get to share audiences.
We get to share networks.
We get to create content together.
We get to grow from each other and it's all through that creating content mindset with the networking.
It's really easy to connect with people when you do it that way.
It works like, "Hey Dani, I have a podcast. I think you would be perfect for it."
And before you know it, someone who's way out of your league, way cooler than you with way more experience is spending an hour with you on a consultation call that they would charge 500 dollars for. It's because you're creating mutually beneficial content together.
Another example, say your graphic designer - reach out to a business and say, "Hey I want to make you an infographic. I love your blog. Let me create a graphic for your blog".
Or reach out to someone and say, "Hey I have a blog. Can you contribute a quote to it? I'd love to use your quote in my blog."
Or you can reach out and say, "Hey I'm a photographer. I love your restaurant, let me take pictures of your food" and then you take pictures of food in five different restaurants. When you go to restaurant six, you say, "I've already taken pictures at this, this, and this restaurant. I have a good relationship with all these owners. I want to take pictures of your restaurant too." and then they start paying you for those pictures.
Notice none of these come from writing down a number or handing out business cards. It came from mutually beneficial collaboration.
Ben wants this to be the new form of networking!
(A Free Bonus) Linktree Rant
This is a really good tip that people don't realize, so here we go: so many people have Linktrees. Ben has noticed massive brands with Linktrees and it makes sense. It's an easy way to put all your links in one spot.
Here's the kicker: when someone goes to your bio and clicks on your Linktree, who benefits from that traffic?
Linktree.
Linktree gets the audience. Linktree gets the time. Not to get too deep into SEO, but the more hits, the more clicks, the more time spent on your website is going to build domain authority. It's going to get you higher on Google. It's going to get you found for more keywords. So if you're sending your traffic to Linktree, the beneficiary of all that goodwill does not go to you.
Even if you don't have a website, create one page. Use a template. It doesn't have to be complicated. Ask one of us to do it for you, but create a one-page link tree, so at least It doesn't go to Linktree. It goes to you. So when you do build that website three years later, you've already built three years of goodwill and you're not giving your traffic and all that goodwill to Linktree. You're keeping it for yourself. You deserve it.
That's why I created all my links on one page for that very reason.
This is just Ben's long way of saying: you can go there and find all those great links you’re looking for :)
What Ben is Learning Right Now
Ben always says "I have Shiny Object Syndrome" but has concluded that he needs a better term for this. He googled it (because he didn't know exactly what it meant other than he had it), and it was very much about being materialistic... can't focus on a good thing... so Ben needs to redefine it.
But what he means by shiny object syndrome is he's always working and learning multiple things. Currently, he is reading the book Story Worthy by Matthew Dicks. He was on Ben's podcast Learn, Speak, Teach. Matthew Dicks is a 50-times storytelling champion and in marketing in sales and branding. Everybody loves a good story, so Ben is trying to learn how to tell better stories that aren't just chronological and start with a hook, but that are captivating.
He's only on page 15 - so he doesn't have any tips on how to do it yet. But he's looking forward to learning more.
You should reach out and ask him about it!
Connect with Ben!
Visit Ben’s website at www.balbertmarketing.com and www.onemanmarketingarmy.com
Listen to his podcast and to all the awesome things he brings to his listeners at www.rochesternypodcast.com
You can find Ben on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/balbertmarketing
Or, really shake up his game and give his Instagram some love at https://www.instagram.com/realbenalbert and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/balbertmarketing
If you are ready to talk to Ben directly, you can book a time HERE!
Connect with Dani:
As always, you can find me at https://www.daniellehamlet.com/ Want to be a guest on the podcast? Email discoverycallpodcast@gmail.com. Find me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/danihamlet/
Connect on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/danihamlet
Want to join the Discovery Call Community? Hop in at https://www.facebook.com/groups/discoverycall
Before you go, one more question: Would you like to start your own podcast for your business? If that is a YES, Let’s connect and book a free strategy call: discoverycallpodcast@gmail.com.