Digital Marketing

Introducing John Bertino Today's guest joining us on the Join Up Dots podcast is the owner of TAG, a new an innovative agency based in Philadelphia USA. As he says "Let's be honest, anyone can call themselves a marketing "expert" and anyone can open a "marketing agency". The result: Unqualified marketing providers are everywhere causing many brands to get burned and precious company resources to get squandered. This is not the case with today's guest, as John’s professional background stems from over a decade in the agency space where he consulted with clients on SEO and inbound marketing campaigns. During that time, John watched sales people and marketing agencies fight tirelessly to one-up each other and impress prospective clients with industry jargon, flashy proposals, and agency bluster. How The Dots Joined Up For John Perhaps most concerning – a remarkable amount of the strategic recommendations agencies give their clients is predicated on what’s convenient for them – not the client’s situation. Enter TAG; arguably the world’s first true marketing consultancy, 100% focused on providing brands unbiased direction, education and vetted agency recommendations. These days, John and his team at TAG consult with brands of all sizes on just about every area of marketing. He personally teaches several courses on the subject at the University of San Diego, Drexel University, SCORE and other accredited educational institutions. John also organizes large events for marketers and entrepreneurs through his group the SoCal Marketing Club, one of the west coast’s largest digital marketing clubs. So why do people still focus on a splash everywhere method of marketing, instead of knowing where the vein of gold is? And is marketing still a winner, or has it fallen down the ranks of everything else that is needed nowadays? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr John Bertino Show Highlights During the show we discussed such deep weighty subjects with John Bertino such as: Why there is such a problem in the industry involving quick start marketing experts claiming to be something that they aren't. John reveals how Tim Ferris's The Four Hour Work Week was the catalyst for going out on his own. Why the keys to entrepreneurship are playing into your strengths and delegating everything else that keeps you from doing your best work. and lastly...... Why John believes in the anti-scale method that we believe 100% about in Join Up Dots, and the steps that he took to make that happen. How To Connect With John Bertino Website Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Return To The Top Of John Bertino If you enjoyed this episode with John Bertino, why not check out other inspirational chat with Clayton Morris, Dorie Clark, and the amazing Niall Doherty You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy Full Transcription Of John Bertino Intro 0:00 When we're young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here's your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph. John Bertino 0:25 Yes, hello, a good morning, everybody. Good morning and welcome to Join Up Dots. Thank you so much for being here. As always, Well, today's guest who's joining us on the show is the owner of take a new and innovative agency based in Philadelphia, US Ray as he says, let's be honest, he says he's he doesn't say in an English accent, but it's the best I can do. Let's be honest, anyone can call themselves a marketing expert and anyone can open a marketing agency The result? unqualified marketing providers are everywhere, causing many brands to get burned and precious company resources to get Wonder now, this is not the case with today's guest as his professional background stems from over a decade in the agency space where he consulted with clients on SEO and inbound marketing campaigns and during that time, he watched salespeople and marketing agencies fight tirelessly to one up each other and impress prospective clients with industry jargon, flashy proposals and agency bluster. Now, perhaps the most concerning and it's concerning to me, a remarkable amount of the strategic recommendations agencies give their clients is predicted on what's convenient for them, not the client situation boo boo you marketing companies. Enter take arguably the world's first true marketing consultancy 100% focused on providing brands and buyers direction education and vetted agency recommendations these days. him and his team at tag consult with brands of all sizes on just about every area of marketing and he personally teaches several courses On the subject at the University of San Diego Drexel University score and our accredited educational institutions. He also if a citizen enough organises large events for marketers and entrepreneurs through his group, the so cow marketing club, one on the West Coast largest digital marketing clubs. So why do people still focus on a kind of splash everywhere method of marketing, instead of really knowing where the vein of gold is and targeting that? And is marketing still a winner? Or is it folding down the ranks of everything else that is needed nowadays when I start finding out when we bring it to the show to start Join Up Dots with the one and only Mr. John Bertino. Good morning, john. How are you? I'm Fantastic. Thank you, David. Fantastic intro. Thank you. David Ralph 2:50 It's lovely to have you here. And you know, do you know how stupid I am john. All week. I knew you were coming on the show. And I've been thinking, why is it called tag Why is it called tag It's just don't do me, the agency guy as simple as that. How stupid am I? John Bertino 3:06 not stupid at all that we like going by tag, we lead out with that a lot. But that's right. It's an acronym for the agency guy. And quick clarification, and you'll find it central to our business model. We are anything but an agency, really, we're, we're a consultancy that represents a multitude of agencies. And I'm sure we'll dive into that in more detail. David Ralph 3:28 I'm sure we probably will, unless I get bored with the conversation and go in a totally different direction. That's what we do. So what is an agency then for people out there that hear the word but now they're not in that sort of environment? Actually, what would your definition of an agency be? John Bertino 3:45 Sure. Well, I think to some extent, that's part of the problem, right? agency has become this loosely defined term that we associate with anybody, at least in the marketing space that is providing marketing services. So Sometimes people will call themselves an agency when they're one one person. But I would argue that as soon as you're more than one, you're two or more than you could technically call yourself an agency. And you know, you can call yourself an agency with little to no credentials, experience, accolades, case studies. There's there's no formal agency certification team. And those are a few of the reasons why there's a bit of a problem in the marketplace. David Ralph 4:25 Yeah, but there's a problem everywhere. And if you've listened to multiple episodes of Join Up Dots, I do repeat myself because there's certain things that get out my nose, but I get pitched by a lot of people that are experts, but they've only been doing it since last Tuesday. And you know, it drives me mental and the first thing I do I go over to their LinkedIn profile, and when I see that there's hardly anything on there, or that they was working for a bank in Philadelphia and now they're an expert in marketing, whatever. How do we overcome this, john? How do we overcome this, this dive in And I'm brand brand ourselves because I accept people have to get going. And I accept that you become an expert by doing more of and learning. I accept all that. But how can we sort of overcome this and actually protect the people out there that are buying into these marketing people? John Bertino 5:18 Sure, well, I don't think the problem is going where anywhere anytime soon, right, the barriers to entry to become or call yourself an agency or marketing consultant, or next to nothing. And not only that, but the lifestyle that can potentially come with being a small nimble agency is quite appealing. And there's information all over the web that can help people get started. So the low barriers to entry the lack of necessary credentials or qualifications, and again, the lifestyle benefits are resulting in a multitude of people flooding in and saying, I'm a marketer, I'm a marketing expert and wanting to charge you for it. And that's great for them. That's great for entrepreneurship. And I support those who give a real effort into becoming a refined expert in the field, but many don't. And that's created a real problem for brands that want to go out and find reliable marketing talent marketing support, and that's why we created tag David Ralph 6:19 now talking about it around but problem one of the things is so many of these companies charge but actually don't guarantee the results and people like Facebook adverts and and Google ads and they they charge for their services, but the results don't come back in. Once again. How do you deal with battery issue so that you can say to people that if you're going to pay for us to do work, you're actually going to get it or is that not possible? John Bertino 6:51 Sure. So let me mention our model and and backdoor into your question. So what we do at tag is essentially empower brands to hire the perfect marketing partners, and also to invest in the ideal or proper marketing strategies. Right. So we're a consultancy, but we represent about 200 different agencies and consultants. An