In Episode 10 of Content with Teeth's The Come Up, meet a guest who creates WOW among kids at his sports card store

Find Awe in the Latest Episode of The Come Up

Kids, be prepared for WOW.

Be prepared to be amazed.

Why?

florida sports cards

Because Jonathan Stone, Owner of Blue Breaks LLC, a new sports card collecting and memorabilia store in Venice, Florida, makes an appearance on Episode 10 of The Come Up.

Jonathan is a card collector and former big league sports referee and is Scrappy’s guest on Content with Teeth’s video podcast chronicling dynamic entrepreneurs in Southwest Florida and beyond.

The Come Up Episode 10 Highlights

Sorry eBay: Learn why Jonathan thinks there is no such thing as competition in the sports card world and discover the Blue Breaks niche. It involves thousands of sports cards at a kid-friendly price of a penny a piece.

sports cards store venice florida

The Big Racket: Jonathan details his fascinating background, including umpiring at Wimbledon to the likes of Nadal, Federer and other legends.

sports collectibles

Retail Therapy: If you’re a card-collecting maniac, learn why you should visit a store and not just slum it out on eBay or a trade show for the best selection.

Uh, Teacher, Why Does My Mint Pete Rose Have a C? If you’ve got some old baseball cards stashed away or are a big-time collector, learn the details of sports card grading. Jonathan sheds light on a sometimes arcane process. Don’t miss this section if you’re interested in the value of your collection whether it’s hockey cards or non sports cards.

Catch other key nuggets in Episode 10 of The Come Up like how his wife thinks he’s crazy and how Jonathan’s inspiration is his 9-month newborn and any smiling kid hunting for a deal.

About Jonathan Stone & Content with Teeth

For UnBoring Content like The Come Up, contact Content with Teeth HERE. Find out more about Blue Breaks LLC HERE.

The Come Up Episode 10 Video Transcript

Scrappy:

What up? What up? What up? What up? What up? I’m Scrappy. This is The Come Up, featuring Southwest Florida entrepreneurs. They’re innovators, risk takers and big picture thinkers.

Today, our guest is really cool, really cool. I’m looking forward to this, ’cause I’m a baseball collector myself.

It is Jonathan from Blue Breaks in Venice Beach. He’s got a great store over there. If you want to be our next guest, make sure to check us out at Hey Scrappy on Instagram.

Blue Breaks, tell us about your store. How long you’ve been in business, Jonathan?

Jonathan Stone:

Hey, Scrappy. Well, we’ve been in business three weeks now. We opened the doors three weeks ago. We’ve been primarily online until then. But yeah, no, me, the wife and the nine month old baby decided it was time to take some risks.

We sold our home, moved to the area we’re in now. We’re actually staying with friends at the moment yet. We sold our home and put all of our money into opening a store because we just felt that there’s a space in the market for what we do.

Scrappy:

Okay. So in Venice specifically, do you have competition?

Jonathan Stone:

There’s some other stores in Venice, but I don’t think there’s competition in the sports cards well, because it’s not like McDonald’s, Wendy that all have a burger. They have the same burger.

You can go into every sports card store in the country. Every single store has different cards, has a different product. Not only that, even if they have the same product, when you open a box of sports cards, the cards inside are different in every single box.

So, no, I don’t think there is such a thing as competition in the sports card world. There’s other people that sell sports cards. There’s other people that do similar things.

It’s funny. I was talking to a customer a little while ago. As a collector, you should never only buy what you collect from one store or one person, because every person has a different card, has different types of cards, has different items that you want to collect. This is no different.

Scrappy:

You say you’re different from everybody else. What’s your niche?

Jonathan Stone:

In the store, as well as obviously selling sports cards, we have single sports cards from one penny. So, you can come in the store right now, and we have 30,000 cards that are a penny each, for sale in store right now.

As well as that, we have trade nights. We also do birthday parties for the kids as well.

Scrappy:

Oh, that’s fun. That’s fun. So you’ve been in business for only three weeks. Where do you get all your inventory?

Jonathan Stone:

We do a lot of shopping online. We have distributors. We have contacts within Panini and Topps and things like that as well, that we utilize.

We get as much as we can, from as many different sources, so that our customers come in and have a great weekend.

Scrappy:

Interesting. Interesting. As an entrepreneur, you’re staying at your friend’s house, you’ve put all your money into this. It’s a leap of faith.

Is it something you’re really passionate about or something you see as a business opportunity or both?

Jonathan Stone:

I’ve worked in sport my entire life. I spent 10 years as a tennis umpire. I worked tennis matches at the very top level. I’ve worked Wimbledon. I’ve worked tournaments all over the world. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal.

I’ve also worked soccer professionally, in multiple countries. And I’ve actually spent two years in baseball. I worked in Independent Professional Baseball league last year. I also do call-up games for the minor leagues.

So as well as that, to me as a collector of sports cards, it’s about filling a gap in the market, where other collectors can actually get their hands on the products they want from somebody who cares.

Scrappy:

Okay. Does your wife think you’re crazy for doing this?

Jonathan Stone:

My wife thought I was crazy before this. This just puts the nail in the coffin. I was crazy long before this.

Scrappy:

Jonathan, I’ve bought cards on eBay. I’ve gone to trade shows. I’ve been to shops. Why should I go to a shop versus eBay or a trade show?

Jonathan Stone:

Because you can come in store. You can handle our cards. You can look at it. You can get the advice you need.

We do products where you can clean your cards in store. We also do products where you can store your cards in the best condition.

Not only that, we submit to graders. We submit cards to PSA. You can actually have a good time in here.

We’ve had a lot of people in here at the weekend. We had people watching the England versus Germany European Soccer final game.

We had people in here buying supplies. We had kids in here. We had a David Becker autographed card come out of a box. We had a Steph Curry card come out of the box.

Scrappy:

Oh, wow. Wow.

Jonathan Stone:

We had a Juan DeFranco card come out of a box yesterday as well. So, we’ve had lots of cards come out over the last few days. You don’t get those experiences anywhere else because at home, you’re on your own. You’re opening cards.

If you go to a show, you’re probably buying the cards. You don’t want to open them at the show ’cause you want them to be protected.

But here you can come in, grab the cards, and we’ll give you the protection you need, so that your cards go home in the same condition they come out of that box in.

Scrappy:

The experience, for sure. That’s really interesting. That’s definitely a differential advantage.

Now, you mentioned kids. What percentage of your customers, at least in the first three weeks, are children versus some avid hardcore collector?

Jonathan Stone:

We have, obviously adults that are regaining their childhood through this. We also have collectors that come in with their kids as well.

It’s funny. A little while ago I had the gentleman come in. Him and his daughter actually collect. They’ve been a great inspiration for me and my wife, because to see them bonding over collecting cards, a guy who did this when he was a child and now his almost teenage daughter, getting into it, coming in and raiding up any boxes for her is just, it’s just an amazing thing, watching them bond.

So I think you’re probably looking at a 50/50 split because most of the kids bring their parents with them.

We do mimosas on a Sunday for the baseball moms, just to keep them happy as well. So, we have a few adults come in, but we do have a lot of kids.

Scrappy:

Are you a sucker for a kid with a smile, that wants a good deal?

Jonathan Stone:

When you have a nine month old baby, you’re a sucker for any kid with a smile. Sucker for any kid with a smile.

Scrappy:

How do you make the transition from being an umpire and a referee and being a sports advocate in that regard, to actually selling your wares, from a baseball card perspective?

Jonathan Stone:

It’s been an interesting transition. This time of year, I’m used to… Normally, I’m away in the summer on a baseball field. It’s been hard this year, being at home. But I think life has changed for me.

Now having our Kalimar baby, it’s giving him something that when he’s two, three, four, five, his interest will pique. He can help out in the shop. It keeps him busy.

But not only that. It’s a family business, that hopefully he’ll carry on in years to come.

Scrappy:

That’s awesome. I can tell just by your personality that you’re breeding something special over there, Jonathan. I can totally feel that.

You mentioned graded. Now, it’s really frustrating to me as a baseball card collector, that I got to send out graded cards. Can you explain the process to our audience?

Jonathan Stone:

Cards are worth different value, depending on their condition. In a sense, in the grading world, you’re grading your card from one to 10, 10 being the best, one being the worst.

Each of those grades, depending on the company and the grade you get, are worth a different value.

So just because it comes fresh out of the box does not mean it’s a 10 out 10 perfect condition card. Errors happen in printing, so it might be slightly off center.

We’ve all had those days where we’re fed up with that little bit of black ink crossing through a couple of letters on the printer. That happens in the card world. So, all of those sort of things affect it.

You can come to us. We’ll clean the card for you. We will send it off to PSA, and then that card comes back with a grade on it.

A grade is no better than a referee or an umpire. It’s just one person you’re, paying to give you an independent opinion on that card.

Scrappy:

How much does it cost?

Jonathan Stone:

It varies from $18 into the hundreds, depending on the value of your card. The annoying thing with grading and it annoys me as a store and as a collector, is the grading cost is dependent upon the value of the card.

So if you turn around and bring in a card that’s worth 30, $40, you might get away with an 18 to $23 charge to have that graded.

But if it’s worth 50, 60, $70,000, then we’re going to start talking thousands of dollars for the exact same process. That’s where it’s frustrating as a collector.

But we have to remember, when all these cards are being handed around and they do have these high values, there’s things like, insurance has to be taken into consideration, because that company is assuming the risk and liability of damaging that card that’s worth thousands of dollars.

Scrappy:

For sure. For sure. I have a 1980 Topps baseball card set. Ricky Henderson’s in there as a rookie. What are the chances that if I get it graded, it’s going to come out spectacular and make me a couple dollars?

Jonathan Stone:

I think there’s a chance with any card, it comes out spectacular. It’s going to depend on how you’ve kept it over the years, making sure it’s in as good a condition as possible.

Not only that, the value of cards changes all the time. David Ortiz got entered into the Hall of Fame this week. The value of his cards will change, based on that.

Players that get called up from the minor leagues into the majors, their card value will change on that.

Touch wood it never happens, when players pass away, their value changes on those cards again. To get the maximum revenue out of your card, if you’re wanting to sell it, is about doing it at the right time.

Scrappy:

Jonathan, it’s so frustrating, because I have probably a hundred cards that I look at, that have so much potential. A nice Pete Rose, a Yaz. I got a 1961 Yaz rookie card. I have all these different cards, but it would cost a fortune for me to be grading them.

Jonathan Stone:

Oh, a hundred percent. I feel your pain. We have about 65,000 cards on the shop floor right now, that if I could only afford to do that, I would.

A lot of collectors want their card in the original condition. They don’t necessarily want it graded.

We talk about when you’re watching again, the baseball purist. There is still plenty of baseball purists out in the card collector world that want it in that original condition.

So, there is pluses and minuses with grading. It’s not always the best idea to throw your money at grading. Sometimes, you know what? It’s best you just love what we have.

Scrappy:

Okay. I have my 1961 Yaz rookie card. It’s in plastic. I’ve kept really good care of it. My dad gave it to me as a gift a long time ago. I still have it. Is it better for me to go on eBay and try to sell it or bring it to your store?

Jonathan Stone:

As a generalization, going on eBay, you’re probably going to get the market value for that card. But don’t forget, you’re going to have a 13% fee, which will be a charge from eBay for selling with them.

So let’s say a card sells for a thousand dollars. You’re going to lose 130 straight away. So, now we’re down to 870. All right?

So you come to me. I’m probably going to offer you 750, $800 for that card. So you’re going to say, “Well, why would I sell to you instead of eBay?”

Remember, when that person gets that card, if they don’t like it, they can return it, and you’ve got to return that money.

When it comes to me, that’s money in your hand. You’re good to go. Let me deal with the problem. Let me deal with the customers because just like anything else, if you mail it out and it gets damaged in the mail, you’ve got to deal with USPS, when it comes to insurance and things like that. I can deal with all of those problems for you.

Scrappy:

I think it’s fascinating that you can just reel off 750, 800, off the top of your head, based on a year and a player and a team. That’s amazing to me.

So in that regard too, then you know how much you can get out of it, selling it to somebody else. So that’s all in your head?

Jonathan Stone:

A hundred percent. So when customers come in to sell to us, one of the things that we believe makes us different from some of the competition is, we will give you a price that we believe is fair.

But not only that, I’m going to tell you the price sticker that I’m going to put on that product on my shelf.

So if I come in and think that card’s worth a hundred dollars, I’m going to tell you straight up, “I’m going to sell this card in store for a hundred dollars.” I will offer you $70 in cash and $85 in store credit, which you can use in the store.

But by being transparent, you know that when you come in, in two, three, four weeks time, you see the price. Oh, you know what? He’s done exactly what he said he’s going to do. So, perhaps this is the guy we can trust.

Rather than you look at the stores all over the country. If you go and sell a card to a store and they give you 50 bucks, and you go in three weeks later and you see your card for $400, is that a store you’re going to keep going back to?

Scrappy:

Right. Right. That’s so smart. That’s really smart. If I get that transparency from a company or a card shop, it’s going to definitely make me want to go there on a regular basis.

That’s really, really smart because we have an attitude as baseball card collectors and avid fans, that we’re going to get screwed over, unfortunately.

Jonathan Stone:

Yeah. I think for me, a lot of stores, all up and down the country, when they go from being… They’re run by collectors. Everybody that opens a card store is generally a collector. We have an interest in this.

But when they start transitioning from that to just a store owner that wants to make money, then we lose the concept of why we opened.

But no, I’m a collector. I know what my card is worth. If I know my card sells on eBay for a hundred dollars or $200, and this person in front of me is offering me 30 or 40, why would I carry on doing business?

I know that the card I’m buying from them, they’re making way too much money on. So look, let’s be transparent. I’ll tell you what I’m going to price it out for in store. I’ll tell you what I think it’s worth, but I’m going to also offer you what I think is a fair price.

If you think it’s fair, you take it. If you don’t and you want to go to eBay, there’s zero hard feelings about that. I think we need to be aware of that, as dealers.

Scrappy:

You mentioned earlier, boxes. Is it better to keep a box intact or to cherry pick out six cards that are valuable?

Jonathan Stone:

No. I think, let’s look at 1986 Fleer basketball, the Michael Jordan rookie cards. The individual packs out of those, I think I saw on eBay, some were selling for $1,500 a pack.

Scrappy:

Wow.

Jonathan Stone:

There’s 40 packs in a box. So, we’re talking $60,000 in a box. That doesn’t happen with every product. The product value’s dependent on the rookie class or the class that’s in that product, each and every year.

But generally, do you know what? Buying some boxes and keeping a hold of them, it’s rare a box will ever go down in value.

Scrappy:

Everybody wants the rookie card. That’s for sure.

Jonathan Stone:

Oh, yeah.

Scrappy:

Kyle Trask, the football player, the quarterback for the Florida Gators, I’m a Florida Gator, I bought a bunch of his cards on speculation.

Of course, I bought Kyle Pitts. I bought a bunch of Kyle Pitts. I bought like 20 rookie cards from him. I don’t really know what I’m doing.

I buy these cards randomly. And then all of a sudden, my friend who knows baseball cards better than me says, “Well, these are still not worth anything because they’re not autographed. They’re not the high end brand.”

When we want to get a rookie card on speculation, somebody in college, that’s going into the pros the following year, how do we buy?

Jonathan Stone:

Let’s all remember one thing. Tom Brady was picked in what, the seventh round? Those were cards at the time, that me and you could’ve probably bought on the equivalent of eBay back then, for 99 cents.

That’s not now. You’ve got to collect who you want to collect, who you enjoy and who you love.

For me every year, I’ll look at a product Bowman draft in baseball. I’ll pick some two or three random names that went maybe in the fifth, sixth, seventh round. I’ll pick two or three. I’ll invest heavily in those cards at 25 cents, 50 cents, a dollar and buy as many of those as I can. The cheaper you buy a card, the less money you are going to lose. It’s like shares.

Scrappy:

Sure. Sure.

Jonathan Stone:

So if I buy a hundred of these cards for 25 cents a piece, the most I’m ever going to lose is $25. But if that player makes it makes his debut in major leagues, the moment he’s called up, that’s when you start to sell.

They’re probably going to be 50, 60, $70 at the time, and then you’ve invested. Then you’re looking at that return of money that you can use to grow and enhance your own personal collection, where you want that one holy grail card that we’re all chasing.

Scrappy:

Have you ever experienced the holy grail card?

Jonathan Stone:

No. No. There’s definitely a few cards in the store, that I wished were… that are on… I’m looking at a couple right now, that are in the cabinets, that I’m wishing was sitting at home and not here.

I think I had a kid come in the other day, who wanted a Mac Jones autograph. We have a Mac Jones card on sale in the store. It’s 500 bucks. He’s like, “I just can’t afford it.”

He was 10, 11 years old. “I have $109 in my savings account,” but this is a lower level product, Leaf. There was a Mac Jones autograph on my shelf for $125.

He was 11 years old. He came back the next day. He gave me the $109. 38 cents that he had. He took his card.

I lost money on that deal. All ends up going back to the kid with the smile. I lost money. But the smile on that kid when he ran across my store and showed his mom, it’s every penny of losing $10.

Scrappy:

You got a customer for life.

Jonathan Stone:

Oh, but isn’t that the thing? Isn’t that thing that we’re all forgetting? Today’s low level customers are tomorrow’s medium level customers and the next day’s big level customers.

Making an impression on kids today… We have a penny section. I don’t charge kids for cards out of the penny section. You come in. You spend an hour. You find 50 cards. You’re 12 years old. I’m not taking 50 cents from you. Do you know what? Have a great day.

But when they come back the next year and buy some 25-cent cards, when they get their collection better, just seeing them grow with their collection, isn’t that what this is about?

I’m here to pay my bills. Look, Let’s look at the business aspect of this. I’m here to pay my bills, but I’m not here to buy a Ferrari. I’m here to give my nine month old baby a future.

By watching other kids slightly older than him, grow up and build their future, and isn’t that aiding my baby’s future as well?

Scrappy:

That’s awesome. That’s awesome.

Jonathan Stone:

The baby comes in store. It’s me and the wife and the baby. I have customers that pick him up. I have kids that interact with him. My nine month old baby’s making memories for other people. Do you know what? That’s it for me. That’s worth more than anything else.

Scrappy:

Your biggest regret, you must have one that you looked at and you said maybe. And then all of a sudden, it blew up and you said, “Damn it, I should’ve bought that.”

Jonathan Stone:

Oh yeah, easy. Don’t even know why I thought about it. Anything with Luka Doncic’s signature on, anything.

I’m a Maverick’s fan. I didn’t understand the hype at the time. I thought, no, this is crazy. There’s going to be thousands of them. The hype in Luka and where those cards have gone, I think that for me, is the biggest train I never jumped onto.

Scrappy:

Okay. For those kids that are watching, any parting advice?

Jonathan Stone:

Do what you enjoy. Don’t worry about what anybody else around you enjoys. Do what you enjoy. Invest in what you want, because no matter what eBay says your card is worth, what it’s worth to you is more important than any number on eBay.

Scrappy:

Oh, that’s great. I love that. I love that. I’m going to visit you, for sure.

Jonathan Stone:

Hey, it’ll be great. Let’s get those cameras on. Well, we’ve got a trade night coming up this Saturday. Just, we’re going to fill the store out with kids. I just can’t wait to see all these kids interact.

Scrappy:

That’s great. That’s really great. You’re doing good stuff, Jonathan. Thank you so much. We really enjoy your time.

It’s The Come Up. We’re featuring entrepreneurs. You’re just on the cusp of it. I’m excited for you. I’m really excited for you.

You’re a risk taker. You’re an innovator. You’re doing it. Southwest Florida, just up the road in Venice, Blue Breaks. Awesome.Scrappy:

What up? What up? What up? What up? What up? I’m Scrappy. This is The Come Up, featuring Southwest Florida entrepreneurs. They’re innovators, risk takers and big picture thinkers.

Today, our guest is really cool, really cool. I’m looking forward to this, ’cause I’m a baseball collector myself.

It is Jonathan from Blue Breaks in Venice Beach. He’s got a great store over there. If you want to be our next guest, make sure to check us out at Hey Scrappy on Instagram.

Blue Breaks, tell us about your store. How long you’ve been in business, Jonathan?

Jonathan Stone:

Hey, Scrappy. Well, we’ve been in business three weeks now. We opened the doors three weeks ago. We’ve been primarily online until then. But yeah, no, me, the wife and the nine month old baby decided it was time to take some risks.

We sold our home, moved to the area we’re in now. We’re actually staying with friends at the moment yet. We sold our home and put all of our money into opening a store because we just felt that there’s a space in the market for what we do.

Scrappy:

Okay. So in Venice specifically, do you have competition?

Jonathan Stone:

There’s some other stores in Venice, but I don’t think there’s competition in the sports cards well, because it’s not like McDonald’s, Wendy that all have a burger. They have the same burger.

You can go into every sports card store in the country. Every single store has different cards, has a different product. Not only that, even if they have the same product, when you open a box of sports cards, the cards inside are different in every single box.

So, no, I don’t think there is such a thing as competition in the sports card world. There’s other people that sell sports cards. There’s other people that do similar things.

It’s funny. I was talking to a customer a little while ago. As a collector, you should never only buy what you collect from one store or one person, because every person has a different card, has different types of cards, has different items that you want to collect. This is no different.

Scrappy:

You say you’re different from everybody else. What’s your niche?

Jonathan Stone:

In the store, as well as obviously selling sports cards, we have single sports cards from one penny. So, you can come in the store right now, and we have 30,000 cards that are a penny each, for sale in store right now.

As well as that, we have trade nights. We also do birthday parties for the kids as well.

Scrappy:

Oh, that’s fun. That’s fun. So you’ve been in business for only three weeks. Where do you get all your inventory?

Jonathan Stone:

We do a lot of shopping online. We have distributors. We have contacts within Panini and Topps and things like that as well, that we utilize.

We get as much as we can, from as many different sources, so that our customers come in and have a great weekend.

Scrappy:

Interesting. Interesting. As an entrepreneur, you’re staying at your friend’s house, you’ve put all your money into this. It’s a leap of faith.

Is it something you’re really passionate about or something you see as a business opportunity or both?

Jonathan Stone:

I’ve worked in sport my entire life. I spent 10 years as a tennis umpire. I worked tennis matches at the very top level. I’ve worked Wimbledon. I’ve worked tournaments all over the world. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal.

I’ve also worked soccer professionally, in multiple countries. And I’ve actually spent two years in baseball. I worked in Independent Professional Baseball league last year. I also do call-up games for the minor leagues.

So as well as that, to me as a collector of sports cards, it’s about filling a gap in the market, where other collectors can actually get their hands on the products they want from somebody who cares.

Scrappy:

Okay. Does your wife think you’re crazy for doing this?

Jonathan Stone:

My wife thought I was crazy before this. This just puts the nail in the coffin. I was crazy long before this.

Scrappy:

Jonathan, I’ve bought cards on eBay. I’ve gone to trade shows. I’ve been to shops. Why should I go to a shop versus eBay or a trade show?

Jonathan Stone:

Because you can come in store. You can handle our cards. You can look at it. You can get the advice you need.

We do products where you can clean your cards in store. We also do products where you can store your cards in the best condition.

Not only that, we submit to graders. We submit cards to PSA. You can actually have a good time in here.

We’ve had a lot of people in here at the weekend. We had people watching the England versus Germany European Soccer final game.

We had people in here buying supplies. We had kids in here. We had a David Becker autographed card come out of a box. We had a Steph Curry card come out of the box.

Scrappy:

Oh, wow. Wow.

Jonathan Stone:

We had a Juan DeFranco card come out of a box yesterday as well. So, we’ve had lots of cards come out over the last few days. You don’t get those experiences anywhere else because at home, you’re on your own. You’re opening cards.

If you go to a show, you’re probably buying the cards. You don’t want to open them at the show ’cause you want them to be protected.

But here you can come in, grab the cards, and we’ll give you the protection you need, so that your cards go home in the same condition they come out of that box in.

Scrappy:

The experience, for sure. That’s really interesting. That’s definitely a differential advantage.

Now, you mentioned kids. What percentage of your customers, at least in the first three weeks, are children versus some avid hardcore collector?

Jonathan Stone:

We have, obviously adults that are regaining their childhood through this. We also have collectors that come in with their kids as well.

It’s funny. A little while ago I had the gentleman come in. Him and his daughter actually collect. They’ve been a great inspiration for me and my wife, because to see them bonding over collecting cards, a guy who did this when he was a child and now his almost teenage daughter, getting into it, coming in and raiding up any boxes for her is just, it’s just an amazing thing, watching them bond.

So I think you’re probably looking at a 50/50 split because most of the kids bring their parents with them.

We do mimosas on a Sunday for the baseball moms, just to keep them happy as well. So, we have a few adults come in, but we do have a lot of kids.

Scrappy:

Are you a sucker for a kid with a smile, that wants a good deal?

Jonathan Stone:

When you have a nine month old baby, you’re a sucker for any kid with a smile. Sucker for any kid with a smile.

Scrappy:

How do you make the transition from being an umpire and a referee and being a sports advocate in that regard, to actually selling your wares, from a baseball card perspective?

Jonathan Stone:

It’s been an interesting transition. This time of year, I’m used to… Normally, I’m away in the summer on a baseball field. It’s been hard this year, being at home. But I think life has changed for me.

Now having our Kalimar baby, it’s giving him something that when he’s two, three, four, five, his interest will pique. He can help out in the shop. It keeps him busy.

But not only that. It’s a family business, that hopefully he’ll carry on in years to come.

Scrappy:

That’s awesome. I can tell just by your personality that you’re breeding something special over there, Jonathan. I can totally feel that.

You mentioned graded. Now, it’s really frustrating to me as a baseball card collector, that I got to send out graded cards. Can you explain the process to our audience?

Jonathan Stone:

Cards are worth different value, depending on their condition. In a sense, in the grading world, you’re grading your card from one to 10, 10 being the best, one being the worst.

Each of those grades, depending on the company and the grade you get, are worth a different value.

So just because it comes fresh out of the box does not mean it’s a 10 out 10 perfect condition card. Errors happen in printing, so it might be slightly off center.

We’ve all had those days where we’re fed up with that little bit of black ink crossing through a couple of letters on the printer. That happens in the card world. So, all of those sort of things affect it.

You can come to us. We’ll clean the card for you. We will send it off to PSA, and then that card comes back with a grade on it.

A grade is no better than a referee or an umpire. It’s just one person you’re, paying to give you an independent opinion on that card.

Scrappy:

How much does it cost?

Jonathan Stone:

It varies from $18 into the hundreds, depending on the value of your card. The annoying thing with grading and it annoys me as a store and as a collector, is the grading cost is dependent upon the value of the card.

So if you turn around and bring in a card that’s worth 30, $40, you might get away with an 18 to $23 charge to have that graded.

But if it’s worth 50, 60, $70,000, then we’re going to start talking thousands of dollars for the exact same process. That’s where it’s frustrating as a collector.

But we have to remember, when all these cards are being handed around and they do have these high values, there’s things like, insurance has to be taken into consideration, because that company is assuming the risk and liability of damaging that card that’s worth thousands of dollars.

Scrappy:

For sure. For sure. I have a 1980 Topps baseball card set. Ricky Henderson’s in there as a rookie. What are the chances that if I get it graded, it’s going to come out spectacular and make me a couple dollars?

Jonathan Stone:

I think there’s a chance with any card, it comes out spectacular. It’s going to depend on how you’ve kept it over the years, making sure it’s in as good a condition as possible.

Not only that, the value of cards changes all the time. David Ortiz got entered into the Hall of Fame this week. The value of his cards will change, based on that.

Players that get called up from the minor leagues into the majors, their card value will change on that.

Touch wood it never happens, when players pass away, their value changes on those cards again. To get the maximum revenue out of your card, if you’re wanting to sell it, is about doing it at the right time.

Scrappy:

Jonathan, it’s so frustrating, because I have probably a hundred cards that I look at, that have so much potential. A nice Pete Rose, a Yaz. I got a 1961 Yaz rookie card. I have all these different cards, but it would cost a fortune for me to be grading them.

Jonathan Stone:

Oh, a hundred percent. I feel your pain. We have about 65,000 cards on the shop floor right now, that if I could only afford to do that, I would.

A lot of collectors want their card in the original condition. They don’t necessarily want it graded.

We talk about when you’re watching again, the baseball purist. There is still plenty of baseball purists out in the card collector world that want it in that original condition.

So, there is pluses and minuses with grading. It’s not always the best idea to throw your money at grading. Sometimes, you know what? It’s best you just love what we have.

Scrappy:

Okay. I have my 1961 Yaz rookie card. It’s in plastic. I’ve kept really good care of it. My dad gave it to me as a gift a long time ago. I still have it. Is it better for me to go on eBay and try to sell it or bring it to your store?

Jonathan Stone:

As a generalization, going on eBay, you’re probably going to get the market value for that card. But don’t forget, you’re going to have a 13% fee, which will be a charge from eBay for selling with them.

So let’s say a card sells for a thousand dollars. You’re going to lose 130 straight away. So, now we’re down to 870. All right?

So you come to me. I’m probably going to offer you 750, $800 for that card. So you’re going to say, “Well, why would I sell to you instead of eBay?”

Remember, when that person gets that card, if they don’t like it, they can return it, and you’ve got to return that money.

When it comes to me, that’s money in your hand. You’re good to go. Let me deal with the problem. Let me deal with the customers because just like anything else, if you mail it out and it gets damaged in the mail, you’ve got to deal with USPS, when it comes to insurance and things like that. I can deal with all of those problems for you.

Scrappy:

I think it’s fascinating that you can just reel off 750, 800, off the top of your head, based on a year and a player and a team. That’s amazing to me.

So in that regard too, then you know how much you can get out of it, selling it to somebody else. So that’s all in your head?

Jonathan Stone:

A hundred percent. So when customers come in to sell to us, one of the things that we believe makes us different from some of the competition is, we will give you a price that we believe is fair.

But not only that, I’m going to tell you the price sticker that I’m going to put on that product on my shelf.

So if I come in and think that card’s worth a hundred dollars, I’m going to tell you straight up, “I’m going to sell this card in store for a hundred dollars.” I will offer you $70 in cash and $85 in store credit, which you can use in the store.

But by being transparent, you know that when you come in, in two, three, four weeks time, you see the price. Oh, you know what? He’s done exactly what he said he’s going to do. So, perhaps this is the guy we can trust.

Rather than you look at the stores all over the country. If you go and sell a card to a store and they give you 50 bucks, and you go in three weeks later and you see your card for $400, is that a store you’re going to keep going back to?

Scrappy:

Right. Right. That’s so smart. That’s really smart. If I get that transparency from a company or a card shop, it’s going to definitely make me want to go there on a regular basis.

That’s really, really smart because we have an attitude as baseball card collectors and avid fans, that we’re going to get screwed over, unfortunately.

Jonathan Stone:

Yeah. I think for me, a lot of stores, all up and down the country, when they go from being… They’re run by collectors. Everybody that opens a card store is generally a collector. We have an interest in this.

But when they start transitioning from that to just a store owner that wants to make money, then we lose the concept of why we opened.

But no, I’m a collector. I know what my card is worth. If I know my card sells on eBay for a hundred dollars or $200, and this person in front of me is offering me 30 or 40, why would I carry on doing business?

I know that the card I’m buying from them, they’re making way too much money on. So look, let’s be transparent. I’ll tell you what I’m going to price it out for in store. I’ll tell you what I think it’s worth, but I’m going to also offer you what I think is a fair price.

If you think it’s fair, you take it. If you don’t and you want to go to eBay, there’s zero hard feelings about that. I think we need to be aware of that, as dealers.

Scrappy:

You mentioned earlier, boxes. Is it better to keep a box intact or to cherry pick out six cards that are valuable?

Jonathan Stone:

No. I think, let’s look at 1986 Fleer basketball, the Michael Jordan rookie cards. The individual packs out of those, I think I saw on eBay, some were selling for $1,500 a pack.

Scrappy:

Wow.

Jonathan Stone:

There’s 40 packs in a box. So, we’re talking $60,000 in a box. That doesn’t happen with every product. The product value’s dependent on the rookie class or the class that’s in that product, each and every year.

But generally, do you know what? Buying some boxes and keeping a hold of them, it’s rare a box will ever go down in value.

Scrappy:

Everybody wants the rookie card. That’s for sure.

Jonathan Stone:

Oh, yeah.

Scrappy:

Kyle Trask, the football player, the quarterback for the Florida Gators, I’m a Florida Gator, I bought a bunch of his cards on speculation.

Of course, I bought Kyle Pitts. I bought a bunch of Kyle Pitts. I bought like 20 rookie cards from him. I don’t really know what I’m doing.

I buy these cards randomly. And then all of a sudden, my friend who knows baseball cards better than me says, “Well, these are still not worth anything because they’re not autographed. They’re not the high end brand.”

When we want to get a rookie card on speculation, somebody in college, that’s going into the pros the following year, how do we buy?

Jonathan Stone:

Let’s all remember one thing. Tom Brady was picked in what, the seventh round? Those were cards at the time, that me and you could’ve probably bought on the equivalent of eBay back then, for 99 cents.

That’s not now. You’ve got to collect who you want to collect, who you enjoy and who you love.

For me every year, I’ll look at a product Bowman draft in baseball. I’ll pick some two or three random names that went maybe in the fifth, sixth, seventh round. I’ll pick two or three. I’ll invest heavily in those cards at 25 cents, 50 cents, a dollar and buy as many of those as I can. The cheaper you buy a card, the less money you are going to lose. It’s like shares.

Scrappy:

Sure. Sure.

Jonathan Stone:

So if I buy a hundred of these cards for 25 cents a piece, the most I’m ever going to lose is $25. But if that player makes it makes his debut in major leagues, the moment he’s called up, that’s when you start to sell.

They’re probably going to be 50, 60, $70 at the time, and then you’ve invested. Then you’re looking at that return of money that you can use to grow and enhance your own personal collection, where you want that one holy grail card that we’re all chasing.

Scrappy:

Have you ever experienced the holy grail card?

Jonathan Stone:

No. No. There’s definitely a few cards in the store, that I wished were… that are on… I’m looking at a couple right now, that are in the cabinets, that I’m wishing was sitting at home and not here.

I think I had a kid come in the other day, who wanted a Mac Jones autograph. We have a Mac Jones card on sale in the store. It’s 500 bucks. He’s like, “I just can’t afford it.”

He was 10, 11 years old. “I have $109 in my savings account,” but this is a lower level product, Leaf. There was a Mac Jones autograph on my shelf for $125.

He was 11 years old. He came back the next day. He gave me the $109. 38 cents that he had. He took his card.

I lost money on that deal. All ends up going back to the kid with the smile. I lost money. But the smile on that kid when he ran across my store and showed his mom, it’s every penny of losing $10.

Scrappy:

You got a customer for life.

Jonathan Stone:

Oh, but isn’t that the thing? Isn’t that thing that we’re all forgetting? Today’s low level customers are tomorrow’s medium level customers and the next day’s big level customers.

Making an impression on kids today… We have a penny section. I don’t charge kids for cards out of the penny section. You come in. You spend an hour. You find 50 cards. You’re 12 years old. I’m not taking 50 cents from you. Do you know what? Have a great day.

But when they come back the next year and buy some 25-cent cards, when they get their collection better, just seeing them grow with their collection, isn’t that what this is about?

I’m here to pay my bills. Look, Let’s look at the business aspect of this. I’m here to pay my bills, but I’m not here to buy a Ferrari. I’m here to give my nine month old baby a future.

By watching other kids slightly older than him, grow up and build their future, and isn’t that aiding my baby’s future as well?

Scrappy:

That’s awesome. That’s awesome.

Jonathan Stone:

The baby comes in store. It’s me and the wife and the baby. I have customers that pick him up. I have kids that interact with him. My nine month old baby’s making memories for other people. Do you know what? That’s it for me. That’s worth more than anything else.

Scrappy:

Your biggest regret, you must have one that you looked at and you said maybe. And then all of a sudden, it blew up and you said, “Damn it, I should’ve bought that.”

Jonathan Stone:

Oh yeah, easy. Don’t even know why I thought about it. Anything with Luka Doncic’s signature on, anything.

I’m a Maverick’s fan. I didn’t understand the hype at the time. I thought, no, this is crazy. There’s going to be thousands of them. The hype in Luka and where those cards have gone, I think that for me, is the biggest train I never jumped onto.

Scrappy:

Okay. For those kids that are watching, any parting advice?

Jonathan Stone:

Do what you enjoy. Don’t worry about what anybody else around you enjoys. Do what you enjoy. Invest in what you want, because no matter what eBay says your card is worth, what it’s worth to you is more important than any number on eBay.

Scrappy:

Oh, that’s great. I love that. I love that. I’m going to visit you, for sure.

Jonathan Stone:

Hey, it’ll be great. Let’s get those cameras on. Well, we’ve got a trade night coming up this Saturday. Just, we’re going to fill the store out with kids. I just can’t wait to see all these kids interact.

Scrappy:

That’s great. That’s really great. You’re doing good stuff, Jonathan. Thank you so much. We really enjoy your time.

It’s The Come Up. We’re featuring entrepreneurs. You’re just on the cusp of it. I’m excited for you. I’m really excited for you.

You’re a risk taker. You’re an innovator. You’re doing it. Southwest Florida, just up the road in Venice, Blue Breaks. Awesome.

In Episode 9 of The Come Up, meet Florida Pet Adoption Specialist Gary Willoughby who answers all your pet questions

Florida Pet Adoption Does The Come Up

Should cats have claws?

Should men have cats?

Why do we hoomans bond so much with our four-legged friends?

lee county animal services

These questions and all things pets are answered by Pet Adoption Specialist Gary Willoughby, Executive Director of the Gulfcoast Humane Society, a non-profit no-kill Fort Myers animal shelter funded only by donations. The facility takes in 3,000 homeless pets a year and provides veterinary services, transitioning homeless pets into happy, loving homes.

lee county veterinary services

Gary is Scrappy’s guest on Episode 9 of The Come Up, Content with Teeth’s video podcast chronicling dynamic entrepreneurs in SWFL from Naples to Sarasota.

Episode 9: SWFL Pet Adoption Highlights

fort myers animal services and pet adoption

Da’ Big Snip: Gary mentions a whopping percentage of SWFL dogs that are not spayed or neutered. The number will blow your mind. Gary’s animal services shelter performs almost 9000 operations on adoptable dogs annually to remedy this problem.

The Big Chill: Scrappy describes what is the best spot to de-stress in Lee County, one that is open some nights and weekends too. Learn what it is and why it’s better than a yoga studio or bar.

florida animal rescue

Pre-Historic Pets: Find out more about early humanity’s spiritual connection with their pets. Gary describes how early humans bonded with and domesticated wild animals nearly 12,000 years ago. This bond continues and is fostered by animal shelters where SWFL residents can adopt dogs and other animals.

florida animal shelter

Get Your Animal Questions Answered: Is it cruel to de-claw a cat? How do you train a puppy? Gary answers all your pressing animal questions. His answers on homeless pets might surprise you.

Florida cat rescue

Catch other key nuggets in Episode 9 of The Come Up like how dogs help autistic children and how distinctive personalities emerge in a litter of lovable puppies. This episode is so much more than divulging a rescue spot to adopt dogs and cats.

About Gary Willoughby & Content with Teeth

For UnBoring Content like The Come Up, contact Content with Teeth HERE. Find out more about Gary Willoughby and the Gulfcoast Humane Society HERE.

The Come Up Episode 9 Video Transcript

Scrappy:

What up? What up? What up? What up? What up? I’m Scrap Jackson. Welcome to The Come Up. It’s a video podcast, celebrating Southwest Florida’s most interesting entrepreneurs and executives. We’re brought to you by Content with Teeth, a creative content marketing agency right here in Southwest Florida. They do it really big like this Fathead behind me. If you want to be a guest, reach out to me at @HeyScrappy on Instagram, or text Content with Teeth at 21000. That’s Content with Teeth.

Our guest today is Gary Willoughby, Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Humane Society. It’s a non-profit organization in Fort Myers, which is a no-kill animal shelter funded only by donations. They take in 3,000 homeless animals a year, provide veterinarian care, and transition rescued animals into happy, loving homes. Gary, welcome.

Gary Willoughby:

Thank you so much for inviting me.

Scrappy:

Yeah, it’s great to have you here. Let’s start with the hard facts. 80% of dogs in Southwest Florida are not spayed or neutered.

Gary Willoughby:

That sounds about right and we’re doing our best to try to remedy. We do almost 9,000 spay/neuter surgeries every year in our clinic.

Scrappy:

What do you profess to people out there that are being irresponsible with this?

Gary Willoughby:

Well, again, if they only have one pet, they may think it’s not necessary because their dog or cat’s not going to get out, or their cat’s not going to get pregnant, but animals get loose all the time. It’s something that we strongly recommend. There’s too many pets ending up in shelters in one of the best remedies is spay and neuter.

Scrappy:

I have interesting story for you. I worked on Palm Beach Boulevard and my work was stressed. I love what I did, but on a stressful moment, I’d say, “You know what, I’m going to go by your facility and I’m going to pet the dogs, talk to the cats, and just relax for 15 or 20 minutes.” It always did the trick always. Now, that afternoon, I went back happy and healthy and ready to go. Is everybody allowed just to come by and browse?

Gary Willoughby:

Oh, absolutely. You don’t have to have an appointment to come see our animals. We’re open seven days a week here, so we fit about any schedule, again, including one night, Thursday night, today, we’re open until 7:00, and then open again Saturday and Sunday, so come by. You don’t have to be even ready to adopt. You may just want to come and ask them questions. If you already have a dog at home, you want to bring your dog out to meet one of our other dogs, we also have folks that help you make sure it’s a good fit for your family.

Scrappy:

Okay. I went through this process for weeks, checking out your cats and your dogs and having a nice time with them. I finally adopted and I got Zoe, my cat. It’s very cathartic. Pets are very cathartic. Can you elaborate on that?

Gary Willoughby:

Yeah, it’s something called the human/animal bond that we’re big believers in you. Again, we think of animals as part of our family. There’s a lot of studies showing how they help with your blood pressure, giving you a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Sometimes if people are fighting depression, or they’re not feeling well in general, knowing that animal’s counting on you for care, for feeding, to take your dog for a walk, all that, it’s good for you, and obviously, it’s good for that animal that needs you.

Scrappy:

I call it a spiritual connection. I feel like that emotional bond between an owner and a pet is so profound that it’s hard to put to words.

Gary Willoughby:

Yeah, they’re 100% reliant on us. We’ve domesticated animals many thousands of years ago because they were important to us. Our ancestors knew that and we first domesticated dogs, but way back in 16,000 BC, so it’s been part of our lives for many, many, many generations, and we know that importance. That’s what we’re always advocating to keep animals in loving homes if they already are there and they need help with pet food or affordable veterinary care, or whatever, the last thing we want to do is see somebody’s family broken up by bringing their animals to us when we can help them keep it in the home.

Scrappy:

Absolutely, absolutely. Speaking about cathartic, I’ll give you a quick story. There was this kid with autism and his mom was actually going to see some dogs and check them out. She was actually going there shopping, if you will, for her nephew, but her child with autism had three dogs approach him, one, after he screamed, he screamed really loud, threw his hands up in the air. He was out of control. One dog ran, one dog approached him, and the other dog just sat there and looked at him, and it was so calm and so wonderful that he actually was trained to be a service dog. That dog to this day is helping this child with autism. I really feel like it’s something to promote is not just the camaraderie and the companion that we get from a cat or a dog, but also the wonderful effects they have on us.

Gary Willoughby:

Absolutely. There are many people that are taking advantage of emotional support animals to help them add value to their daily lives and animals like in the situation you just described often can read our body language and they pick us as adopters as often as we pick them. We may come in thinking we want one dog, and then another dog you may see really knows, “You’re my human and I want you,” and they send that signal to us and we end up adopting that dog or that cat. Again, especially folks with special needs. Not every animal’s perfect for every family, and so that’s great that you have that experience. Again, we see that. We have folks from Lark and other community organizations that come out here and spend time here and work here one day a week and the way they are around the animals is really incredible to see them come out of their shells.

Scrappy:

Is it true they take on the personality of their owner, or are they innate, and they stick that way?

Gary Willoughby:

Yeah, I think they probably stick that way. They learn habits from us. Again, if we’re couch potato, they might end up being that way as well, if we’re very active, but a lot of it is in innate in their personalities already, and that may be why we’re drawn to somebody. Usually, we see that couch potato dog with a couch potato type person, and that person that likes to jog three or four miles a day, they’re going to pick an animal that’s equally able to do that jogging alongside with them.

Scrappy:

How soon can you tell a puppy’s personality? How many weeks old?

Gary Willoughby:

I mean, I guess we see them at all ages. Oftentimes, they’re with a mom and sometimes that can be harder how big the litter is, so they’re forming their… You can tell the differences in a litter. We just recently had a momma dog of nine puppies that came here when the puppies were pretty young and it didn’t take long at all to see they were nine different personalities. Sometimes they’re also even, they look very different, lots of different colors and shapes. You don’t always know who the father is. We just saw the mama dog here, but nine distinctive personalities in these puppies.

Scrappy:

Do you have any hints as far as adopters coming to facility and looking for a puppy as far as how to pick?

Gary Willoughby:

Yeah. Shelters generally don’t get a lot of puppies. When we do, they tend to get adopted quickly. That’s where I would encourage you, like you’ve done in the past, is come and visit, talk to some of our staff that work with them every day. They can start starting off with asking new questions about what you’re looking for, your living arrangements, other people and other animals in your house, how active you want to be. Are you looking for somebody to go on car rides with you, or on your boat, or just to play around the backyard? Learning more about you and your family helps identify the type of puppy, the breed, the characteristics, the sizes, and all that would be best suited for your house.

Scrappy:

Gary, as an executive director, how did you get in this game? What motivated you to become where you are today?

Gary Willoughby:

Yeah. It wasn’t a direct path. I started off this shelter actually as a kid, I moved to Florida when I was young, and I actually adopted my first kitten from this shelter in 1979.

Scrappy:

Wow.

Gary Willoughby:

So, I go back to the organization quite a ways. Right after I graduated college, I adopted a dog from another group in St. Pete and I started volunteering for them and then I fostered and I helped at special events. Later on, I was a board member of a different shelter here in North Fort Myers at the Animal Refuge Center. After I finished grad school, I decided that I wanted to make this my not just something I did on the side, or as my hobby, or my volunteerism, I wanted to do this full-time, and so that’s what I’ve done for about the last 15 or 16 years is worked in animal welfare organizations in several different states, and was super lucky that this opportunity back in my hometown became available last year.

Scrappy:

How rewarding is it?

Gary Willoughby:

It’s an emotional rollercoaster some days because when you love animals as much as we do, you see abuse and neglect, but when you see those animals overcome that and find that great home afterwards, it recharges you. It’s really, when you see animals that come in scared and leave happy as could be and getting those updates from people who’ve adopted, it makes all the difference in the world for us.

Scrappy:

One of the biggest problems with cats is they scratch. They scratch the furniture, they scratch a very various things, so do we declaw them? Because I’ve heard a lot of bad things about declawing.

Gary Willoughby:

Yeah, I was most recently was up in New York state and we had it banned at the state level, so it’s against a law to declaw cats up there. It’s not something we would do or recommend. We understand, again, why people are concerned about nobody wants to be scratched, and especially if they have thin skin and they’re worried about bleeding or things, but at home I have lots of little scratching pads and scratching posts and you train. My cat was five when I adopted him and it took no time at all to get him used to scratching on those. My furniture’s all safe, I’m safe, I don’t have any, so they can be trained out of it in most cases. Again, our staff is happy to offer some advice to folks, because again, the veterinarian share with us how troubling of a procedure it is for the cat’s health to do that, so we strongly discourage that.

Scrappy:

Sure, sure, sure. How smart are cats?

Gary Willoughby:

I guess like people, I mean, they vary. Mine seems to be a very bright guy and they like the routine. He’s friendly. He’s very, very affectionate for 30 seconds and then he runs off and does something else. My cat’s pretty smart and I think most of them are. They’re more trainable than I think people know, too. Some people leash-walk their cats, some train them to walk through a cat door to go to the porch. Again, they’re usually pretty bright creatures. Again, they’re very different personalities than dogs, but again, I have both at home, and love them both equally.

Scrappy:

Okay. You have a dog and a cat. Are you inclined to take all of them home at the end of the day?

Gary Willoughby:

I’ve been guilty of that in the past where I’ve had four dogs and three cats, plus fostering animals, and I wasn’t even the worst example in my place of work. I’m better at it now. My little dog is old and diabetic and visually impaired, and so right now he’s not looking for a new buddy, so I try to be sensitive to… I do take animals on the news all the time and I fall in love with a different dog just about every day, so I really just try to celebrate when I find that right family for them and they get adopted because I know as much as I love one dog tomorrow, there’s going to be another one in this place I like just as much.

Scrappy:

Sure, sure, sure. You have a cat, I have a cat, so we’re guys that have cats, but in some respects, I still hear that it’s not cool for a guy to have a cat. Sometimes I mention to people at work, “Yeah, I’ve got a cat and I’m proud of it,” and they look at me sideways. How do you respond to that?

Gary Willoughby:

Yeah. Again, to each his own, I guess. I’ve always loved cats and loved all animals. I’ve had rabbits in the past. Yeah, I don’t know why it is that guys think it’s not cool to have cats. Although again, we are fortunate. We’re around a lot of our volunteers and our staff. The guys here have cats and like them as well. Doesn’t mean you’re less of a guy because you have a cat. I think I have a really cool cat. His name is Emmett. I think he’s awesome. Even when I took him on the news, the guy interviewing me there wasn’t a big cat fan, I could tell, and that’s okay. Again, maybe that’s peer pressure, or how they’re brought up, maybe their dads didn’t like cats as well. I love them. More for me, I guess. If they don’t, I want them.

Scrappy:

Okay, okay. I have a couple of feral cats in my neighborhood. Is it dangerous to touch them?

Gary Willoughby:

Not dangerous to touch them? I mean, they’re usually more likely to run away from you, so you’re probably not going to be able to. We do a lot of TNR surgeries here at our clinic and work with a lot of groups who trap them in the communities to make sure they’re spayed or neutered. But again, they’re happy just to have some food left out for them. They don’t want to bother you. They want you far away from them. Our goal is just to make sure there’s not a lot of unplanned litters of kittens coming from those feral cats, because again, when they’re born outside, that’s a tough environment for them. Those also, if they’re not socialized at a young age, by the time they’re seven or eight weeks old, they may not be able to be socialized.

Scrappy:

Interesting, interesting.

Gary Willoughby:

So, the sooner we can get them in, and the feral cat groups we work with, when they catch them, we try to take the kittens in and foster them and socialize them so they can also be adopted inside houses, not outside.

Scrappy:

Okay. Huge general question for you. Tips on how to train your dog.

Gary Willoughby:

Hmm. Probably I would consult the professionals in that. There are a large amount of… You can do general dog training classes or puppy classes at your local PetSmart or things like that. I’ve done that in the past with animals. There are a lot of specialists depending on what your dogs, what it needs training on, so if it’s jumping a lot, if it’s training on housebreaking, on how to get along with other dogs, there’s a lot of different things. There are experts who make this profession just studying dog psychology and behavioral tendencies, because again, all dogs, just like people, are all individuals, and so their care plan needs to be tailored to their specific issues and their home environment. Sometimes the trainers will tell us as well part of it’s also training us as the dog owners that sometimes we’re part of the reason why their behavior, we may not always be reading the body language, and we might need training ourselves just as much as the dog does.

Scrappy:

Interesting. Very interesting. More specifically, how do we train a puppy to pee and poop outside

Gary Willoughby:

Crate training is what I’ve done. I haven’t had puppies often, but crate tanning, getting them into a routine. Again, if you’re were somebody who’s gone 12 hours a day, that puppy’s not going to hold it that long, so puppy pads in your crate. Even my older dogs now, every time they drink, or every time he eats, he’s going outside right afterwards, so getting him out, trying to read that body language. When the puppy’s done playing, when he is done eating, or drinking, or wakes up from a nap, he’s got to go, so getting him outside quickly and teaching him that routine and then celebrating when he does it good outside and then bringing him back inside and giving him a treat and all that, so rewarding that good behavior. They want to please us.

Scrappy:

Absolutely. Absolutely. I’ve heard mixed opinions about crating. You believe in it?

Gary Willoughby:

Yeah, I have for years and years. Again, making sure it’s a large enough crate. You don’t get one when they’re a puppy and then they can barely squeeze in there later on. You want to make sure they have room for their treats and their water and their bed. I have a dog bed in mine for my little dog. Especially if you have other pets in the home, again, some people may have a spare bedroom, or something that they use. The dogs often… I look at it, I have music on at home as well, I make sure the blinds are drawn, so it’s not too bright. Just try to have a nice… Just like we want to sleep in a comfortable environment, you want to make sure it’s comfortable for your dog.

Scrappy:

Sure.

Learn 3 tools that are idiot-proof to create content that converts

3 Stupidly Easy Tools to Create Content that Converts

Need content that converts?

Need prospects who engage with your written, video and/or audio media to take an action like responding to a CTA?

In other words, smash a button on your landing page, reply back to that sales email or hit subscribe on your podcast?

Outside of the dry (and boring) parameters of marketingspeak, what you really need when discussing content that converts is that you need …

HOT CONTENT

content with teeth is from FluriDUH

You need fetching and amorous content that gets hot and steamy with a prospect’s twitchy finger.

Why You Should Care?

In this post, you’ll learn how to raw dog a search engine with three easy digital tools, so Google et al. will serve you up prospects who can embrace all you have to offer digitally. Reach your content ideas, check off your content marketing goals and consummate a value proposition that cures your audience’s aching pain point.

Is Pepé Le Pew Content That Converts?

content that converts is amour fou

Let’s change the arc here to non-problematic subject matter. Let’s discuss engineering. Let’s discuss digital tools you should be using to get content marketing that converts!

You are starting out or pivoting in your career in the drive to create content. You have heard or tried using fancy digital tools like Google Analytics or Semrush and, well, uh …

… things are way too complicated! You want to create content and improve your conversion rate, not nerd out as a pinch-hitting software engineer. You need effective and easy-to-use. Even better if it’s free or doesn’t cost a fortune.

Before we discuss three digital tools that an idiot or Dostoevsky could use, we would like to present the clickbait …

Content Marketing Case Study: How We Improved 40 Ranking Positions in 1 Week

Realtor John Garuti III wanted to target a new community called Verandah in Southwest Florida. He hired Content for Teeth for content marketing work in order to rank organically for keywords related to the community.

The Content with Teeth team improved a blog post titled Learn All About the Verandah Community in Fort Myers by 40 ranking positions for JG3 Homes in just ONE week.

Follow this step-by-step case study with us to find out how we hit that goal. Copy and paste the content strategy to ultimately boost conversions, increase engagement and, overall, boost your content marketing efforts.

Stupidly Easy Tool Content That Converts #1: Ubersuggest

How do you find things? You use certain words or phrases to indicate what you are looking for. In onlandia, these are called keywords. Finding the right keywords can help people find your content. Ubersuggest is a keyword research tool that isn’t overly complicated and overpriced. Here’s how to use it.

Step #1

Neophyte content marketers, head to Ubersuggest and find the Keyword tab from the panel on your left. Insert the keyword into the “Get a detailed keyword overview” box and hit SEARCH.

Type a relevant keyword or keyphrase into Ubersuggest for maximum content marketing results

Step #2

Check the search volume, SEO difficulty, and CPC (cost per click of your keyword).

Ubersuggest's Keyword Overview will boost your keyword research and content marketing results.

Step #3

Scroll down to examine other keyword ideas.

In Ubersuggest, find keyword ideas to optimize your content

Step #4

We chose “the verandah fort Myers”. At first, we’ll look at the “SUGGESTIONS” tab.

A content marketer can use Uberuggest as an easy-to-use and affordable keyword research tool

Next, valient content marketers should click on the orange arrow next to your chosen keyword.

Ubersuggest allows you to find keywords to write content that converts

Click on “Search Results”.

Scroll down to see the websites that rank top for your keyword. You can see how many backlinks they have, the paid difficulty and the SEO difficulty.

Ubersuggest provides keyword metrics like volume and domain authority to aid your content marketing

In this case, examine the blog content of your competitors that you want to rank against.

If you move to the “RELATED” tab, you can see similar results for keywords that are related to the one you chose.

Before you write content, find keyword ideas to guide your content and allow you to increase conversions

Under the “QUESTIONS” tab you can notice the questions that are being asked around that keyword.

Investigate different keywords and choose the keyword that matches the level of difficulty you can handle when creating content.

Regarding cost, Ubersuggest is great because it is useful and not overpriced. You can find a subscription level to match your budget or pay a one-time lifetime access cost to jettison annoying monthly charges.

Stupidly Easy Tool for Content That Converts #2: Surfer SEO

When creating content, Surfer SEO is a tool where you can optimize your content and get it to rank faster. Let’s take a look at how it works.

Step #1

Head to Surfer SEO and log into your account. Under tools, click on “Create” next to Content Editor.

Surfer SEO can optimize your content in order to boost conversions and generate leads

Step #2

Whether it’s a blog post, landing pages or a web page, write down your title and keyword that you got from Ubersuggest. Next, examine the tools that you have.

The Surfer SEO interface gives you a "roadmap" to optimize content and increase conversions

On the panel to your right, you will see 3 different tabs:

  • GUIDELINES: Shows content score (and details), content structure (number of words, headings, paragraphs, images), and terms you need to be using.
  • OUTLINE: Contains the Outline Builder (Surfer AI-generated Titles (H1), Headings (H2), and Subheadings (H3-H6)) and Topics & Questions section.
  • BRIEF: Contains Notes and links to Competitors.

Step #3

Hit the gear icon on the top left of the right panel to start customizing.

The guidelines in Surfer SEO give you a valuable resource for more conversions and overall lead generation

Now, you need to examine the top 10 competitor links and turn on the link that has a high content score and domain authority with a reasonable number of words that you are willing to write.

In Surfer SEO, turn on competitors' content that you want to outrank

Little hint 1: Make sure the form of content you are creating and ranking against are compatible. In other words, if you are writing a blog post, you want to turn on blog posts too instead of web pages. Similarly, if you are creating a sales page, you need to avoid trying to rank against a blog post and choose web pages instead.

Little hint 2: You want to avoid ranking against industry behemoths such as Zillow and Airbnb, in our case. Remember to always make your goals attainable, this is not to say that you cannot surpass their ranking one day!

In our case study, we have chosen to proceed with ranks 1, 7, and 10 and clicked “Let’s go”.

 

Study your organic competitors in Surfer SEO, a content optimization toolToggle competitors that are "within reach" in your effort to boost conversions and lead generationIn Surfer SEO, target competitors with a high domain authority for "best in show" results

Step #4

According to your selection of competitor sites, Surfer SEO will reveal the content guidelines or the ideal range of words, headings, paragraphs and images you need to target in order to compete against and even surpass the rank of competitor sites.

 

Surfer SEO allows you to optimize your content structure to rank faster on a search engine

Step #5

You initially did keyword rsearch in Ubersuggest. Now check out the keywords (and their corresponding frequency) in the right panel under “Terms”. Make sure to include them when writing content and to respect the suggested range.

Check keyword frequency in Surfer SEO to keep content relevant and increase conversions

Surfer SEO also presents some headline suggestions in “Topic & Questions” in that “HEADINGS” tab that can improve your content score.

Write you post, then optimize for keyword frequency in Surfer SEO, a content optimization tool

Step #6

Make use of  the”OUTLINE” tab to generate ideas and to make sure you talk about topics that will significantly improve your content score. This tab makes writing content less of a burden. Remember to not copy-paste content, but to recreate it by adding your own unique touch.

The outline builder in Surfer SEO can give you ideas on content structure in your drive to solve your customer pain points

Step #7

Check out what your competitors are all about in the “BRIEF” tab under “Competitors”.

That’s it! You now have a “blueprint” to seduce Google.

Actionable Tricks

  • Aim for a minimum content score of 65.
  • Always start by writing content as a draft. Afterward, start adding/replacing with the keywords.
  • Try to hit the target number of the top half of the keywords in the NLP section. You can also include the lower half of the keywords, but that won’t increase your score as much. Steer clear of keyword stuffing as Google seriously penalizes websites that do so.
  • Keep your goals S.M.A.R.T: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Stupidly Easy Tool for Content That Converts#3: Tweak Your Headline With Biz Title Generator

A great deal of effort spent creating content should be dedicated to crafting your headline. According to research cited by Neil Patel, 80% of the people who come across your post will never read beyond the headline. Only 20% will read the thing.

Why Should You Care?

Your headlines are responsible for your traffic. If your headlines suck, so will your traffic. If it summarizes everything the user is wishing to see right away, you won the battle. No one wants to waste their most valuable asset: their time. If your headline is worth it, they’ll go for it. Remember, it doesn’t end at the headline. Attractive headlines bring guests to your door. You have to make sure the welcome is warm afterward for them to stay and spend time in your digital home.

Step #1

Head to Tweak Your Biz.

Most people don't get beyond your headline, so get a catchy one with Tweak Your Biz.

Step #2

Type your topic in the box and pick whether it is a noun or a verb. Click SUBMIT

Tweak Your Biz is a simple tool to generate content headline ideas with easy-to-use inputs

Step #3

Go over the results. They are categorized into Lists, Best, How To, Questions etc…

 

Tweak Your Biz presents headline ideas as listsTweak Your Biz presents headlines in a "Best of" format

Pick one that is most relevant to your content and tweak it. Make sure to not lose your authenticity by copy-pasting the title as is. Now you can proceed to create content that ties back to your attention-grabbing headline.

Headlining 101: The 3C’s

  • Clarity: Make sure the reader can understand all that your content is about by just reading the few words in the headline.
  • Conciseness: Remember that there is a character length for headlines for different forms of copies (an email, a blog post, a landing page, etc…). Make sure you don’t exceed that length as you risk cutting off your headline.
  • Credibility: You can sugarcoat your headline to make it as clickable as possible, but it is never okay to swindle people into clicking your headline. Avoid clickbaity titles like: “How to Gain 90000 Followers in 1 Hour” or the even more cringey “3 Stupidly Easy Tools to Create Content that Converts“.

BONUS: Tool #4: Yoast SEO Plugin

We’re not done! We have another low-cost and totally useful digital tool.

What is the Yoast SEO Plugin All About? How Is That Relevant to My Content Marketing?

We have previously mentioned how the headline can make or break your work.

The Yoast SEO plugin ensures your headline is optimal and that the character count is well in the required range.

You can start with a basic version of Yoast SEO for free! Now that you are done creating content, it’s time to optimize. Scroll down your draft where your plugin resides.

Just insert the keyphrase you formulated in Ubersuggest into the focus keyphrase box as shown below.

Optimize your headline in Yoast SEO, a tool that offers so much more

Go for green lights in Yoast SEO's analysis results

If you are creating content, this plugin offers you a range of different suggestions to make your page rank better. However, in this blog post we’ll focus on the headline improvement function. Yoast tells you whether:

  • You have the exact match of the focus keyphrase that appears in the SEO title.
  • Your focus keyphrase is at the beginning of your SEO title.
  • SEO title width is optimal.

Ok… But Umm …?

You’ve read this far and I sense a disturbance in the force …

If you want to increase conversions, hire a pro like Content with Teeth

If you want attention-grabbing headlines and a shot at higher conversions and generating leads with your target audience, BUT you don’t want to cook AND do the dishes …

Find Someone Else to Do It

We at Content with Teeth create content and have oodles of experience as an agency specializing in copywriting and video production. Let us get your content marketing strategy over the goal line.

Call us at +1(888) 552-9235 or schedule a free consultation to get content that converts and gets down and dirty with Google.

R.I.P. content marketing 2022 and beyond? Hell no!

R.I.P. Content Marketing 2022?

Is content marketing dead in 2022?

Every week, you can search for an article declaring that content is over …

Why?

It’s too hard to reach an audience. Creators in all formats are abstaining. Social Media sites are narrowing intake. Ranking higher is getting increasingly difficult. And Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals can’t move the needle organically.

Big content marketers are reading the last rites and sounding the alarm about the field.

We’ll take a look at some of the content marketing trends over the next few years and explore whether or not it’s still a viable strategy. Spoiler alert: It is! Read on to find out why.

Too Many Channels With Nothing On

Content marketing 2022 is fumbling with the remote with too much on and nothing to watch

Content creation has never been easier.  An eight-year-old with a phone can record, edit and post something on the internet that will be competing with other low-cost, easy-to-produce content.

Real Housewives Phone Gif By RealitytvGIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Gone are the days of major motion picture studios, TV networks and print Goliaths that monopolized distribution. Their content was force-fed to the audience. Today, everyone has a motion picture studio in the palm of their hand.

This present content glut was a given. You’d be an idiot not to see this trend. Content may be king, but it is overexposed.

Content marketing 2022

What Is Content Marketing?

Marketers are like IT people and speak their own hard-to-understand language. Uh, like, what is content marketing?

Let’s explain the buzzword.

Content marketing and content strategy may seem like buzzwords to many.

It is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive a profitable customer action.

When done right, content marketing has been proven to provide ROI far greater than many other traditional marketing channels.

Content Marketing Strategy Explained

A well-defined content marketing strategy will increase traffic to your website by 2000%.

Better content can increase traffic by 2,000%. Creating killer content marketing efforts requires more than just writing well-crafted words and publishing them online. To be truly effective, content needs to resonate with the target audience and stand out from the crowd.

A key prerequisite to a winning content marketing strategy is thorough research. You need to thoroughly understand your audience so that you can create engaging, relevant content tailored specifically to their needs and wants. In order to take your content strategy to the next level and create compelling, high-quality content that performs well across multiple platforms, start researching, refining, and optimizing the copy. The payoff will be worth it – in terms of both engagement and ROI. The content marketing industry is expected to grow by USD 417.85 billion from 2020 to 2025.

CONTENT MARKETING ISN’T DEAD, IT’S JUST HARDER!

Some digital marketing gods have declared that there is a glut of content and the big platforms (Google, Facebook, etc) are discouraging inbound content by reducing outbound links (social media) or making sure the plants in their own garden get all the water (Google prioritizing their own content).

SEO Veteran Rand Fishkin claims that the ‘’Golden age of SEO is gone.’’

He reminisced about the good old days when he used to work at Moz.

At that time, SEO was relatively low-competition. You could rank easily, and when you did rank, Google made sure to send people to your website, not keep them on Google.

But today, the situation is a whole lot different. You cannot rank number one by pointing to three anchor text phrases. Every keyword today has 10,000 competitors and SEO is much more complicated.

Content marketing trends

It’s not just marketers sounding the alarm, but governmental officials as well.

Last year, the Ohio Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Google, declaring the internet Goliath should be a public utility when it comes to search.

Google uses its dominance of internet search to steer Ohioans to Google’s own products–that’s discriminatory and anti-competitive,” Yost said. “When you own the railroad or the electric company or the cellphone tower, you have to treat everyone the same and give everybody access.

“Content is … the biggest challenge in 2022”

To steer back to digital marketing legends, Neil Patel echoes the same sentiment saying that ‘Content is going to be the biggest challenge in 2022.’

How I Met Your Mother Barney GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

There are over 1 billion blogs on the internet and almost 1.7 billion websites. And when you think about it from a content perspective, roughly 7.5 million articles get published every day. Which comes out to 2.7 billion articles being published per year. So, the market is more saturated than it was ever before.

Nevertheless, this does not mean that the era of content marketing is over by any means. It just stresses that what’s going to give you an edge over your competitors is creating distinctive content.

Mind-Boggling Stats

The content marketing statistics in 2022 speak for themselves.

According to a global survey conducted in 2020, 37% of marketers said their organization spent up to $10,000 on content marketing efforts that year and according to 2% of industry professionals, their content marketing budgets for 2020 range from $500k to 5 million dollars.

43% of marketers had an increase in their content marketing budget, and 66% believe it will climb even more in 2022. The following are the primary content priorities for 2022, 45% of businesses want their brand to be more famous, 37% aim to increase website traffic, 36%  want to generate leads with content marketing, and 23% strive to improve customer loyalty with their content marketing.

Top Content Marketing Trends

What are some of the content marketing trends that are flying under the radar in this rapidly changing landscape? Some experts believe that 2022 and on may bring about a resurgence of long-form blogs and white papers, as consumers seek more in-depth information online. Others believe that new formats such as augmented reality (AR) will gain even greater traction over the next few years, offering brands exciting new ways to connect with their customers. Some still swear by the effectiveness of interactive videos and video marketing in general.

Whatever the future holds, one thing is clear: creative content marketing is here to stay, no matter what changes come our way. And while some trends may slip through the cracks now and again, those who can stay ahead of the curve will continue to reap rich rewards in the years to come.

Native Content > External Content

Native content now has greater importance for awareness infiltration. Social media platforms are working to reduce the reach of any form of content that is not native.

Why?

By directly posting native content on social media instead of a link, users are glued in immediately, free of surfing to other sites. Therefore, Facebook and others don’t want to facilitate user jaunts to other sites. Such platforms also want users to spend as much time on them as possible.

Deservingly so, they want material for their platform. It’s not about links only. Any proprietary sign is also included.

For instance, your Instagram Reels won’t be effectively reached out to your audience if they have the TikTok watermark on them.

Social media platforms are favoring native content over external content making content marketing more challenging on content marketers.

So, posting native content elicits more views and keeps Goliath happy. Moreover, native content messages cut through just as well as directing messages elsewhere. It might take more time to deploy this tactic but heightened ingenuity – and elbow grease – are in demand today.

Empathy is the New Search Engine Optimization

Content marketing 2022

In strategic content marketing, algorithms dictate the engagement game. Are creators the game changers? Rather than scurrying to adopt new SEO schemes to conform to – or beat – the system, maybe the game-changers are the content creators.

The arcane system that fed SEO suits is crumbling. But not content. Consumption of content has never raged stronger. Instead of wallowing in this quagmire of overpopulation, there needs to be audience empathy, something that has been lost on the current, “woe is me” SEO pushers.

The Content Strategy Revolution

Content that solves problems of the audience, that is aware of the pain points of the prospects and strikes the bullseye with a solution will win the day. You can do on-page SEO and optimize a piece to the gills with SEO tactics, but if you don’t do 1990’s Bill Clinton and feel your audience’s pain, then you won’t do as well.

Ultimately, you can add value by being a problem solver, not a technocratic keyword stuffer who produces content with a “good score” but is nearly impossible to read because it is so convoluted with SEO tactics.

To truly excel in content marketing you need to have empathy for the painpoints of your target audience.

2022: The Year of Creative Content

In fact, recent research shows that robust content marketing programs are likely to take precedence over SEO by 2022, as businesses recognize its true value in driving revenue and engagement.

So smart marketers focus on creating engaging and interactive content that speaks directly to your ideal customers – and let the power of SEO help amplify the message!

Yet Still, Myopia Persists …

Medically defined as nearsightedness, we think myopia also exists in content marketing. It’s when content marketers fail to focus on the long-term content marketing goal and hop on the latest content marketing trends.

This leads to the ignoring valuable data and insight into the decision-making process. Marketers will end up overlooking consumer intent, user-friendliness and the greatest king –customer-centricity.

 

Blindly following content marketing trends is giving content marketers myopia leaving them incapable of producing consistent results.

It’s just a ‘Bad Workman Quarrels With His Tools’ Strategy

Some people have noticed that usually these arguments are hauled out by practitioners of said dead art/strategy.

What Ross is saying if you can’t get players on base that doesn’t mean other teams can’t hit either.

SOLUTION: INSERT EUPHEMISM  FOR UNBORING CONTENT HERE

Per Neil Patel, you need to create content that “stands out” and eschew tried and true formulas.

We argued in an earlier blog post, that “creative content” is the difference-maker:

The problem is that “creative” is entirely subjective. You might find projectile vomit to be creative or appalling. We find it creative but we’re all different, right?

"Creative content" is one of the content marketing strategies that gets all the real balls.

Create and Execute the Perfect Marketing Strategy

Whether you are creating a new product, building a business or establishing yourself as an influencer in your industry, originality and creativity are essential for standing out from the crowd.

Capture your target audience attention with your unique content marketing strategy.

At the same time, competition is fierce in content marketing and any real content strategy. With so many people trying to capture the attention of potential customers, it can be difficult to break through all the noise and reach your target audience. This is where creative marketing agency like Content with Teeth comes in with done-for-you marketing.

Stand Tall

So if you want to get ahead in content marketing in 2022, remember: when it comes to content marketing trends, the key is that you need to create something that is truly #outside the box – something different and non-normal – in order to stand out from the rest.

Don't blindly follow content marketing trends. Instead, stand out in your industry by prociding relevant content that is creative and valuable to your target audience.

The only way to succeed online these days is by being authentic and unique; by tapping into your true passions and interests. Run away from cliques and the status quo.

In other words: cultivate your voice, set yourself apart from the competition and take your creative vision all the way to 11.

Bolder, Braver Content in a Sea of Mediocrity

Insert your fav business euphemism for content that stands out. Our term of choice is UnBoring Content. Far beyond the “different” cliche of “creative content” is an underlying tactic called contrast, absolving content of normalcy and striking it with a complexion completely foreign to its adversary.

Bolder and braver content is what we call the new content marketing trend.

Google anything and you will instantly be bombarded with the same message over and over. Expect companies that differentiate themselves with a non-routine branding strategy and unorthodox content marketing strategy to widen reach, appeal to customer needs, increase revenue and elevate brand recognition.

Content strategy is like a business strategy. Aim to follow a blue ocean strategy instead of a bloody, red ocean strategy. In other words, stop following what everyone else is doing. Become a pioneer.

Contrast: The New Marketing Mantra

In 2022, content marketers should include "contrast" in their content marketing strategy.

Contrast” is not the same as “different”. When a word becomes a cliche, it loses its spike, swagger, sincerity and prestige. Contrast has impetus and won’t be a cliche for years. It is a new rally cry that can be adopted to effect change in marketing department messages.

Good content marketing strategy dictates that in order to succeed, something must have its own category. Contrast has that and it can be advice advocated as a fresh approach. And it will be the umbrella for tactical, creative change.  For instance, companies creating unique podcasts will enjoy growth.

CASE STUDY: EMAIL AUTOMATION FOR MACHINE TOOL SUPPLIER

We have a long-standing client who is a manufacturing supplier. They had an accessory that they were discounting and we suggested email automation in Mailchimp to generate interest among their target customer audience.

We created a blog post and promoted it with a mass email blast that used analogies in a colorful way to promote a machine tool accessory:

The email blast had 12k opens and only 20 unsubscribes.

We created automation in Mailchimp to reach out to contacts who opened the initial email blast.

Further automation was triggered by contacts who opened the previous email.

The automated emails had solid open rates. The click rate is down but only 1 of the 3 emails had buttons to click. The goal for these emails was for the prospect to reply back and we stripped out the buttons.

 

Wordplay can lift rote content to the sublime

For all three automated emails, we didn’t “spam” people because we only had 11 total unsubscribes.

The campaign largely worked because the client reported they had several prospects express interest in retrofitting their legacy machines with the accessory that was on sale.

Looking at the numbers, the automation generated significant activity. For this client, quotes on accessories jumped in July 2021 (the month we ran the automation) compared to the previous July (2020) by 63.6%.

In short, by using email automation where the copy and design was useful and “UnBoring,” we were able to generate results for the client.

Let the Wizard of Words Be Your Differentiator

Let Content with Teeth's talented content marketers take care of your content marketing strategy.

Have you seen or read everything that is recommended to you?

No. It’s impossible with the glut of binge-worthy books, movies, television shows, podcasts, video games …

In an age where the barriers to create are low, there’s a LOT out there. Content marketers can skirt the “Death of Content” dirge by“stand outing” and being exceptional problem solvers. Create useful content that is not a retread and boring.

Be original a newborn content baby held lovingly in your parents arms

Are you a business owner or CMO with questions about attracting customers with the help of experienced hand pressing the hot buttons on effective content marketing trends and sound content marketing strategies? We at Content with Teeth have decades of experience in copywriting, video production and other media. To learn more, call us at +1(888) 552-9235 or schedule a free consultation.

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