Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Open Mic: Getting Ready for a Radical 2021

Episode Date: December 31, 2020

Happy Thursday and welcome to another episode of open mic. In this episode, host Ryan Alford sits down with Radical's Account Executives (AE), Alex Finley and Kaitlin Bowler. The conversation in today's episode highlights life as an AE,  2021 resolutions, goals, trends, and more.Alex Finley was Radical's first hire. She keeps up with all the latest trends and brings a refreshing realness to today's episode. Kaitlin Bowler was hired in February 2020, and has been taking bold leaps as an AE ever since.Pro Tip: These are the people you want to have on your account. Enjoyed this episode? Then share it on Instagram and tag us @the.rad.cast | Do you want to hear more from our host? - Give him a follow @ryanalford on Instagram. | The Radcast is a product of  Radical Company. | Instagram: @radical_results | #theradcast If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here. What better time than now? You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up?

It's Ryan Alford. Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast, Open Mic Edition. We're coming up with tons of editions here at the Radcast. We're getting closer and closer to a daily series here on the Radcast as we've grown. I am joined by two of our marvelous AE's. We'll stay away from, we've got a senior AE and an A.E. Whatever. Let's stay away from titles here. But actually, employee number one at Radical, Alex Finley, cheers, claps, and hoorays everywhere.

And Caitlin Bowler, good to have you both. Good to be here. I know. Hey, that intro. I was just really like thinking of. all your titles and all those things and I'm like employee numeral uno ground zero yeah yeah oh no it's been been a wild ride it's been a radical ride it's been a radical ride radical a couple years here uh are we coming up on was it would be three years or my days are running two and some change two and some

change I know it's all coming together so I'm glad to have some ladies here you know on on We have Riley, obviously, producing the show and on it, but, you know, Josh, you know, Josh is an attention hogger. Let's be honest. Oh, yeah. Let's be honest. That's celebrity nowadays. Yeah. He's good.

It's not getting to his head. It's kidding. It's the furthest thing from Josh's head. But it, but it is funny. He is becoming multi-faceted here at the agency. Yeah, multi-talented Joshua Hill. Man about town. I know.

So how's the holiday's going, Lise? It was good. I hung out with family and everything. which was kind of nice to have that be the end of 2021. Felt like it was going to be a lot different, you know, this holiday. But I think my family did a good job still hanging out and making it feel normal, quote, unquote. Yeah, mine was pretty chill, relaxed, which like you said, was a nice little wrap up. And, I mean, I think it was nice to just unwind for a little bit and not have to go through so much of the hustle and bustle of going from getting everyone to go to the houses.

And did it feel like you could catch. You know, 2020 has been a fucking wacky year, let's be honest. But is it, we're able to, like, catch your breath and it feel somewhat normal? It was relaxing, I think. It was nice, like a nice little kickback for a little bit. Yeah, to not have to travel, travel, travel, by everybody present. Yeah, it almost slowed down because of COVID, like, you know, like kept most nuclear families together, you know, versus going a million places or whatever.

So I would hope that maybe it created some semblance of peace. Yeah. I definitely think it did. I think everybody appreciated just being together this year instead of like, what's under the Christmas street? You know, it was like, okay, I got a gift card. Cool, that's fine. It wasn't so much about presents and stuff.

It was just lucky to be together, I guess. I had a lot of friends, too, that really didn't post a whole lot. And I think that was, and I didn't. And I think that was kind of nice because then you're just in the moment. And you're not, okay, let's do it for the grant. Like, it's not all that. It's, okay, let me enjoy. my nieces and nephews or my mom or whoever so I like I enjoyed that but even for me as much

as I post like I didn't I threw up stories like a few things like the kids got so that you know family that follows my stuff like they'd see whatever but I was pretty silent on that end as well which was kind of nice yeah yeah same any uh so new year's is coming up this will this will release on New Year's Eve that's right Riley and so New Year's Eve so happy New Year's Eve for everyone listening. We always get in this mode. Stay safe. I know.

I think we are having champagne at our, one of our segments here soon. You guys will like miss it out by one or two segments. No, we're actually coming in on that one. Okay, everyone's going to come in. So we're actually scheduled to be. Any big New Year's plans? Again, kind of minimized a bit. I think minimized a little bit this year, but still hanging out with some people.

trying to make the most of it, ringing in the new year. I'll probably be asleep by 1130. I already know. 30 minutes before. No shit. Last year, Nicole and I, I am 99% sure we were asleep at 10.30. Yeah. Especially after you have a couple of drinks and you're like cozy and you're sitting and it's like,

I woke up and like happy New Year's. I don't remember. Like we, I don't know why. We aren't big New Year's people anyway. I don't know. I think it's a little, it's how, what they call it, Amateur Hour. I don't know. And then this year will be interesting with all the parties.

Parties, even the ones that probably shouldn't be happening will hopefully be minimized. But I don't know. Well, I'm interested, too, to see, like, for some of the bigger parties that are happening, you can't serve alcohol after 11. Yeah. So how does that, like, what is that for New Year's, you know, when it's. Well, it's funny, too, after, like, last year we're not big New Year's people usually. But last year, we did, like, the up on the roof thing, you know, went up there. 10 people deep at the bar.

I got to the front. I was like, I need a bottle of wine and two glasses. I was like, I'm not coming back through this line. So last year, we were like, we're definitely doing something next year. Like, we just need to buy the tickets and do it. And then 2020 happens. And it's like funny how life works, I guess. All right.

So I guess everybody would be chilling our home parties with a limited gathering. So I don't know what we'll do. We've got all the kids and New Year's Day, all the bowl games, like Clemson, I'm a big Clemson fan. so sorry they're Alex being a South Carolina fan but but they don't play until Saturday or I guess Saturday's New Year's Day the whole Friday Saturday thing's throwing me off a little bit threw me off with Christmas I thought Friday Christmas Day was Saturday for all the whole I don't know why but the most of the good games that I mentioned are on set on New Year's Day itself but we've got all the

kids and you know so we get kids under the age of 10 this new year's is just kind of like yeah right just grill out have some champagne call it a night sounds about right I know so any big uh new year's resolutions are we new year's resolutions people that's hard I feel like I you know tried to and I was like oh I'm gonna like work out and drink water whatever but it just like I feel like it's just a setup for failure sometimes you know because then you bog yourself down and you're like oh it's been two weeks I can't do it so it's like I don't know I start like every week off kind of with like here's what my goal for the week is rather than like here's what I'm going to do all year long because I don't know I feel the same way I usually

pick a like do the one word thing so try to pick a word that all of my decisions kind of go towards that like this year was capacity so just to kind of see what like how how much can I take on and handle it and so I'm still kind of thinking of my 2021 word but it's because I feel the same way of if I say oh water workout like halfway through February I'm off the like off the boat a wagon whatever and then I feel like I failed so I don't want to do that so then it's literally just picking one word where that's what I'm doing and all my you know choices go towards that one word so still you know juggling which word it is but um i like that's like that's more like you're just i don't know it's i think something easier that you can do and people i've seen where people put it like on their

phone background or they put it on their computer or some people will get like a piece of jewelry made to where every day they have a reminder of that one word that they're you know trying to accomplish so yeah that's my i like that'll be my 2021 thing i'm the anti new year's guy Look, you're either self-motivated or you aren't. And I like the start of the weak plans, much more manageable. And like, I like just biting off what you can chew and being having, you know, like, you either take care of yourself and you're either motivated or you're not. You know, like, and that doesn't mean taking care of yourself means that you have a six-pack.

I don't have a six-pack. Like, you know, like, abs and you work out 23 times a month and like all those things. It's, you know, what does that mean for you? making, you know, lifestyle changes instead of, you know, kind of arbitrary goals that kind of come and go. But for me, ironically, I say all that, but I do let myself enjoy the holidays. So the way that coincides, I do typically kind of pick back up my normal routine the first week of the year, you know, and so like it's not that I go completely in the dumpster, but like I just don't, I enjoy food.

I do things, you know, just to enjoy the moments of the holidays. So it kind of happens to coincide, you know, with that week. But it kind of, I don't know, all the New Year's stuff and, you know, the gym membership's picking up. I think we're all ingrained to like, because ever since we were little, I mean, New Year's resolution,

maybe even, you know, more so back when you were younger. Like, you hear your parents talking about it. So I think that's a normal. Yeah. Like, hey, I'm going get fit. But also, too, yeah, you get tired to eating all the, like, I go garbage. during the holidays. I'm like,

bring it off. I told Nicole last night, or is he yesterday or the day before, it's like I do feel like I'm ready for more whole foods right now. Yeah. Like there's just so much. Your body just kind of gives up. Yeah.

I need some lettuce and some like green beans. I don't know. It's like it can't run on this. It's a lot of processed stuff here lately. And, you know, the Reese cups don't help. Somebody gave me those for Christmas and they were laying around the house. There's always a limit.

Yeah. Is that process? That's a whole food. A Reese cup? It's a whole. There's peanut butter. Whatever I meant you feel better about it. Yeah.

I'm going to start that as a New Year's resolution. R.C. Diet. Recy cups only. Recy cups a day keeps the doctor away, right? Yeah. Be more like 20 Reese cups for me. I think everyone has that one food that they literally cannot control themselves with. Like, if you have it, it's going to, like, it's gone.

That's how, I mean, I have like a couple, maybe more than one. Where if I have it, it's like, it's all gone. What's the, so you guys are both in account management. So we're, I think it's, you know, with the New Year's just kind of like looking forward and looking back a little bit. Any best stories or as you reflect on the year that's been so crazy as COVID and everything like that, anything that's kind of like sticks in your mind from the year. So I think everyone had like a March that lasted like six months and I've had a website that's lasted or like development that's lasted well far longer than six months but thought it was going to be great get everything done and then sites live oh let's make 10,000 changes. You know or I wanted it so specialized to where coding was involved but

Now I want to be able to update it myself. And I don't, I don't understand the coding. And so it's like that kind of fun. You know, what's interesting in being in, you know, running an agency and doing what we all do. We're in client service. We operate to service clients and to do marketing for them. And what people probably don't realize is any client that we get that lacks marketing sophistication. And that's not a knock.

I'm not ridiculing any client. But they just, they haven't been around it. They don't know it. They've started a business and they know they need marketing, but they don't understand it. You would probably think from the outside looking in that that would be the easiest client to work with. It's the hardest client to work with. It is the hardest. Because they don't know what they don't know and they can't, you know, we can only do so much, you know, because we don't own their business.

We don't run their business. We don't know everything in their head. And so when they don't know what they don't know, it can make the process incredibly painful and long. That's where I'm at. That's where I'm at. How it all happened. There you go. There's only so much shopify can do.

Right. Right. I mean, yeah. There is not an app for that. Right. It's not a plug-in that works. But I want it. But I want it.

I don't understand. Yeah. So that's been mine of just dealing with that. Never-ending story is a movie. Never-ending website is your story of the year. That is always a never-ending website. There's always one. Well, and two, I think people also don't realize that websites are never finished.

They're always being updated. They always need tweaks. It's always, but it's like, oh, I thought you said it was done. It's like, it's a really good point and something that I think, a really great point. I would love for anyone hearing this, it's either working on a website or maybe a business that's listening to us. You have to realize that the evolution of your site never stops. You have iterations. 1.0. Let's get a homepage, the core functionality, and a contact us done, and let's launch

1.0.1.1 can come 30 days, 15 days later. You don't have to solve every one of the world's problems in 1.0. Right. And so, and that's the way most development thinks. But again, depending on the level of knowledge and sophistication of the client, you know, they're thinking, how do we get done? And it's never done. Yeah, so Alex, any big reflections on 2020? I think back to like the March, it was like the March that never ended. And I know that we started working at home and it was kind of like, oh, we're only going to be gone for like two weeks maybe.

And I think we were lucky enough to like come back in pretty soon. But we also kicked off like four Scansource projects at the same time. So I was like, woo, like coffee in the morning. I want to work in my PJs and stuff. But I'm like, what's that? Like, fingers the typing every morning, like, trying to work on forced cancer's projects at home and coordinate with everybody here. So that was a wild time. That was what that was interesting because it's natural human.

Mine was the same way. Like, okay. You know, I mean, owning the agency. Like, but when we all go home and I knew we were working from home and like what was going on and like there was this, you know, these so many more outside influences that you normally have. Yes, we all live in the world when we know that, but we're all kind of being impacted by the virus and everything. But yet the work was still intense and going and improving, which is, thank God, you know, like, it's a good thing. We all kept our jobs and I kept the business. But it's a good thing.

Nervous laughs. Yeah, me too. And so we benefited in some ways from it, but it was like, okay, this isn't. But again, not because even owning the business and being invested, like, it wasn't a break. You know, like, but you naturally go home and it's a little bit like, okay. It's going to be, not that you're not going to work. Jane of scenery, and that was really off because it was wearing sweatshirt, PJs, whatever, but it was still going.

And it was also like while we were adding new projects, we were also having to basically completely redo all of our current clients because they all had to go online. They all had to update their website. They all had to figure out ways to do curbside pickup. They all had to, you know. So it was multiplied, you know, amplified that whole month, really. I know. It was interesting.

It was kind of, I wonder what the, I don't know what the, like the memories, hopefully this all gets behind us, you know. Like there's this part of me that's like afraid, like, like, look, being in South Carolina in a conservative state, we've been, you know, we were able to get back together using precautions. We have a very spaced out workspace here. So we've been lucky and benefits, you know, some people have had a lot worse. Of course.

But I do wonder like, and, you know, I'm almost afraid, you know, the vaccine's going out and all this stuff. And it's like, but I'm almost like, I feel like, it's just going to be COVID-24. You know, like, like, part of me, you know, is like, like, afraid to get excited about going back to football games in August because, like, you know, I want to be positive about it. But it's like, okay, when can you really go? All right.

It's in the rearview mirror. Right. I don't know if we'll get the, I mean, at the rate that they have. have to give out the vaccine and everything. Like it's a holding, holding your breath game a little bit because you don't want to get too excited. Yeah. This is really a damper for the,

we're releasing this on a New Year's Day. It's like, yay, 2020. By the way. Well, but the thing is, it hasn't really hampered what I, I mean, I'm just living.

We're working. We're doing, like, it's not stopping anything, but it's like, it's obviously impacting stuff. So it's just like, how is 2021 really going to be?

You know, as far as like, some of our just normal freedoms or expressions of, of, going out. Like we're planning a family trip in March and it's like, I'm just tired of having to think about it the back of my head.

Like, oh, wait, can we just do normal stuff? Yeah. So, yeah. I think, like, marketing-wise, it's going to be interesting to see how many people are online, what they're able to do, you know, like user experience on their website too. Like, how are you really going to keep people

if everybody's online? You know, I think it's going to be interesting to watch businesses. I think that's absolutely right, because, you know, and Josh and I and Riley and I talked about this, like, that genie isn't going back in the bottle. Like a lot of people that maybe were slow to e-commerce or slow to online, you know, behaviors and stuff like that, they aren't going back. And so it's going to be crucial that the user experience kind of comes along with that. And I said this on like on a post I did on LinkedIn a couple of days.

It's like most websites still suck. Like it's or they just aren't good enough for where we are, I feel like. You know, it's kind of like, and again, it's never done. But I think there's just a lot of ways to go with, especially like online shopping and stuff. And like we're a Shopify partner. We build a lot of Shopify websites. And it's great for what it is. But we haven't quite found as I think just a overall development universe.

Like the perfect online shopping experience that brings in like AR and VR and like like yeah, you can kind of see what that dress will look like on you or that pair of shoes or whatever. It's kind of getting there. But I feel like there's going to be a lot of innovation as far as that goes. This is the next year or two. I love on Amazon, I can like see what this little vase will look like in my living room and you just like poop and, you know, do that. Yeah. But also love too like how Instagram like the.

shopping and just being able to literally just not have to leave. You know, it's just like, bink, bink. But then also my, I was just going to say my poor card. I have a whole file. Yes, it's like, please stop. Please get her off Instagram because she is just buying everything. My ads are too easy because I just save all the stuff I want. They're like, oh, well, we know she'll like this.

I'm an easy targeted audience. You're raising your hand and then you're raising both hands. And I know how this works, which is the sad part. I'm still giving it. Yeah. That's crazy. Any, anything for 2021, like on your radar? I'm not you guys both are kind of looking at trends and doing things like that,

but I guess you keep being in the marketing vein or anything that's caught your eye. I think it's interesting to see, and we've done this already, like starting out, you know, how direct mail pieces are playing in and how things that people can actually touch are really playing into it. Because people can't go out and shop as much anymore. you know, we've said that, but how can we still get product to people and make a difference? And I think it's going to be more of like the touch and the feel. And like, you know, we're sending out, we're working with a lot of fabric people right now is kind of what I'm thinking. And it's how can we get samples in their hand versus them coming in for like conferences and that sort of thing.

So just trying to find different ways of doing things that are still cool and innovative and people want to be a part of. Yep. That's cool. Yeah. No, I agree with that too. And I think it's just expanding like, I feel like I have to like release my. mind and it kind of expand on like you said direct mail pieces like you think it's this one thing but it's just kind of like okay let me just relax right for a second and let me think what else could

this be so definitely that for sure and i think it's going to be key to keep you know pushing clients and like you know as we're kind of stewards of of marketing innovation and like people telling them and recognizing that, again, things have changed. And, like, again, even what, no matter what happens, you know, people are not going to be going to conferences in March, you know, like, for the most part. Right. You know, like, I'm not wishing that to happen. It's just reality.

And probably not, you know, this year for the most part. Yeah. So thus, you know, how do you think about how you interact with them and how you create those personal touches? I think it's going to be important. So on that end, I mean, you're both in a. account service. So, you know, we kind of reveal behind the curtain here with the agency. Like, yeah. And I mean, the whole agency is. Like, you know, they, you know, I joke sometimes like,

oh, we have account managers and creatives, but like, you know, we're serving clients. We have business because of clients. So the whole agency survives on client service. But what's kind of been your, your perspective of the job and how you feel about it? I like being able to. to be upfront and honest because for me what comes up comes out and so

like very yeah no very yeah so I like that of you I mean yeah you do have to have those hard conversations but I to a degree enjoy those just because you're dealing with real issues but you're also like speaking the truth as long as it's the truth and you know so I

I enjoy that and I like to be organized so this is as long as you're organized and your follow-up game is good like you know so those are you know things I enjoy about it yeah no I definitely feel the same way I'm an organized person but I like being the middle man in a way I think like I mean being here in the beginning to like I wore a lot of hat so I liked being creative and having like strategic ideas that are also kind of creative and getting in a room with like the creative team and kind of being like here's what they want to do here's some options that I'm seeing other people do, you know, and it's not so much just, here's my A.E. here, and I have to write emails all day. It's kind of nice to work with a team

that's small enough to have opinions that aren't just strategy, strategy, strategy all the time. You guys both, I mean, in client service, you're kind of the, I call it the orchestrator of the business, like in a lot of ways. I mean, you either, I think you either embrace that or you shy away from them, the best account managers kind of embrace it, because at the end of the day, You aren't, it doesn't, when you, I think when you're the orchestrator, it doesn't mean you're playing the best violin or the best singer or the best insert thing here, but you're kind of making it all go. I mean, is it something you guys embrace? I think so. I like it.

I like, this is going to sound so cheap. I like challenges. I like playing up to people's, like, strengths and stuff and finding, like, the perfect thing to say, whoever, you know, like that. I feel like successful, you know, when I do that. Or like I like the challenge and I like having it all work out at the end or, you know, seeing something on paper that we've written out. Like, hey, here's, you know, the landing page of the client wants. And we create the brief and the creative request and everything goes through.

And then you see it when it's done. Like, I like that because I know I had a hand in each piece. And I feel like you get to know like our team really well and you're like, that would be a great project for Blank. And they would really excel at doing this. You know, so I think that's fun too of being able to, you get to know your team really well and their strengths. Then you're able to, like you said, kind of combine all of that and get some shit done. What's the hardest part of the job?

For me, delegating sometimes because I get like excited about like I'm a weird in between of like creative and strategy. So it's me sitting there writing just strategy that I'm supposed to be doing but being like, but what if we did this? You know, so it's kind of like I have to sometimes keep my mind just straight on one thing or else I get ADD and go everywhere. But delegating, I guess, sometimes. Mine is the turnoff, like not responding to that 930 email or that. Like, that's my struggle. Or I'll wake up in the middle of the night and I'm like, shit, I'm up.

I could hammer out some emails right now. And I'm like, no, Caitlin, it's, that's happened last night, 3.30. Like, lay back down, go to bed because you're going to. be like tired of you know what i mean so mine is definitely the turn off have you seen that meme that's like the the waitress that wakes up in the middle of night she's like i forgot to bring ketchup to table 30 too like that's me sometimes yes yes i didn't send that email yeah no or i could just man can you imagine how much stuff i could get done if i just ham did an hour of emails in the middle of the night like but what like you know so for me it's finding the work life balance on that shut off

i have i had to like i used to like keep a pin and paper next to the bed because i wake up i do the same thing. I came up through account service in my original days and have the same mentality and it's hard to shut it off. And it's hard to, and I do feel like my best ideas are come in the middle of the night or in the shower. I don't know what that is about, but, you know, like, maybe it's like your only time where you're not like, I don't know.

You need an expo marker. I don't wait before. Yeah. But yeah, but it's hard to, it's hard to shut it off. And, you know, I remember, you know, and even now, like, I don't, not be. in the throes of every single project. It's not as much as you guys, but I'll get those emails. And, like, everybody has a smartphone now.

And, like, so it's like, you know, unless you just put it away or put it on silent or whatever, it's hard, really hard for me to kind of like not, you know. But I also don't, you don't want to set that. It's like you, there's this fine line of, look, and I think we're very available to our clients. You know, like, I think I've, I've, uh, beat you guys up well. I guess I'm not, but you're also naturally that way. Let's be honest. I don't want to, I'm not taking credit.

You guys do great at it. It's, I think, ingrained in our agency to be available and to provide great customer service. But at the same time, we're all allowed to have lives. And it's like when, you know, and maybe, and someone would say, well, it should never shut off, you know, like. No, it has to. It has to.

You have to woo's off for a second. Like, I get home and take my watch off because I'll set my phone down, but I don't want to, like, the emails. Like, yeah. Yeah, at 7.30, I'm like, we're done. The phone's on silent. Like, any, it's going to have to wait, unfortunately. And I try to not ping you guys too much.

I'd do it to Riley, but, you know. But I'm hopeful that she's, you know, but I usually do on Slack, which I think most people have silenced at a certain time, which I'm fine with. I'm happy that that's that way. But, like, it's more like documenting the thought than expecting it to be answered in that moment. Oh, yeah. But we've all, I think, been trained of, okay, Ryan, respond, respond, respond, we got to respond, we got to respond.

Right. It's solid, I saw it, I saw it. Because if you don't get slack and then you get email. But, you know, like, I don't text you know, like, I needed that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think I play that part, like, too hard. No, but I think we're all like. Who's in the room producing the show, like, you know, throwing things at me.

Yeah. But, uh, what? If someone, so someone's listening and like they're trying to get into the ad agency business or they're considering a change to the ad agency business. What like with you guys' role would you tell people is like, you know, what would be the point of advice in consideration of this kind of role? Like anything that comes to mind? Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility, flexibility. Multitasking, multitasking. Collaborate.

That was. And then also I think, not that you can't have feelings, but don't get your feet. Like, you know what I mean? Because, like, you said you like to be super creative, but when someone comes in and is like, that idea sucks. And you're like, all right, well, literally, I just spent 30 minutes thinking about it. And, you know, whatever. So, but I think it's that of like, put your big girl pants on and make it happen.

Make it happen. And yeah. And as long as in the end, it turns out great for the client and the client's happy, who gives a shit whose idea it was. You know what I mean? Like, really, like, it got done. It's done. Yeah.

You kind of have to be a bull. And you kind of have to, like, you kind of have to, like, will things to happen a lot, I feel. It's not just kind of like, well, whenever they get it to me. So you kind of have to be the bad guys sometimes. And you have to be okay with that. I mean, we're all friends here. I don't want to make it sound like we're like the bullies of the group or anything.

No, but it's got you have to be able to go up to somebody and be like, hey, I need this and this was the timeline. Like, can we make it happen or not? Because I got to tell the client if it's not going to happen, you know. Yeah. It would never get done if left to the creatives. And not because they don't want it to be done or whatever, but it's just not in their DNA of most of the time.

to kind of have that because it can always be better. I was just going to say they're perfectionist. They want it to be better. The idea can be better. And like, you know, like my saying is like done is better than better. Right. It can always be, you know, like it's never perfect. Perfect.

You know. But it's like you have to kind of evaluate it. Did we hit the strategy? Is it doing, is it moving the needle or as best as we think it can for the objective? And then kind of roll with it. but I don't know. It's always an evolution. And nothing's ever done.

No, no. And that's the crazy thing we talked about websites, but a lot of what we do with social media management, get that post out and let's make a better one tomorrow. You know, like we're going to post four more times this week. Like it doesn't mean, you know, put something out that you don't feel good about or you're not, like, proud of. But they don't all have to be home runs.

Yeah. Or they don't, they're just not all going to be. Right. And we don't know. sometimes you don't know what's a home run when you think about some of the things that have been successful for some of our clients like yeah sometimes we know it

we're like yeah we gotta get that out of there that's gonna be good yeah but sometimes you don't they're like okay that did better than I thought I would yeah like what was the one video we put not to bring Josh back into it when he's not not to talk about Josh when he's not here but when like radical we posted the video I think of him doing a mic test and it is our most engaged

piece of it was at least for a little while I think it's like because people just shared it thought it was funny and stuff. So it's like, I think that's also another thing that I think our team does really well is kind of getting off the beaten path. Like, not everything has to have a message with it. You know, not everything has to be like, come by for this burger or something. It can be a burger video that's just funny.

And people are like, yeah, I like that. Yeah. You know, and that's getting, helping with engagement without having people think about it. I like it. What's your, um, is we kind of close out. What's your take on what's happening with TikTok? I know that was not in the show notes, by the way, but it just kind of hit me because it's been, you know,

coming more and more to my radar as I begrudgingly, you know. I watch it, but like I'm not engaged like as much as I am on other channels. Only from a client perspective because we run a digital agency. So I know the platform. I'm understanding the platform. But my own personal interest in the platform. But how are you guys, are you guys getting more engaged in or are you ignoring it other than if you have to do it for work.

I'm engaged. See, I'm ignoring it. I'm in there. I like it. I quote, I have a small dictionary in my mind that I just pull out weird little, you know,

like I'm the person that remembers like little lines and stuff and like communicate with people that way sometimes, which could be annoying and I get that. But I also like going on there, I think I'm geek, I like a little bit of geek about it too just because I know what we could be doing on there.

So when I see ads that are, that I'm watching all the way through because I don't realize it's an ad. It's like it's just a different, different source there. You know, it's a different way of thinking about how we could be doing ads too because having people watch them and not realize that that's what they're watching or feeling like they're being advertised to constantly. And I think that's just the platform to do it on.

Yeah. There's a formula to it though. Like the more I've been watching, it's like, and it's gotten, you know, obviously it was, you know, it was what, 10, 15 seconds, maximum length. And now that's extended or, you know, I don't know if it's a minute. I think it's up to a minute. But there's still a weird formula to it all.

Like I'll watch 20 videos and there'll be about completely different things, but there's a formula to like 15 of them. Yeah. And so. They definitely track and know what you're into or how long you watch a video determines, you know, if you start getting more videos like that or whatever. So it's very interesting. It's definitely a learning curve, I think, for a lot of people, too,

to like realize what they're doing as far as advertising on that platform. too. And I like, too, that they're doing a lot more. I think there's more opportunity for collaborations to there because while the ad's not sponsored, so you're not just flipping through it, people are like, oh, here's this like curling iron or whatever and they're using it and you save the video because you like the way that their hair turned out, whatever. Like you're going to go back to that and see, okay, well, I like that curling iron.

I might just buy it, you know. There's a whole ADD to it all because, like, I don't know, like, you. Because even myself, who is ADD, we'll be watching it. And if it doesn't get, like, I'll watch three videos. If it doesn't get to it in two seconds, it's like I'm gone. And like, so it's creating even more of that kind of intention. But all the videos that do well are like getting right at it. You know, like even the informational ones, it's like they've turned what was normally

have been a five-minute instruction video into 20 seconds. Yeah. I've seen some information ones that have almost made me download. the app and get on it. Like, just because I was like, oh, no shit, I had no idea. Like, let me just learn something. How many pieces that I'll watch on TikTok that end up on Instagram pages, you know, because they're just taking content from that too.

And it's really getting spread around. Have you, so you both admitted, I can admit, we've bought from Instagram. Oh, yeah. Yes. Have you bought anything because of TikTok yet? I have not. Except cranberry juice. I bought the cranberry juice.

Speaking of curling iron, so I asked for one for Christmas. Because that's the first thing I thought it was the curling iron. But I haven't tried it out yet. We'll see. I got it for Christmas. But I saw a video and they had short hair and I was like, oh, cool, I'll try it out. We'll see how it goes. So that was the first thing?

That was the first thing I've bought. You need to keep trying. Because that's one thing. I know, and don't even wrong. I ask that question more to curiosity, but I know it's driving. I can see where it's going. I think the ad product is going to get better. and some of that integration is going to happen and the e-commerce stuff it's all coming and but I do think that

most of this year the platform was kind of evolving and I think if you asked most people it's probably like 20% had bought something from it I think that's going to that's changing quickly as people get more and more engaging in and then marketers like us get better at advertising on the platform I think if it makes sense to sell on TikTok then you should yeah because it's kind of like why not it's free if people like it, they're spreading it around. Like, if you do the for you, it's going to end up on your for you page. Like, it's just going to happen. And I think there's a lot of, like, beauty bloggers that are making a ton of money on

that thing right now because all they have to do is show, you know, if they're on YouTube doing it, make it a TikTok. Like, if you're already making the content, make it a TikTok. You know, I think there's a big opportunity for brands there to work with people and collaborate too. All of it. Any final thoughts as we close? up open mic it's been great having you guys on it's been good yeah it was nice it wasn't so bad

no I know it was I was I know it's not too bad we appreciate you guys in general and for coming on and we'll we'll make it less than two years in between Alex yeah I know maybe I'll get invited back after this one we're coming in for the shampant cool well we appreciate everyone listening to this episode of the radcast you know where to find us the radcast You can find me at Ryan Offord on Instagram. And we'll have the social channels for the ladies up on the produced show if you watch us on YouTube, which you should be because Riley spends a lot of time producing the video content for this and it's a lot more engaging, adding context to everything that we're talking

about. So stay tuned for the next episode. We'll see you next time. Yo, guys, what's up, Ryan Offord here? Thanks so much for listening. Really appreciate it. But do us a favor. If you've been enjoying the radcast, you need to share the word with a friend or a friend or

anyone else we really appreciate it and go leave us a review at apple or spotify do us a solid tell more people leave us some reviews and hey here's the best news of all if you want to work me directly if you want to get your business kicking ass and you want radical or myself involved you can text me directly at 864 7293680 don't wait another minute let's get your business going 864 729 3680 we'll see you next time