123. Making Media Work with Mary Ann Pruitt

Essential Skills for Supervisors Training

We have an in depth conversation with Mary Ann Pruitt, the CEO and President of Mosaic Media, a collection of media buying experts and creative strategists who negotiate, purchase, and monitor advertising space and airtime. She shares some marketing wisdom gleaned from her extensive career in media strategy and how it relates to the ever evolving climate of media.

Connect with Mary Ann Pruitt:
Website: https://mosaic.agency/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryann-pruitt/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mosaic.agency
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mediaMAPs

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You can find Dana @adashofboss, @dana.dowdell and @hrfanatic
Dana Dowdell – Boss Consulting – HR Consulting
Google -  https://tinyurl.com/y4wxnavx

You can find Russ @reliable.remediation
Russ Harlow – Reliable Remediation – Disaster Restoration
Google: https://g.page/r/CXogeisZHEjMEB

Transcript

Dana Dowdell  00:04

Hi Russ

Russ Harlow  00:05

Danna. Good morning.

Dana Dowdell  00:07

How are you?

Russ Harlow  00:08

I am having a great day. How are you?

Dana Dowdell  00:11

I'm fabulous. I'm very excited for our guests this morning. We're talking to Mary Ann Pruitt. She's the CEO and President of Mosaic media. So, we're going to talk about media buying. We're going to touch on generational media. Consumption, we're going to talk about all of Ross's favorite things. So, Mary Ann, welcome to It's Just Business.

Mary Ann Pruitt  00:33

Well, thanks for having me on. I'm really looking forward to this conversation.

Dana Dowdell  00:37

We are looking forward to it as well. So, tell us about mosaic media, how it got started your history.

Mary Ann Pruitt  00:45

Yeah, absolutely. So, my actually, I started in marketing as a graphic designer at a very young age, I was 1617 started working for a small company. And then I found myself in the media. And I've worked for some of the largest media companies in the nation, some globally as well. And I had that amazing experience when my college experience of Marketing and Economics together really made me fall in love with media, which sounds weird, but economics is nothing but data and statistical information, and then marketing together. And it's this beautiful marriage. So, I actually fell in love with media. And then from there went into, you know, probably a good peak in my career, I was like, where am I gonna go next. And I saw all the media landscape was changing. So drastically. This was before, digital was really digital. And various things like social was more coming on board and various things along those lines. And I really saw a need for companies for small businesses in that. So, we started about in mosaic with a conversation and a specific focus just on media.

Russ Harlow  01:55

So, I think media is a really broad term in so can you help define it, or at least, kind of draw it down a little bit to where your experience is, and what you're talking about when you say media.

Mary Ann Pruitt  02:06

So, when I talked about media, I talked about the paid space. So the main focus is anything. And when we started to where we are now is totally different. But you know, you have your traditional platforms, your TV, radio, print, outdoor, you have your social platforms, you have your Google your beings, your Amazon's, and then now in today's world, and one thing that we've become, and we got on to the bandwagon very quickly on was programmatic targeting and programmatic media. Programmatic media is targeting the individual impression. It's an automated process of how to bid on Submit, and in some ways, traditional platforms, but it's an automated process of how to bid for that impression, as opposed to going to your rep and getting a rate card and getting those things. You're now automating, automating and bidding in that in real time.

Dana Dowdell  02:59

Okay, so when we've talked about marketing in the past on this podcast, we talk about it in terms of social media, Google ads, is really like where we have targeted that. And so, I'm a small business owner, I think about media, press newspaper, being on television, all of those things for like, the big guys. Yep. Yeah. So, talk to us a little bit about small businesses or, you know, small to medium businesses, and why they should maybe start thinking about media as a whole.

Mary Ann Pruitt  03:30

So especially in today's world, and with how our generations and we can get into that here in a little bit how we have five working generations for the first time ever in American history. And what does that mean for how we are targeting our individual markets and our individual consumer, or individual customer. And if you are doing social, you should be looking at programming because there are ways for you to be using ad targeting your company and your goods and services to your customer. Social media was a targeting platform it used to be it is no longer I still love Facebook; I still think it's a great tool. But it's more of a branding tool than it is now a targeting tool. And programmatic now has replaced that targeting tool for social media. So, if you are a small business, don't dismiss the media and only think that it's for the big guys. And we do we have you know; I know all of us have had that mindset of I can't afford TV and radio, I can't afford print, can't afford outdoor. You may not need TV or radio or print or outdoor. But you may still need some display or pre roll or various content pieces that we can put out there programmatically and target your specific customer based off of the data sets that are available to you.

Russ Harlow  04:48

Now, previously, I was a member of a franchise and when on my own last year, we used to have a PR firm that would often call me up and say hey, Ross tomorrow on the local news. Somebody wants this, this and this. Now, I can't do that anymore. I can't hire a PR firm. But if you really want to get on TV, there's ways you could do it.

Mary Ann Pruitt  05:13

Absolutely, if you want to do that, I put the umbrellas and I like to take marketing as a bridge, and say, Okay, there's all these different pillars holding up this bridge, and your various media plans are those pillars are part of those pillars. And so, you have your paid media, and you have your earned media. And those should work hand in hand, meaning those teams should have a parallel bowl on how you are working and how you're getting the information that you need out there. There are still ways to get on to TV in an earned media fashion and even on radio and an earned media fashion as opposed to having to pay. But when you get gets back to the paid side of it, if you are paying on social, if you are doing any type of paid whatsoever, you need to be refocusing and looking at your paid media, and seeing if you're doing it the right way to reach the target audience that you should be reaching that is truly genuinely your target audience. There's a lot of wasted dollars in the media too.

Dana Dowdell  06:15

Yeah, I've just I My mind is like a little bit feels like a balloon right now.

Mary Ann Pruitt  06:21

I totally, I totally get that that's not an uncommon feeling when someone has a conversation.

Dana Dowdell  06:27

Yeah. For those that are listening, we had a conversation offline about how when we have conversations about marketing, Russ is often a contributor to these conversations. And I'm a listener, and I'm just thinking about, like, you know, how, as a consumer to like, how much data is there is out there about how we consume information.

Mary Ann Pruitt  06:50

There's a lot, so there and then think even more. So, when I started my career, you know, we had ratings books, and that was it. Like that was all the information that we had. And we were guessing based off of how someone would fill out a diary. And that's, that is what we knew about, about any consumer in any market, wherever they were, they would tell us their age, they tell us, you know, that's it. That's like, that's the information that we have. In today's world. Now, we have so many data sets and so much so much information on individuals that it's been, it's been an accumulation over decades and over years of information. But now we have IP targeting, we have your habits online, that are cookies, or even in a cookieless world, there's information being gathered. And we have all of this information available to isn't third party forms that then can use there's a lot of things in first party data as well, that we can correlate and put the two together and marry the two together and targets. So, there's, there is a lot of information out there about everyone, about anybody. If you're online, there's information about you. There's information about your consumer habits, there's information about what you're purchasing online, what you're Googling, what you're searching, where what your activity, what articles, are you reading on Facebook, all the algorithms and everything does have information on you. And so, we as consumers, instead of being scared, because we're also marketers, and we're also small businesses. So instead of being scared about all the information that's out there, I do find that, you know, small businesses are not taking advantage of this, like they really should be, it is a more affordable way of doing advertising than we've ever had in front of our hands. And we've never been able to do this before, we've never been able to have this much information right at our fingertips, that we can target our ideal customer, we've already always had to have a gunshot approach, we've always had to be able to just shoot and throw you know, whatever to the wall and see what stuck. And oh, that worked now, because I got three customers out of it. Now we can actually target our customers because there is so much information.

Russ Harlow  08:57

And there's so much information that sometimes you need help

Mary Ann Pruitt  09:00

100%. Well, and let's talk about that Russ for a second. Because a big part of its is don't try to do it on your own. Don't go to a TV vendor to try to figure out programmatic. If you're a small business, you won't have the minimums to be direct seat on a DSP. So, find a good partner that is a direct seat. You know, that's what, that's one of the things we do. We're a direct seat on DSP so that we can be the best of both worlds for you, where you get the where you get the direct seat, but you also get the customization that you need. But at the same time, too. I mean, there's plenty of us out there. There's a few there's a handful of us out there that can help you. But find good ones, ask the right questions, make sure it's the right fit. Make sure that you're not just getting a vendor that's five layers separated from the DSP. Make sure it's somebody that's directly on it. That's a hit that those are key pieces in that as well.

Dana Dowdell  09:52

Okay, I need it to be broken down a little bit more. But also, if you are working with a media company or even a PR company? Can you talk a little bit about? Like? How does a client pay for those services? Like, is it a commission thing? Because I'm used to paying hourly for services, right? Like, if you're going into this space of working with a media company, a PR company, like what should a small business owner be aware of in terms of how does that relationship work.

Mary Ann Pruitt  10:27

So, with a true media partner, they're going to, they're going to outline the fees for you very clearly upfront, where typically there is some form of commission share. But in some places, it's included in the price as well. So, you're not paying anything extra, the extra, the extra pieces that come into it are really in-depth strategies, or competitive analysis, things like that, that you can get. There's a lot of research out there about your competitors, too, that real true partners can pull for you and help guide okay, what are your What are your competitors spending? What should you be spending, because they're spending this? What's their message out there, so there's a few things and that element, it's more affordable than you think. So don't get hurt, this is my biggest advice for small business, don't get caught into, I can't afford that that's for somebody else, it's more affordable than you think and have a conversation, and somebody will lead you down the path of if you need to go someplace else. But you know, there are people like me who I just we deal in the largest of largest home, you know, household names, brands, but to the smallest, because I just personally, I have this soft spot for small business. And it's something because I know what it's like, I know, I remember starting from the ground up, I remember, you know, it was from the bootstraps of just working your butt off to get to the point where you are now and to be able to just you put your nose down, and you're just grinding for however long you possibly can, right? And so, you're like, I'm exhausted, okay, oh, I haven't slept in three days. That's a common thing in entrepreneurship, right? That's the way it is. And oh, I haven't eaten into, and I haven't slept in three, oops, you know, like, that's not an uncommon thing. So, you know, I have that soft spot. Because I've been there, I've been there multiple times as a small business owner. And so, it's really important to think through who a good partner for me is. And don't be scared of the price point, because it actually may be more affordable than you think it is. And a lot of the fees are going to be included, or a lot of things are going to be in there that you're actually going to get a lot of results out of it.

Russ Harlow  12:40

And it can be overwhelming. So, it's important to take small steps. It's not like, oh, I'm not doing anything, right? And then it becomes like a burden. Like, I personally get frozen. Because like, I'm afraid to make any choice because I don't want to move forward. So, what, from a triage perspective? How does somebody sit and go, Okay, I can take one step, let me what's the most important thing I can do that's going to be most cost effective that I can start with today, and start branching out from there.

Mary Ann Pruitt  13:11

So, first step would be found somebody that you actually that is an expert in this field, because it can be overwhelming, find somebody that you contact, like, I always offer a free assessment of what you're doing, because and especially for the small business. So, I always offer this to our podcast listeners. And we'll all assess, we'll assess it for free, we have our gigantic team that will come in and just look at it, assess it for you, and say, okay, you know what, maybe you should be looking at this, this and this instead. And that's because of the fact again, that's that soft spot of entrepreneurship that I have in my heart. But find that partner that's willing to help you in that right out of the gate, that is the first thing find a good fit, because media is so specialized, and frankly, marketing is so specialized. Now, if we put it as an overall arching bridge, but that paid media portion, you're not going to be able to have you as the entrepreneur can't afford the time to go and be bidding on a DSP, nor should you be you have a company to run. So, it's okay to find that specialized group that can help you with it.

Russ Harlow  14:21

Okay, so when we start doing that, and I gotta think from your perspective, too, when you give that assessment there, that's a value is you bringing value and I kind of think that helps you build that relationship. What's important everyone's business

Mary Ann Pruitt  14:36

well, and relationships are key relationships are the number one thing when I get to my lightning round, I'll tell you tell you my favorite book because it's about relationships, right? So the biggest thing is relationships are always key and in business. It doesn't matter if you know we're selling swim lessons. If we're selling, you know, gifts for tourists, it doesn't matter what we're doing. The relay chips are there. So, let's take the gift shop, let's say you're a gift shop. In a tourist town, if a customer comes in, and you are not trying, it doesn't matter if they're a first-time customer or not. If your staff and your team or you are not trying to build that relationship right there, guess what, they have nothing to talk about. There's nothing there for them to be like, you know, I found this cute little town in Montana. And then I was in this shop. And this lady was so nice. It's those little things that are relationships that are relational to what we do. Everything in entrepreneurship boils down to relationships, it boils down to how we treat people, with kindness, with generosity and with all the above. So yeah, it's an I, I personally like to operate in a mindset of abundance. There's enough for all of us out there. And when we are kind to each other, we treat each other well. That's, that's how we're supposed to treat each other. And that is what we are made to do. And so that, you know, I guess deep down inside, yes, you're providing value, but you're building a relationship. Because we should all be trying to do that on a regular basis if we're in business.

Russ Harlow  16:12

So, what's the best way to start moving forward, and you started about specific targeting, like that just boggles my mind the individual impression. And I know there's a lot of data. And I know, I don't have enough knowledge to do that on my own. So how do we start kind of working through that, whether with products and services, because I'm sure it's a little bit different for each,

Mary Ann Pruitt  16:35

Whether you're looking at b2c or b2b, you need to be looking at who is your customer and get to know them a little bit more. So that first step, find that find that partner to work with that can help you walk through, if they're not walking, if they're not helping you, it's probably not the best way for you to be but the what do you want to have prepared to come to that table, you want to have prepared? Who is my audience, and once you think you know, your audience, get to know your audience just a little bit more. And I know that, you know, there still is the notion and the thought, mindset of Will everybody can buy my product. Yes, everybody can buy your product. However, there is an ideal person who will walk through that door that you know that once they buy it, they will then buy it again, they will then buy it again, they will then buy it again. Or they will refer 10 people to it. So, you need to know who that specific group is? Who is it that you find? Ideal? Who do you like look at all of your customers and say, okay, when we have, like, I'm gonna go back to the tour shop, when we have somebody from the East Coast, and it's a woman that has only visited the area twice, or you know, and start to get to know them a little bit more than that's where your targeting is going to be. You can get down to the job title and b2b you the job title, the type of job the type of company they work for. Do you want to just target CEOs and CEOs and CMOS? Okay, you can target in that manner. And then within the type of specific industry that they work in, yes, you can target within that manner. You can get to a point where you're microtargeting too much, where the audience and the impressions aren't available for you to purchase. So, you don't you want to make sure it's broad enough that you can reach the impressions and gather the impressions but at the same time targeted enough so that your dollars are actually spent with who you want to target.

Dana Dowdell  18:31

Okay, I have a I'm an HR consultant. So, I'm all about law, like I think about the law. And so, when I'm thinking and I know, way back, Facebook had an issue with job postings where people were able to target specific races ages, on their ads. And so, when you are thinking about targeting, how do we ensure that we're being mindful about not being biased in our targeting?

Mary Ann Pruitt  19:01

And absolutely, and that's a key thing of making sure that you are broad enough, that goes back to being broad enough. Specifically, when you're talking about HR, we don't want to discriminate in any way, we want to make sure that we're being brought enough and who we can target ads to. So, it's, it's also back on you as the as the brand to make sure that you're doing that correctly, that you're being ethical in your targeting as well. And that's, that's a key piece. So, making sure that you're building your plan, based off of an I'm going to talk to specific about HR based off a job description and qualifications as opposed to anything else. And that that's where the key thing is there. Because yeah, if you're going to target and you're going to be in my opinion, unethical, then that's, that's on you and you are opening up yourself to vulnerabilities there. There's no question about it. So, stick to stick to the things that you know that you should and can target. Don’t go so narrow that it's unethical. And that's specific to HR. But yeah, that you want to keep it where it's in those in that space.

Russ Harlow  20:18

So, in the same vein, when we're talking about targeting, it's, you're creating an avatar, right? And so, I can hear a small businessperson listening to this podcast going, and Avatar, I gotta create an avatar now, like, again, it just seems so overwhelming sometimes. And so, I just, it doesn't have to be. And I want to say that.

Mary Ann Pruitt  20:43

Yeah, it really does not. And actually, instead of saying an avatar, I would say a persona. So, because here's why. Because it's you do know, you already know. And I would say this to the customer, to the small business owner, that's like, oh, my word, I have to do accounting, I have to do taxes, I have to do all these other things. Because trust me, all of us know that if we want a small business, that just being the business owner is not the only thing that's on your shoulders, do we have so many different jobs that are on our shoulders? So, know this with that, it doesn't need to be overwhelming. You already know your customer; you actually already know the persona that is ideal for you. You're just sitting there thinking, Okay, what is that ideal person? That's it, you already know. And when you talk to somebody, like me, and you come to me and come to our team, and you say, Okay, I have, you know, I'm not sure how much I should spend, I'm not sure what I should do. But I'm roughly comfortable with this. And in your mind that we talk through in a conversation, okay, well, would the ideal customer be this with the ideal customer be this, and for you, all of a sudden, you go, Oh, I already know, my ideal customer, I already know who this person is, I already know that persona is, you don't have to get overwhelmed with that you don't have to get to the point where you're like, oh, because you actually already know the information. I will say this is as business owners, we have a tendency to be better at saying what we do, as opposed to writing it down or making a plan. This is why so many businesses don't have a marketing plan. This is why so many businesses don't have a business plan. They don't have it written down because we're great at saying it. And that's because we're more visionaries than people. This is just statistical data, that if you are a business owner, you are more of an idea’s person and a visionary. And what another great book, I'm a big reader. But another great book is traction, it talks about having your implementer you be the visionary, you get your implementers because of the fact that we think in that manner. And so right now I can I see and hear you know, the small business owner listening to this going, oh, dear God, I've got to do one more thing. I got to write down one more flipping thing about somebody. No, you actually don't you already know it. It's already here, I just have to ask you the question, Who's your ideal customer? And right now, while you're sitting in your car, or while you're on your run listening to this podcast, you're like, oh, I know who my ideal customer is. If I asked you those specific questions, it doesn't need to be overwhelming. You already know the information. So how do we Dana's head? No, oh, no.

Russ Harlow  23:12

You were warned. She was just gonna sit back and be like, I need to consume this. It's all good. It's all good. So, I am interested in some of the conversation. We're talking about generational media and how people are consuming because that sounds really interesting to me.

Mary Ann Pruitt  23:28

Yeah. So generationally, we saw a huge shift with the pandemic. And here, there's multiple things. So, like I said, there for the first time in American history of five working generations, that's significant. We have everything from traditionalists who were born during World War Two to World War two that are still in the workplace. They have not, they have retired maybe two or three times, but they're still like, done, because people are living longer and longer. And I actually a couple of weeks ago, I was getting a pedicure and a man across the way from me, kid you not at six years old, still a stockbroker still owns his own firm. And he's like, Yeah, I'm not retiring anytime soon. Look at me, I'm, I feel young, I feel amazing. I feel great. I'm like, that's incredible. But that's real. That's real life, all the way down to the 16-year-old that has his first job. So, these are five generations. And we as marketers and small businesses, for so long. We're taught marketing is just broad, we can go broad, and now things have changed where no, we don't need to go broad we actually can spend our dollars is back to Dana's point of TV and radio aren't for me. Okay, well, now we can be very specific of how we're targeting. media consumption changed significantly during the pandemic. And we all know it because we see in ourselves, we saw how we all started to consume media differently, and also over consume media. So anytime there's anything that's catastrophic that takes place in any type of society, America, it doesn't matter globally, like the pandemic we all we'll change our habits of how we consume information. So, it's human nature to go over and over gather information. When you're in a panic when you're trying to figure out to make sure you and your family are safe. You over gather information. Well, in today's world, that's the media. So, we go, and we gather information. And we go, and we, our media consumption went through the roof. All of a sudden, overnight, were consuming, we were already consuming a lot of media, it just skyrocketed. So, we saw with our older generations, you know, those the gentleman getting his pedicure, at seven, he wasn't on social media. But now he is why because that's how he could connect with his family during the pandemic, we saw it, it was truly an evolution that either would have never taken place in their lifetime or would have taken another 10 years or so to get them there. Now they're there. And now they are there, because that's how they could stay in contact with everybody, all the way down to the younger generation that started to, to, to actually consume traditional platforms, maybe in a digital way, but can seem traditional platforms, because they cared about what was happening locally for them. They so radio, and local news became something big for our younger generations, because they cared about the COVID counts. And their town, they cared about that it was local, it was something that was different. Now, they may consume it on an app, they may consume it on social media, but they're consuming a traditional platform. So, it's very fascinating the information that we have now on generational consumption, but the pandemic changed things so drastically on how we consume.

Dana Dowdell  26:40

So, I was going to ask this question, because I feel like sometimes, like, I think you said, you know, not many people are on Facebook anymore, right? But like,

Mary Ann Pruitt  26:48

Nope, I would I there's still a lot of people. That's how we use Facebook. So, they're so they're still on the social platforms. But we using it as a branding tool, as opposed to a targeting tool.

Dana Dowdell  26:59

Got it? Got it. Yeah, yeah. So, to that, that kind of idea of a miss assumption that certain platforms or channels or mechanisms are dying, like print media, for example, right? People always say that. Can you speak to that a

Mary Ann Pruitt  27:15

little bit? Yes, absolutely. Actually, print media made a huge comeback. During the pandemic, we, right before the pandemic magazines were folding, there were a hit. That's no pun intended. But they were, you know, they were going out of business. There were, you know, things happening there that we would hear magazines, you know, in the media buying space, we right before the pandemic, I remember going into 2020 planning for clients were big publications, they're like, Yeah, we're getting rid of our print as of next year, and it's all going to be online. So, when we're negotiating buys, this type of shift was happening. And so, we were looking at that, but then the pandemic hits, and then all of a sudden mail and reading and magazines, and they all of a sudden had a demand again, and print itself had a demand. So, I'll take that as an example. Things just evolve, things just change. And so, we, we think certain platforms are dead, they're not dead, TV and radio are not dead, they actually are still alive. And well. We may be consuming them differently, but they're still alive and well. So, in TV, I may be consuming it streaming and connected TV and OTT. And I can programmatically buy it that way. It's actually a more affordable way. And not knocking my you know, TV reps or radio reps, don't buy it through them, buy it through a partner, that's a direct seat because of the fact that you're going to have multiple layers and multiple things. They're not experts in programmatic. There, they know broadcast, they understand broadcast, they don't they connected TV and Ott, your CPMs are gonna be through the roof. It's not the way to buy it. But the consumer, I'm still consuming TV, I'm just consuming it in a different way. And then let's talk about the strengths of each one. You know, like, if I'm looking at broadcast television, where are the strengths of it, it's live events. And it is local news. That's it. That's where I need to be buying if I'm looking at it, because live events like sporting events during COVID That also trained us hey, we actually really love our sports. We forgot what this is like, we love our live events we forgot. And we like it. I love this story of my son, who during the pandemic, you know, he was in 1010 to 12 is the age range that he was within and leaving elementary school going into middle school. And I remember one day I'm working in the office and my office has just like an open area into the rest of the house. And I'm working at, and I hear him yelling don't Phillies go Phillies and I was like, oh, there's a game on and I got all excited. I ran upstairs. My kid is watching YouTube games from the past. We're talking like the 90s that like he's watching things because he's like, I just want to watch sports and I feel like but that's what happened during the pandemic. All of us were like, oh, we don't have live sports anymore, we don't have this, we don't have all this stuff that we were overwhelmed with that now we miss. So, when you think of a platform being dead, it's not dead. And we actually will see comebacks from it. And we're consuming it differently. So just like, you know, TV, radio, I might be consuming radio on an app, I might be consuming TV via streaming, I might be consuming local news, reading my daily paper online, if I go to their Facebook page and read it that way. I'm still confused, consuming the information and consuming the product, I may just be consuming it differently.

Russ Harlow  30:38

So, to your point, while we were talking about this, I pulled up my audience on social media to look at it. And so, I have on Facebook, all the generations all the way up to those boomers and above, and Instagram, not so much Gen X and below Max. Right. And my audience is probably two thirds’ women, from my followers, and the people that I interact with my stuff that made me change my message. Yep, absolutely. Because I knew they were looking for something different. So, we do have that disaster restoration, mold and water damage and those things. And I used to do a lot of before and after it, because that appeals to me. And as a man, I understand that I don't see seeing things the same as a woman. And so I changed it over to, you know, health issues, or how moms think about people, their kids, and are their kids sick, or there's something going on in their home, that can help make it more healthy, right, and how we might be able to assist them with that. And then the other thing I did was I started doing like memes with like animals in it. Because everybody loves cats and dogs. And it's taken off, I've almost tripled the amount of all my followers in the last year.

Mary Ann Pruitt  31:43

Well, and you're you are a testament truly there to knowing your audience, you went and looked in. A lot of times as small businesses, our audience is right there in front of us, we just have to go look at a few data sets to tell us okay, this is exactly this is who's consuming this information. And you did exactly what you're supposed to do and changing your message to that audience. And then now let's take it a step further. If you were to go paid, and do anything on the paid media side, then you're going to take it and you're going to target programmatically on those audiences that you've just said with similar messages that you're using and social and you hit something on the head there to rest when you said Instagram, and Facebook, I will say like, the each different social platform has different strengths to within the generations, Instagram is gonna be your Gen X and younger, there's no question about it TikTok’s gonna be your gen Z's like there's no doubt. And you know, what, what are we consuming are, all generations have a shorter attention span than they've ever had. But I will say the Gen z's. And Gen Z is gonna be such a fascinating generation to watch grow up, because they've never known anything different. But there are older Gen Z's and younger Gen Z's just like there were millennials, millennials, older millennials and younger millennials. And that's different in how they consume and what they do and how they behave, what their buying power, you know, all the above. And their buying habits. The same thing is going to happen with Gen Z. And it's fascinating to see this all evolve, but the younger Gen Z's are starting to enter the workplace. They're starting to get into that space. But Russ, you hit it on the head there, have you got to know who that audience is? And you changed your content to that audience. And then what did you see you started to see results go through the roof. And that's exactly it. And you would do the exact same thing on the buying is say, Okay, what's going to appeal to them, I'm going to target them with a paid ad, what's going to appeal to them the most, and maybe even I can target somebody who's bought an older home in the last year, or somebody who's bought, you know, it's specifically to yours, you know, or somebody who's been in a home for a very long time. You know, it's various things like that. And then you add those other layers into it of a mom of somebody who is you know, a woman that maybe is working that doesn't definitely doesn't wanna deal with this herself, cares about the health issues, cares about various things for her family, you just hit it on the head of exactly how you should be looking at it as a small business.

Russ Harlow  34:04

The other thing we did, too, we tried for a while. So, I left the franchise about 13 months ago, and the franchise website was no good. So, we built a website that had great information, and use that to help build, you know, SEO and that search area. But I, as a freak accident, wanted to drive traffic to the website once it was up and running and had a good content. And I just started running Facebook ads and it like, an exponential amount of visitors to my website. And so, I started using that instead of trying to capture clients on through Facebook and forums and things which failed miserably. I was able to drive 1000s of people to my website through to gather that information just like you were talking about. You know, we're looking for all this information looking for information for us. We're dealing with people with disaster. So, they're like I want to learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, and then I drive

Mary Ann Pruitt  34:59

You’re spot on, if you're looking at somebody who just had pipes burst, and they need restoration of their flooded basement, or whatever it is, that's an emergency, they're going to be over gathering information, their brains are in that overload. So, I cannot emphasize this enough, content is so important in today's world, we have to be putting out content that's helpful, not selling, it needs to be informational, it needs to be helpful, it needs to be that the consumer that you're targeting finds that helpful. So, and then your ads are driven back to that website, you're not using that you're not going to get sales out of an ad, if you're not then connecting it back. Unless it's just branding and name recognition. That's where you're gonna go there. If you're not going to be able, if you're, if you have anything to actually sell and do and get a decision made. Drive it to your website, I heard a statistic the other day that 25% of businesses do not have websites today, as opposed to which that's still to me. I mean, like, that's a lot. But 10 years ago, 75% of businesses didn't have a website, think about 10 years. That's not that long. I mean, I know like, I still like to think I'm very young. But I've been in this industry for a long time. And I remember before we had websites, I remember before we had email in the workplace, like I remember these things. And as you see these things evolve and go, now you and I both had the same reaction. 25% don't have a website. That's crazy. Well, you know what you we all should be looking at some. That's how we talk to our customers that we are in that digital space now where we should be talking to websites, we shouldn't be talking to our customers through content, content, content, content, videos, blogs, putting information on the website, and like you said, you did it, you did it by happenstance, you actually did it, you did it completely on accident of I know, I need to have good content out there. Oh, I'm gonna run an ad to my Facebook, from my Facebook to the website. And all of a sudden, your clicks and your follows went through the roof. And why because you are providing good information, you're providing helpful information, we have to take a step back and say, what does our consumer want? What does our customer want to hear what is helpful to them? And provide that information?

Russ Harlow  37:17

They ask you to answer. Yes. Was the book

Mary Ann Pruitt  37:20

expert for them, they don't want. They don't want to fix the mold problem in their house, they don't want to do that themselves. They don't want it. They don't want to restore the basement. They really don't. They want to pay somebody, but they don't know where that person is. And they don't know who the person is that they can trust.

Russ Harlow  37:36

And then we took the next step. And this is why I'm just trying to demonstrate you can take small steps. The next thing we did was we started creating video content, consistent video content and putting it on all the platforms do one video goes on tick tock goes on Instagram, it goes on YouTube, it goes on Facebook, I run it every four to six weeks, because nobody sees my stuff all the time anyway, and start running that stuff. And it starts building the subject matter expert, they still find us in a place YouTube's the number two search engine in the world.

Mary Ann Pruitt  38:05

And if we think of it as the search engine, because it is the second largest search engine in the world, we need to be using those videos that are being consumed. I sat next to a gentleman on a plane a couple of weeks ago, and he told me during the pandemic, he's a doctor and a specialist and very good at what he does. He just retired during the pandemic, I learned how to fly sem 47 on YouTube, I learned and he was telling you all these things that he studied on YouTube. And I'm like, this is so fascinating. He goes I know I could go and take my pilot's license right now and pass because of everything I learned on YouTube. And I like that, that boggles my mind. You know? And he's, he's in his late 60s. But he was like, I know, I lived on YouTube. And he goes, I still do it. Now to this day. He goes, if I need to learn something, I'm like, I'm going to YouTube. And because that's the way it is. And we have to give the information to our customers that is helpful to them. And that will then drive them to us to say okay, yes, this is this is what I want to do. This is who I want to have helped me with this.

Russ Harlow  39:06

This is good stuff. This is really good stuff. We could go you and I know could talk for like hours. Like I'm gonna go get some coffee.

Mary Ann Pruitt  39:15

It's gonna be like, Okay, I'm gonna start writing it down. And then a little part of her is like panic. And she's like, Oh, that's good. Okay, I'm good.

Dana Dowdell  39:20

My wheels are my wheels are admittedly spinning. And then I'm also like, well, where do I need to be like, you know, who do I want to? What do I need to like blow it all up and start over again, is really where my anxiety is.

Mary Ann Pruitt  39:33

I will tell you this and to help all small business owners, you're doing something so you're doing something right. So don't worry about that. Because if it wasn't, if some of the things that you're doing right now weren't working, you would have stopped them already. Right? Like you want to give everything at least a 90-day run to make sure that they're working. That being said, if you haven't refreshed your media or you haven't looked re looked at what you're doing and spend and a couple of years, even in a year, you need to look and refresh it every year, because it's changing so much. So just find somebody that helps you with partnering with that of just reviewing it. Is this where I need to be? Is this not where I need to be? It's not Don't, don't get overwhelmed by it just know, okay, I need to review it, I need to refresh it, I need to make sure I'm doing right what I need to be doing.

Russ Harlow  40:21

I think we've kind of gone through all this information like lightning, but we're gonna hit our lightning round now as well. So, I'm going to start with what's one thing you wish you had known before starting a business?

Mary Ann Pruitt  40:36

I wish I had known. Well, I wish I knew my strength a little bit more, I think all small business owners, we go into it now Yeah, I can do this, I'm going to be good. And then deep down inside, we don't realize what the trenches are actually going to be like. And I wish going into it, that I would have been able to be like, bro, you got this right out of the gate, like this strength that is deep down inside of you, you have no idea what you're going to survive, you have no idea what you're going to face. And guess what, you're going to be fine. And you're going to handle it. So, I wish I actually wish I would have just been like, I got this, I'm going to be right out the gate, the confidence that you when you start it, you know, you have a good idea. Go into it with confidence, you're smart, you know what you're doing, go into it with that strength. And really deep down inside, you know, it's there, you're just kind of you get into survival, right? There's going to be points in any point of your business that you're like, ah, and it doesn't matter. But not deep down inside, you can handle this, you got this, you've got the strength inside.

Dana Dowdell  41:38

I know you're a bit biased, but what's your favorite way to market your business?

Mary Ann Pruitt  41:42

So, I actually so a couple I'm gonna go to here. But content is going to be key. You've got to have good content out there for people to find you and for people to find you helpful. It's not just to find you, it's to find you helpful. In today's world, we are a relationship world where we have to be findable by giving them information that is helpful for them. So that's, that's my favorite. And then making sure that you know who your customer is and find a building a plan that is targeting them.

Russ Harlow  42:12

Is there one business platform that changed your life?

Mary Ann Pruitt  42:16

Well, so I look at it. For me my the big, biggest business platform actually is the programmatic media I call I consider that a platform because it's I've seen it change so many customers and so many companies for the good of how we can target and what we can do with it so that for me personally, that's a personal yes, that changed me that changed my life.

Dana Dowdell  42:39

Alright, I know you've been waiting to answer this question. What's your favorite business book?

Mary Ann Pruitt  42:44

My favorite business book is Never Eat Alone. And it is a phenomenal relationship book. It is all about having the relationships that you need in business, building your circle, building who it is that is around you. But how do you contribute to that I am a big believer that how you contribute and how you show up is how others will contribute and show up to you too. We have to give just as much as we receive. And I'm a big believer that But Never Eat Alone is one of my absolute favorite books.

Russ Harlow  43:16

Off to check that out because I love being alone.

Mary Ann Pruitt  43:21

I will tell you this as a joke and as Emma taught to extrovert I'm truly genuinely an introvert deep down inside at the beginning of COVID. There was a part of me it was like, Wait, I don't have to go to events. I don't have to do anything. Now. This is my jam. I'm gonna stay you know, in my pajamas and work. I'm looking at that. So yeah, but you know, Never Eat Alone. It really is about the relationship side more than it is anything

Russ Harlow  43:47

cool. When did you feel like you made it?

Mary Ann Pruitt  43:50

I will say I don't think anyone ever feels like they actually make it. I think that you get to the point in your career. Have an I think that's what makes you a true entrepreneur. Once you make it, you're on to the next thing, you're on to the next thing, meaning you're always growing. And for me, anytime I feel like I've made it, I'm like, Okay, what's, where's the next area of growth, you've got to get into the next area of growth. Otherwise, my father used to always tell me he was a lifelong educator. And he still is, he's one of those traditionalists that's still working in his 80s. But he he's always tell me if you stop learning, you die. And I remember thinking that's so harsh. But in reality, that's true if we don't if we don't continue to grow ourselves. And if we always think that we're at that level of made it, then we have it we have so much more to achieve. We all have so much more in us than we recognize.

Russ Harlow  44:46

I think the biggest part of that is you know, it's a mindset, right? It's when you have a goal. It's kind of like that's your destination as opposed to a milestone where you're gonna pass that move to them. Absolutely.

Mary Ann Pruitt  44:55

You're and that's exactly how I look at goals. Here's my goal. Okay, I've made it. I already have my next list of goals onto the next one. Yeah.

Russ Harlow  45:04

Awesome. This has been really fantastic. Marianne, I want to thank you very much. Where can people connect with you? Where's the best place to find you and learn more about what you have to offer?

Mary Ann Pruitt  45:15

Yeah, we do. Blogs and email blasts all the time. But the best way is actually on our website, mosaic dot agency forward slash contact, that comes directly to my email, if you want to get a hold of me. And also, we can put you on our email list. We put out weekly emails that are what's going on in media, how you as a small business can utilize media, as well as then on LinkedIn. I love to connect on LinkedIn. And if anyone wants a review of their business, what they mean, what they're doing in their media, what they're doing in their paid space, we are happy to help and give you that free review.

Russ Harlow  45:48

That's incredible. I'm looking forward to connecting with you and learning more from what you have to offer. I hope our listeners are going to do the same. You all the links to all the places where you can find Maryann and Mosaic media will be in our show notes. I want you to go there I want you to connect. I want you to follow I want you to find us at it's just business podcast at all the places I know you know somebody that needs to hear what was said today, share this with them. All right, like it share it. Leave us a great review. Please leave some constructive criticism. That's okay, too. It's not personal. It's just business.