Episode 14
Owning Your Digital Strategy with Jennifer Sargeant
Welcome Jennifer Sargeant with Digital Sargeant! Jennifer is a creative and successful digital marketer and uses her skills to help others grow their business, to get more visibility and teaches them how to get seen in the online space.
In addition to running a successful digital marketing business and tapping into social platforms like TikTok, Jennifer also coaches freelancers through the trenches of growing their business from getting freelance clients to increasing prices so they can live a life of freelance and financial freedom.Be sure to learn more about Jennifer, her programs and services at www.digitalsargeant.com
Transcript
Veronica: [00:00:00] Hello. Hello and welcome to Saturday soundbites. I'm your host, Veronica sofa. And I am so excited to have you guys here today on Saturdays. We talk all things, visibility strategy. We talk about marketing. We talk about advertising. Public relations, branding your digital footprint and how all of those things align to help you have a successful visibility strategy.
[00:00:23] So on this show, I bring you expert guests who come from different parts of either media or have a digital background or some sort of expertise that will help you grow your business. So whether you're an entrepreneur or you run a brick and mortar business, everything we're going to. Provide you today is going to help you be successful and grow in the areas that you want to grow.
[00:00:42] So thank you so much for being here. If you are listening on the podcast, please hit subscribe. We want to make sure that you don't miss any of our episodes as those are dropped. And if you're watching on Facebook, let us know you're watching where you're watching from. Put any questions in the chat, and we will be sure to get back to you.
[00:00:57] And if you happen to catch this on the replay, hashtag replay, we will go ahead and get started. I have an amazing guest today. Jennifer Sergeant with digital Sargent. I'm going to tell you this woman is fantastic. Her knowledge of SEO, of all digital content, of how to get your courses sold, how to launch your business, and really how to be visible in the online space is fantastic.
[00:01:18] Full disclosure. I use her on several projects and I'm just thrilled that she's here to share her expertise. So I'm going to bring her up on stage. Welcome Jennifer.
[00:01:28] Jennifer: [00:01:28] Hi, thank you for having me so happy to be here.
[00:01:31] Veronica: [00:01:31] Great. Great. So share with us a little bit about who you are, what you do, how you got started, and then we're going to get into some nitty gritty tips and strategies that people can use to really grow their business.
[00:01:42] Jennifer: [00:01:42] Awesome. Well, my name is Jennifer Sargent. I'm the owner of digital Sargent and at my core, I'm a local business, digital marketing expert. I've been in the industry for a 11 years, going back to like my space days. So quite a while. And I'm also the owner and creator of freelance and financial freedom blueprint where I guide freelancers through the trenches of freelancing, taking them from feeling concerned.
[00:02:06] Fuse about their strategy to competently thriving and on a pace of six figures using the same exact strategies that I started a year ago, nearly.
[00:02:16] Veronica: [00:02:16] That's awesome. And that's about when we connected about a year ago and I was new to this space. Um, we were in the middle of COVID. We were trying to figure out what's next.
[00:02:25] I had some wonderful projects I was working on with family and friends, and I knew I needed help with the visibility, especially in the digital space. And you came in and you taught me. Oh, everything I needed to know about SEO, about Google and all the little tricks and techniques. And so tell us about kind of how you got started in that space before, or right after my space, I guess.
[00:02:47] Jennifer: [00:02:47] So, uh, when I was in college, I'll never forget. Um, it was my senior year and I looked around the auditorium and realize that there were eight. Pretty much a massive influx of students that are about to be applying for the same exact positions, the same exact area. So I could tell it was about to be super saturated.
[00:03:04] So I needed to separate myself from the crowd. So I decided to create a LinkedIn profile and highlight every single class project I've ever been a part of. I decided to get a blog on WordPress and talk about everything I'm going through, all the things that I'm learning. But what I did is I used that as my portfolio.
[00:03:21] So when I went to apply for jobs, they could see what I was doing. Well, I applied for my goal was to secure a job before I graduated. And I applied for over 200 jobs and I got to pick where I wanted to go. And I actually chose an agency I'm in Tampa and I'll never forget when I met with them. They said, we need somebody for surgeons and optimization.
[00:03:44] And by the way, you're already doing it. You're innately doing it already. So you're perfect for the job and that's how pretty much I started within the trenches. Um, and I S I was working at upright communications for five years where he mostly in the, uh, vertical market of tire dealers. So I never thought of you selling tires on the internet, but I did.
[00:04:08] And it was so much fun and in a totally different industry.
[00:04:11] Veronica: [00:04:11] I love it. And, and I love that you can use that same strategy to sell anything, whether it's a book launch or a course, or some consulting services that you might have, or just insurance or real estate. And you've got that expertise. Give us a little quick background on what SEO is, why it's important for your business and how it plays into your overall visibility strategy, because that's the weakness I had that you were able to come in and fill the gap for.
[00:04:39] Jennifer: [00:04:39] Yeah. So SEO search engine optimization is essentially showing up on Google for keywords and for the area that you serve and for the services that you offer. So the goal is to show up if somebody were to search, um, you know, for example, where I live local business, digital marketing, the goal is that I show up on Google.
[00:05:01] My website shows up in the map pack, which is. Um, so when you search something on Google, there'll be like a map and then there's like different locations. So you want to be in the map pack, and then you want to be underneath the map pack. So when you're dominating page one of Google, then you have a chance of getting more phone calls, more opportunities to close business.
[00:05:21] So dominating Google should be everybody's like first, first step and their business either as a freelancer of they're helping another local business.
[00:05:31] Veronica: [00:05:31] Yeah, that's so true. And that's the piece of information that I was missing. You know, my focus is public relations. My focus is traditional media, getting a TV interview, a radio interview.
[00:05:42] Um, we've worked together on that too. But when I was working on the subscription box, our pop culture subscription box, which is doing very well by the way. Um, thanks for your help. You helped to teach us how important it was to use key words and how it needed to align to our brand. And that was really just eye-opening for us.
[00:06:02] And I challenge everyone listening, whether you're an entrepreneur, a brick and mortar business to go to Jennifer's content. She's got some phenomenal videos, especially on YouTube and I'll make sure I put that information out there too. On how to do just that, you know, you definitely want to dominate Google for sure.
[00:06:20] Um, what are some other tips and platforms that people are either not taught, tapping into or not doing a really good job of using it to move the business to the next
[00:06:29] Jennifer: [00:06:29] level? So I would probably say Tik TOK. Um, and whenever I mentioned take talk to other business owners or freelancers, it's always kind of like what that doesn't for teeny boppers or like that's just for music or something like that.
[00:06:44] But really when you're leveraging, um, take talk. Which is a outstanding platform for awareness. You can get massive amount of awareness on Tik TOK for your brand. So when you're leveraging to talk, answering questions, um, that your ideal target audience has, and, um, really building a rapport with your audience is going to help you generate even more and more.
[00:07:05] Of a community for your brand and then moving all of that over to your website. So now they find you on a high performing platform, then they go to your website and then when you're ready to run ads, you can retarget them from your pixel. So, um, I think a lot of people are, are underestimating the amount of, um, possibility within takes off.
[00:07:31] Veronica: [00:07:31] Yeah. And I love that we're talking about a funnel and that there's a way to get people back to the. And resolved, which is to increase your business and create awareness. Um, tell us a little bit about, um, that and goal of using a pixel and running ads, because that's one of the other areas that we've partnered on, that people aren't thinking about.
[00:07:52] And again, this information is perfect for people who are transitioning from either a nine to five or who are just looking to leverage their side hustle or. Like Jennifer said freelancers who are trying to figure out how to scale up or full on out entrepreneurs. This strategy works for everyone.
[00:08:11] Jennifer: [00:08:11] Exactly. So no matter what, even if you don't plan on running ads in your near future, add the pixel to your website, because if you're generating a lot of data and a lot of traffic to your website, then let's say in a year you decided to run ads. Well, now you have a lot of volume that you can, uh, target and reach people who have been on your website.
[00:08:34] So if they've been on your website, they're interested. In what you have to say or offer in some level. So retargeting them whenever you're ready to advertise can be great for your business and staying top of mind, even if you're not even sure if you're going to run ads. That's one of the first things I did when I started was I got a website.
[00:08:53] I added a pixel and then I started working on Google. So those that's pretty much like. The foundation of getting started, but when you really scale it back, it's really the beginning roots of laying a foundation for a legacy business.
[00:09:08] Veronica: [00:09:08] Yeah, no, I love it. I love that. So get a website, get your Google feature, Google pixel loaded as fast as you can and get ready to start running ads when you're ready for that.
[00:09:19] Yeah, that's perfect. So tell us a little bit more about the types of projects that you work on and how you work with folks, um, and how you help them with their digital visibility.
[00:09:28] Jennifer: [00:09:28] Yeah, so it's twofold for me. So on one side of it, we have the digital Sargent aspect of it, the local business offering service offerings.
[00:09:37] And I work with, um, you know, really small and medium sized businesses all over the United States from a backpack sprayer company in California, to a nonprofit in Florida. And, um, a lot of my clients are. Th like the perfect small businesses who just need a little bit of a push and an emphasis on, uh, really catapulting their business in the right direction, but they just need some strategy behind it.
[00:10:05] So really my services vary from. An entire strategy to consulting. So it really just depends on what they need. Um, so that's, that's the first half of it. And the second half of it is freelance and financial freedom blueprint where I guide freelancers through the trenches, because I realize that every single freelancer, we all have the same challenges, we're all trying to get clients.
[00:10:27] We're all prospecting, we're all pricing. So. I realized though that whenever I was starting, those challenges were a bit easier for me to overcome because of all the experience I had leading up to this day, really of like starting my freelance business. So if, um, so I'm kind of giving back in a way to freelancers to guide them through this process.
[00:10:47] They don't make mistakes. They don't end up with a catalog of nightmare clients. They're able to identify them. Um, and their business is just running perfectly and beautifully exactly the way they want.
[00:10:59] Veronica: [00:10:59] That's fantastic. And tell us a little bit more about some of the challenges you faced as someone who was growing a freelance business and how you overcame them.
[00:11:10] You know, that that's the big, that's the big
[00:11:12] Jennifer: [00:11:12] part. Right. So in the beginning, um, you know, so basically what happened to me is that I woke up one day and realized that my personal brand was non-existent that I let it take a giant hibernation and I needed to basically start from zero. So the, the questions that would keep me awake.
[00:11:31] Awake at night would be, you know, is this even possible? Can you start a business in the middle of a pandemic? Can you start a media company in 2020, which seems like a saturated market or are these things even doable or possible? So I was, I was going through a lot of imposter syndrome, um, mindset issues, but.
[00:11:49] As soon as I was able to identify that I was talking badly about myself to myself. I cut that completely and only focus on positivity. And I will say that things just started to really open up for me once I was a lot more positive, but then I was like, okay, well I need to get in front of my ideal target audience.
[00:12:08] So how do I do that? So I basically went on a huge journey to figure out and to really identify what the problems are that my ideal target audience is facing. And with the pandemic, it was a completely different ball game. So now it was the business needed to be. Still leveraging digital, but their budget has drastically changed.
[00:12:31] Right? So what are some ways that I can help them keep, keep the wheels spinning for their business while I still make an income as well? So I'm really going through those challenges and I'm just sorting them out, but just taking every single day, one day at a time. Not getting overwhelmed by the what ifs and whatnots and, um, just keeping everything moving, staying positive and.
[00:12:56] Mastering the art of showing up for your audience, even on the days when you, when I didn't want to post a take talk or I didn't want to post a YouTube video or record it, I really mastered the art of showing up for my audience and really pushed through. And because of that, it's, it's been able to position me in a way to, uh, show up for them to generate more business.
[00:13:19] Veronica: [00:13:19] Yeah, and I love that we are talking about mindset because at the end of the day, regardless of the industry, regardless of whether or not you're considering launching a freelance business or already in one, it's all about mindset. And, um, I love that you shut it off. You shut off the negative talk. You found the power.
[00:13:39] Especially in the middle of a pandemic, like so many of us have had to do and we're able to turn it around. And how were you able to generate business? I mean, was it because you showed up, I mean, do you attribute your business growth to, to showing up and just creating videos, even when you didn't want to.
[00:13:57] Jennifer: [00:13:57] Yes, it's pretty much so, um, freelancing without imposter syndrome is the first thing that I tackle and freelancing and financial freedom blueprint, because it's really sets the foundation of your entire career. If you, if your mindset is not in the right place, then your ability to grow is just going to be so challenging and completely stunted.
[00:14:17] But because I showed up and I posted on take talk, and I posted on the channels and I was able to identify, okay, Exactly the problems. My ideal target audience has and then identify the problem, but the solution and then the success metric that they would receive after that is what helped generate a lot of, um, leads for me really.
[00:14:40] And take talk. I literally never thought I would say this when I first started on tick tock, tick tock has been my best lead generator and it's not from, you know, Entrepreneurs that are like 15 or 20. These are from agency owners. I got a five figure contract from Tik TOK, from another agency owner, somebody who needed help.
[00:15:03] It's crazy.
[00:15:05] Veronica: [00:15:05] That is crazy. And is it too late for those of us who are not on Tik TOK? Is it too late? Did we miss the boat?
[00:15:12] Jennifer: [00:15:12] No, it is never, it is never, never, never, never too late. The goal is to just show up. So when I, one of the main reasons why I went to take talk, um, because as I mentioned, my personal brand fell asleep, so I needed to kind of.
[00:15:29] Awaken this dragon, if you will. And, um, I also knew though that there were going to be a lot of eyeballs on me that could put me in jeopardy in a different level. So instead of going to the platforms that were wildly popular at the time that I knew more eyeballs would be on me like Instagram, for example, I went to take talk because I knew it would be a little bit of a safe space in a way, like nobody knew me there.
[00:15:51] I didn't know anybody there. So I would literally just open my phone and just. Start talking about digital marketing. I would talk about a problem that I've been through, how I solved it. Other problems that I know my ideal target audience has how to solve it and consistently doing that over and over and over again, by beginning to take talks are wretched.
[00:16:12] They're, they're terrible, but the people loved them and I got better as I moved along. And it is no, it is absolutely 113%. Not too late.
[00:16:25] Veronica: [00:16:25] Well, that's something to think about because I haven't I've played around with it, but I haven't made a commitment to jump in. I jumped in the clubhouse, so I, for whatever reason, it made me feel a little bit better.
[00:16:37] It was probably because it's more retro since it's all audio. It made me feel like when we were in middle school or in high school and we're on the party line and there's 40 people on the phone line and you're talking over each other and someone's like the organizer of the party line. Um, I think it kind of was reminiscent of that for me, but.
[00:16:54] I personally, one of our guests, Trey CRNA, he's been on our show before he went from being a, a television broadcaster in the news business to a tick talks influencer, and now he's just blown up and it's fantastic. So I know that there's opportunity there for all kinds of business owners. And I love that.
[00:17:14] What you're talking about is not about trending, influencing. Uh, space. You're talking about legitimate brick and mortar agencies and groups like that. So what are just two or three tips for people who are looking into tick-tock right now? What do we need to know? If we know nothing about it?
[00:17:30] Jennifer: [00:17:30] If you know nothing about it.
[00:17:32] Number one, take one week to really understand the platform, understand how to use the app. The, for you page, the following page, the hashtags, take some time to really understand how people are using the platform. Then take time to, um, Start practicing making content and you have 15 second clock and you have a 62nd clock.
[00:17:55] And of course the 15 second clock is going to be the best because people are in a rush and they're moving along. So if you can crank out a ton of valuable content, 15 seconds. That's a great thing to master. And the third thing I would say is just to be authentic and to have fun, because one thing that I have really noticed about Tik TOK is that they thrive on being authentic and they will call you out pretty quickly.
[00:18:23] If they can tell something is not authentic, or if something. Like, let's say you're identifying, um, like a minor problem. Like, Oh gosh, my hair is frizzy today. Like you say that on camera I've I've had people say like, Oh geez, what a problem to have. So, um, be authentic and have fun and be real, but, um, I'll also say that, you know, there's so many social media platforms out there.
[00:18:49] Like there are so, so, so many. So what I tell people is to focus on a choose three formula that I've sort of crafted. I suggest choose one platform that you feel comfortable posting on because if you feel comfortable posting on it, you're going to be consistent and publish more content, choose a platform.
[00:19:07] That's going to give you great awareness because. Awareness is key. That's the currency in marketing. And then she was a platform that's going to give you search engine optimization leverage. So I'm going to turn to YouTube or Pinterest for that. So once you focus on those three core pillars of people, of content, and then anything you post outside of that as bonus points.
[00:19:26] So if you post on Twitter and Google my business, consider that a bonus point for you, but double down on those three social media platforms. That can help you push forward. So for me, it's Instagram. I feel comfortable posting on Instagram. Now I can say, um, and then of course, Tik TOK for awareness and then YouTube for search.
[00:19:44] Yeah. There's an optimization
[00:19:46] Veronica: [00:19:46] with the ultimate goal, right. Of getting them back to your website.
[00:19:50] Jennifer: [00:19:50] Oh, yeah, that's always, the goal is to get them just come to the website and in some way, shape or form. And then, um, you know, I always like, remember that scene in wedding Crashers. It's like, I will find you that's basically, because once I can get you, get you onto the website.
[00:20:06] Um, and then of course there are ways that to see. Um, you know, people falling into your funnel and that's always like the most magical part of it. So I love seeing somebody subscribed to me on YouTube and then I see them comment on YouTube and then I see them comment on a blog post, and then I see them join my email community.
[00:20:26] And then two hours later they sent a contact. Hey, I think I need your help. That dah, how can we work together?
[00:20:32] Veronica: [00:20:32] That's awesome. And so for me, for instance, because since I've got you on the show and I'm looking for some good content and suggestions, you've helped me set up the Facebook pixel for my website and my courses.
[00:20:43] So I come to you and I'm saying, okay, Jennifer, my website's been up now almost a year or maybe six, nine months since we've been working together. And I tell you, I now have a budget for ads. What's the first thing you're going to have me do.
[00:20:57] Jennifer: [00:20:57] Ooh, the first thing I'm going to have you do is put together an awareness campaign.
[00:21:02] So now I'm going to take it to the top of the funnel. So I'm going to publish a awareness campaign. I'm going to get a lot of eyeballs on this awareness campaign and generate even more traffic to your website. Then I'm going to create a traffic campaign. So now I'm going to be double-dipping into the people that have already been to your website, but then I'm going to also start.
[00:21:21] Tuning into people who have recently been to your website, and then you can take it one step further and target all of those people that were just, um, engaging with the traffic campaigns, the second one, and then create a conversion campaign. So now you're targeting people who are most likely to purchase something.
[00:21:39] So that's probably the, the formula that I, I would, uh, suggest. I
[00:21:44] Veronica: [00:21:44] love it. And for people like me who say, Oh, that sounds great. Can you do it? How does that work? I mean, how do we work with you? If that's something that we were on board, we understand the logistics, we get the concept, but we're focused on running our businesses, especially for those of us who do it on the side.
[00:22:00] How, how does all that play together and how do you come along and help people?
[00:22:04] Jennifer: [00:22:04] Yeah. So I always set up a discovery call. I get a really good idea of like who your ideal target audiences, what your expectations are and what your goals are. And I just, I get all that information. And then in the background, I do all the heavy lifting for you.
[00:22:20] So I go into your Facebook ads account. I'll create the material, I'll create the content. I'll create the ad. But moreover, I'm also, I'm looking at your ad at least once a day. And identifying is this performing the way we want is this meeting. Our expectations is the cost per result. Getting to be too high because that's always the perfect formula when to reach a lot of people for less amount of money.
[00:22:42] So, right. Always, uh, looking at that. Um, but if anybody's ever interested in, um, at least having that conversation, then they could always reach out to me on my website, fill out a contact form. And I always give a free discovery calls because I really need to get a good temperature of, um, what it is that people are looking to accomplish.
[00:23:03] And then of course, I'm going to make sure that I can reach those goals for you. If I cannot reach them for whatever reason, then I have a lot of allies in the industry that can help. You as
[00:23:12] Veronica: [00:23:12] well. Yeah. And that's a great way of talking about it. Cause we've talked about workloads and as freelancers, we have to balance home life, professional life, side hustle, life, and all the other passions that, that keep us going as a whole person.
[00:23:29] And, um, I know we've talked a lot about having capacity. So having allies and partnerships and collaborations are just key. And I know when I can't help someone, if they come to me and they want to talk about visibility strategy, but they're really needing ads, I send them to Jennifer because sometimes PR is not the right fit for you.
[00:23:49] Sometimes marketing is the right fit for you, but when you are looking for ads and you're ready to grow your business, In that space, uh, digital Sargent is where to go. And the website's there, uh, on the screen for you. Do you have any closing tips for us before we wrap up today? I know you you've given us some fantastic gems and I wrote down a few things, including the three social media platforms I'm going to be focusing on now.
[00:24:12] Jennifer: [00:24:12] Yeah. So a few, uh, take away things is, uh, really just mastered the art of showing up for your ideal target audience, really sort out the problems that they have and identify how you can help them, the solutions that they have and, um, you know, just have fun with it.
[00:24:27] Veronica: [00:24:27] Yeah, that's ultimately what we're supposed to be doing.
[00:24:30] So thank you so much, Jennifer. These tips were fantastic, guys. If you were looking for somebody to help you SEO, Google my business. If you just need to hop on a call and get some ideas, Jennifer's who to go to. She is literally the person I use all the time. So highly recommend connecting. Thanks so much, Jennifer.
[00:24:49] Thanks. All right. And we're going to wrap up another episode of Saturday soundbites. I hope you got some fantastic content. I know I did SEO and digital footprints. And how you show up as part of your visibility strategy on social media is imperative and it has to be aligned to all, either things that you're doing to grow your business.
[00:25:10] So thank you so much for digital Sargent. We've got her website on there. Make sure you tune in next week. We're going to have another fantastic guest here on Saturday soundbites. You can always learn more and listen to past episodes at Ronica V. sofer.com. And if you're on Facebook, join our group, magnifying your message with media.
[00:25:28] We drop it and fantastic tips, resources. We share articles. We go live every once in a while. And then of course we have past episodes, et Saturday sound soundbites in there too. So if you are listening to our podcast, make sure you hit subscribe. We want to make sure that you get an opportunity to listen to every single episode and on Facebook, if you're watching on replay.
[00:25:46] Hashtag replaced so that we can connect and thank everyone for joining us today. I am sending you lots of positive energy and light, and we will see you next Saturday. Have a great one.