Sonja Crystal Williams: 0:05

Hi everyone, welcome to today’s episode of 10Minute Marketing. I’m your host, sonia Crystal Williams, so joining me today I have Victoria Carlton, and Victoria is the founder of Carlton Creative Co. She leads a very talented team that delivers impactful marketing solutions that resonate with audiences. I’ve watched her build this amazing, very talented team that delivers impactful marketing solutions that resonate with audiences. I’ve watched her build this amazing, talented team over the course of several years. So welcome, glad to have you here today, Victoria.

Victoria Carlton: 0:33

Thanks, Sonja, I really appreciate you having me on.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 0:36

Absolutely. So I’m going to jump right in because one of the things as I’ve watched your company really grow and even just you know how I first met, just that whole realm just behind content creation and content strategy, I think has been an area where I’ve really seen your team thrive. So I want to kind of jump right in with the first question of when you are working with clients and you’re positioning them to just deliver strong content that’s going to resonate with their audience. What’s the starting point for that? If you’re piecing together some of the parts or the framework that goes into a strategy, like what are some of the important areas that you cover when you’re working with your clients?

Victoria Carlton: 1:17

I think one of the most important areas is kind of understanding the business side and their goals, because you need to match the marketing side with that. So you need to have those long-term goals in place, but then understanding some short-term milestones of where is the company working towards, what do they want to get to? Because we need to be able to communicate that now, because their five-year plan is going to look very different from what they’re executing right now in year two, year three, year four.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 1:42

Yeah, I think, especially in the world of like anything that’s online or digital, like it’s like, be prepared to pivot, because if you go too far out, like, you need the vision, but if you go too far out filling in all the details, it could look totally different like in a couple of years. So I think that’s a really great point. When you walk in to help, let’s say well, first let me ask you, what kind of organizations do you find yourself providing the most support to?

Victoria Carlton: 2:10

So we’re really all over the map, and it’s because of something that I’m very proud of, which is we’ve gotten a lot of word of mouth referrals from people, so that means that it’s different businesses, but the thing it always comes back to is it’s typically a B2B business that we work with the most.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 2:24

Yeah, and so when you walk into that office, you’re working with a B2B business or it’s a Zoom call, you know. Whatever it is nowadays in this work environment, what do you find? Are like the missing pieces? Where do they need help? Like what’s common that you see.

Victoria Carlton: 2:40

It’s usually they either have marketing staff on hand, but it’s a very, very small team, so they’re overwhelmed or they’re in the weeds of something really important and they’re not able to focus or continue progressing. So one of the most important things in marketing I think you’ll agree with is being consistent and not having stoppages or gaps, and that’s usually the thing that we’ll pick up and say if you can’t handle that right now or you’ve never done it, we can come in and have something going consistently for you so you can really start to see results and then keep those results.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 3:12

Yeah. So what is that thing for you all, Is it? Hey, we’re picking up your social media. Hey, we’re going to do some ads for you. Like, what are those different components that you all end up digging into?

Victoria Carlton: 3:21

Probably the biggest one is social media, and specifically with B2B. It’s usually on LinkedIn and in that sphere, or a lot of the times it’ll be a startup maybe, and they’ve had really great success. They’ve gotten a lot of big customers, but then they never thought about the brand or their website. And then we’re coming in and doing a brand new website or communicating the copy side of things and writing everything that they now have pivoted and changed to as they’ve started to onboard those new clients.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 3:49

That makes sense. So you kind of bring up another part where, like they never thought about the brand, do you all go that like that deep with clients and helping them kind of piece together their brand from a visual standpoint and I guess I always call it like the intangible part, the messaging, like all that other stuff, like where that intersects with the actual tangible product, which is social media posts, like what’s the intersection there for you all and how do you see that play out with some of those B2Bs?

Victoria Carlton: 4:21

Yes, that’s so important, and I love that you bring it up, because a lot of clients don’t know or don’t have an understanding of that to begin with. Really and truly, it’s either we are going to develop and bring in that brand or we’re going to update and refine and the brand you know is much more than just the logo or just the color palette. Those things are really important for consistency, like I said earlier. But then you know what is the tone of your brand and how does that correlate into what you’re writing? Because being consistent on that voice side of things makes a huge difference as well, and I mean anybody. You don’t have to be a communication or marketing expert. You can tell when somebody else is writing a post on behalf of a company and it changes from post to post, and that’s something that you don’t want people to see. Right Like you don’t want to break the third wall, you want it to still be part of the company.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 5:10

One of the somebodies you bring up, the somebody writing the post one of the somebodies I’ve been talking about lately a lot is the AI somebody, because I’ve had even in my own experience working with clients. Some clients say, oh, we don’t need blog writers anymore, we’re just going to have ChatGPT do all the work. So you’ve heard this too, I imagine.

Victoria Carlton: 5:30

Many, many times I’m like retweet, retweet.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 5:39

Oh my gosh, how do you feel? So I was on a panel at a conference and we were having the AI conversation and I’ll hold what my thoughts were. Just when it comes to just writing social media content for AI, what are your thoughts about that and pros and cons to even using that, or taking that into account, and all these different tools that help people do that.

Victoria Carlton: 5:55

This is such a big topic and you can go in so many different ways with it, but first and foremost, when I get that feedback, it’s really about anybody can get something from AI right, Like I agree. I don’t dispute that. However, what you’re going to find is it’s something that everyone can recognize. That’s AI and that’s only going to become more and more as people are seeing and using AI and getting to understand that better, and I just I don’t think that it performs well. It doesn’t have the right tone or right voice. Of course you can prompt them a little bit better, but typically the clients who don’t need writers anymore don’t know how to prompt, so then you get into a whole new can of worms. I think that there’s a time and a place, and we certainly do use AI to kind of help with some brainstorming things or talking through with the AI. That’s kind of one of my favorite things is to go back and forth and say here’s my idea, here’s how I see it playing out. Like what holes do you see in this, when could we improve on this? And that really helps me see it from a different angle sometimes. But if you’re not a professional and then using AI to apply it to something specific like writing social media, writing blog posts, it’s never gonna be successful. And the copy is only one component of any social media posts or anything that you see written right. A lot of times there’s a lot more associated with that, like a graphic or video.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 7:14

Yeah, I am, yeah, no, I’m with you and I was on that panel. My stance was specifically for writing social media content like, remember that it’s, in a a sense, regurgitating stuff that’s out there. It’s not creating per se. So, to your point, like you could lose your tone and your voice in the process. You know, I, yeah, I’m with you. Brands need to have that, that stance and that position. It’s what makes them unique and different. So, if everyone starts sounding the same, where do we differ and how do these algorithms know what to prioritize? Because that’s part of the process. I’m not saying play to the algorithm, but the reality is it exists and it has an impact on how much your post gets seen.

Victoria Carlton: 7:55

So, yeah, that’s a really good point too.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 7:58

Yeah, so okay. So AI is like one thing and we could look at that as, in a sense, like a trend. What are some of the other trends that you’re seeing as it relates to content development, just, you know, creation things that people are putting out there. As it relates to it.

Victoria Carlton: 8:17

You know video is a thing that people are the most afraid of. I think I have tons of clients who don’t want to do it or say I’m too nervous and they’re not willing. But that’s the thing that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. You know there’s so much flexibility and versatility with it that you can do with video and it’s like you don’t have to be doing the TikTok trend or the dance. There’s so many different applications because the video is a hook and that’s something that can get eyeballs for you immediately on something and actually engage with your audience. And you know video is only growing on other platforms like LinkedIn, like they now have the built in captions that now come up. So you know one less thing in the editing process that you can have to do with video.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 9:02

Okay, so let’s take, let’s put on our hat, as if you’re gonna work with a new client and this clients in the B2B world — and I come across this like even these clients and teams that have they have a marketing team, they’ve got some internal staff but, like you said, they’re overwhelmed, overworked. How do you help move them along? Because the thing that a lot of businesses probably experience when it comes to video creation is like like how, who, what are we going to put on video and who’s going to be on video? Like that’s usually the biggest roadblock. I mean, there’s a bunch of other roadblocks, but that’s a big one. How do you hold their hand into the start of that as a trend?

Victoria Carlton: 10:03

Yeah, you make such a good point. You know that’s exactly what they say is, who has the time for this, who can actually do it, who can be a part of it? But I don’t think that they initially see the value right. You can do so much with the video. So if you’re going to do a customer testimonial, nobody from the team has to be involved at all. So you know, checked one box immediately.

Victoria Carlton: 10:16

You just need to have someone that loves your work and is a big supporter of you, and every client I’ve worked with has people like that who are ready to jump. And even if those people are nervous about video, they usually will agree to it and say, yes, I’m in, I’ll do this for them because it means a lot. And then, on the other side, you know we work with the sales teams when it’s product demos, so then they can run through and work on something. And usually salespeople are the right person with video because they’re so comfortable already speaking in front of others or they know the product so well that they can nail it immediately. But yeah, it just depends. If there’s not that one person, that’s okay. We can come up with a strategy for that.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 10:53

Yeah. So salespeople great, that’s an awesome nugget. Cause some organizations don’t even think about that. Like, go to your sales people. They’re out in the field, they talk about it all the time, they know what to say. And then those customer testimonials would be a good one. And it’s kind of like that nervousness that people experience because no one feels like they want to, as far as people working there, be in front of the camera. So it’s like who do you find? So those are some really good takeaways. So you all are on the agency side of things. And then you have companies, as you mentioned, that might have some staff in- house. How does a company one like, what do you find by the time they come to you as an agency? What have they gone through? What have they encountered? Like, what helps a company get to that space where that’s part of the decision-making process?

Victoria Carlton: 11:43

I think you have probably gone through this and seen this at your clients too. But the number one thing that I’ve encountered, surprisingly, is someone will say we worked with an agency before, we worked with somebody in some piece of marketing and it was a horrible experience or a waste of money, waste of time. Like how do I know that working with you isn’t going to be the same result, and so that’s something that is super important to talk about upfront and say, well, what went wrong there? And usually it’s something that Carleton Creative and my team members we don’t go there. We would never make that same fatal mistake that they have.

Victoria Carlton: 12:15

So that’s the number one thing that usually helps to reassure them and understanding that don’t worry, it’s not going to take me three weeks to reply to an email. I replied to all my emails within 24 hours. But that’s like really important, right, to reassure them. And so usually they’ve been burned before is the biggest one or the second one. They finally are starting to see like, oh, I saw the value of this at another person’s company that I know and I just don’t have anybody yet, and I think this would be better to outsource right now or when they do have that person working with them. You know, this person’s working on this very important project with me and they just don’t have the capacity. So then that’s when they start working with an outside agency. And that’s awesome too, because then if there is a marketing person there, they can kind of be a part of the process too and drive that, and then there’s a little bit less of that educational piece if you’re working with another marketer.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 13:06

Very true, very true. And in the case where maybe there’s not a marketer, how do you find things flow when you’re working, maybe directly with the business owner?

Victoria Carlton: 13:15

So when it flows that way, there’s a lot more of the educational piece up front and I tried to do a lot of visuals with them or take it a step back and start explaining the finer details of like what data points mean. And again, something else that comes up tons for everybody in marketing is you know, I just want to lead or I just want to see the conversion, but there’s so many other metrics that are associated with that. And then breaking that down and say, how is this a value- add to you or what does this mean for you in your bottom line. That’s probably the biggest elephant in the room, immediately with working with an owner.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 13:52

Okay, so that’s a good point, but it leads to like, so the owners do want to see the conversions, but that is it. When you get to that space where it’s like, okay, we’ve been publishing content, it’s been three to six months, we’re in there, we’re comfortable, we know each other, we trust each other, how do you start to figure out and even maybe explain to that client what’s effective, what’s not, what to keep, what to abandon, and is that enough time even to start making those determinations so that they have a realistic outlook?

Victoria Carlton: 14:24

Yeah, absolutely. I think you’ve got to have those three to six months of content generating to even reassess and reevaluate. And that’s another piece is typically businesses aren’t that patient, right, like they want to see the result in three weeks, four weeks and/ or make a pivot from there.

Victoria Carlton: 14:41

And I like to say, you know, let’s get some trends because we base things everything at Carlton Creative on analytics and data, and we’ll provide monthly reports. We’ll review that with them and give them key takeaways and we’re not afraid to say here’s what’s working, but here’s what’s not working, and we’ll say let’s keep an eye on this because it’s nothing horrible that’s maybe changed in the trends, but let’s understand, is that something for next month that we should reconsider, is it not? And then if they want to push back and say I want to change now, then we have to reevaluate that again and then understand okay, does that really make sense or does it not? And here’s the data that backs it up. Usually, when you talk about the numbers, that helps because it gives them something concrete, because so many things in marketing it’s not black and white, right, like everything’s a little gray and you have to navigate that way.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 15:26

Just for fun, I want to ask you, well, you kind of mentioned LinkedIn, but where are you all enjoying like, just like the work you do? In terms of, if you were to break it down per social network, where are you having the most fun, versus, maybe, where you feel like I’m getting the best bang for my buck for my clients over here?

Victoria Carlton: 15:46

Yeah. So I mean really it’s LinkedIn, because I just think it’s so undervalued and people don’t realize like the value of LinkedIn, even if I can get a leader like a leader from the leadership team to take part in that, they can have a really big impact for their organization and usually people at that high level are invested in the success of the company.

Victoria Carlton: 16:06

So then they’re willing and that’s where we get to have the most fun, because then we get to work with the person one-on-one and really understand more about their personal life and what defines them as a professional, because usually those experiences go hand in hand, even though people try to turn it off, but there’s outlets and things that build you into the professional you are today. So that’s the best part is working with someone where we get to share more of their like story, of what led them on this path for that particular client. Cause, usually the clients are solving some sort of business problem or a pain point and then understanding like how did they get led to this pain point and what did it mean for them personally?

Sonja Crystal Williams: 16:43

Absolutely. So, Linkedin is the winner right now. Now, I agree, I’ve always told people it’s like, although I will say probably over the past three to five years that platform has grown phenomenally, but prior to that, I would always tell people like it’s one of the most underutilized platforms and I think people are still figuring out, more so than before, people understand how to use it. But it’s one of those platforms it’s like, yeah, why aren’t you here? Like you know, it’s social media, just like everything else, and it doesn’t have to be as stuffy as people think it has to be where it’s, you know, your commentary and your captions are very boring, so absolutely yes, and that’s that’s the other thing.

Victoria Carlton: 17:23

Right, they’re like well, I don’t want to share a Facebook post, like Facebook’s not LinkedIn, and I completely understand that. I promise you, what we’re going to post is never going to look like a Facebook post. There’s ways to make it a lot of fun, and it doesn’t need to be something that’s like a canned response or it doesn’t need to be something that you’re afraid of. Corporate sees this like it’s LinkedIn. They’re going to be really happy that you’re interacting and updating in this way.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 17:46

Yeah, and talking about what you do. So thank you so much for sharing, Victoria. I want to wrap up our conversation with a few questions that I like to call our lightning round, and the first question really the kind of the first two questions I have for you are kind of around the work you do at Carlton Creative Co., and the last one is just like pure fun. So first question is what do you love about the work you do?

Victoria Carlton: 18:13

I feel like I just answered that, so I’ll try to make it a little bit different. But what I love most about the work that I do is we were completely remote at Carlton Creative, so I love when we can break that barrier and be in- person with either a client or even with our team. We’re about to go on our company retreat soon this fall and so that’s the most rewarding part is when you get to see people in person and understand the impact that you’ve really had and you get the feedback of hey, I went to this event and somebody knew about our company because of what you’ve been posting on LinkedIn. Or hey, because I shared that more personal thing on LinkedIn and related it to professionally, I was able to start a conversation with somebody else who had that same experience and that turned into a business opportunity. So that’s the part that I really love the most about it.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 19:00

Yeah, I mean it’s what you said earlier, like about how you all get a lot of business word of mouth, but like to some degree, social media kind of is, when people see it, even though they don’t comment, like they’ll call you if they have your number, they’ll email you if they have your email address, and that will turn into a private conversation that can lead to new opportunities.

Victoria Carlton: 19:19

So I think that’s really good and you stay top of mind at the same time, right Like that’s. That’s so rewarding for people that you know you’re first on the list when they have a need.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 19:29

Yes, exactly, and that’s and that’s what we all want. Second question, and I know, like you have, I don’t want to say it’s like, it’s not a brand new business, it’s a young business, right, I think you’ve been in being someone who worked independently to now having a team in place and growing your organization.

Victoria Carlton: 20:03

I think my biggest takeaway that I just didn’t know is I didn’t know what entrepreneurship was going to be all about. It was not about continuing to do the same work that I loved in digital marketing and communication. It was more so of learning. What does it take to actually run a business? What’s the behind the scenes of a business? All the other things that every entrepreneur goes through. But in my case, I just wasn’t thinking and I wish that I would have known a little bit more and taken some entrepreneurship classes in college so I could understand and have that perspective. But thankfully, like I told you earlier, I’ve worked with a lot of startups, so I get to learn and grow besides them sometimes, or they’re nice enough to tell me some great tips that would really be beneficial for us internally.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 20:45

Wow, that’s awesome, okay. Final question is you have the winning lottery ticket. You hit it for five mil. That’s what, about two and a half after taxes? What are you doing?

Victoria Carlton: 21:00

I’m totally going to go live in Italy, particularly Florence, Italy. I love to travel, I love to see the world, but I would definitely try to move abroad, over there, and get a place there and work remotely there. Because if I’m working remotely now, why couldn’t I do it over there? It’s one of my biggest passions and I’ve been uncovering my family roots recently and I’m actually in the process of getting my dual citizenship with Italy, so I’m really excited and really proud of my family’s heritage that that’s an opportunity for me.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 21:30

Congratulations. When you get that place, invite me over. I love Florence.

Victoria Carlton: 21:36

Thank you. I have to hit the lottery after I get my citizenship.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 21:39

There we go, let’s get it in order. I will fly into Milan and ride that train down. So it’s so beautiful. Thank you so much, Victoria. So where can people find you if they want to get more information about Carlton Creative and learn about your services?

Victoria Carlton: 21:55

Well, we’re keeping this with the same platform right. All on LinkedIn. I try to be really active on there myself, but then the company page obviously is keeping people posted and educated. If you want to learn a few things, of course you can always email me to send me a message, but it’s easy nowadays with social media.

Sonja Crystal Williams: 22:12

Yeah, so everybody, I’ll drop the links so you can find Victoria on LinkedIn, find her company. I will drop those links on our description. So be on the lookout for that if you want to reach out or drop any questions you have for us, and maybe we can get Victoria back for another episode in the future. Until then, everybody, thank you so much for listening. Victoria, thank you for being here. Have a great day everybody.

Victoria Carlton: 22:34

Thank you, Sonja. Have a great day, guys.