Ep. 7 | From Behind the 8-Ball: Marketing Insights with Ryan & Spenser

Episode 7 of the 8-Ball Podcast. Tune in for engaging discussions, practical tips, and a fun segment where they evaluate famous marketing campaigns. Don't miss this episode packed with valuable marketing strategies and a touch of humor!

Ep. 7 | From Behind the 8-Ball: Marketing Insights with Ryan & Spenser

Listen on Spotify / Apple Podcasts / YouTube

🧩 Key Takeaways

• Optimize Google profiles to drive traffic.

• Handling websites can save businesses time.

• Lead generation is crucial for small businesses.

• Marketing strategies differ for large and small businesses.

• Responding to reviews can improve business reputation.

• Digital marketing is essential for modern businesses.

• Understanding customer needs is key to marketing.

• Effective marketing can boost business growth.

• Small businesses need tailored marketing solutions.

• Experience in large companies can benefit small businesses.

💬 Transcript

Ryan (00:00)

Welcome back to another Get Out From Behind the 8-Ball podcast. I got my buddy Spencer Kahle, a high school buddy, and he decided to help me out and ask me some questions in the podcast. We're gonna talk about a little bit of what I did and Spencer's the man, so here he is. How you doing, Spencer? Good.

Spenser (00:16)

doing good, Ryan, doing good. Happy to

be on, happy to help you out and kind of get a bigger, better idea and get the other people a better idea of kind of everything. So I guess to start off really, I remember you worked for like a medical sales device company kind of thing. was kind of your deal there?

Ryan (00:20)

Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah, audiologists and

audiologists. So we sold hearing aids, but we treated tinnitus. We were specialized in tinnitus treatment, which not a lot of people do. And so that was our niche. But we also help with people with hearing loss and hyperacusis and misophonia, which is sensitivity to sound. We don't need to go down those rabbit holes, but that's what Sound Relief did. And they helped the community out hugely.

Spenser (00:55)

Yeah.

Yeah, my really old shop manager loves to talk about how he has Tennyson ringing in his ears all the time. I don't need to hear any more of that, but Tendonitis on I figured it's probably the same thing. I guess that's like obviously a huge company there. How can you exactly scale that to small businesses and provide anything for you know, the little guy when you're used to such probably larger scale ⁓ operations, I'm sure.

Ryan (01:07)

Yeah, some people call it tendonitis. But yeah, we'll move on.

Yeah, so it bodes well for helping the little guy because...

And it gives me lot of experience dealing with the big company. And the little guys, they don't know what to do with marketing. So I'm here to take the reins and deal with your marketing and save you time. Because it does take a lot of time for people to deal with their marketing plus do whatever they're good at, whatever their company is, say you're an electrician. So I want to help the little guy by handling their marketing and then they can go off and do what they're best at. Which is being an electrician, being a barber.

or whatever you do. So my job is to save you time and get you leads so can go out and do your best work for what you do.

Spenser (02:09)

Right on and what so I definitely need a lot of time saved I you know try to micromanage my guys a lot when there's things they could do I just know I could do them better and faster but my my services are definitely better suited on on other projects ⁓ so what kind of ways you do do you save them that time

Ryan (02:13)

Thank

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

So I can handle their website, handle their Google profile, and then when I handle that, I know what to do. essentially, this is the big movers right there, Google and your website. So I can take those off your hands and handle them for you.

Spenser (02:45)

Okay, right on. I see. I know nothing about that. I would need I would need the help if I ever needed that. Managing the Google. And so ultimately, what's the bigger picture there? You just you just manage their Google reviews. How you do how do you do that? What does it do?

Ryan (02:48)

Yeah, we don't need get into details, but I'll, you know, you know. Yeah, there you go.

Yeah, I manage it all. I'll get

reviews for them, respond to them, handle the negative ones. And basically what that does is it drives traffic to John, John the electrician. So I got him and I need to get John two or three leads a day. So my job is to optimize their website and the Google profile. So they get two or three leads a day, keeps them moving, and they can go out and do their electrician work and make their money.

So yeah, that's what I'm gonna do, optimize the profile and website. There's a lot of details that go behind that stuff that, again, if you didn't do marketing for 8 years, you're not gonna know what to do. So my job is to optimize your stuff and then you can go out and do your job out there. Do your best work for the community.

Spenser (03:43)

Yeah, okay, I got you. And so, I have a lot of questions, I guess, but I don't want you to spill too many of your secrets, is the thing. A lot of my questions would be, you know, how you get this done, and then you've got some other fellow writing it down, all of a sudden, you're not even getting any work. So, I actually got something else prepared that I think might be kind of fun for us to go ahead and go through. I've got a little compilation of...

Ryan (03:50)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, let's do it.

Spenser (04:09)

you some screenshots of ⁓ you i guess some some yelp reviews some google reviews maybe and some you know some different famous marketing campaigns from

Ryan (04:21)

Are you gonna

surprise me and test me with some reviews?

Spenser (04:24)

Yeah. Well, you know, if I just want you to tell me if the person or the entity or the business did a good job or they did a bad job and then kind of, you know, if they used a certain tactic that, you know, comes to your mind, you can kind of mention that, be like, that's a good example of so-and-so and so-and-so. let's see here. Let me get my screen shared.

Ryan (04:42)

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah.

Spenser (04:51)

share screen. Chrome tab window.

⁓ okay. Here we go. Boom. Share. You see it? You see it? Full screened.

Ryan (05:02)

Yep, I see it now.

No, it's not full screen, but you hit the share.

Spenser (05:06)

hang on.

I know but I went to I'll just share my entire screen and then just do it up. it this weird way.

Ryan (05:10)

Nah, you had it.

Spenser (05:18)

actually exited up.

Stick with me folks. We'll be back here in a minute Who's playing ball tonight? We got some ball on Thursday, right?

Ryan (05:22)

Yeah.

got the Buffalo

Bills in the Houston Texans. It's a pretty good there. There's not trash this week.

Spenser (05:33)

I you what, at the beginning, like after two games in the season, that would have sounded like a great matchup. And then right now it's like, ⁓ maybe not so much, but I guess we'll see. nope, don't try that on now. Okay, so we're gonna go to here. We're gonna go to here. We're gonna go to entire screen. We're gonna go to this. We're gonna go to share. Alright, that's good. And then to that, and then quickly to there. Boom. And now we're in there.

Ryan (05:39)

Yeah.

Yeah, it's not as good as we thought.

There we go.

Alright. Hit me.

Spenser (06:03)

Alright so,

this is a little game we got, a little prez that your boy made called Good or Bad and Why. starting off with this one right here.

So we got this fella, I've lived down the road from the surf shop for a few years and I have bought many items, I believe items, for you in the past but as of right now I take my business elsewhere. I was angered by the sign on the door that says, catch waves not Pokemon. First off, what people do on their personal phones is none of your business. Second, I refuse to give any more of my money to a place that possesses such a snooty attitude. It's rude and discriminating.

And they responded, Jessica, I hope you understand it was a joke. We love Pokemon and surfing. We were just kidding around with the sign out front. Tori at Surf Station. What do think about that one?

Ryan (06:54)

That's a great reply. mean, that just, takes all the, it takes the, it makes it light. It's just a joke. mean, you know, I lived down the from a sheriff's shop for years that brought me and he was gonna pass.

Spenser (07:08)

Yeah, the spelling is really bad. pretty sure that I got the words right though. Items, iteams. Yeah, they really got that.

Ryan (07:10)

Yeah, Hedgeways.

You know, it

seems like the person leaving the review might be having a bad day.

Spenser (07:21)

Yeah, they

might be tough. They might really not like the Japanese or something.

Ryan (07:26)

possibly. They are

hating on Honda Civics and everything. dude, that's a good reply because it takes the lightness off, it makes it light. It's just a joke. So let's say good.

Spenser (07:37)

Yeah, I would I would I would lean that way with you and I I also I I do like Pokemon So, you know, I'm on I'm on surf station side for surf station side for sure. Alright, and then How about this one right here? We've got a two-star review very worst To which they replied you asked For money and left a bad review. Is that all you can do you peasant?

Ryan (07:45)

Yeah, me too. Hell yeah.

That reply is not very good, but you know, damn, I mean that's just like, calling him a peasant, that's going straight for the gut, mean, God. I hope that person doesn't take it. Right, exactly, I mean it doesn't address, you know, whoever W is, the person who left the review, they should ask, hey W, you know, what went wrong? Or what did we do to make you leave this two star, very worst review?

Spenser (08:14)

Yeah, he didn't really voice his concerns well though, you know?

Ryan (08:33)

and then address that and they might have a system where can tell what happened but apparently they do know what happened because they asked for money and left a bad review is that all you can do you peasant that's bad

Spenser (08:43)

Yeah, bad. Not the best on either team, we'll say. Maybe a draw, but definitely probably a loss. Alright and next up, Terrible Customer Service.

Ryan (08:51)

Yeah.

Spenser (08:56)

We welcome honest feedback, but this is not. Your friend Luke Framon was asked to leave our store today due to his bad behavior and in response he has given us negative feedback and asked you to do the same. We have always been very kind and understanding with Luke, but his behavior today was not acceptable. We are a small family toy store and several customers were witness to his episode. The negative feedback campaign aside, I hope you can have a serious conversation with him about

behavior in public as that type of episode will only manifest itself more and more. I had a window blocking that last bit. So how did Florida Man toys do with Mr. Jake Suge?

Ryan (09:34)

Yeah.

First of all I to say thanks for picking this one, this is a great one. I mean, apparently...

Spenser (09:42)

I like the thing.

Ryan (09:45)

Jake and Luke are in the wrong man like There you know a family toy store It's probably a nice small family toy store where little kids go to get their Christmas presents We don't want any bad stuff happening and why? Like you need so great reply by Florida man's toys And then you I shouldn't really get into the customer But I do want to say this is you as a business you have the right to serve customers like you don't have to serve everyone

Spenser (09:54)

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Ryan (10:13)

You can serve whoever you want, so Luke and Jake, let's get it together.

Spenser (10:20)

Absolutely my time in the restaurant industry that was a big thing was you know we do serve everyone But we the customers always right, but we can refuse somebody service for any reason you know and I definitely think Luke needed to be you know He needed to be cut off from the toy store. Whatever whatever that means Are you ready for the next one? Here we go. Hopefully this one's just as good. We got a couple

Ryan (10:28)

Yeah, Yep, that's great.

Yes he does.

Yeah, that was a great one.

Alright.

Spenser (10:45)

Worst car wash ever. Car was almost as dirty as when I pulled in after paying $5. First time there since prices waged, doesn't matter. Said, I know that's why it's only five bucks, go somewhere else. Then you got shows open at 7.30, drove all the way there and they were not there.

Ryan (10:57)

.

Spenser (11:04)

Go drive off a cliff is the response to that and then You got completely rude staff visited around three weeks ago We'll never go back to which they replied crybaby now how does a five dollar express car wash doing in the? Marketing department as a small probably a very small business might I add

Ryan (11:07)

my gosh.

Nope.

So this might top the last one, was a great, great choice. Why, dude, that, so I don't know whether to think that $5 car wash owner, if he's trying to rock his brand this way, because apparently he doesn't give a F. ⁓ Yeah, he does need my help. mean, he needs to, first off, start by getting good reviews and being nice to people. I mean.

Spenser (11:38)

I think he really needs your help.

Mm-hmm.

Ryan (11:49)

And then it looks like, you know, he just keeps digging himself a deeper hole. I mean, it's like. Oh, man, and these reviews are 8 months ago and a year ago, so they're a while ago. I hope he got better. So five dollar express car wash. That's a bad and. I mean. Yeah, yeah, bad.

Spenser (12:12)

think what the problem is is because he's so behind the 8 ball in the marketing department that he doesn't have time to focus on actually giving good car washes and so he's kind of reached a bit of a snowball effect here. ⁓ We wish him the best.

Ryan (12:16)

Yeah.

That's exactly.

Exactly right Spencer, exactly right.

Yep.

Spenser (12:30)

Okay, and now we'll switch gears from the reviews and go to just more of some general campaigns just through time from, you know, from some of the big guys and see, you know, maybe if there's something we can learn from them. So the first one is an ad from a little bit before our time that Netflix, I believe it was Netflix, did a little documentary on where there was prize points offered.

Ryan (12:40)

Okay.

Spenser (12:56)

in the cans of Pepsi's and you know the commercial advertise that you could have 7 million points would get you a jet. Which was obviously a joke but one gentleman took it pretty serious and tried to take him to court he lost but you know what about that one was that a good one?

Ryan (13:00)

Thank

Right.

Yes,

so yeah, I do remember, I think they made like a Netflix documentary about this thing. There's a documentary, I don't think I watched it, but I do remember this happening. so Pepsi offered the person with 700 million, right.

Spenser (13:17)

You what?

Well, they had like a prize list, you know, like when you

like the Marlboro points back in the day, get the cool jackets or the cooler, like certain points. This was at the top of the list, but obviously, you know, there in theory, they were saying, nobody could get 7 million points. I believe the fella might've like, you know, just like crowdfunded it. Basically was like, Hey, everybody give me all your Pepsi things. And then, you know,

Ryan (13:35)

So... Uh-huh.

Yeah, right,

but he did do it and they didn't give him a hairier fighter jet So so I would have to say that I think Pepsi's in the wrong here I mean the dude did the work and And and got exactly what Pepsi said and then Pepsi's ⁓ no, no, we can't do that. That's that's illegal We're not able to do that. Well, then you shouldn't put it up in the first place. I mean

Spenser (13:57)

You know, they can't, you can't give somebody that.

huh.

Wha- huh?

Yeah.

Ryan (14:20)

⁓ but I understand it's a joke and it's marketing and that's Good it's it's it's good marketing and pepsi probably didn't know it would go this far ⁓ man spencer i'll be honest with you. This is a this is a ⁓ Tricky one. This is a tricky one I mean Because you could go both sides, I mean you could definitely argue that

Spenser (14:29)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's a tricky one. Yeah, there's I don't know if it's good or bad. Yeah. From who? I think the problem is the first

time it was aired, you see how it's an old photo, but it says just kidding at the bottom. The original advertisement did not have just kidding at the bottom.

Ryan (14:48)

Yeah.

⁓

Okay. Well.

Spenser (14:53)

Yeah, there was

a lot of loopholes this guy was really trying to pork him with because I believe You know the value of just getting those points was significantly less than the value of the jet So he like figured out in his mind was like I will like I'll come up a few hundred thou if I pull this off all right next one is um a little bit of a I don't know if it's a campaign but um You know there was a there was a marathon that people had run um

Ryan (15:07)

Yeah.

Spenser (15:23)

And you know, after they got their times, Adidas sent them out their times with this email. And it was for the Boston Marathon. This happened in 2017, about four years after the, you know, the one that they, Mark Wahlberg made the movie about.

Ryan (15:36)

my god.

Yep. So, so hold on here. So Adidas running, they so explain.

Spenser (15:45)

Good or bad?

Every runner received this

email.

Ryan (15:55)

A runner received the email after buying some shoes?

Spenser (15:58)

All

all of the runners received the email because I guess their times were ⁓ like tracked by adidas essentially maybe like their bracelets or something and linked to like, know their emails and You know if you ran the boston marathon you got this email

Ryan (16:14)

So was this supposed to be a joke to the...

Spenser (16:16)

I...

yeah, I'm not sure if it was a joke or just, you know... I don't think it was a joke. I think it was just kind of somebody not reading it out loud.

Ryan (16:19)

or did they, because I know that the...

Yeah, and I mean the exact yeah in the bombing happened they probably they might have had this they might have typed this before that happened Okay, yeah, you know a lot of dude a lot of people Forget about things that happen. I mean a lot of people like, you know

Spenser (16:33)

This was four years after the bombing.

Yeah

Ryan (16:47)

Sometimes I'll forget about something that happened to me to you yesterday like two days ago and like god damn it Why did I forget that but you know that is just? Lack of attention to detail I guess is what that is and adidas is in the wrong and it's adidas Bad and just you need more attention to detail more attention to detail

Spenser (17:05)

Yeah,

must not have gone through a lot of people's hands before it made it to the finished file. Alright, and then up next, is a, now this one, this is my personal favorite. This is one of my favorites of all time. The Old Spice Man, you you remember these? These were fun.

Ryan (17:13)

Exactly, yeah, Yep.

Yeah.

I do.

Yeah.

Spenser (17:31)

what do you guys say about them today that is that use ⁓ any any any you know keywords any fun phrases marketing terms you think

Ryan (17:40)

Well, smell like a man, Old Spice.

Spenser (17:42)

Well, I'm just talking

the energy of the commercials. Remember those commercials where he's like...

Ryan (17:45)

I do, wasn't he

a, wasn't it like a man horse or something?

Spenser (17:49)

Yeah, a manhorse and then like, you know, he's like punching through the wall of a shower and something and like just all kinds of wacky stuff

Ryan (17:58)

Right, and so I mean, yeah, I think, you this was good marketing because it it Presented exactly how You know

smell like a man man I I honestly I don't like this picture I don't like the guy with the

Spenser (18:12)

No, well yeah, it's not the greatest picture, but I felt like was the quickest one I found that encompassed, be like, oh yeah, I remember the Old Spice, man.

Ryan (18:20)

Yeah, I think these commercials hit. I mean, they definitely hit and definitely worked for advertising. ⁓ This was a...

Spenser (18:26)

I feel like it was,

that was kind of the, new wave of old spite. Like I grew up, always thought like old spices, like what my dad.

Uses he used the original scent probably still to this day and you know for the younger folks there was the axe body sprays and the and the whatever that was kind of really taken over for the younger generations and then I feel like old spice is really kind of you know got on its shit came out with this and all kinds of different flavors and Really kind of reestablish themselves at the top of the deodorant game

Ryan (18:36)

Yeah. Yeah.

true.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, it did because I think when these commercials came on TV, you knew exactly what it was right away. And I think that's what... Yeah, true. Yep. And so that's what great marketing is. It's relatable and repeatable and helps and people remember it. Memorable.

Spenser (19:07)

Mm-hmm and everybody and you're excited for a new one, you know, like that like the glyco commercial trends They kind of had for a little while

Memorable, yes. Memorable is a good word, especially for the next one, which might not be memorable in the best way. The Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light campaign.

Ryan (19:25)

So that's, yeah.

⁓

Hold on, hold on, what is this?

Spenser (19:39)

You don't remember this one? The Dylan Mulvaney? The Bud Light? had the you know, this is actually a man.

Ryan (19:44)

Dude, I'll be completely

honest with you, I don't right now. It might...

Spenser (19:48)

This is a transgender fellow, ⁓ fellow. transgender woman fellow. Lady fellow. Whatever you call them there. And, Bud Light had, you know, them, you know, drinking the Bud Light and saying, you know, ooh, this Bud Light is... This is what I like to drink, kind of thing. And people were not so happy about it. You remember this one? Yep.

Ryan (19:51)

⁓ huh.

huh. Yup.

here.

Yeah, now I do. Now

I do. Yeah. I definitely remember this. think after that happened, Bud Light sales might have dropped down. Yeah, it didn't do hot at all because people were just... You know why? It's because they weren't hitting their audience. They weren't... They were missing their audience completely.

Spenser (20:20)

Didn't do so hot.

Uh huh.

Ryan (20:33)

That's what they missed there.

Spenser (20:35)

They really missed the target. They just missed the 8 ball completely.

Ryan (20:39)

Yep, yep. Yeah, they scratched on the 8-ball

Spenser (20:41)

They put the cue ball right in the pocket.

scratched, they scratched the 8 ball on the break pretty much is what happened there.

Ryan (20:48)

Yeah, yeah That's

a that's a great one spencer good stuff dude good. ⁓ that's awesome. Well Infinity screen. Well, thanks spencer. You're the man. You're the man

Spenser (20:53)

Yeah, that's I got. ⁓

Yeah, yeah, yeah, hey, how do I put my camera back on now, but oh it is oh, I don't say it on my screen Yeah, yeah, well that was fun. I thought it'd be a good time

Ryan (21:03)

No, you got it. I can see you. Yeah, I can see you. Yeah, I did.

Yeah, super.

Alright, dude. Well, again, you're the man. Love you. Maybe we'll have to have you on again, because me and Poppy enjoyed it.

Spenser (21:19)

Yeah, absolutely. I have another fun idea I can come up with and pitch it to you and it might sound good, I'll hop on for sure anytime, brother. Alright, I'm on dinner duty for these. I got three women's to cook for, ugh, it's brutal. Have a good night, brother. Love you. Love you too, Poppy.

Ryan (21:23)

That was super fun.

Yeah, alright dude. Peace. Yeah. ⁓ gosh. Good luck. You got it.

Yep,

You too.