UNFUDGE YOUR MARKETING

Why Most SEO Investments Fail and How to Fix It

Everyone says you need SEO. But what if your website is not actually ready for it? Benas Leonavicius, founder of a solo SEO business he scaled to over $120K a year, joins Kristi to talk about the mistake he sees business owners make over and over again, and why jumping into search optimization before doing the foundational work often means starting from zero anyway. If you have ever wondered whether SEO is right for your business, or why it has not produced the results you expected, this conversation will change the way you think about it. You'll learn: * The questions Benas asks every new client before they ever talk about SEO strategy * Why the website developer who says they do SEO probably is not doing what you think * What he wished he had communicated to clients earlier in his career and why it cost him * The one thing that has a compounding effect on your SEO results even when you are not actively working on it * Why the word blog might be getting in your own way * What experimentation actually looked like in building his business and why it matters for yours If you are thinking about investing in SEO or wondering why your current investment is not working, do not miss this one. Connect with Benas Leonavicius: * Website: avium.vip [avium.vip] * LinkedIn: Benas Leonavicius [https://www.linkedin.com/in/benasleo/] * YouTube: Benas Leonavicius [https://www.youtube.com/@benasleo] Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe, share, and leave a review so you never miss a chance to unfudge your marketing. Learn more about Kristi and get in touch with her to learn how to Unf*dge YOUR marketing: kristimitchell.com Kristi Mitchell is a strategic marketing consultant and the founder of Marketing Uncomplicated®. She specializes in helping mission-driven, client-centered service providers build organic marketing foundations through her proprietary Marketing Uncomplicated® method, a systematic process that integrates a Marketing Funnel Framework with strategic content creation to position businesses for future growth.

Celebrating 100 Episodes: Top Marketing Lessons Learned

One hundred episodes. Kristi Mitchell did not set out to build a show about marketing mistakes. She set out to have honest conversations that other business owners could actually learn from. And somewhere along the way, those conversations turned into something much bigger than she expected. In this solo episode, Kristi pauses to reflect on what 99 interviews with real business owners have taught her, and shares the three lessons that keep coming up no matter who is sitting across from her. You'll learn: * The one piece of advice Kristi hears more than any other from guests on the show * Why the most successful marketing turnarounds all have something in common * What every single guest has been able to say about their mistake, no matter how costly it was * The mindset shift that changes how you feel about every marketing tactic that does not work out * What Kristi believes your marketing actually needs to be, and it is probably not what you think Thank you for being part of this show. Here is to the next 100. Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe, share, and leave a review so you never miss a chance to unfudge your marketing. Learn more about Kristi and get in touch with her to learn how to Unf*dge YOUR marketing: kristimitchell.com

Refreshing Your Brand: From Marketing Autopilot to Authentic Visibility

Rachel Allen has been running a successful marketing business for 16 years, working with clients in 21 countries. She knows exactly what good marketing looks like. So why did it take her 18 months to admit she had completely checked out of her own? In this episode, Rachel gets refreshingly honest about what happens when a marketing expert goes on autopilot, the uncomfortable reason she stopped looking at her own metrics, and what finally pushed her to show up differently. You'll learn: * The sneaky way success can become the thing that holds your marketing back * Why Rachel was avoiding her own data and what that avoidance was really telling her * What it actually looks like to be stuck in the messy middle of repositioning your business * The conversation with a friend that finally broke the logjam * What happened when she reached out to hundreds of people she had lost touch with * Why human might be the only marketing move left worth making If you have been quietly phoning it in with your own marketing while doing great work for everyone else, this one is going to feel very familiar. Connect with Rachel Allen: * Website: boltfromthebluecopywriting.com * LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rachelallenwrites * Instagram: instagram.com/boltfromthebluecopywriting * hello@boltfromthebluecopywriting.com [hello@boltfromthebluecopywriting.com%20?] Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe, share, and leave a review so you never miss a chance to unfudge your marketing. Learn more about Kristi and get in touch with her to learn how to Unf*dge YOUR marketing: kristimitchell.com

When Corporate Habits Hold Back Your Marketing

Leaving a six-figure corporate career with no plan, no business idea, and $165,000 in student loan debt sounds terrifying. For Mark Stern, founder of Custom Box Agency, it was just Tuesday. But what he did not expect was how much the habits and mindset he built over years at Deloitte would quietly work against him as he tried to build something of his own. In this episode, Mark shares the moment he realized he had been playing the wrong game entirely, and what finally clicked when he stopped trying to win at entrepreneurship using corporate rules. You'll learn: * Why high performance in corporate America does not automatically translate to entrepreneurship * The accidental product launch that changed the entire direction of Mark's business * What a ketchup bottle taught Mark about listening to his customers * The mindset trap that keeps so many new entrepreneurs stuck without realizing it * Why being good at everything might actually be holding your business back * What happened when Mark's customers started using his product in ways he never intended If you have ever wondered why the skills that made you successful before are not working the way you expected now, this conversation is going to hit close to home. Connect with Mark Stern: * Website: customboxagency.com * LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marustern Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe, share, and leave a review so you never miss a chance to unfudge your marketing. Learn more about Kristi and get in touch with her to learn how to Unf*dge YOUR marketing: kristimitchell.com

Lessons from a Failed Mass Messaging Campaign

Buying a list of thousands of contacts and blasting them with mass messages sounds like a shortcut to scaling fast. Jon Goering, founder of Story Trust Media, tried exactly that early in his business, and walked away with zero clients, damaged email deliverability, and a very clear lesson about what actually builds a service-based business. Spoiler: it is not a numbers game. Jon joins Kristi to unpack what went wrong, why high trust transactions require a completely different approach to outreach, and how shifting to value-led relationship building completely changed his results. You'll learn: * Why buying a list was not the real mistake and what actually went wrong * How mass messaging tanked Jon's email deliverability and hurt relationships he had already built * Why the numbers game approach fails every time in high trust service-based businesses * The difference between cold outreach that repels and cold outreach that actually opens doors * How Jon shifted from mass blasting to five intentional LinkedIn touchpoints a week and what changed * Why leading with value, not with what you offer, is the only cold outreach strategy worth your time * Why the people already in your world are often the most overlooked source of new business If you have ever been tempted by the promise of a bought list or a mass messaging campaign, this episode will save you the time, money, and headache of finding out the hard way. Connect with Jon Goering: * Website: storytrust.media * Free email newsletter and private podcast available at storytrust.media Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe, share, and leave a review so you never miss a chance to unfudge your marketing. Learn more about Kristi and get in touch with her to learn how to Unf*dge YOUR marketing: kristimitchell.com