James Schramko

𝐀𝐈 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 🤖 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝. 🧐 When your next client types "best [your service] near me," the engine reading your reviews isn't just looking at star ratings ⭐, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐤𝐞𝐲𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥. 🧠 If your competitors have fresher, more story-rich reviews, they win the visibility game before it even starts. 🏆 This is the new reality in reputation marketing: ➡️ 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬. ➡️ 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬.  ➡️ 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬.  ➡️ 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬.  ➡️ 𝐎𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬. As someone who's spent years understanding how reputation drives revenue, I can tell you the 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 to this shift 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬. They're not just collecting reviews, they're strategically building their digital authority and crafting a business asset that adds a multiple to their valuation. 📈 Is your business prepared for the 𝐀𝐈-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫? If AI is the filter, social proof through your reviews will be the defining factor that puts you above your competitors. 🚀 #GoogleReviews #LocalSEO #OnlineReputation #SmallBusinessTips

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I meet many business owners who believe that marketing is a waste of time, and that the only way to grow a business is through lead generation. 'Getting on the phones' is a catch phrase that I often hear as being the solution to all business growth problems. But cold calling, when it's completely cold, will elicit a very cold response. What if the people you were calling had already heard of your business, and already had a good opinion of it? What if they'd already thought about how you might be able to help them but hadn't got round to reaching out? The conversation would be very different, and the whole process you'd need to go through in order to win that business would be on another level. I used to get all my leads through networking and it was a bit of a shock when I started prospecting how impossibly hard it was talking to a completely cold lead. It is sooo much more difficult to get someone's attention, secure their trust and engage them with my story and how I could help them. It was a proper wake-up call and I went from converting 50% of the people I pitched to, to 5%. This is precisely why we need both marketing and lead generation. Marketing is your brand, your messaging, your reputation and the value you communicate. It sets the stage so that when you do reach out to prospects, they already trust you, or at least know you. 🔥 Your content builds credibility and develops your personal brand as a thought leader 🔥 Your social media builds awareness and familiarity 🔥 Your website educates and creates trust Without this foundation, your lead generation is just cold outreach and in today's world, cold is going to be a hard sell. Lead gen is where you encourage someone to act, you open the door to a conversation which can help them. It’s targeted activity and when done right, it drives conversions. But if it’s done before you’ve built trust through marketing, it often falls flat. We've all had a lead ghost us but we need to accept that this is often a marketing problem, not a lead gen one. Start with marketing: make sure your brand, website and messaging are aligned and audience-focused. Layer in lead generation: once your foundations are solid, use lead generation to accelerate growth. Always refine both: monitor, test and evolve your approach. Marketing warms up the prospect and opens the door. Lead generation starts the 2-way conversation. The really beautiful stuff happens when they work together. That's way we love HubSpot as it gives you the keys to get marketing and sales to working together. Photo is Alex Spencer-Brown and I at a trade show last year - happy birthday Alex! 🎂 🎁

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If your business is to get value from your marketing systems investments, one of the biggest keys I've found is consistency. Having someone who owns it as part of their job — whether that's a team of 30 or a contracted resource — makes a world of difference. I've been doing this fractional marketing ops thing for nearly 4 years now, and I've been brought in numerous times for one-off projects. But the only ones that make a long-term impact for my clients are the ones where they have a plan to maintain their technology and systems. Maybe that's ongoing support by yours truly, or maybe it's an internal resource, but if there isn't a plan, I promise you, your data will get murky fast. In a world of growth hackers and quick fixes, the move fast and break things philosophy only works if you have the data you need to evaluate success. And to do that, you need consistency with your marketing tech. Prioritize that, and when you're ready to make strategic investments in your marketing or any other part of your business, you'll be able to get the data you need to measure its success.

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THE STRATEGY BEHIND EVERY COMEBACK Every business—no matter the size, sector, or success—hits turbulence. Markets shift. Sales dip. Clients churn. Mistakes happen. But here's the truth: Setbacks are not signs of failure. They’re signals for recalibration. The most resilient businesses don’t avoid adversity. They anticipate, absorb, and adapt. What defines a powerful business comeback: 👇🏾 1. Clarity in Chaos: When things go wrong, the best leaders zoom out. They re-identify the core mission, cut the noise, and make decisions anchored in long-term vision—not panic. 2. Customer-Centric Reset: The smartest bounce-backs are rooted in one question: “What does our customer need now?” Businesses that listen closely, act fast, and stay human always come back stronger. 3. Lean, Not Loud: It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters. Streamlining processes, focusing on high-impact work, and reducing friction internally leads to real momentum externally. 4. Consistent Visibility: In a downturn, many go silent. Big mistake. Staying visible, valuable, and vocal builds trust—and trust builds business. 5. Courageous Culture: Comebacks are driven by people. Teams that are empowered, agile, and aligned will always outperform those that are reactive and rigid. Bottom line? A bounce-back isn’t a moment. It’s a method. It’s not just about recovering—it’s about redefining how you win. Bounce back is the new benchmark. Not “how high did you fly?” but “how strong did you rise after the fall?” #Leadership #BounceBack #prabhushriram #IncredibleIndia #incensewithastory #JPSR #Ramalaya #InclMediaGroup

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Most business owners focus only on getting new clients. That’s why they stay stuck. New clients grow revenue. But retained clients build wealth. It’s cheaper to keep a client than to find a new one. It’s easier to upsell someone who already trusts you. It’s smarter to turn clients into referrals. If you want to grow your business, stop chasing only new sales. Start keeping the ones you already closed.

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