Episode Summary
In the latest episode of Recorded Content, Justin Brown chats with Jesus McDonald, the host of The Jesus McDonald Experience podcast and the Founder and CEO at JRM Web Marketing. Despite his tremendous popularity among B2B marketers and 15 years of rich experience in marketing and delivering website solutions, Jesus generously shares his valuable content with the rest of the online marketing community without requesting a subscription or any paid membership.
“I’m not focused on monetizing or being a YouTuber. I am just focused on providing valuable content,” says Jesus. The fact that he receives so many questions regarding WordPress, marketing strategies, and similar topics has inspired him to create an array of how-to videos, step-by-step guides, and other valuable content he distributes on LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social channels.
Although the pandemic made people start creating content, most of them do it for profit. But Jesus has a different objective. His videos are not designed for direct ROI, views, numbers, or downloads – they are about providing help and value first and foremost.
Tune in to the full episode to hear about the challenges Jesus had when he first started making video content, how he solved them, and whether he prefers video or audio assets.
Guest Profile
- Name: Jesus McDonald
- What he does: Jesus is the Founder and CEO at JRM Web Marketing. At the same time, he is the host of The Jesus McDonald Experience podcast.
- Company: JRM Web Marketing
- Noteworthy: Jesus doesn't worry about charging subscriptions or monetizing his content, it's purely to inform his audience of small business owners.
Key Insights
- I like sharing valuable content for free. Jesus McDonald creates valuable content and shares it with B2B marketers, small businesses, and everyday Internet users who'd like to learn more about great marketing strategies, SEO, WordPress, and similar stuff. "I'm not putting people on a subscription model. If you can pass it on and it helps somebody else, and it's valuable to them, it's awesome. To me, I like sharing my thoughts, my ideas, and my experiments."
- Podcasts are more than just audio content. Jesus claims that the best content includes the combination of audio and video. That way, the audience can experience podcasts, or other pieces of content, on both levels. "I'm going to give my audience a choice. I'm not going to force them. I'm going to let them choose whatever they want. So I said, ''Here's for the audio experience and here's for the video experience.'''
- Community is about helping each other out as marketing professionals. Besides creating free content to educate his audience and help them understand the basics of SEO, digital marketing, lead generation, and more, he also aims to help other marketing professionals. "I've had clients that reach out to me and tell me, 'Hey, thanks for sending me that YouTube. I already implemented these super helpful, super insightful, valuable practicals that have made a big difference to our SEO strategy.' That's rewarding to me. That's what it's all about. And it's about helping each other out as marketing professionals, too."
“I have more people reach out to me after a video [is released]. They know more about my character and my personality.”
Jesus McDonald
Founder
JRM Web Marketing
Episode Highlights
It is All About Providing Valuable Content for Clients and Marketers
“I’m not focused on monetizing or being a YouTuber. If it happens, it happens. I’m more focused on providing valuable content for my clients because I get so many questions, like ‘How do I clear my cache on Google Chrome?’ I get so many of these questions I need to record this.
So another thing on why I did YouTube is that I do a lot of how-to videos. A lot of them are simple how-to steps, whether with WordPress, Google Chrome, or anything that we get frequently asked about. It can even be marketing and SEO strategies. So, for me, it was creating those playlists to help other marketers.”
Video Is an Effective Format But I Give My Audience Two Options
“I have many guests that will share their screen and do a how-to, or share tips about branding or something and what they do in their process for branding. And I can’t do that with audio.
I’d rather watch the YouTube video because I feel like I need to watch what this dude is doing. And you miss out on so many quirky things and things that you’re not seeing. Like, what do they have in the studio? What are they doing? What are they wearing? But I’m going to give my audience a choice. I’m going to let them choose whatever they want. So I said, ”Here’s for the audio experience and here’s for the video experience.”‘
For Me, It Is Not About Views, Likes, or Downloads
“I don’t focus on downloads. I don’t focus on subscribers – just the content. I don’t focus on anything. I’m not focused on views, even with my YouTube channel. I know it’s a brand new strategy. It’s a top-of-mind strategy, and it’s worked for our business tremendously.
I think it’s more about seeing the value in the process and branding this way. And I think you can’t rely on just podcasting to be your lead generator.”
Giving without Expecting Anything in Return
“I am staying in my lane and talking about marketing and websites. It’s so easy to talk about other things, like ‘Let’s talk about sales.’ But let’s focus on marketing and WordPress websites. For me, it’s about staying in my lane – just giving without expecting anything in return.
I provide a lot of insightful and practical content for marketers. But even entrepreneurs reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, I know you’re focused with B2B marketers, but this has been awesome.’ If people need it, they’ll reach out to you.”
Most People Start Podcasts for Selfish Motives and ROI. And Then They Quit
“What I see a lot is that a lot of people have selfish motives. They’re like, ‘What’s the ROI? Did you close that guest? Did you do this? Did you do that?’ Subscribers, downloads, all these things. And then they quit. And that’s the thing that I see a lot happening, even after this whole pandemic. But that’s their thing. They keep changing, and they need to be patient to see anything. You got to build momentum. If you’re focused on ROI, you’re going to be impatient, and you’re going to quit.”