The Ross Simmonds Show

Latest Episodes:

Why Content Distribution Is Important in 2025 Sep 26, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Create Like the Greats, Ross sits down with Max Branstetter from the Wild Business Growth Podcast to share his journey from a fantasy football blogger to the founder of Foundation, a leading content distribution agency. Ross reveals how his passion for fantasy football led him to build essential skills in writing and content creation, ultimately shaping his path to entrepreneurship. He also dives into the concept of "Create Once, Distribute Forever," offering practical insights into maximizing the reach of your content. Plus, he shares valuable lessons on work-life balance, hiring your first employee, and even the wisdom gained from top deathbed regrets. This episode is packed with strategies and stories that can inspire creators and entrepreneurs alike.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Workcation

Ross explains how a well-planned workcation can boost productivity while balancing work and relaxation. By aligning work hours with team availability in different time zones, he managed to stay connected without sacrificing downtime. The key to a successful workcation, he emphasizes, is having a trusted team and systems in place that can operate smoothly in your absence.

2. From Fantasy Football Blogger to Agency Founder

Ross takes us through his evolution from a passionate fantasy football blogger to becoming the founder of a successful content distribution agency. He highlights how his obsession with the game gave him the writing and content management skills that would later become the foundation for his career. More than just a hobby, fantasy football taught Ross about community building, long-form content creation, and the realization that the internet could unlock global reach and endless opportunities.

3. Create Once, Distribute Forever

Ross outlines his approach to content distribution, emphasizing the importance of sharing content across multiple platforms. His philosophy is simple: If your content has value, it deserves to be shared continuously. In his book, he provides tactical steps on how to leverage different channels like email, social media, and online communities to maximize reach. His goal is to help creators overcome the fear of self-promotion and fully embrace the power of distribution.

4. Hiring Your First Employee

Ross reflects on the challenges and triumphs of hiring his first employee. He offers practical advice on finding the right person, delegating tasks, and building a team that can thrive without you micromanaging. According to Ross, hiring the right people is crucial to scaling your business, and trusting them is key to personal and professional growth.

5. Lessons from Deathbed Regrets

Drawing inspiration from studies on deathbed regrets, Ross shares his thoughts on living a life without major regrets. He encourages listeners to take bold steps in their careers, prioritize experiences, and make the most of their time. For Ross, it’s a reminder to pursue passion projects and not wait for the "right time," because life is too short to live cautiously.

Resources:

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The One Book I've Given To Over 30 People Since Reading It Sep 19, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Create Like the Greats, Ross dives into Dale Carnegie's timeless principles from "How To Win Friends and Influence People" and how they can be applied to win in business and marketing today. He highlights the importance of building genuine relationships with your audience, making meaningful interactions, and leveraging digital tools to personalize messages at scale. Ross also discusses how listening attentively, showing positivity, and making others feel valued can significantly enhance both personal and professional relationships. These insights are key to not just winning clients, but creating lasting, impactful connections.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Show Genuine Interest in Your Audience

As marketers, it’s easy to think of audiences as simply customers, but real success comes when you truly care about their problems and desires. Engaging deeply with your audience means being present in their communities, learning where they spend their time, and understanding their challenges. By studying their online behaviors and preferences, you can connect with them authentically, offering solutions that resonate with their needs.

2. The Power of a Smile

A simple smile can transform the tone of your voice, making your message more approachable and positive. People are naturally drawn to positivity, and brands that exude this energy create a sense of trust and likability. Incorporating optimism into your story and content encourages your audience to associate those positive feelings with your brand, making your message more compelling and memorable.

3. Remembering People’s Names

In a digital world, personalized interactions go a long way in building rapport. Using tools like email marketing software or AI technologies, you can scale personal messages that address individuals by name. This level of personalization creates a human connection, making your audience feel seen and appreciated, even in large-scale outreach efforts.

4. Be an Active Listener

Listening is more than just hearing words; it's about making the other person feel understood. When you actively listen and reflect back what someone has said, it shows them that their voice matters. This builds trust and opens up opportunities for deeper connections, as people value those who take the time to understand their perspectives.

5. Talk in Terms of the Other Person’s Interests

It's easy to get caught up in promoting the features and technical aspects of your products, but what truly matters to your audience is how it benefits them. Frame your conversations around their needs, showing them how your solutions will impact their lives or businesses. By speaking their language, you’ll build stronger, more persuasive marketing messages that resonate.

6. Make Others Feel Important—Sincerely

People want to feel valued, and when you show genuine care for someone’s well-being or success, it can foster long-lasting relationships. Consistently making others feel important, not just through words but through your actions, strengthens connections and can turn clients into advocates for life.

Resources:

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28 Content Ideas For LinkedIn That You Can Steal Sep 12, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Create Like the Greats, Ross uncovers content ideas to help you elevate your LinkedIn strategy and drive meaningful engagement. From leveraging social media to celebrating key milestones and engaging influencers, Ross dives into practical tactics to optimize your content for maximum impact. Ross also explores personalized marketing tools, the power of building human connections, and how to debunk common misconceptions about content creation. Tune in to discover these actionable strategies and start transforming your LinkedIn presence today!

Key Takeaways and Insights

1. Leveraging Social Media to Drive Website Traffic

Ross highlights the power of social media as a traffic generator when used strategically. By focusing on sharing industry-specific trends and insights, you can create curiosity and encourage your audience to explore more on your website, driving meaningful engagement.

2. Celebrate Milestones and Share Feedback

Celebrating company milestones and feedback from both customers and your team creates opportunities to showcase your achievements. Sharing before-and-after snapshots of campaigns or projects allows your audience to see the tangible results of your strategy and draws them into your brand story.

3. Maximizing Content Through Influencers

Engaging with influencers who resonate with your brand is a key tactic to expand your reach. Tagging them in your content not only invites engagement but also increases the likelihood of your brand being seen by their followers. Webinars and thoughtful mentions can further deepen these influencer relationships and enhance your credibility.

4. Leveraging Personalized Marketing Tools

Ross delves into the use of powerful tools like Koala and HubSpot to personalize outreach. By analyzing who’s interacting with your content, you can craft tailored messages that resonate with individual users. This level of personalization turns casual readers into loyal customers and strengthens your marketing efforts.

5. Building Human Connections

Building real human connections is essential in today’s market. Ross emphasizes the importance of showcasing the personal struggles and wins behind your brand. By being transparent and relatable, you build a sense of trust and authenticity that resonates with your audience on a deeper level.

6. Comparing Competing Products and Showcasing Insights

Ross advises comparing competing products that your team considers for specific tasks to provide valuable insights for your audience. Sharing this process, along with surprising data points, demonstrates your thought leadership and helps establish your brand as a credible source of information.

And many more!

Resources:

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Fantasy Football Meets Business Strategy Sep 05, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Create Like the Greats, with the new Fantasy Football season upon us, Ross revisits an old episode about Fantasy Football and draws parallels between fantasy football strategies and business success. Ross explores how decision-making in the game mirrors the strategies used in the business world. He talks about building your dream team, managing high-performing talent, eliminating bias, and even smack talk—yes, you heard that right! Tune in to discover how lessons from fantasy football can help you optimize your approach to leadership and strategic planning in business.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Building Your Dream Team

Just as fantasy football managers carefully select players during the pre-season, businesses must invest time in recruiting the right team members. Ross explains the importance of assembling a cohesive group of high-performing employees, emphasizing that a strong, well-balanced team is crucial for driving the overall success of any business.

2. Balancing Hot Streaks and Consistency

In fantasy football, managers often face the dilemma of choosing between a player on a hot streak and a more consistent performer. Ross explores how this applies to managing talent in business, stressing the need to balance short-term gains with long-term potential. Recognizing top performers is important, but understanding their long-term value is key to sustainable success.

3. Removing Personal Bias

Personal biases can cloud decision-making, whether you're selecting players for your fantasy team or making strategic business decisions. Ross highlights how removing emotional and personal preferences allows for more objective choices, leading to better outcomes and faster growth in both the business and fantasy worlds.

4. Strategic "Smack Talk"

While smack talk is a staple of fantasy sports, it has its place in the business world too—though in a different form. Ross discusses how using competitive banter wisely can help differentiate your business from competitors and draw attention to your unique value. Smack talk in business isn’t about targeting colleagues but about positioning yourself confidently in your industry.

5. Planning Ahead

Just as fantasy football players must anticipate future matchups and injuries, businesses need to forecast potential challenges and opportunities. Ross emphasizes the importance of being proactive and planning ahead, helping businesses stay agile and prepared for unexpected hurdles that could disrupt operations or progress.

6. Treating Every Week as a New Challenge

In fantasy football, every week brings fresh competition, requiring new strategies and adjustments. Similarly, Ross encourages businesses to treat each week as a new challenge, constantly adapting to market conditions, evolving customer needs, and internal goals. This mindset keeps teams innovative and resilient.

7. Embracing Bold Moves

In both fantasy football and business, success often comes from taking bold, calculated risks. Ross explains how businesses can benefit from stepping outside their comfort zone and making daring decisions. Whether it's launching a new product or pivoting strategy, bold moves can lead to breakthroughs and drive significant success.

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Exploring Prompt Engineering in Marketing Strategy with Ethan Crump Aug 29, 2024

Show notes

In this special episode of Create Like the Greats, Ross is joined by Ethan Crump, a Senior Content Marketing Specialist at Foundation, to unveil the concept of prompt engineering and its significance in leveraging innovative tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. The conversation delves into how prompt engineering is shaping marketing strategies, exploring its growing influence in the field. Ross and Ethan also discuss the benefits, offering insights into various prompts that can be utilized to enhance AI-driven marketing campaigns.

Key Insights

1. Partnering with AI for Enhanced Productivity

Treating AI as a collaborator in content creation can significantly enhance productivity. By laying a solid foundation of quality input, AI can expedite the content creation process while maintaining relevance and precision. Effective prompt engineering, particularly when built on advanced prompt-writing techniques, allows for more tailored and goal-aligned outcomes, transforming AI into a powerful tool for marketers.

2. Chain-of-Thought Prompting

Chain-of-thought prompting is a technique that enhances the reasoning abilities of AI by guiding it to break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable steps. This method helps the AI provide a clear and logical progression of ideas, leading to more accurate and thoughtful results. By using this approach, you can improve the depth and quality of the AI's responses in your marketing efforts.

3. Leveraging Different Types of Prompts

Use a variety of prompt types, such as extraction, summarization, and creation. When used strategically, these prompts can uncover valuable insights, generate engaging content, and effectively connect with your audience. Understanding when and how to use each type of prompt is key to maximizing the impact of AI in your marketing efforts. The AI marketing console has tons of different prompts that people can steal and use.

4. Visual Prompting

Visual prompting can yield impressive results in creative fields. Tools like DALLE and Midjourney, enable users to create art or design mockups through well-crafted prompts. By developing a prompt library with specific artists, styles, and techniques, marketers can quickly generate high-quality visuals that align with their brand’s aesthetic and messaging.

Resources

Prompt Engineering: A Guide for Marketers and Content Creators - https://foundationinc.co/lab/prompt-engineering-guide-marketers/
AI Marketing Console - https://ross.gumroad.com/l/ai-console

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The Key to Better Content Aug 22, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Create Like the Greats, Ross shares an engaging conversation from his appearance on The Copywriter Club Podcast with Rob Marsh. They explore how content creation is evolving, especially in light of new technologies, and discuss what this means for writers moving forward. The episode dives into the importance of storytelling, the shifting role of content marketers, and practical strategies for making the most of your content. Ross emphasizes the importance of balancing technology with human creativity and strategic thinking in the ever-changing world of content marketing.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. The Power of Storytelling and Curiosity

Ross emphasizes how storytelling, fueled by curiosity, is key to creating content that resonates. By staying curious and always seeking to learn, writers can craft compelling narratives that capture attention and engage audiences, making their content memorable and impactful.

2. The Rise of AI and Its Impact on Content

While AI has allowed for the creation of vast amounts of content, it has also flooded the internet with low-quality and generic articles. Ross highlighted the need for human intervention to elevate the quality of AI-generated content. Great copywriters, content marketers, and writers in general possess unique insights, creativity, and strategic thinking that AI cannot replicate.

3. Evolving Role of Content Marketers

Content marketing is not just about producing content; it’s about ensuring that content reaches and resonates with the right audience. Ross discusses the need for content marketers to take a broader view, integrating both creation and marketing strategies to maximize the impact of their work.

4. Maximizing the Lifespan of Content

Ross shares the importance of getting the most out of your content by resharing and repurposing it over time. By keeping valuable content in circulation and updating it as needed, businesses can maintain engagement and drive traffic without constantly needing to create new material. This strategy helps to extend the life and effectiveness of existing content.

Resources:

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Content Repurposing 101: The Masterclass Aug 15, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Create Like the Greats, Ross shares valuable insights on how to effectively repurpose your content. He emphasizes the importance of constantly thinking about how to repurpose content within your library and highlights the power of turning words into visuals. Ross also discusses the repurposing process, from conducting an audit to utilizing third-party voices. He explores various methods of repurposing content, including transforming ebooks into blog posts and leveraging presentations for multimedia assets.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Turning Words into Visuals

Transform text-based content into visually engaging assets to capture attention and expand your content’s reach. Converting blog posts or ebooks into infographics or slide decks not only diversifies your content but also enhances its shareability across platforms.

2. Transcribing Content for Multimedia Adaptation

Expand the reach of audio content by transcribing it into written formats. This allows you to create blog posts, video scripts, or other multimedia assets, catering to various audience preferences and increasing the accessibility of your message.

3. Incorporating Third-Party Voices

Enhance your content's credibility by collaborating with industry experts or influencers, or by utilizing synthetic voices for narration. Diverse voices in your content not only build thought leadership but also attract a broader audience.

4. Leveraging Event Speaking Engagements

Maximize the value of speaking engagements by repurposing presentations into blog posts, videos, or other content formats. Reach out to event organizers for recordings or transcripts to extend the impact of your insights to a wider audience.

Resources:

ElevenLabs - https://elevenlabs.io/?from=rosssimmonds1914

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How The Content Game Has Changed + My Video Bet Aug 08, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Create Like the Greats, Ross delves into the evolving landscape of video marketing, particularly within the B2B realm. Drawing from his experience with the Cut30 program, he explores how these insights have shaped his approach to crafting impactful video content. Ross discusses the power of targeted audience outreach and the need to shake up traditional video marketing methods.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. Targeted Audience Outreach

Ross emphasizes that truly effective B2B video marketing starts with a deep understanding of the audience. Through his involvement with the Cut30 program, he learned the critical importance of tailoring video content to specific buyer personas. By addressing the unique needs, challenges, and aspirations of these personas, businesses can create videos that not only capture attention but also drive meaningful engagement and conversions.

2. Shake Up Video Marketing

Ross discusses the necessity of rethinking the current state of video marketing in the B2B sector. He identifies video as an underutilized yet powerful tool that holds immense potential for B2B companies. To truly leverage this medium, Ross advocates for applying innovative best practices and stepping away from traditional approaches. His insights challenge businesses to push the boundaries of video content creation, leading to more dynamic and effective marketing strategies.

Resources:

Cut30 Program - https://cut30.co/

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The Impact of AI on Marketers: Insights from Ross Simmonds and Joe Glover Aug 01, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Create Like the Greats, Ross shares an engaging conversation with Joe Glover from The Marketing Meetup. They discuss the impact of AI on the marketing industry, focusing on various tools and their practical uses. The conversation highlights how AI can enhance efficiency while emphasizing the irreplaceable value of human creativity in storytelling. With a mix of innovative AI insights and the importance of human touch, this episode provides a fresh look at the evolving landscape of marketing.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. AI Tools for Creative Thinking and Content Creation

Ross and Joe discuss ChatGPT as a versatile AI tool that supports event planning, content creation, and marketing material development. By using prompts and personas, ChatGPT generates fresh ideas tailored to specific contexts. They also touch on DALL-E, an AI that creates visual content, enabling marketers to blend unique concepts and explore new creative avenues.

2. AI as a Partner for Efficiency and Innovation

The episode highlights various AI tools like Adobe for advanced marketing projects and ElevenLabs for voice manipulation. Descript, a tool that modifies voice tones within transcripts, is also mentioned. Ross and Joe agree that embracing AI as a partner can significantly boost efficiency and productivity, allowing marketers to tackle previously daunting tasks and unlock new opportunities for growth.

3. The Repurposing Power of AI

Ross emphasizes AI's ability to transform and extend the lifespan of content. By leveraging AI, marketers can create high-quality content that can be distributed and repurposed over time, reaching a broader audience. This capability ensures continuous value delivery and helps marketers connect with more people effectively.

4. The Role of Human Storytellers

Despite AI's advancements, the episode underscores the irreplaceable role of human storytellers. Humans have a unique ability to craft narratives that deeply resonate with audiences. While AI can enhance and amplify storytelling efforts, it cannot replicate the core elements of human creativity and emotional connection. AI serves to augment human creativity, enabling storytellers to achieve new heights without replacing their essential role.

Resources:

The Marketing Meetup - https://themarketingmeetup.com/podcast/

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OpenAI Partnerships: What They Mean For Marketers Jul 25, 2024

Show notes

Ross dives deep into the fascinating world of OpenAI and its recent partnerships, exploring how these collaborations are reshaping the landscape of content creation and the implications for marketers. Ross also touch upon some controversial aspects related to OpenAI and shed light on the potential long-term effects on various creative industries.

Key Takeaways and Insights:

1. OpenAI's Partnership with Apple

On June 10, 2024, OpenAI and Apple announced a groundbreaking partnership aimed at leveraging OpenAI's advanced technology to develop innovative products. This collaboration is set to streamline text creation directly on our devices, simplifying tasks such as email writing and iMessage creation, thereby enhancing user experience and productivity.

2. OpenAI's Partnership with Media Organizations

VoxMedia's collaboration with OpenAI and ChatGPT marks a significant step in integrating AI into media production. WAN-IFRA's initiative, in partnership with ChatGPT, aims to assist over 100 news publishers in exploring and incorporating AI into their newsrooms, promising a transformation in how news is produced and consumed. The partnership between The Atlantic and OpenAI, although controversial, highlights the potential and challenges of integrating AI into traditional media outlets.

3. OpenAI's Partnership with Reddit

OpenAI's partnership with Reddit to enhance ChatGPT is a brilliant move, bringing together the voice of journalists and the voice of the people. This collaboration provides direct access to the thoughts and discussions of Reddit users, offering valuable insights into public opinion and enhancing the relevance and accuracy of AI-generated content.