In this short episode, Jay and Kristin discuss some interesting news and happenings from the past week, including SmileDirectClub going out of business, Meta’s Threads app expanding into the EU, and the never-ending barrage of holiday sales.
Key Discussion Points:
– SmileDirectClub abruptly shutting down despite huge marketing campaigns and leaving customers on payment plans responsible for finishing payments
– Meta’s Threads app launching in the EU and why it’s an opportunity to get in early on a platform that could grow substantially
– The constant sales after Black Friday making Jay feel like he bought too early
And MASSIVE thank you to our Sponsor, Marigold!!
Marigold is a relationship marketing platform designed to help you acquire new customers and turn them into superfans with their best-in-class loyalty solutions. Don’t take my word for it though, American Airlines, Honeybaked Ham, Title Boxing, and Notre Dame University are also customers!
Regardless of your size, check out Marigold today to get the solution you need to grow your business!
Transcript
Foreign. This is the first ever. What's up this week, I'm here with the great Kristen Nagel, who is one of the lead producers of do this not that.
Kristen, are you excited to be here?
Kristin Nagel:I'm excited to be here. How's it going, Jay?
Jay Schwedelson:It's going good. So let me tell everybody what we're doing. So for those of you that listen, we appreciate you. You're all awesome.
We currently release an episode on on Wednesdays, which is ask us anything because we get a lot of crazy questions in and we're still going to be doing that. And then on Fridays, we release a longer episode with tips and ideas and sometimes we do guest interviews.
Of course we're still doing that, but we want to see. Is there more? Can we release more? Can we annoy people more? And, Kristen, is everyone going to be so excited to have even more chaos from us?
What do you think?
Kristin Nagel:100%.
Jay Schwedelson:So now, moving forward, we're gonna try this. It's a test. Could fail. Who knows? We like testing. We're gonna start releasing additional episodes, short ones on Tuesdays.
Really short ones called what's up this week? Great name. You like the name?
Kristin Nagel:I do.
Jay Schwedelson:So each week we're just talking about stuff that's going on this week that we think that's interesting. A little bit of chaos. I don't know what. So I'm gonna tell you what I saw. And, Kristen, I want to get your reaction to this.
I don't know if you saw this, but smile directclub. That's the thing where you can get your. The thing for your teeth via the mail. They went out of business. Did you see that?
Kristin Nagel:I did see that, Actually. I did see that, which is crazy because they. I've seen marketing for them everywhere.
Jay Schwedelson:Everywhere, Right. They were named one of the top 50 marketing campaigns, like, last year. All right. And here's the thing that drives me crazy about it.
Number one, they used to promote everywhere. I mean, they literally just went out of business. They closed the doors and they had this statement.
They had a thing where they had a lifetime guarantee, and they came out with a statement that says, effective immediately, the lifetime guarantee no longer exists. Yeah.
Kristin Nagel:Yeah.
Jay Schwedelson:How angry would you be?
Kristin Nagel:Yeah, I was surprised, to be honest. That's very surprising.
Jay Schwedelson:Well, here's the. Here's the part that I think is not okay. So it's expensive, and a lot of people, you know, they pay. They're in these payment plans, whatever.
So they released the statement that says patients who've been making payments under their Payment plan, quote unquote, are expected to continue to make all monthly payments until payment has been made in full. Can you imagine having to pay for that?
Kristin Nagel:No, no, no. Absolutely not.
Jay Schwedelson:Blew my mind. Oh, my God. People walking around looking like Austin powers. Now it's 10 terrible. All right, so that blew my mind. That's to blow my mind for the week.
So the other thing I thought was really interesting was that Threads is launching in the European Union. Okay. Threads, which is owned by Meta, which is the competitor X, is launching in the eu. And are you on threads, Kristen?
Kristin Nagel:I signed up at first, but I'm going to be honest, I don't think I've looked at it since, so.
Jay Schwedelson:And I get that a lot of people are like, thread stinks. Nobody goes on threads. But I'm telling you right now what Meta is doing, and I've been following it. They're just getting things organized. They're.
They're getting tweaks going, they're getting integrations going. And people are sleeping on threads. They really are.
People are always like, oh, how come I don't have a big following on, you know, on LinkedIn or on Instagram? How do these people do it? I don't understand how they did it.
They did it because right now, the way that people are sleeping on threads is how people slept on all these other platforms.
And if you, in my opinion, if you go deep now on threads, you go crazy, try to build up your following, follow a million people, you fast forward a year, two years from now, Meta is investing in threads. I'm telling you, this is the time you're at the ground floor, massive social network.
So the fact that they're expanding into the EU this week is meaningful. And I personally think people are sleeping on threads. You're sleeping on threads.
Kristin Nagel:I am sleeping on threads. What would you call it? You don't call it a tweet now, right? You call it a thread. I sent out a thread.
Jay Schwedelson:Call it a thread.
And what I would really be doing is going in and following every single human being on threads that you think has anything meaningful to say, because they will follow you back and there's not that much activity there. Your activity can stand out. And don't get nervous. When you post something, you get literally no likes, interactions, comments or whatever.
It doesn't matter. Stay consistent on there and you will. You fast forward a year or two from now and you'll be the person that has the following people.
Like, how did they do that? So I think them expanding into EU is a big Deal. The other thing this week, which is just. I can't take it. This is the damn I bought too early week.
And my inbox is flooded with sales on stuff that I bought and the sales are better now than whatever it is that I bought.
Kristin Nagel:The worst. The absolute worst.
Jay Schwedelson:It's. It's the most infuriating thing of all time. I don't understand.
I thought Black Friday was supposed to be a biggest sale of the year, but it's like every day that pass, I get another email. No, this is actually our biggest sale. I'm like, I want to throw my computer against the wall. It's so annoying. I don't know what to do.
I'm like, I don't know what to. Wait, do you like. I don't even know what the last moment is, but it's. It's never ending. I don't know.
Kristin Nagel:Yeah, when is the last sale really? You know, when are you really getting the best price?
Jay Schwedelson:I don't know. It's not. Don't ask me because I absolutely don't know that much. I can tell you. All right, well, that's what's up this week.
Hope you like this short episode. Check everything out@jelson.com follow Kristen. I don't know. You can follow me if you want to get bored on LinkedIn and stuff.
Kristin Nagel:Follow us on threads.
Jay Schwedelson:Yeah, follow me on I'm on threads. Find me there. And have a great week, everybody. You did it. You made it to the end. Nice. But the party's not over.
Subscribe to make sure you get the latest episode each week for more actionable tips and a little chaos from today's top marketers. And hook us up with a five star review. If this wasn't the worst podcast of all time.
Lastly, if you want access to the best virtual marketing events that are also 100% free, visit google guruevents.com so you can hear from the world's top marketers like Daymond John, Martha Stewart and me. Guru events.com check it out.