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EP680: Marc Von Musser - Breaking Through The Trust Deficit Through Organic Marketing
2 Plays27 days ago
“The power of the truth, the power of connection to human beings is more powerful than the big bank kick out.”
Most traditional marketing today is background noise—impersonal, expensive, and utterly forgettable. Audiences are bombarded with flashy ads that leave them skeptical and disengaged. But there’s a powerful alternative: connection. When you show up as your authentic self—through podcasts, video messages, or stages—you cut through the noise and rebuild trust the digital age has compromised. The real strategy isn’t about automation. It’s about showing up human.
Cost-effective organic marketing can outperform massive ad spends. Podcast guesting, in particular, generates warm leads, genuine connections, and six-figure returns on a small budget. Credibility is key: authenticity, clarity of message, and courage to lead with your truth—because nothing beats real.
Marc Von Muser is a business mentor and marketing strategist who helps entrepreneurs grow their brands through connection-based marketing. He’s known for his direct coaching style and his work with thought leaders across multiple industries.
https://www.marcvonmusser.com/
Visit https://www.eCircleAcademy.com and book a success call with Nicky to take your practice to the next level.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'The Thought Leader Revolution'
00:00:03
Speaker
Most people are trying to lean on AI and AI has a place, make no mistake, but you are more powerful than AI ai is great for structure and systems and follow-up and there's a place for it, but nothing can replace an honest presentation from you
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to the Thought Leader Revolution with Nikki Ballou. Join the revolution. There's never been a better time in history to speak your truth, find your freedom, and make your fortune. Each week, we interview the world's top thought leaders and learn the secrets of how they built a six to seven figure practice.
Sponsorship and Revenue Growth with eCircle Academy
00:00:40
Speaker
This episode has been brought to you by ecircleacademy.com, the proven system to add six to seven figures a year to your thought leader practice.
00:00:50
Speaker
Welcome to another exciting episode of the podcast, The Thought Leader Revolution.
Meet the Guest: Mark Von Muser
00:00:54
Speaker
i'm your host, Nicky Ballou, and boy, do we have our favorite ever guest of all time on the show, the one, the only, the legendary Mark Von Muser. Welcome, Mark.
00:01:06
Speaker
ah Thanks. It's great to be here. Yeah, this conversation is long overdue, and a lot of people are going to get a lot of value out of it, so it's going to be an important topic. Well,
Understanding the Trust Deficit
00:01:15
Speaker
let's dive right in. What we're going to talk about today, Mark, is something super important, and Breaking the trust deficit.
00:01:23
Speaker
There is a huge trust deficit in the marketplace right now, and it's bigger than it's ever been, and it is potentially a great opportunity, but if you don't tackle it, it's a massive challenge. So, Mark, let's start by talking about what the heck is a trust deficit?
00:01:44
Speaker
Sure. It's a great question. And the trust deficit exists where buyers are existing potential clients. They do not trust the marketing. They've been burned. They're getting inundated nonstop.
00:01:57
Speaker
Everywhere you look, somebody's hitting them up to try and get their hand in their wallet. And now with AI, they're getting hit even more. They're getting hit on texts. They're getting telemarketing calls. They're getting in the telemarketing calls nowadays aren't even real calls.
00:02:11
Speaker
They're just remote. They're um remote robots just calling and nonstop. Then when you go on Facebook, you're getting hit on ads. When you drive somewhere, you're getting hit on ads at the gas station.
00:02:22
Speaker
You're pumping your gas. You're getting hit with ads on the on the machine. know it sucks. Everywhere you turn, somebody is trying to get a hold of, and they're very impersonal. They're very ah mechanical and they're missing that human connection.
The Role of Personal Connection in Marketing
00:02:37
Speaker
Now the trust deficit occurs also because for the last five, 10, 20 years, the The marketers in these companies have been massively making huge promises and massively under-delivering.
00:02:49
Speaker
So what happens in the world of white noise, people have learned really advanced strategies on tuning out and really not trusting. When they see 5, 10, 20 of the same type of offers,
00:03:02
Speaker
They don't go through all 20. They just tune out and disconnect. And that's really kind of in a nutshell what the trust deficit, how it got here, and what it means to everybody listening is it's why people are massively overspending on their traditional marketing because it it all just looks like noise.
00:03:19
Speaker
And it's not trustworthy. I don't look at these ads and go, oh, wow, that's the one. And so what happens is most people just hermit and then just tune out. And people
Authenticity in Business Promotion
00:03:30
Speaker
will attempt to spend more money on ads, more money on marketing, and it's the wrong approach.
00:03:36
Speaker
It totally is. Because Mark, you know, you said this, right? The single greatest asset you have in life, in business is you. You are the, first of all, that means that the you got to protect, cherish, nurture, invest in you as an asset. So that's one conversation. We'll park that for now.
00:03:54
Speaker
But in terms of promoting You and your business, well, you're the one who ought to be doing it. You're your greatest asset. You're the best, most real thing you have, right?
00:04:08
Speaker
Very much. And so what happens is that with some of the new marketing opportunities that are available for people that understand the trust deficit and know how to beat it, ah the single greatest asset you have is you. Right?
00:04:21
Speaker
When you show up on a podcast, when you show up as a guest, when you show up on stage, when you show up in a video email, these are opportunities for you to get you through the through the camera, for you to get from the front of the stage to the people.
00:04:34
Speaker
The first thing they're going to recognize is that you're a real person. So right off the bat, that that conversation in their head about, oh, wow, is this AI? I wonder if this is really the guy. I wonder if this is true.
00:04:46
Speaker
And you can make a human connection and decide, is this guy sound legit? Does this sound viable? Is this guy sound real? Is this somebody I can trust?
Success Story: Genuine Marketing
00:04:56
Speaker
As human beings, we go all the way back till we were prehistoric and we were throwing spears and being chased by saber-toothed tigers.
00:05:03
Speaker
Our survival relied on our ability to discern threats and make good discernment about what's good and what's bad. And when you show up on a podcast, Nikki, this why you've done very, very well with podcast guesting.
00:05:16
Speaker
You can project, you demonstrate congruence, you demonstrate trustworthiness, and there's no way you could do that in one email or a sequence of emails. And so when you can do it on a podcast, very, very quickly, you come across the camera.
00:05:31
Speaker
Now, certainly there's ways to enhance that. For example, one of the things that we teach in Get Booked and Get Paid, which is so important, is to be your authentic
Crafting Your Unique Marketing Message
00:05:40
Speaker
self. You do not have to be like me or you or Tony Robbins.
00:05:44
Speaker
One of our clients has done very, very well. And in his first one, he is an engineer kind of energy. He's an accountant and he's perfect for it. And you I remember you talking to him and said, don't try and be like us, just be you. He's got a really sharp, dry sense of humor.
00:06:00
Speaker
He got on there. The host was so impressed. He says, hey, can I refer people to you? What's this current total now? How many new clients has he gotten? 18 referrals and I think about like seven or eight clients.
00:06:14
Speaker
Yes. And that's that's just the flip side of Nikki and I's energy. So the key here is to be you. And you know whether it's you know I try and slow down and not be me, that won't work either. So you really want to get congruent. You want to make sure your your message is articulated properly. And most people mess that up.
00:06:32
Speaker
because they're trying to do some generic white bread mayonnaise noise. And you have to really learn how to articulate your message. And it really needs to reflect your, your opportunity, what you do better than other people, why you're in business, things like that. And that's a big part of what we cover and get booked to get paid.
00:06:48
Speaker
But the biggest part is helping somebody really stand in their truth and really project whatever the platform is the best version of them. So people can go, Oh, I like this guy. A hundred percent, hundred percent.
The Impact of New Media on Political Marketing
00:07:00
Speaker
Um, The other thing, Mark, that um people don't understand is your competition has not converted to this type of connection marketing yet.
00:07:11
Speaker
They are still stuck in the past. It's it's like, think about the... um US federal election, right? Presidential election. You had one candidate that was stuck in the past, old media, MSNBC, CBS News, NBC News, and another candidate who had his foot firmly in the present and the future, which was podcasts like the Joe Rogan experience, the Theo Vaughn, the weekend experience with Theo Vaughn, Patrick Bet-David, et cetera, et cetera. So talk a bit about that, how important it is that the competition has not yet converted to connection marketing.
00:07:46
Speaker
So we're not talking, this is not a Trump Kamala Harris conversation. This is simply a conversation about how candidates used this type of marketing to really blow the lid off of what's possible.
Cost-Efficiency of Podcast Marketing
00:08:00
Speaker
So let's look at some of the basic foundational points.
00:08:03
Speaker
Number one, Kamala Harris had not only 94 to 97% positive coverage from all the mainstream media, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, ah NPR, you know all these different cases they had massive, even on social media with ah Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, as well as ah YouTube. okay So they had huge coverage for Kamala.
00:08:26
Speaker
Trump had 94% negative on on traditional media. Secondly, Kamala Harris had a $1 billion, some have said as much as almost $2 billion when you factor in certain money, but a $1 billion dollars spending advantage. That's a lot of money in politics.
00:08:45
Speaker
And they estimated that getting that kind of favorable coverage, ah traditional coverage was worth, ah would have cost about $10 billion. dollars So Trump had a huge deficit to begin with.
00:08:56
Speaker
So what did he do? He went to new new types of media. And his son, Barron, recommended, Dad, you need to get out there and go talk to people directly.
00:09:07
Speaker
So he got on, like you said, Theo Vaughn. He got on Joe Rogan. He got on X. He got on different platforms. Now, here's what happened, Nicky. The left and the media had been portraying him as crazy.
00:09:18
Speaker
He's a psychopath. He's this, he's that. And the people that watch those news channels, a lot of them believe that because all of them were saying the same thing. So he gets on Joe Rogan and what people were doing or on X. And not only was it watched by millions and millions and millions of people, but what happened was it destroyed the narrative that they were trying to cast upon him.
00:09:40
Speaker
People would watch him and go, wow, I believe that too. Well, that makes sense. Yeah, I could see why that would be good. And what it did in one podcast, two podcasts, three podcasts, he was able to change the narrative for the people who had not made up their mind.
00:09:57
Speaker
He went after the undecideds where Kamala, by comparison, she was playing to her ah to her own crowd. They were going to vote for her anyway. And she had opportunities to go on Joe Rogan. She denied.
00:10:08
Speaker
Also, I think the ah recent election in Canada, he did not he did not. And Carney ended up beating ah Pierre. And so even in Canada, it applied. Because the the new media, people are starting to trust themselves more than NBC, more than CBS, more than traditional marketing.
00:10:27
Speaker
So it's a great example, even in politics, It's massively, incredibly powerful. It's also very powerful in business because just like the old school believed having a money advantage, having the media advantage, that's all they needed.
00:10:42
Speaker
But the power of the truth, the power of connection to human beings is more powerful than the big bank account. Amen. Amen. And
Expanding Reach Through Podcast Guesting
00:10:50
Speaker
this is the final point, and it's really important.
00:10:53
Speaker
This is cost effective and efficient because Trump paid nothing to go on these shows. And i and you, we've paid hardly anything to go on podcasts.
00:11:06
Speaker
We've been able to do it for free or virtually free, like 30, 40 bucks a month, which is nothing compared to ad spend. Right, Mark? Right. Yes, ad spend on average is $10,000 to $100,000 a month for paid traffic.
00:11:19
Speaker
To do paid ads on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, you really want to be looking at a minimum of $10,000 a month budget. Now, you're hoping that if you get enough calls, that you'll get a couple of calls, you'll get a couple of sales, and you can make that back by getting some new sales.
00:11:35
Speaker
That for a while, five, eight years ago, worked really, really well until all the white noise and everybody started copying everybody and the buyer put up their shield and they said no more.
00:11:46
Speaker
So it went from getting about $100 call book, $200 a call book, to $500 a call book, to $1,000 a call, getting a call book, then to $5,000 to get a call booked.
00:11:58
Speaker
And so it's gotten really expensive to get a call booked. And conversely, Nikki, you and I did podcasting. And all of a sudden, it's like you generated over $500,000. That would cost you that would have cost you close to $300,000 to $400,000 in today's Facebook ad space for you to generate that many calls to make half a million.
00:12:20
Speaker
How much did it cost you out of pocket to make $500,000 on podcast guesting? Honestly, Mark, um under 500 bucks. Think about that. Everybody listening, I want you to hear what Nicky just said.
00:12:34
Speaker
He didn't have to spend $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, $400,000 Facebook ads He spent to And there's a way to even get that cut down. So that is the power of having a and ah dynamic, authentic, inspiring message that is also knowing how to target and get in front of the right people.
00:12:53
Speaker
But ultimately, it differentiates you instantly from your competition. you become the one they're going to listen to. You become the one on the stage. You become the one on that podcast guest or in the video email.
00:13:05
Speaker
It is a way to cut your competitors at the knees and it allows you to showcase you and your talent and it is the most cost-effective, efficient use of time there is. And now, Nikki, you've gotten so good at this. If you book 10 podcasts,
00:13:19
Speaker
Just again, and this is something we help people speed up. If you book 10 podcasts, how many would you say, if you book 10 podcasts or the right podcast, how many breakthrough calls can you bank on out of those 10?
00:13:32
Speaker
At least seven. So, okay. So you're going to get seven breakthrough calls, which normally if you're doing paid traffic, that would probably be close to anywhere from $3,500 to $7,000 to get that many calls booked on Facebook ads.
00:13:44
Speaker
Out of the seven, how many people after you do a presentation, how many would you make an offer to? Probably five. Okay. And out of the five, how many can you bank on that you're going to enroll ideal clients for basically free?
00:13:58
Speaker
You know, if I'm in a really, really not being effective one out of five, but two out of five, really, if I'm if i'm in the zone. Yeah. So think about that. And again, you have have a great program. You've got several programs.
00:14:10
Speaker
So that's the whole thing. Now, do you add value to all seven people you jump on the phone with? thousand percent. A thousand percent. And here's another thing. He's adding value, but there's another side benefit as well. And I know Jesse Torres just got a new client from a podcast she did. She doesn't need, the guy didn't even know what podcast it was.
00:14:28
Speaker
Got on her calendar months later. And then said, can I work with you? And she got a high paying client. So not only that, you've been doing this now for a couple of years. How many millions of people is Nikki Blue's message out in cyberspace and on other people's podcasts to their listeners, the highest income demographic of any social media platform?
00:14:50
Speaker
How many millions of people can hear Nikki Blue you know on their way to work or driving or listening at home? conservatively, 3 million.
Free Assessment and Call to Action
00:15:00
Speaker
3 million. What's the high end? What would you think? Maybe 5 million?
00:15:03
Speaker
maybe even as high as 10 million on the high end, but conservatively 3 million. Think about that. So these are reasons why there's so many places that you really want to be capitalizing and putting yourself front front and center.
00:15:15
Speaker
Most people are trying to lean on AI and AI has a place, make no mistake, but you are more powerful than ai AI is great for structure and systems and follow-up and there's a place for it, but nothing can replace an honest presentation from you.
00:15:32
Speaker
And if you know how to do that and you know how to put that on podcast guesting, you know how to do that on stages or you know how to do that through video email, you can make a lot of money without spending a lot of money on ads.
00:15:43
Speaker
That's 100% true, Mark. And you know what? what we What we ought to do is there is a wonderful podcast guesting assessment that we created that shows you how you are doing currently when it comes to leveraging podcast guest appearances to help you get...
00:16:04
Speaker
leads, sales, and clients. It's absolutely free. We're going to put it in the show notes and you want to take advantage of it. And here's, ah we'll we'll go one step better. um We'll offer a free call with you to help you interpret the results and leverage those to take your podcast guesting efforts to the next level. Absolutely free.
00:16:28
Speaker
And Nikki, let's take that up a notch as well. Let's also go ahead and let's be honest, podcast guesting, it doesn't work for everybody. It works for a lot of people, but in that call too, that you're you're going to do with either Nikki or somebody on the team, um let's go ahead and also take a look at their business, their offer and find out, is that something that would work? Because that's one of the number one reasons people don't get started.
00:16:50
Speaker
They don't know. And they're like, oh, I don't know if it would work for me. And Nikki, no offense, but I can't think of anybody that's better at knowing whether this would work on podcast guesting in the world than you. So I think adding that to it, let's do that as well. Let's have somebody explain what their business is, who their clientele is, what their offer is, and we can tell them whether or not you can market this on there.
00:17:10
Speaker
Because let me give you a couple of examples. One of your clients, he's an an accountant and he's he's done phenomenally well. Another person that did this, he helps organic gardening and shows people how to create gardening out of dead space on their property.
00:17:25
Speaker
Another person used this to help her in the spa business. Another different person helped in this. I'm trying to think of some of the other ones. um Men's coaching. Another client used this.
00:17:36
Speaker
you know So this can be used for all sorts of different things. But the the biggest way you lose is to not take action. The biggest way you lose is to sit on the sideline because somebody in your niche is going to jump onto the space.
00:17:48
Speaker
Right now, you've got what we call blue ocean. It's not one of the things like paid traffic where every Tom, Dick, and Harry and their cousins and their brothers and their their neighbors were doing it. This is wide open.
00:17:59
Speaker
You get out in the front of the space, you're going to be the first one there and you're going to get all the low hanging fruit and you're going to get a ton of new clients. Here's what I'm going to ask. If you truly care about the people that you want to serve, if you truly can offer a real solution, if no offense, but if you're a schmuck and you can't do anything, this is not a money grab.
00:18:18
Speaker
Karma wise, I just don't want to don't don't waste anybody's time. Go get a skill set developed. But if you have a unique skill set and you truly love people and hate seeing them in pain, then you need to jump on a call and book a call and let's make it happen.
00:18:31
Speaker
Amen, Mark. Amen. Beautifully put, man. And
Conclusion: Reviews and Sign-Off
00:18:35
Speaker
that's a wrap, folks. If you got some value from this, give us a like, give us a rating, give us a review, because that helps us with the algorithm to get this in front of more people.
00:18:44
Speaker
And if you have a friend who needs to hear this message, share the episode with you. Until next time, goodbye.
00:18:53
Speaker
This episode has been brought to you by ecircleacademy.com, the proven system to add six to seven figures a year to your thought leader practice.