How to Succeed in Business: Tips From a Marketing and Advertising Superstar

Will Royall and I go back to Breakfast Networking USA, an organization run by Raphi Salem. Immediately we clicked. I realized Will and I both followed some of the same people, such as Jim Collins and Michael Gerber.

Will knows inside and out how to build and lead a company. In addition to founding Royall Advertising, Will is a serial entrepreneur. He has a firm grasp on marketing and sales – an area in which most small business owners often struggle.

Without further ado, here’s Will.

David: How did you arrive on your current path?

Will: As an entrepreneur?  Well, it may have been the toy dinosaurs I set up in my back-yard at age 5 and charged my friends $0.10 to come to my dinosaur museum, or the blow-pops I sold in middle school for $0.25 each (I could profit $10 off a bag in a day), or even the mix tapes (CDs) I sold as a DJ when I got my first CD burner in high school.

I’m not sure really where exactly or how, but I’ve always found ways to make money on my own by creating, packaging, leveraging, and selling.  It’s just been natural.  Fast forward many years and today I own an ad agency with offices in New York and Orlando, an eCommerce firm which has sold more than $20,000,000 in bunk beds across the country, and most recently this year a small music festival in Oklahoma called the Backwoods Bash which desperately needs our help to begin looking and acting like a real brand.  I guess I made the decision early on to get good at marketing and sales, because with the revenue it drives, you can solve all the other business issues.

David: What are the most common issues you notice that keep entrepreneurs and small businesspeople from reaching their full potential?

Will: Most of the time when I see entrepreneurs and small business people who have a great business opportunity or idea but are struggling some getting it out there, it’s usually a marketing or sales issue.  If you’re great at marketing and sales, you can sell anything to people.  Take a con man for example, they don’t even have a product in reality and are still taking people’s money. My point here is not to say the rest of the business, customer service, product, etc. isn’t important – you still have to have a great product, or eventually the truth will surface – it’s just that if you’re struggling to grow, than you probably aren’t investing enough (or investing in the right areas) into your marketing, advertising and sales team.

David: What can external resources bring to a business that internal employees can’t…and vice versa?

Will: External resources are a necessity for any business.  You can leverage so much by partnering with other companies and people.  Take for example the need for a business system or piece of software.  Usually someone out there can provide a pre-produced package for you at a small monthly cost, whereas if you were to develop the system yourself it would be hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars, as well as months of time.

Stick to what you’re good at and let other people do what they’re good at.  In my field, marketing and advertising, there are so many other advantages to outsourcing as well.  Obviously I know this scenario best because of my ad agency Royall Advertising.  Let’s say you’ve got a $250,000 marketing budget.  With that, you may be able hire a decent marketing person (strategist) and a couple of people to help do some projects.  Let’s say 2-3 people, and the rest would go to advertising media buys, print materials, and other costs.  That may sound like the right thing to do since your employee hourly rates would be less than that of an agency, but the value you can get from that same budget outsourcing may be much greater.  Here’s why…

Most likely, one of your 2-3 people will be the thinker and manager… the person who comes up with the general plan.  The other two will be the people actually doing some of the work.  Let’s say you decided you needed a graphic designer as one of those people, and a web developer as the other to take care of your website.  Most likely you will not need the web development full time all year every year since once the site is built it may take little updating, and the graphic designer may also not be busy enough if you’re not constantly pumping out ads (which may not always be the best tactic).

If you wanted Google Paid Search management, search engine optimization, conversion optimization, or even a video produced, you would still most likely need to go outside to a professional above and beyond your budget.  Providing an Agency with a retainer instead, is like hiring 20-25 experts all part-time for use when you need them.   You get access to a team of expert graphics guys, web gals, SEO people, PPC, video, and a team of strategists, media planners, and the list goes on.  The company is also a group that has the relationships and experience, which can be leveraged when a project demands it.  The other benefit is that since the agency works as a team, all the materials maintain the same message, look, feel, and brand consistency because they all communicate together. So, long answer short – there can be many benefits to outsourcing at certain growth phases of a business.

David: What traits do the most successful people share?

Will: In my opinion they love what they do, they stay up to date (read) on the industry they’re in, they are quick to make decisions and act, and are not afraid of taking risk.

David: What is the biggest misconception you encounter about business in today’s world?

Will: The biggest misconception I see is that it’s all about money.  While you want to be profitable and make a good living, many people (and companies) are out there because they love what they do.  They love helping others, and they want to create a working environment in which stimulates them, excites them, and that they are proud when going to work every day.

Will Royall is the CEO of Royall Advertising. You can reach him toll-free at 866-646-7826 or on his cell at 386-747-1964. Or visit Royall Advertising’s website at www.royalladv.com.

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