Interviewing Doug Lawson

Hey there Linkers.

How’s it hanging?

Boy, do I have a treat for you!

When I first came across Doug Lawson 's profile I thought “This guy must really love coffee”.

He had a mug jammed into his face (also called a mug) and he was staring at the camera with intent.

I quickly realized, this dude knows his sh*t.

We started interacting and I concluded we were both cut from a similar cloth.

Sarcastic to a T, constantly joking around, and incredibly driven to be the best.

Little did I know this man would buy me a pair of shoes one day.

No, literally he did, a pair of Crocs for Christmas in ‘22.

An "Influencer” a wise man, a legend in his own right of LinkedIn, buying me a gift?

To say I was honored was an understatement.

See… Doug has a problem with Adidas Slides, I don’t know what it is but they make his blood boil.

He’s a Croc guy.

Which I respect, I did respect, I still do respect…

especially now that I, myself, wear them.

All thanks to Doug.

He kept talking smack about my Adidas slides in my pictures so much so that he eventually just hit me up and asked for my address and the rest is history.

In the words of Red Forman, “It's like I'm walking on a pile of baby ducks.”

That’s how I felt the first time I put on a pair of shoes bought for me by one of my favorite creators on LinkedIn.

With that in mind...

Doug is the GOAT of audience messaging, branding, copywriting, lead generation, email marketing, and so much more.

He’s a good friend, a confidant, a mentor.

When I got started creating my newsletter and figuring out what I wanted to talk about I knew I needed to interview Doug.

So I did exactly that and he brought a full 12 minutes of fire insight.

Here’s my 3 question interview with Doug about social media marketing, email, and personal branding.

Without further ado, drum roll, please!

Here’s Doug Lawson on social media marketing. ?

Question 1: What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve seen people make when they first start building on social media and why are those such grave errors to make?

“I’ve been online for more than 12 years now.

I started on Twitter and spent 6-7 years there.

But the problem is the same as on LinkedIn.

Believe it or not, people get into a hyper-solving mode when they get online.

You have no credibility.

You have no name recognition.

You have minimal resources to speak of.

People don’t understand that social media is social.

You’ve got to focus on the social part when you get in.

You’ve got to go on the platform and figure out, okay, what kind of conversations can I start with my content?

What kind of opinions can I share?

How do I get people to see, hear, and experience the value of what I bring?

And, it’s counterintuitive but it has nothing to do with the actual typing out of your value in your content.

“Five ways to get your email opened”

That’s not going to help you on LinkedIn or, Twitter, out of the gate.

In my opinion, what’s going to help you is getting into the comments.

Start building relationships.

And when I say relationships, I don’t mean friendships.

Now, friendship could happen... but what I mean is to get people used to seeing your name.

So when you first get on the platform, your follower count is so small, you gotta make sure your followers see you and experience you and get used to your personality.

Start commenting, and doing some DM outreach, not so much to solve problems but to compliment, praise, to ask questions.

And frankly, a lot of people are way too impatient.

They get online and they expect six or seven figures within the first three, six, or seven months.

It’s just not gonna happen.

You’ve gotta make a name for yourself In the first three months.

You’ve got to build your audience.

And then, once you’re able to do that, once you’re able to get a sense that people are responding to you and what you're saying, you can make a shift into a more direct approach.

No bullsh*t. Here’s what I do. Here’s what I am. Want it. Come get it. If not, I don’t need you.

That comes a little bit later.

That’s not to say at the beginning you need to pander.

But you do need to make a name for yourself.

I think people jump in and expect sales way too fast.

Now, the only people that I’ve seen bypass it is if you had demonstrated proof of concept from the beginning, meaning…

fitness influencers who have the muscles and have the right storyline.

Those creators can expect sales much faster than a fitness influencer who covers themselves up and tries to speak to you super intellectually.

Well...

then you’re going to have to play the brain game and get people used to it if you take that route.

Unless you can demonstrate your proof of concept visually out of the gate.

It doesn’t matter.

You’ve got to build up that trust and credibility first.

People forget that.

You can’t just walk in and say ?

“Hey everybody! Buy my set! Buy my set! Buy my set! Here’s my business card! Here you go! Buy my set!”

No!

You’ve gotta tell people to "Take care," crack some jokes, and warm up the audience!"

Question 2: Email is boring as sh*t, right? Wrong, it’s still one of the biggest players in the game, why is that? Why won’t email go away and let these shinier platforms like TikTok rule the lead gen scene? What makes email special?*

“So this is my pride and joy.

My bread and butter.

The reason why email marketing works is because people have permitted you to email them.

Keep in mind.

We’re NOT talking cold email here.

What we’re discussing here is warm email marketing where you give a link for someone to sign up, and by signing up they are saying:

“I like what you’ve got. I’m curious about what else you’ve got. I want to see more of all of it. Here’s my email address.”

That email address that they give you, it’s such an exchange of props.

Some people give out their email addresses all over the place.

Those people probably aren’t your buyers.

High-ticket clients…

do not give out their email addresses very quickly.

If they do give it out what they’re telling you by doing that is that they’re either buyer intent or curiosity intent.

That alone is a big thing.

What I would also say is that email marketing is not as crowded as the feed.

So, for example, you can log on to LinkedIn.

Your content may or may not be seen that day by that buyer but that person definitely checks their email every day without fail.

They will see it.

Personal communication is in there, business communication is in there, and updates are in there.

Important information from your bank, IRS, loans, and because of these things people are paying attention to their email.

It’s a little bit more personal than TikTok, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

It’s also the fact that they’ve permitted you to send them emails and the fact that email is still a personal place for a lot of people.

That's what makes it work.

I don’t care what negative things people say about email.

“Oh, well, nobody needs email anymore.”

Bullsh*t.

There’s tons of evidence.

With myself, my clients, all across the board.

That subscriber wants to see what you have that they can’t get from your TikTok, LinkedIn, and Twitter, right?

So, they’re telling you, “I want to see you more. I find you valuable.”

Emails work because it’s still being used by your target buyer every single day."

Question 3: You’ve built one of the most iconic brands on LinkedIn and beyond and I know I’m biased in saying that but what is one piece of advice (or several) you can give someone who is just getting their start to hopefully one day be as badass as you? But more importantly, shine as their one-of-a-kind brand online?

“My reaction to this question is probably why I’ve been able to build a brand.

So number one, I don’t take myself that seriously.

I think people when they get online, take themselves too seriously because they’re afraid to say what they need to say.

They crave validation from other people and they don’t want to face ridicule.

So the fact that you said that almost makes me uncomfortable because I don’t see myself that way.

I’m just a dude who’s trying to make a living.

But at the same time, I don’t want people to put boundaries on me.

So the only way to do that is to remove my fear of other people’s opinions.

My advice?

Remember this… you’re not that special, and nothing you bring to the table hasn’t already been said before.

Given that, if you put restrictions on yourself by fearing other people’s opinions, you lose your ability to be unique

because the only thing unique that you bring to the table is your true voice, your identity, your thoughts and feelings about these topics that are important within your industry.

You will have a hard time gaining traction online. Period.

If you don’t say something unique.

You have to learn, to get rid of FOPO.

Fear of other people’s opinions.

Get rid of it.

Or at least diminish it.

It’s an ongoing process.

I definitely was NOT born this way.

It took a long time to get to this point.

But, I eventually got to this point where I could go online and just say what I wanted to say and bounce off.

Some people get upset, other people don’t.

But it’s a magnet for both.

That’s the goal of social media.

You want your content to be a magnet to bring all kinds of people to you and in the same breath repel the people that you would never work with anyway…

even if they gave you ten thousand dollars or whatever the number it is.

I don’t know about you but I don’t want them reaching out to me.

I want them to be disgusted by me or turned off entirely.

That will never happen if you fear other people’s opinions.

Don’t seek approval and don’t take yourself that seriously.

That’s how you build a brand on LinkedIn.

Thank you for this opportunity.

I hope it helps.”

Alright, that wraps it up.

I hope you enjoyed this interview series.

If you did please drop a comment below and let me know and give Doug some love!

I’d greatly appreciate it.

If you want to follow Doug here’s his profile link. ?

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/doug-lawson-marketing/

If you want to work with him, best of luck… he’s a busy entrepreneur with many happy clients but I’d suggest DMing him.

If you're a blue-collar business operator who wants to start generating new business right here on LinkedIn...

Hit this link https://calendly.com/dan-kading/30-minute-chat-with-ghostright-team?month=2023-12

Answer a few questions and set up a call.

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Thanks for joining me!

Peace out!

Dan

#personalbranding #emailmarketing #socialmediamarketing #contentmarketing #leadgeneration #linkedin #branding #b2bmarketing