There are several parallels between romantic relationships and business relationships. In this episode, we will be talking about Zachary’s new book, Married To Marketing, a relationship guide to business… on today’s, straight shot marketing podcast.

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Welcome everyone, it is with great excitement and great pleasure that I can now announce that Zachary’s new book –Married To Marketing is now available! And so today, we are going to talk with him about it.

Zachary, today you are a guest on the show… welcome… how are you today?

 

-I’m good Jen… glad to finally be able to start promoting this book. I finished it a few months ago now, submitted it to the publishers and now it’s finally available to the public.

 

Well congratulations

 

-Thank you

 

Now before we start talking about the book, tell me, what prompted you to write it?

- Aside from being a business man, I am a father. I often try to help my children navigate their ways through relationships and growing up, in hopes that they can learn from my experience and bypass some of my mistakes.

But it was you that prompted the thought that birthed the book. Aside from being the final, trusted hand that nudged me towards writing the book, as many of you know, Jennifer hosts this show, Straight Shot marketing podcast, with me on a regular basis and in the beginning, one of her ideas to name the show was “Married To Marketing” because our business is very intersected with our relationship. Working together, we end up discussing branding and business communications quite often in our off time as well. While we decided on a different name for the podcast, I liked the phrase. Then while considering what the phrase “Married To Marketing” could mean early one morning, I saw the parallels and began to sketch them out on paper… and the book’s concept was born.

 

I know in your speaking engagements, a lot of people ask you if you had written a book –because they enjoyed your teaching so much –and now, you have!

- Yes, that was a factor as well…one that was in my mind before I began considering what to do with the phrase Married To Marketing… it’s one thing for people to ask you to write a book, it’s another to decide what you are going to write about that will bring value to them.

 

Ok, so let’s talk about the book…. Tell me about the premise.

- It’s a comparison of the parallels present between both romantic relationships and business relationships. I used this comparison to showcase the process and some insights about starting and operating your business.

 

Yes, the subtitle is “A relationship guide to business”

- Well, you know, Business owners and entrepreneurs love their businesses... it’s their baby. They nurture it along, care for it, protect it, many live for it, and some have even died for it. My children refer to my business as a member of the family, like it’s another sibling for them. And it is something that people care about.

Many start their company because they want to do something they love... something they can be passionate about.

And if the business is hurt, they feel the pain. And likewise, if it does well, they feel pride and celebrate.

 

Owning a business is definitely an emotional things… now let’s talk about that for a minutes…

Words… words can be tricky in the English language.

“Company” and “Business” are not synonyms.

COMPANY -the legal entity that was creating to conduct business through

BUSINESS-is the activity:

•Product Development

•Packaging

•Taking it to market

•Selling it

•Growing the company, expansion

When you say I’m in love with my business, you are talking about the relationship between company and customers and all that it entails….

o Preparing for

o Building

o Maintaining

o Utilizing

Consumer Relationships

 

That’s true those… we hear those words used interchangeably all the time. And while similar, they are different words will different nuances and intentions.

- Right and this book, is about BUSINESS relationships and how the compare with romantic relations. For example:

• Hoping and Dreaming

• Scoping Out The Competition

• Checking Out The Babes

• Dating and Courting

• Engagement

• Wedding

• Divorce

Relationships are something everyone understands... everyone can relate to it. Even if you feel like you’ve only witnessed bad relationships,..you still understand them...

• how they work,

• what’s good in them,

• and what’s bad

 

But people want good relationships

- and good relationships take communication and commitment, It takes investment time and money, heart and soul.

You need to weigh your own character with the character of your spouse. Look at their personality, wants, and desires in light of your own.

 

And all of that is discussed in the book?

- In quite a bit of colorful detail, yes ma’am

 

Well alright… well, we have to take a moment to hear from our sponsors for Straight Shot podcast. So we’ll take a break and be right back with more about Married To Marketing, the new book by B. Zachary Bennett. Stick around, because at the end of the episode, we are going to be talking about how you could win a copy of the book.

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Welcome back everyone. We were talking more about the detail of the book. Zachary, tell me more about the analogy, the comparison you use in the book.

- In the book, the company (business owner) represents the groom and the customer is the bride.

If you don’t keep her happy, if you don’t keep him happy –you won’t be in business for long.

Owning and running a business takes commitment… so much commitment that you are married to it… and in that marriage comes responsibilities.

To create a successful marriage

o Both have to be attractive to each other.

o Both have to serve each other.

o You have to invest in each other.

• To keep them in the marriage

o you have to meet their needs

o know them better than anyone else

o you have to communicate with them

It’s a commitment... it’s a process... a journey.

Business is the same...

Your business in a marriage of company and consumer and in that commitment, you are married to marketing

 

Marketing is business communications... and all the work that leads up to it. Marketing is confusing to a lot of people… I know you’ve spoken about that before.. People confusing marketing and sales, branding and advertising.

Marketing is not sales in the same way that sex is not love. In a perfect world, they go together but they are not the same.

• In the book, we talk about Sales being the consummation of the marriage. And how Marketing promotes sales.

But don’t get them confused. There is a right way to do things… and there are many, many wrong ways. That are less fulfilling, don’t last, and all the clichés that you can imagine here.

Married To Marketing is about having a mature relationship… one that is built to last… one that will see you through to true success… and many anniversaries.

 

Now, in the book –you walk through several processes, give more insights and tips, warnings… like you do here on the show.

- Yes, we start at the very beginning of the process and walk right on through to launching and then maintaining your business. … all within the marital comparison to make it easy to understand. It’s very good for people considering starting a business and also for those that started their company a few years back but may have been winging it on their own.. It’s good to look back and see if there is anything that they might have missed along the way that could help them in their journey towards success in business.

 

Help them fall in love with their business again, in some cases, I’d imagine. Looking back on the early days while making sure they are not missing any steps.

 

I’ll do the Straight Shot for today:

 

If you are interested in a copy of Married To Marketing, it is available at Amazon.com ( https://amzn.to/3j90PVd ) as a paperback, ebook, and as an audio book for those of you on the go that might want to listen to it on your commute or while working out.

OR

if you’d like a limited edition, numbered, signed copy, you can go to https://bzacharybennett.com/m2m.

But for this episode, I want to give away one more copy… we did this a couple of episodes ago, but I want to do it again. Same game as before… go to Straight Shot’s facebook page, find the Married To Marketing post on our wall and share it with hashtag #iminlovewithmybusiness. We’ll select a winner, contact you on facebook and send you a book! Matter of fact, if we get enough people sharing the post, I’ll also send you a StraightShotmug

That’s it for today… Zachary, congratulations again on the release of your first book.

And Straight Shooters, we’ll see you again next time.

Bye