Welcome back to the Follow-Up Media podcast. I am Christian Lee, my co-host. Riley the Zoro Mexican bull fighter. Riley. >> Yep. I wasn't here last week, but I'm back.

>> You had the sniffles. He had a cold and he couldn't show up for work, but I'm back. So, I had to do a solo episode. I'm not angry about it or bitter. >> Yeah, it look good.

>> Yeah. Okay. No, thank you for that. So, today I'm actually really excited because we are going to start a series and it is going to be called Uncomfortable Truths About Modern Marketing. This series, I believe, will be around 15 episodes.

>> Wow. >> I plan on turning it into a novel. >> An audible. Yeah. >> A fiction novel. I like it. No, it's non-fiction. It's truth. It's all we speak about is truth, >> you know.

>> Drop some truth bombs in there. >> Truth bombs. So, today, episode one is going to be about your brand has become invisible and you probably don't even know about it. Mhm. It's an uncomfortable truth. Your brand might already be invisible and you probably don't even know about it. And no,

invisibility doesn't happen because your product's bad or your team is weak or your business is failing. Uh brands go invisible for primarily one reason. The market stopped noticing you. Not intentionally, not maliciously, just quietly, algorithmically.

>> Oh, that's a big one. >> I know. I actually silently. >> Yeah. >> I had to pronounce that word. I was like, how do I say I can say algorithm all day long?

>> Algorithmically. >> Algorithmically, >> right? Everything just goes silent. So, you know, that is today's episode. And uh you know, Follow-Up Media, just to give you uh a little background, if you've heard our stuff before, you know, we are a full-ervice production and

creative marketing agency that handles content from video production, podcast, search engine optimization, AI solution, sonic branding, yada yada yada. We are a one-stop shop of execution. Really?

>> Yeah. Check out the website. >> Check out the website. our body or your earth >> sings for itself. >> Yeah.

>> And is only getting better because the more clients we help, the variety of content and execution for what we do for our clients continues to expand and we thank you for that. If you ever want to join in, have questions, all you have to do is look at the episode description, figure out how to reach out, you can

schedule a call, you can uh send a carrier pigeon. Actually, I wish that was the case, but we do have our Plato, our carrier pigeon, guy who bought a new website that uh that you can check out.

He's quite handsome. And his follow-up media, his backpack is he's suited for execution. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, part one, we're going to it's the invisibility crisis. See, most people assume brands become irrelevant slowly. You fall behind, sales go down,

engagement drops, you adjust, you try new things. But that's not how it really works anymore. Um, in 2025, brands don't fade out. What do they do, Riley? >> They vanish. One week you're in the feed and the next week the algorithm decides you're not worth showing anymore.

>> No announcement. You're right. No warning. You don't get a red flag. >> You don't lose customers overnight. You lose visibility. And then visibility takes the customers with it. Yeah.

Right. And so your visibility, just FYI, if you think about it, it's rented. It's not owned. The biggest misconception in modern marketing, people think visibility is something you earn. You don't earn visibility. You rent it. And that rent is due every single day. If you miss a payment, the algorithm, it

just evicts you. If your content slows down, your reach slows down. >> Or like credit, like >> Exactly. you're going to get penalized. >> If your presence fades, so does your revelence, >> right? Visibility today is not about being present. It's about being

persistent. It's like a sales cycle, right? You are persistent. Typically, you identify a lead, you go after that lead. And most of the time, those leads don't mature into sales unless you continue pursuing them. Right?

>> It's just like that girl that you're interested in. Sometimes she might be loose. All right, >> she might give it to you the first day, but most of the time the ones worth catching, it's going to take a little

bit of persistence. You're going to have to whine and dine them, take them out for a steak dinner. >> Reach real far into that tackle. >> Z, best lure.

>> Yeah, buy the best lure. Right. So part three is the three silent killers of brand visibility and we're going to talk about why brands become invisible. Why it often happens long before anyone notices. Riley, why don't you start with killer number one, >> inconsistency.

Inconsistency kills trust faster than bad content will honestly ever will. Like horrible content. We've put out some pretty bad content. >> I don't know about you. I thought all about non Terella is award-winning, right?

>> No, it could be the best like like I was just saying, it could be the best video and you have it out one time and then couple months later you come back and it's like that's so inconsistent. You you put out great content in a consistent matter, you'll get rewarded for it.

>> Yeah, humans trust consistency, algorithms trust consistency, but brand content, it just shows up randomly, unpredictably, and without rhyme. And the market reads that as we're overwhelmed, we're reactive. Growth is not intentional. And the result, the market forgets you. Yeah.

>> The algorithm forgets you. You can't just produce one corporate video, >> put it out there, and expect the world to bow at your feet. The algorithms go, "Look at this asshole." >> Right?

>> Like this thinks like he's going to get something from this. You might be able to drive some eyes from your book of business to your content, but even then, you're not beating out your competitors. Well, unless your competitors are not even doing the one video. But if you want to set yourself

up for future domination, yeah, >> you are going to have to come out the gate with a consistent content game plan. It cannot be a bunch of static blogs that have no real function and nobody's reading.

>> Killer number two, your content looks like everybody else's. This one's kind of brutal because most brands are invisible, not because they aren't posting. Well, some of them are truly invisible because they're not posting, but because what they're posting doesn't stand out. It blends in. They probably

don't even have any brand guidelines which kind of help keep brands consistent and really hammer in you know CocaCola you can choose you can see you can identify a Coca-Cola commercial an ad.

I mean within seconds. Yeah because their brand guidelines are set for so long and they have hammered in that font that red. It's identifiable and >> it works over the long term. You know, brands don't just become brands overnight. I mean, you can call yourself

a brand, but when a brand is recognizable without any audio with I mean, just seeing the combination of font and coloring, that's super impactful and it takes years and consistency to do.

>> Yeah. >> So, you don't want your stuff to blend in. match the templates. It follows the trends. It copies the format. It feels familiar. And familiar is forgettable.

When your video looks like every other video, the brain scrolls automatically. Invisibility isn't always a lack of activity. Sometimes it's just a lack of distinction. Yeah.

>> Let your brand stand out. Have your brand designed so it doesn't look like every other law firm. your law firm template of a website that looks like every other law firm's website.

>> Yeah, >> it gets lost. You couldn't pick it out of a lineup. >> I can't even tell you how many times I see it. I mean, that's what I do at Follow Media is look through websites and and establish my or my contact with them, establish try to establish a

relationship. And I see so many times that they have those little promo clips that are anime characters on like >> hello welcome to >> talking cow or something like it literally is all the time and and I'll ask them have you ever you guys ever considered doing any kind of video

content blah blah blah and oh yeah we already do video. I'm like well >> well where is it? >> Yeah well I got it pulled up right here and it's a talking heer. I don't know.

>> It's a talking Highland mini cow and it's telling me about uh accident attorneys. >> I don't know how that I mean you're not putting a face to the It's not even your brand mascot. So like what what is the cow doing there?

>> Maybe that was all they paid for. >> Yeah, >> maybe that was the budget. Hey, we can't have a real talking head, but we'll give you a Highland cow, >> right? Has its mouth move or it's >> crazy. Yeah, it's crazy. Killer number

three. You haven't built a content ecosystem. We talked about this on former uh former podcast episode. You know, your website, if it's all static, is like a digital tombstone. There's no content ecosystem. There's no media hub.

This is where 99% of all brands fail. They create oneoff content, one video, one post. Even worse, Riley, what else? >> One idea, >> one podcast episode. Yeah, >> but visibility isn't built from isolated pieces. That is what you have to understand. Visibility is built from an

interconnected system, right? You need long form, you need short form, you need SEO, you need YouTube, you need repurposing, you need consistency, and you don't build visibility without content these days. It's just not going to happen. No, >> you build it with an ecosystem.

>> Yeah. >> And if you think your front desk lady Deborah is going to be able to tackle SEO, YouTube, the website development, >> social media, social media, everything, it's not the case. She may she may be able to post her grandkids and get a 100 likes from the relatives and do this, do

that. They don't know what they're doing, >> right? And and Deborah at the front desk, and no offense if Deborah, >> your name is Deborah, and you are at the front desk. Um, you know, you're probably doing a great job at facilitating all of the hats that the

law firm or a financial advisor company or any other company that you're working for is making you wear. >> Yeah. >> Deborah is not going to build the ecosystem.

>> And she's probably not posting on socials. Correct. And even if Deborah is a young girl that's in her 20s, you can't think that the young girl in her 20s, just because she's in her 20s, knows social media. She might know how to post thirst traps on her on her profile.

>> Long toes. Yeah. >> Well, >> long toes. Uh maybe long toaded thirst traps. Um you know, but that is not going to differentiate your brand. It's probably not going to have the right call to action and probably not the call to action you want from long toes. MC.

>> That's right. >> Right. And part four getting into this is the relevance equation. Let me give you a way to actually measure your visibility. Revalance equals consistency times quality times distribution. If any one of those multipliers is zero, your relevance becomes zero. Now back in my

day when I went to school and I would get suspended and sent home, yeah, they would call that an out of school suspension. And which gave you a big fat zero?

>> That zero >> affect >> really affects everything. >> Affected all your good grades that you got.

>> It basically brought them down to zero. But anything that happened that day, guess what? You're getting zero. >> So you can post amazing content inconsistently and the algorithm is going to punish you. You can post amazing content inconsistently and the algorithm punishes you. You can post

consistently with poor quality and the audience is going to tune you out. >> So, not the algorithm, but the audience. But really, it's a it's a double hit right there.

>> Yeah. >> You can create great content but fail to distribute and no one ever sees it. The ones that we run into that create content, this is where they fail.

>> Yeah. Exactly. >> Is on the distribution side. We have a couple clients that actually produce so much content consistently. The content is of good quality, but their distribution channels, their YouTube channels not optimized. Yet, they post on YouTube and has very

little impact. Meaning, the YouTube algorithm isn't even suggesting their content as a solution or an answer to what people are searching for. YouTube is a search engine. Once again, and I'll probably say this at some point in every episode or every other episode, YouTube is a

search engine owned by the biggest search engine, which is Google. Google number one, YouTube number two. >> Okay? The equation is non-negotiable. You either follow it or you disappear and you become the big invisible.

>> Part five. Riley, why don't you bring this home? the attention economy you're competing in. You're living in a world where Tik Tok is a search engine. YouTube is the new university. You could learn how to build a car or fix your engine. Anything on YouTube.

>> Fix your toilet. That's what I use. >> Exactly. Google is an answering engine. Podcasts are authority infrastructures. AI is curating what gets seen before humans ever even see it.

>> Yep. And through all this, consumers are drowning in more content than any other generation in human history. They don't actively unfollow you. They don't dislike you. They don't reject you. They simply replace you with whatever shows up more consistently, more creatively, and more intentionally. That is huge

right there. I would repeat it, but I don't want to. This simply means you need to create content that is brand aligned that separates you from everybody else. Your competition isn't better. They're just louder. And maybe in some cases they're not even louder or better. They're present. They show up.

And part six, the psychology of invisibility. And so this is the real reason invisibility happens. People don't make big decisions about which brands to ignore. They make micro decisions. One scroll past you, one video they didn't click, one week you didn't post, one algorithm shift you

didn't adapt to. That's huge because YouTube and Facebook and Instagram, they all have algorithms and they're constantly updating them. Yeah. >> And if you don't adapt to the new features or you're not your Deborah at the front desk isn't tuned in to what is going on. Oh, that Instagram updated

their algorithm. Yeah. >> And what those changes mean for people posting content, meaning the hashtags on Instagram. I'm not saying that this is actually the case, so don't take this and spin it. Let's say they update their algorithm and they're not as relevant anymore. one competitor who outexecuted

you, right? Invisibility is now death by a thousand small cuts. And the only antidote is intentional, strategic, and weekly relevance. >> But there's light at the end of the tunnel, though.

>> It's a beacon. >> Yeah. >> Guiding you home. It's called Follow-up Media. And we can help shine the light to get you from the darkness to the light.

>> And >> we're a lighthouse. Riley standing up there with his pants off. He is shining a flashlight, waving, saying, "Come home. Come home. The water's warm. Come on in." >> Well, you better wear those socks if you got some long toes.

>> He's not a big fan of the toes that come over the edge. Anyway, and you know what? There there is a path back from invisibility. This is part seven. And if you're listening to this and thinking, "These guys are a bunch of giant assholes." >> That is only partially true. You know,

damn. Maybe that is us is what you're saying. Not We're the not you. But you're invisible. You might be listening to this, like I just said, and thinking this is us. But there's good news. You can fix this. We can fix this for you.

But it requires a system, not a Hail Mary. Right? Here's the exact path. Develop your content thesis. What do you believe? What do you stand against? What industry truths can you say? What industry truths can you only say?

Meaning, you have your own experience in the field that you're in. You have seen truths and falsehoods come out of, you know, dealing with, you know, um the identity of your particular industry and and how you do business. And so that is an experience. That is expertise. That is thought leadership. You are an

armchair expert. >> Yeah. >> No doubt about it. But you use that content and that experience to relay information to your audience, to your customers, and this helps set you apart with the way you handle business, the way you

navigate objections, the way you overcome challenges. Okay. Um, and the next thing you're gonna uh launch a long form anchor, a podcast, we always kind of, you know, a follow-up media. We nudge people towards this because it gives a very easy way for you to commit to sitting down and creating content on

a weekly basis. Especially if you've never sat down and created any content. We can help you with the ideation of that content with what this series or podcast or flagship show or video or anything is going to tackle for this particular industry or for your clients.

We can damn script it for you. I mean really I have become so attuned to just asking the question of what somebody does and in my mind like and not that I'm extremely intelligent or anything like that. I'm not trying to say that I am. I've already mapped out a road map in my brain of exactly how and

what content potentially could be valuable and how that they would spin it, how they would use their company and their experience to produce an ongoing content ecosystem. You know, it's all ideas up to that point, but you establish a non-negotiable weekly cadence, which is what a committing to a

podcast does. Yeah. Because it's like, okay, or maybe it's a bi-weekly. We can actually do a lot with a bi-weekly show. Two episodes a month, 30 to 45 minutes. You don't have to like create a movie around it. It's very simple. And we make it very easy. whether it's remotely through our remote recording software or

coming into one of our flagship studios in Atlanta, one in East Cobb and one in Alpharetta. So, you establish this non-negotiable weekly cadence. It is the one thing that you are going to commit to doing regardless of how many obstacles. Oh, I'm not in the mood or oh, I got to pick

up my kid. No, you got to sit down and record your content. >> Becomes your heartbeat >> 100%. I like that Riley. It becomes your heartbeat. Cadence becomes your heartbeat, your rhythm, your guarantee to the market that you are still here, right?

>> And then you get to integrate YouTube, search engine optimization, and AI indexing. SEO isn't just blogs anymore. I know a lot of companies, they got my old trusty blog.

>> I love it. The ancient blog. >> What is SEO, Riley? Besides blogs, >> SEO is video. SEO is authority. SEO is relevance. That's right. And you get to create truth-based content, not trendbased content. Authority isn't built on trends. Authority is built on uncomfortable truths. Like Riley is

sitting here in assless chaps right now. And for me, that is an uncomfortable truth. And I am very uncomfortable. And the audience should be as well. >> Amen.

>> And this series that we created here at Follow-Up Media exists for this exact reason. And why followup media exists, that's a whole another story. Because we don't just create videos or podcasts. We build ecosystems. We build visibility machines. We build thought leadership platforms that turn brands into

authorities. And even better, we build content infrastructures that never sleep, never slow down, never fade, and never become invisible. Our clients don't hire us for content. They hire us because they refuse to be forgotten. So, here is the final uncomfortable truth.

If your brand feels invisible right now, if you're asking yourself, is the SEO company ripping me off? Then the answer is probably the SEO company is ripping them off.

>> So, if you ask yourself the question, if your brand feels invisible right now, then the answer kind of >> if you're asking the question, you already know the answer.

>> Yeah. Invisibility is not permanent. That is the good news. It's not fatal and it's not inevitable. It's simply the result of a strategy that hasn't evolved yet. And that's what's important. Your strategy has not evolved yet. And 2025 going into 2026 is the time to reach out. Even if it's

not to followup media, because I have Riley Austin as the VP of sales. Maybe that's the reason you want to reach out. But um you need to evolve somewhere and that's why we're doing this content series. That's why we have our own podcast. It's just kind of to weigh in and nudge, you know, companies that they

need to step up and get with the times. Economic currency is content, right? So stop playing defense, start playing offense. Welcome to the uncomfortable truths about modern marketing. This is Followup Media and episode two. You're not going to want to miss this one. And believe me, it's going to sting. You're

going to need some Neosporin or ointment. >> Okay, just grab yourself a bottle of ointment for this one. Next episode on Follow-Up Media, this will be part two, episode two. It is called Marketing on Hope is not a strategy. Subscribe to the podcast, subscribe to our channel, reach

out, or don't listen to us at all. Okay? Um, you can schedule a consultation, a phone call, and if you want to talk to uh the Mexican gunfighter and ask Chaps, he's available on any podcasting platform, and you can reach us at follow-updia.com.

That was awkward. >> Maybe Grinder. >> No, >> Riley's on Grinder. >> Oh, isn't that the gay one?

>> Yep. No, no.