How John Graci Got Back To What He Loves

How comfortable were you with the idea of moving your business online?

John: I’m not afraid of technology, but I can be fearful on occasion. Limelight was essential to my successful transition online. I couldn’t—and probably wouldn’t—have done it without them. I’m a baby boomer, I prefer a handshake to an email, so webinars were outside my comfort zone. With Limelight’s help, all I had to do was come up with the classes (I had tons of material), and their team was there to execute the marketing. They didn’t just help with promotion, they also helped me moderate and organize the webinars, too.

With your revenue interrupted by the pandemic, was it difficult to invest in marketing when money wasn’t coming in?

John: In a pandemic you can't cut your way to prosperity. I needed to get the word out about these webinars, and Limelight helped me do it.

How have your webinars been received?

John: Very well! Over the past year, I’ve gone from 0 webinars to 200! On top of that, I didn’t just hit my revenue targets this year, I surpassed them.

You’ve been working with Limelight for many years. How has your partnership evolved?

John: I’m a throwback, a baby boomer, so for decades I thought the best way to do something is to do it yourself. Before I hired Limelight, my marketing strategy was throwing anything against the wall to see if it would stick. To be frank, there really was no strategy, no brand. I knew what needed to be done, I just didn’t know how to do it.

So, what needed doing?

Limelight Team: Our first action item was to improve and streamline John’s branding, so his messaging was consistent. We then focused on improving his email marketing strategy: culling his contact list, segmenting and tagging his audience, creating automated customer journeys for his webinar attendees, and creating surveys in Mailchimp.

John: One thing I really needed was data. I love making decisions based on things I can prove. Now, thanks to Mailchimp analytics and surveys, I can do that.

What was your email marketing strategy like prior to hiring Limelight?

John: I was sending out emails manually, copy and pasting snippets to 50-plus people at a time. Then, suddenly, my emails were blocked because it looked like I was a spammer. I was in a panic. Thankfully, Limelight was there.

How has Limelight impacted your business?

John: Over the years, I’ve learned that being productive and being busy were 2 different things. Since hiring Limelight, I’ve been able to ditch time-consuming, repetitive tasks and focus on revenue producing things, like writing my next book. Hiring Limelight was the best decision I ever made.