We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ruben Alvarez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ruben, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

The marketing industry is shifting due to the digital giants like Facebook and Tiktok deciding to shift from organic reach to pay per play.

We noticed this in the last few months when our clients accounts were starting to decline. However, when we mixed a combination of ads and organic content, we noticed that the organic content now started to perform better.

Which means that these platforms are actually favoring the people who are spending money with them. Which is opposite from before. If you used to spend money on ads, the platform would almost lower your organic reach in order to keep you spending more.

Now it is rewarding you for spending. Keep an eye on this, as I do not think it will change for quiet some time.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into the marketing and sales industry when I was in my 20’s working at a manufacturing company. It was extremely cut throat and we were having issues keeping salesman. When I stepped into the position, I took the heat and eventually started not only selling, but working on marketing tactics to sell more product.

It really showed me the indirect ways of getting clients and potential customers to want your product, when they are used to purchasing or using another product which they have been loyal to for years. That is why we primarily focus on branding, as it is a long term play that keeps customers loyal to your brand.

When you can have long term customers vs one time customers, it allows you to focus on other parts of the business, not just on the sales engine that can eventually dry up. I have seen a lot of people have a lot of problems during the recession due to this.

No brand means no loyalty. So when the clients feel they need to save, the first thing to go it your product, if they think they can live without it. Our business, The Marketing Hunters, helps businesses to not be ignored and to be remembered as a necessity.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Your business needs to sacrifice at time for your employees. It is far too easy to strong arm your way in any business and say “I am paying you, do as I say”. We have all worked at a place like that and leave at the first chance we get.

As an employer though, when an employee leaves because we showed no heart or appreciation to them, we are left like that pikachu meme with its mouth open, wondering why they would ever leave us.

If we just take a moment to slow down and see that work is important, that profit is important, but that at the end of the day we are all people, then it makes it easy to keep morale up. It is a team for a reason. Even if you are the owner, you are part of that team.

When you see yourself as better or just as the person putting the money in for the business to survive, then you are not part of that team. Your employees will feel that and your growth will be capped. Everyone needs to feel good about what they are doing for the best result to come out.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

This is actually a funny story. I originally called American Express and told them I was starting a business. They asked me when I projected to make in 12 months, I told them easily 100k in 12 months. They gave me a credit card for $30,000.00 with no credit history with them.

The lesson I learned is sometimes to not over think things and to be slightly stupid going into certain situations. If I had known that they reject most people or that I only had a credit line of $10,000 max, I would have never gotten that card.

But just being really confident in what you say, and not knowing everything and just taking the leap sometimes gets you exactly what you need. So I put everything on that credit card and paid it off overtime. If I needed cash for anything, I would not buy it. If a vendor only took cash app, I would find another vendor who would take CC. So it made it easy to fund.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.themarketinghunters.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamrubenalvarez/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamrubenalvarez/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamrubenalvarez/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RubenAlvarezreal