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Speaker 2: Welcome to Inside
Marketing With Market Surge.
Your front row seat to the
boldest ideas and smartest
strategies in the marketing game.
Your host is Reed Hansen, chief
Growth Officer at Market Surge.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hello,
and welcome back to Inside
Marketing with Market Surge.
I'm your host, Reid Hansen.
Everyone's posting content
right now, but very few people
are actually building a brand.
Today's guest has worked with over 150
founders from major personal brands to
top Amazon companies and helped generate
more than a billion views online.
That's billion with a B, but more
importantly, he's helped turn
content into something most people
miss Trust that actually converts.
Jake Eisha is a filmmaker turned brand
strategist who helps founders become
impossible to ignore by blending
storytelling with real marketing strategy.
And today we're gonna break down
what's actually working in content
right now and what's just noise.
Jake, I'm really excited to have you on.
Thanks for joining.
Jake Isham: Thanks for having me.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: So Jake,
just to get started, what is something
that most entrepreneurs believe about
content right now that is a major
misconception or is just flat out wrong?
Jake Isham: Bigger division.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.
Jake Isham: entrepreneurs
who really understand it and
some entrepreneurs who don't.
And what's one thing I'm trying to
like, I'm like, is there one thing?
But I think it depends on the person
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.
Jake Isham: are, because I've
seen wildly different views
from very different people.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.
Jake Isham: You know, like, I'm gonna,
well, I'll say something I guess slightly
controversial is you don't need content.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Ah,
Jake Isham: No
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: okay.
Jake Isham: You can build a multimillion,
potentially billion dollar business
and not make a YouTube video.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.
Jake Isham: However, it
depends on your goals.
You know, if you're trying to build
a personal brand, but realize like a
personal, what is a personal brand?
Personal brand is just the image
and do people know you for?
all.
That's all.
It's, you know, I know.
I'm very fortunate to, to know a handful
of millionaires and billionaires.
Some who, if you don't know, like
if you see them walking down the
street, you go, okay, it's a dude.
But they walk into a
room, into the right room.
Everyone goes like,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: you know,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right.
Jake Isham: that's their
personal brand, so.
It depends on the goals.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.
Jake Isham: I guess that's
my hot take for the, for
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
No, that, that's fine.
We we're, we're gonna get, get into this.
So now you, you've generated a billion
views with content you've created now.
So, you know, views is
one metric, obviously.
how many of those billion views
actually equaled additional
revenue for the clients?
Jake Isham: That right there
is the million dollar question.
I put that in the byline in
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: just because it's
the sexiest thing to say,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: when I tell the entrepreneurs
I work with and just the ones that I
consult with and whatnot, I go, Vuse
is the last metric you care about.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.
Jake Isham: it is not the metric, it's
not the KPI to track views and followers,
But we've done, I've done millions
in, in revenue for, for my clients.
And so like, it, it all depends,
like you gotta look at kind of
the four stages of awareness
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: and you know,
where, at the top, where it's
like, you know, the client.
Your prospect has no idea who you are
or the problem they're trying to solve.
You're just trying to get brand awareness.
You look at like a Coca-Cola, a
Starbucks, et cetera, McDonald's, Toyota.
They're just trying to stay top of
mind, so they want millions of views
and billions of views purely because
they're just, when that person wants
a car 3, 5, 10 years, they think of.
Or you know, when they're
like, oh, I'm kind of thirsty.
Oh, let me think of Coca-Cola.
Or, you know compared to working with
some other company that's like, okay,
great, we're gonna run this ad and we
need to get conversions on this ad.
You know, who we need a, a
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: one row ads on it.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Right, right.
Well, okay, so say you were working
with somebody just starting at zero.
They knew.
YouTube channel or new
content channel of any kind.
No followers, no subscribers.
Brand new to the market.
What would you have
them do to get started?
Jake Isham: Basically what I would do is.
Versus just look at their goals.
It's
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.
Jake Isham: great.
what's the roadmap?
What are
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: what are we building towards?
Because depending on the business,
I might not even recommend organic.
I think organic is good, but if they're
like, we need this to convert tomorrow.
great.
Well you're gonna, you should run ads
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: like I'm the first one to say.
I'm the first one to
walk away from a sale.
You could say,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.
Jake Isham: and just do
what's right by the customer.
Now, if they're like, okay, great,
I wanna do long-term organic.
I'm willing, I want to build this,
I wanna start laying the bricks down
for the foundation so that in three,
five years I have an unshakable brand
and I can get leads for nothing.
Great.
Well then I go, let's
start with a channel.
There's kind of two steps depending,
like if they're gonna do it on their own.
What I say is, go start.
Pick a channel.
one channel that you like.
Do you like TikTok more?
Instagram more.
YouTube, more.
Great.
Start at a cadence.
Doesn't like ignore every guru,
every coach, every consultant.
Pick a cadence that you
know 100% can stick with.
If that's once a month, great.
doesn't matter.
The biggest thing when it comes to
social any, there's kind of like four
or five levels of it putting out content
that the biggest thing is consistency.
Like it is much better.
And so I always compare
social to going to the gym.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.
Okay.
Jake Isham: And as anybody who know
is who's ever been on a fitness
journey to get stronger, get
leaner, get, you know, thinner.
Knows that it's much more important
to go to the gym for 20 minutes every
day or every other day than it is
for one day a week, for three hours.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right, right.
Jake Isham: gonna help you more?
You know?
Or let me eat healthy every day, versus,
oh, I ate really help, or I starved
myself for one day and then I didn't
care what I ate for the next week.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right.
Jake Isham: Social media is the exact
same way, especially organic content
is the exact same way where it is
much better to go, okay, great, I can
put out a TikTok video twice a week.
I can think with that.
Start there.
Then eventually you go, you get
faster, becomes faster and easier.
So like the gym where you're
like, Ooh, I can do this.
You start
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: wins, you go, Ooh, that
video got like a thousand views.
May, maybe I do three this week.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah, yeah.
Jake Isham: you start seeing changes,
so you start wanting to do it more.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: So the first stage is
always just start with anything.
Pick the channel that you kind
of had, you'd like, 'cause you
kind of know also the cadence
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: if you're on TikTok, you
kind of know how to do the TikTok voice
and what looks like a good TikTok video.
And if it's what you consume,
you can go, okay, great.
Well.
What's this format of these TikTok videos,
which is very different than LinkedIn.
As we know,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: you go to TikTok first.
LinkedIn, it's very
different types of content.
Same thing with Instagram,
same thing with YouTube.
Then the next step above that,
which is typically where they
work with me, I go, okay, great.
Let's get a baseline of content going out.
I recommend three times a week.
I'm video forward.
That's the best type of content right now
that's gonna get you the most attention
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: with,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: and we stay consistent
with that might as well.
And then again, talking about levels.
We start with reposting the same
video across all platforms ' cause.
It's free views.
It's free traffic
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right.
Jake Isham: little, with no extra effort.
Essentially,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right.
Jake Isham: media scheduler
you get it out there.
So slightly longer answer, but
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
No, that's great.
Jake Isham: site nuanced shift
depending on where you're at.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.
Well, tell me a little bit about now you
come from a filmmaking background and
which, you know, obviously fascinating.
You're out in, you know, Southern
California and I'm sure you have a
lot of organic exposure to, you know,
to the industry and, and to the, you
know, the top people in this field
that, you know, I'm sure you have
got a million really interesting
encounters and, and experiences.
I won't go that far but I wanted to.
Ask, how does this background, you
know, this exposure to the filmmaking
world, how does that come to play
when you're advising business people
that don't have, you know, they
have zero filmmaking experience?
Like, what, what are, what are you,
what weighing in on typically in, in
this you know, in these conversations?
You know, are you talking about like
the art of it or the, the storytelling?
What, what does that come,
Jake Isham: I
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: come out like?
Jake Isham: of a couple different things.
Obviously there's the technical sides of
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: camera,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: et cetera,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: and just helping that.
but the barrier to entry on that, on
the technical side is so low now With
how everything's gone so forward with
content creation, that it's easier than
ever, you know, accessing great gear.
I mean, to be honest, I'm shooting
this podcast right now on my iPhone.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.
Okay.
Jake Isham: I don't even have my nice
camera set up or anything like that.
Like it's, we all have
4K cameras in our pocket.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right.
Jake Isham: So, but what makes that
look better than another is like,
oh, okay, a little bit of lighting,
a little bit, you know, good audio.
And then outside of that
is, I look at storytelling,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.
Jake Isham: when it comes
to a personal brand you have
two aspects of storytelling.
You have the kind of very obvious one,
which is your personal stories what do,
like what are your personal stories?
How do they relate to your brand?
Because they're only your stories.
And if somebody listens to a handful
of my podcasts, they're gonna hear the
same story over and over and over again.
'cause they're my stories,
Tell anybody else's stories.
So I am a big believer in,
in having somebody kind of
discover what their stories are
because it informs their brand.
And then outside of that, there's
just the basic structure of
storytelling, which is the,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.
Jake Isham: art of storytelling.
And that goes into whether you're
writing, whether you're doing video
content or any type of content, it's
how do you structure this information?
Okay, great.
You have your hook, you know?
What does that opening, you know,
sentence, that opening moment,
that opening line, the opening
image that starts at, and.
Then you have your body and then
you have, I call a punchline.
People call different things.
I'm not a big CTA guy.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.
Okay.
Jake Isham: call to action guy.
I'm a big believer in just, okay, great.
Reiterate it with the punchline, you know,
the moral of the story type of thing.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.
Jake Isham: I.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
And that's interesting 'cause I, you
know, a lot of people, you know, the
call to action has been a very popular
thing to do and, and you know, a lot of
people think they can't produce content
that doesn't have a call to action.
And so it is nice to hear
a counterpoint there.
Jake Isham: Which, you know, comes from
n not from a, from a mentor of mine
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.
Jake Isham: a a massive influencer in
the, in online and talking, I mean,
15 million on YouTube to, putting out
two long form videos a day, you know,
one to two long form videos a day.
So the man does.
Like, I think a hundred million
views a month type of thing.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Oh wow.
Jake Isham: unl unbelievable numbers.
And he runs a, and then he obviously, with
that, he's got a very successful brand.
And when he, he was sharing that
every time he starts putting CTAs
in his videos, his sales drop,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Interesting.
Jake Isham: and every time he doesn't
put CTAs in his videos, his sales go up.
At the end of the day, know,
social is not a new thing for us.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: know to like,
to subscribe, to comment.
We're
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: that.
We know to go to the link in the profile.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: provide the right
value, if the messaging and the
storytelling is correct and done
in the right sequence, it's going
to lead naturally to the action.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.
No, that's good.
Well, maybe if, if you don't mind
sharing an example Oh, go ahead.
Yeah, go ahead.
Jake Isham: Well, I was gonna say,
I'm just gonna put one caveat to
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah, please.
Jake Isham: That's organic video.
In organic content.
If you're doing an ad, put your CTAs there
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Okay.
Jake Isham: people naturally, like
anybody who lives at any time on social
media, knows the difference between an
organic video and a paid social like.
We're used to going, oh, that's sponsored
ad and that's what you throw your CTAs.
just wanted to, for anybody
who's coming up in still learning
and you know, I wanted to
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: clarification.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: And, and
pardon me, I've got a contractor
working in the background.
I, I know he just has a small thing.
Okay, perfect.
Jake Isham: Your mic is on.
I don't have anything.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay, good.
Yeah.
They just had a small thing
outside my door, but I don't want
to interrupt us here, but well.
Can you tell us about any specific,
you know, I lo I love hearing
like, like war stories, so to
speak, you know, like examples.
C are there any specific pieces
of content that stick out to you
that you've generated that you
could see, like, you know, clear
results from this piece of content?
Like anything you could map
back that, that come to mind?
Like anything unusual about the
content or the circumstances around it.
Jake Isham: Not a specific piece
of content, but I do have one story
that kind of illustrates what you're
talking about or what you're asking.
So I have a client who's in the
entertainment industry and he was
very reticent to put out content.
He's known him for quite a number of
years, and we did for a little bit,
but he was kinda like, okay, and
like kind of begrudgingly did it.
But you kind of, I'm sure you've, you
know, have clients that you know, where
they're kind of getting their arm twisted
to do it rather than when, compared to
when they're like, alright, let's do this.
And,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
Yeah, a hundred percent, yes.
Jake Isham: it's a, they have a
different mindset about it and so.
We did that, then we stopped.
Then he stopped a little bit, couple years
later, he went and I saw the fire inside.
He said, okay, Jake, I'm ready now.
Now I am mentally ready.
I know I should have done it when
we did it three years ago, but we
didn't, and you know, let's do it now.
And so we started putting on content and.
Where again, mind you we're,
you know, we're putting out
content on all, on all channels.
We're, we're making video content and
his Instagram is doing well, his YouTube
is doing well, his TikTok is doing
well But different videos go, you know,
more viral on different on channels
and things are, know, and he works in
a B2B space, so it's all networking.
You know, he works in the
entertainment industry.
It's not direct to consumer, at
least what, with what he does.
It's, you know, he's, it's a networking
thing, so he does end up going to
a networking party, you know, some,
you know, fancy, nice Hollywood party
where all the, all the people are,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: and.
One of the biggest filmmakers
in Hollywood come up to him
says, I love your TikTok videos.
And he's like, first of all, I'm honored.
And, and like, and then, but this is a
gentleman that he's never worked with
who I think he said he met once at like
some other party 10 years ago type of
thing, but like, doesn't like having
his phone or like any relationship with,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: He then proceeded to
tell me this and af you know, the day
or so after the next time we shot.
And mind you, my client's, TikTok is his
least followed and least viewed channel.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Interesting.
Jake Isham: I went, okay, great.
Oh, we gotta like, you know, follow this
director on TikTok and like interact.
And then like, you know, I
tried to find him not on TikTok.
So he's clearly using like a burner
account, like, you know, some like
alias or you know, some, you know,
user seven two, like to watch content.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Interesting.
Jake Isham: And so, I mean,
I say that story because you
never know who's watching you.
You
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: a, there's another great
story from like I'm a Grant Cardone guy,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Jake Isham: And a couple years ago
or something like that, he's in the
south of France on, on a, on a yacht.
He is like, and there was some
live or, or some Instagram
video or something like that.
He's like, just so you know, or
maybe it was right after, I forget,
I forget the circumstance, but the,
the point of the message was what
I loved, was, it was like, just so
you know, like I post these videos.
Sure.
It's inspiring to you and it's cool to
see me on a yacht and whatnot, and I
look flashy and everything like that.
It's also for the five people that I
want to have meetings with that I know
that are watching my content, but that
will never like me, that will never
like a video, that will never comment
on a video that will never follow me.
But I know they see my content it's just
to let them know I'm out here in the
south of France, let's take a meeting.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Interesting.
Jake Isham: realized like.
These top CEOs, these top
whatever, your clients are human.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Jake Isham: Yeah.
Some of them aren't on
social, but a lot of them are
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: like, they are, whether
they have a social media account or not.
So it's just something to, you know,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah,
Jake Isham: I work a lot in
the B2B space where it's all.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: sure.
Jake Isham: and relationship driven.
So what you're doing is, you know,
building that brand awareness and like
I have a mentor who has a, a client
who they have, this is one last story,
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
Yeah, no, stories are great.
I love it.
Jake Isham: emphasize the point of
like, you just put content out on
your niche and like, for example,
this woman had, what was it?
I think like.
700 followers or something like that.
videos would never get more
than like a thousand views.
And she was running a million
dollar business purely off her
Instagram, off of organic Instagram.
But 'cause she was so niched down, so
everybody in that niche would follow
her, would ask her questions, she would
then get 'em into like a $30,000 thing
because they knew she was the expert.
'cause that's all she talked about.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: The biggest thing, and
that's where it's like staying on brand
and your messaging like you don't need.
And that's where ironically to kind of
go back to where we started, where views
don't matter depending on your niche.
Like if you're being an entertainer,
if you're being, you know, one of the
top talkers whatnot, you need views
because you get paid literally by views.
You get paid by advertisers
to get more views.
That's.
payment, getting paid directly from
the social media channels, by views,
but if you're running a business,
you're not getting paid by views.
You're getting paid by conversions.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
that makes sense.
So Jake, in the next, you know, we, we've
seen the quality of AI content increase
dramatically and and it's everywhere.
And you know, and given that looking
for, you know, forward in the
next few years, what do you think?
You know, should people be embracing ai?
Should they be trying to make
things that are clearly not ai,
like more talking head things, you
know less polished to seem genuine?
What, what are your thoughts with AI
in the mix now and, and what should
we plan for in the next couple years?
Jake Isham: I think I'm a
little slanted because of,
obviously I enjoy the art form of
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: but.
I'm pretty pro AI in
terms of certain things.
Like I, think it's a unbelievably
valuable tool that we all need to learn
as entrepreneurs we need to just, you
know, rewind the clock 30 years ago
and look at the internet, the, in the
individuals who fought the internet and
were like, no, this is not happening.
This is not how we do it.
They don't exist.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: You know, you look
at the Y 2K bubble and that whole
thing that occurred, you know, will
there be a URL bubble or like, you
know, the same way there was a a.com
bubble with ai, most likely it'll
probably have the exact same.
I assume it will have
the exact same runway as.
The internet, but I think it's
gonna be a shorter runway.
So I think they'll probably, and
again, I'm not by any means like an
economics or any, anything like that.
This is just pure speculation
and like, total guess.
But I, I think it'll have a
similar adoption because of,
and it'll go through iterations.
It'll go through changes and and whatnot.
But with that, like, I
think people will still.
Have like it, it's a, a valuable
tool that makes life easier and
makes companies go faster and, and
helps you generate more income if
you know how to use it correctly.
But, and this is kinda where I'm doubling
down, is I think people will strive for
human connection even more because of it.
Because you go, what is ai, what is not?
And so one of the big services I push is
long form podcasting and digital shows
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Jake Isham: I mean, I do it for multiple
two, like a multitude of reasons.
One, it's a networking tool.
Hey, let's meet up.
I mean, you and I right
here, we never met before.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right.
Jake Isham: We'll build a relationship.
You and I can chat after
this about like, oh, see.
Does it make sense to work together?
Does this, tell me a little
bit more about what you do.
Oh my God, this, you know, now have
a genuine relationship, you know
where we didn't have it before today.
And I think at the end of the
day, we're all still, we're human.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Right, right.
Yeah.
Jake Isham: Humans want connection.
They want relationships.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
No, I love it.
Well, Jake, this is a lot
of great, great information.
You know, I am not a native to this world,
but I'm trying to generate my own content
that's valuable and I'd love hearing from
somebody like you and learning from you.
So thank you so much
for these contributions.
If people would like to work with
you, where can they find you?
Where are the best places to find you?
Jake Isham: LinkedIn is great.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Okay.
Jake Isham: is Jake Isha.
Otherwise Instagram, Jake
Creative Marketing is great.
If you pretty much Google my
name, you can will find me, but
you'll also my photography, which
I'm still actively doing in my
filmmaking, which I'm actively doing.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Nice.
Jake Isham: but feel free to message
me on any of those channels and yeah.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Great.
Well, thanks so much for coming on.
Jake Isham: Thank you for having me.
Speaker: Want to stay ahead of what's
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