Shareable and trackable books are tools of the future. Allowing one idea to be passed on to another and products and programs shared easily can lead to marketing magic. Today, Penny Zenker interviews Robert Evans, the CEO and creator of Tracka’Book, about how this unique app moves and brings people together. Robert explains how Tracka’Book helps you save time and money on your marketing efforts and achieve faster results. Get to know this unique app as Robert takes us through its major features.
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The Ultimate Shareability And Trackability App With Robert Evans
I’m super excited because you know that our focus is to help you save time, money, energy and effort as it relates to your business, as it relates to every area of your life, particularly for entrepreneurs. I have Robert Evans with me. Robert is a marketing guru. He’s been in the marketing space for personal development for many years. He’s got this cool new thing that he’s doing for entrepreneurs. What he has is a publishing company that publishes apps and connects those apps to these trackable and shareable books. It’s a unique marketing opportunity in giving entrepreneurs access to having your own app and your own shareable content, where everybody is now, which is on the app for a fraction of the cost of developing your own app. It is super exciting because it puts it in people’s hands that didn’t normally have access to it. Robert, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Penny. I appreciate you inviting me to be here.
What inspired you to come up with this unique opportunity that connects this shareable, trackable book together with an app?
I fell into the business through my own research of wanting to reach more people and have a higher engagement to make more money with my own business. I fell into the mobile app development world accidentally by discovering that mobile apps are by far the most effective platform that a business could leverage and use nowadays as far as reaching more people and having a greater impact in generating and monetizing our messages more effectively and quickly. I got into the business because I realized how expensive it was to have an app built. I designed an app that I wanted to do all these different things and sending it out to get it price quotes and I got five price quotes back. Three of them were over $100,000 for the app and the lowest price was $74,000. I said, “No wonder our industry as authors, speakers, coaches, experts and entrepreneurs are not in the app space. Unless you load it and have a ton of money, it’s impossible to develop an app that I wanted.”
Did you feel incompetent?
It does things that are not a waste of money. It’s not a template. It’s a quality, high-end app. I started a company to solve this problem for the industry. What we did is we invested over 1.5 years of our time and a significant amount of money to build a platform, that same platform that I got $100,000 quotes on. We make it possible for small businesses and entrepreneurs to have their own mobile app on iPhone and Android app stores at a fraction of the cost. There’s a good reason for businesses to move into the app space nowadays.
That being said, to leverage off of that, I think that people may not realize how much value it is to be able to be in the app space and be available on the phone as opposed to let’s say doing email marketing and sending their videos or their content strictly over email. What’s the benefit of that? Why should people be doing the app as well? I’m not saying to replace one, but to be that accessible. Why the app space?
That’s probably the thing that convinced me the most because I have been effective in email marketing for years. I built two email lists for over 100,000 each in two different businesses and made millions of dollars through email marketing over the years. I got disenchanted with that way of marketing because the numbers are low as far as engagement is concerned. That’s the thing I was comparing.
What are the types of numbers that you get when doing email?
Shareability And Trackability App: You become a smarter marketer by learning how to get people to engage in your content.
Receiving a book and passing it along brings an impact that people love to experience.
This is where it gets exciting. The equivalent of sending out an email in the app space is sending out a push notification. Let’s look at those two worlds, sending it out of push, sending out an email. You’ve got to think about opt-in. First, you’ve got to get people onto your list. The industry average in email marketing is 2%. In the app world, to get your person on your push list, it’s averaging 70% to 80%. 2% out of 100% over here or 70% to 80% out of 100% over here. I wonder which one?
That’s also because I’m sure everybody is like me, I have a separate email so that I can register for things and it goes to that.
You can’t do that on the push notification when you download an app and you say yes to receiving notifications. You’re not saying yes to long drawn out emails which people are annoyed by. You’re sending yes to a quick call to action. You become a smarter marketer by learning how to get people to engage in your content. The second part is now that I have this email list or this push notification list, the key is when I send out an email or a push, how do I get them to click and engage in my content? That’s ultimately what it’s all about is you send out something and then they click. In the email marketing world, they have to open the email first. That open rate is about 15% on average and then the click is ridiculously low.
Out of 15%, the numbers are more like 1% to 3% will click. One to three out of 100 people will click, go over the push side of things. When you send out a push notification, you get a 90% open rate, which means they see the notification and then the average, and we’ve seen this consistently throughout our business, is 40 to 60% will click. That’s ultimately what you want them to do, click to see what you have to say, what you have to offer. If I can get 40 people out of 100 as opposed to 3, the world of marketing changes dramatically for businesses at that point.
That’s why I’m working with you and we’re doing one of these apps together, but we’re doing it together with one of these shareable, trackable books. Let’s talk about how that works in combination. Tell us about the Tracka’Book and how that works with the app.
In our case, we help businesses to publish these small little books like Drew Berman. He wrote The Law of Collaboration. That’s his book. That’s one way of doing it, a book that’s written by an author. Physical books are still incredibly powerful and people still love them. Then we have these directories. Here’s a physical Tracka’Book directory. What we’re doing with you, Penny, is the Take Back Time Directory. This is based on the business that I started many years ago and built my first 100,000-person email list is that we figured out a way to connect books to a mobile app and to inspire people to get these books, not to keep them but to pass them along.
In the process of passing them along, they can through the app track where that book goes from one person to the next and see what people think of that book. What impact does this book has on people’s lives? It’s all done through the book. When we say it’s trackable, which is they download the app, they input an actual tracking number that is specific to that copy of that book. They did have the app so that they could track it. It is shareable so that they share it and everybody gets to experience the ripple impact or the mini movements that are created from each copy of these books going for one person going to the next.
The prediction that physical books would go away and eBooks would take over is not happening because people still want to hold books. Share on X
When you first told me about this, the first thing that came to my mind was Flat Stanley. This is a thing that kids do in kindergarten where they get this little character who’s paper and laminated and you send it to somebody like a cousin. They take Flat Stanley all over the place on vacation and they take pictures of Flat Stanley. That’s what struck me is that people are interested in the travels of where this goes. It started with me, but the seven degrees of separation, where does it end up as it gets shared around the world? We talked about this and maybe a new term that’s coming up is this crowd sharing. The crowd sharing concept where you give this small, powerful book and there’s a place inside the book for people to share their experiences and pass it on. It’s not just the book that they’re reading that they’re sharing, it’s also them sharing their experience. For instance, in the Take Back Time Best Practices, we said that we were going to have people be able to share what best practices and things are working best for them so that they can share and pass that along. Every person who touches it gets to share a piece of what works for them and pass it on.
That’s beautiful and unique. This is the first time that we’re doing it to this level. This is an idea that Penny came up with. We’ve got the book that has experts in it. They’re sharing their ideas and tips on productivity. They’re offering a promotional code that you input into the app in order to get special offers, but we want the readers of the books to contribute their own ideas to the book and to the community that they build bypassing the book along. There are going to be blank pages in the book in which each individual reader can write down their own productivity idea. When they share it, the next person writes down their own productivity idea.
Not only is it being captured in the book, but it’s being captured in the app so that everybody through the flow of the book, gets these fresh ideas from everyday people that are getting these books. That’s the crowd sharing part of it. It’s not the shareable aspect of it, but it’s also everybody going, “I’ve got an idea, this is what I do.” They write that idea down and then it builds. What we will do from your app is we will gather those best ideas and we’ll be able to share them in future books and inside the app and that sort of thing.
It goes down to being able to allow people to rate them so that we get the crowd sharing capabilities of people as they’re putting things into practice and being able to put down what’s working for them and rate them as well. There are a whole plethora of these experts that are able to share in the app. They’re able to share other resources. Tell us more about what else is available in the app after somebody tracks their book and gets access to the app.
If you’re a productivity expert, this is where it becomes incredibly awesome for you from a marketing promotional standpoint. If you’re one of the limited numbers of experts that are in the book saying, “This is who I am. This is what I do. Here’s my idea or my tip or my productivity message. Here’s my special offer,” that special offer is a dynamic offer. It can change whenever that expert wants to change it. In addition to being in the physical directory with the two-page profile, you would also be inside of the Take Back Time app in the digital directory. The digital directory is a way for the readers of the book who love what the experts are sharing to watch videos, read more articles, learn about these experts in other ways through the Take Back Time app.
Not only is there a possibility of reaching tens of thousands of people because of the number of books that will be put into circulation and each time they’re passed along. It’s not one person reading one book. It’s 5 or 10 people reading one book. It’s an exponential exposure to each of the experts that are in there, but they also get exposure inside of the app to the tens of thousands, if not ultimately hundreds of thousands of people that will download the app as a resource for being more productive in their life.
Shareability And Trackability App: Receiving a book and passing it along brings an impact that people love to experience.
What if they don’t get it? This is an opportunity for them as a resource and a tool, whether it’s a productivity expert or an expert in any other one of these books. Maybe let’s say, “I have an eBook.” What’s the difference? Why should I be part of this when I can distribute my eBook? What would you say?
The directories also become eBooks. The physical books are the things that people like to pass along. The reality is that we still live in, “I want to be touched,” world. They predicted that physical books would go away and eBooks will take over. The truth is that’s not happening. It’s going in the opposite direction. There was a dip and we’re going back to people still wanting to hold books. There is a different experience from a person reading and getting an email to reading an eBook than someone’s handing them a small little book that they can read in twenty minutes and then pass along and have that experience. One of the quotes that I saw that is relevant here is that, “We’re heading into what they call the experiential decade.” It means that people are looking more for experiences than they are looking for products or quick access. They want to experience things. Experiencing, receiving a book, pass it along, and then watching where that book goes on, how is it that you’re a part of that ripple in the impact of that book and the messages in that book is an experience that people love.
People want to see where their footprint is going and that they can’t help it. Why are people looking into their whole history to find out where their family came from and all of that? There’s a fascination about our footprint and where it’s going and where it’s been. Tell me who’s distributing these books. You say hundreds of thousands of people are going to access it.
We got the app that is his own little world, but that’s your app, the Take Back Time app. That will be on the iPhone and Android app stores. Hundreds of millions of people are downloading apps every year. The book becomes a conduit for people to download the app.
For people who are reading, we’ve got all the people who are searching for productivity. For instance, for my book or whatever other books you know there is, but for the best practices of Take Back Time, they’re going to search productivity. They’re going to see our app and they’re going to come to the app. The experts are going to have this app that they can show that they have. They can send people there, but they’re also going to get people searching from the app store itself. As you said, there’s the book aspect.
There’s a book that connects to the app. The books will be distributed and we will give it out for free in different capacities. They’ll be sold on Amazon. They’ll be sold in bookstores through regular book distribution channels. They’ll be sold through gift shops because these are wonderful, like a little gift type of item, all over the place. Our minimum goal with the Take Back Time Directory is to publish and distribute 5,000 copies of the books all over the place. We know that the 5,000 books are not just 5,000 people that are accessing that information or downloading the app. That’s more like 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 or 50,000 people because of the trackable, shareable nature of the book. That kind of exposure is valuable to an expert for people that are definitely interested in productivity.
All the events that I do throughout the year, this is a great little giveaway, the thing to leave behind. I’m not just promoting me at this event, I’m promoting all 30 of those people who are in this book because every attendee is going to get one of these. That’s where you talked about the free handouts or maybe they’d be old in the back. I would give them for free because I want to give people access to these productivity tips. That’s just me. If all 30 people are distributing them, then you see 5,000 is a small number considering the number of people that I see at events per year is significant and adds that then multiply by 30. You’re going to fire effect from that.
If you look at it from an ROI perspective for an expert, if you’re 1 of 30 experts in this book, the truth is that if you have a great message in the book and someone is reading that and they go, “I like what Penny said here. Her idea or her approach to this way of productivity is inspiring for me.” What makes us unique is we give people a way to connect with Penny to go deeper. That’s what that code is and that’s what that listing in the app is. Not only can they download the app and watch videos of Penny, assuming Penny you are the expert in that app. Let’s say I’m one of the experts and they went and they want to watch my videos, but if they track my special offer code, which they will do because they like what I had to say, I can literally get my money back from one client that I am offering them an opportunity.
My offer would be something simple like a video that invites them into or to learn more about X, Y, Z program that I have, then there’s an invite for them to get on a consultation call with me. If I get 1 or 5 people over a period of time on a call with me, that I’ll be able to convert them into one of the programs that will generate multi-thousand of dollars of income for me. One client for me would be worth the small investment to be an expert in this book. Imagine that and multiply that times tenfold.
Having your own app is a phenomenal approach. It gives you a lot more power to connect and engage with more people. Share on X
It’s a no-brainer because of the access that you’re going to get through something like this. Think about it, if you have to invest in Facebook ads or other types of marketing, you could be investing thousands upon thousands of dollars and getting the same reach for what you could be spending a couple of times.
Those are short-term hits that a Facebook ad goes for this and then it dissipates and then it disappears. A physical book is out there reaching people. One book could go from one person six months later to the next person. That next person could connect with one of the experts in there. They’re not an end date to the possibilities here. Once you’re in the book, you’re in the book. When you’re in the app, you connect them to the app.
You’re in the app and you are in the book and people are going to find you. They’re going to resonate with you. There are events that if they can be given out. What are some of the other types of ways to be able to send people to the app or to give them the book? It is a leading question. I’m thinking, I could use this. I’m on a ton of different podcasts, so this is a great giveaway of what I could do on a podcast to say, “Check out the Take Back Time Best Practices and download the app and get that special message from me.”
My thought is this, the reality is if you can have your own app, like what Penny is doing to Take Back Time, that’s a phenomenal approach. As we were talking about, having your own app gives you a lot more power to connect and engage with more people. If you can’t do your own app, then the next best thing is to be a part of an app like this directory. The Take Back Time app is all about providing not just the information that Penny has, which is brilliant information on being more productive in the new decade, but it’s also here are some other great teachers, resources and experts sharing their ideas for the app too.
You become this aggregate of awesome productivity experts and ideas and content for everybody to see. If I was an expert and I wasn’t going to invest into my own app, I would absolutely invest in being a part of the Take Back Time app because there’s going to be a lot of traffic going to that app through the book, the efforts and the marketing that Penny is doing. I get to benefit from that. This is a collaboration that makes sense and works. To not be in an app is the only not smart way to go. Whether it’s your own or to be a part of a smart app like this one is something to think about.
I love the idea. It’s unique. It’s up and coming. I like the whole crowd sharing aspect of it because I do believe that collaborating together as experts, and people collaborating together and sharing their expertise in the value that they got for something is where everything is headed. Is there anything else you wanted to share with the audience?
My biggest thing is there are two opportunities here that Penny is bringing into this space of experts in this field. Absolutely look at being a part of the Take Back Time Directory, not only being published in the physical book with the pages in there and the link to the app but to also be a part of the Take Back Time digital directory inside the app and get benefits there. The other is to connect with Penny and she’ll introduce you to me about the possibility of having your own app. We have provided this high-end, effective, multifaceted app technology. We’ve made it affordable for every single business out there. Every business can leverage this in a way that Penny is and other experts are. Take action and be a part of this. Reach out to us. At least have a conversation with us because I think you’ll find a way to leverage this platform in a big way in this New Year and a new decade.
Thank you so much, Robert, for being here.
It is my pleasure. Thank you, Penny. I appreciate it.
For all of you who are reading, that’s what we’re talking about is taking back time. If you can take back time in your marketing efforts and save yourself some money and get your result faster, that’s what we’re all about. That’s why I brought Robert here. Whether you’re an expert in productivity, contact me. I’d love to have you in the directory. If you’re an expert in anything, you need to be in the app space. Get yourself to Take Back Time and work smarter in getting your contacts, in engaging the leads, and being able to push the new content as it comes out and know that they’re getting it, receiving it, being able to interact with it. Be able to give them special offers that are relevant to them. That’s where this is going and I know it’s going to be a huge benefit to you. If you’re building up your expertise or you’re already an expert, definitely think that you should hook up and connect with Robert. Connect with me and I’ll put you guys in touch. It’s a reasonable way to get to your marketplace. That’s it for this show. We’ll see you in the next episode.
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About Robert Evans
Robert Evans has been an active marketing expert in the thought leader space for the past 18 years building various training companies for transformational leaders and massive audiences in the traditional marketing space.
He was the founder of the Messenger Network, a training company with over 100k people in the network, and one that helped people get their message into the world.
He has traveled the world with thought leaders taking them on powerful trips and now is teaching leaders how to use apps in their business and start getting better results from their marketing.
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