Derrel Allen and Kris O'Connor sit down with Casey Eckert, an entrepreneur and independent distributor with LifeWave, to talk about how non-traditional businesses can navigate digital and local marketing. Casey shares her journey from lifelong educator to discovering LifeWave's drug-free patch technology after a debilitating injury, and how she built an organic business from the ground up.

Derrel and Kris help Casey unpack why the common belief that "everyone is my customer" actually stalls growth, and walk through practical strategies for finding a target niche, building a consistent posting rhythm, and getting past the fear of putting your message out there.

Topics covered:

The E-I-E-I-O content framework: a simple formula for structuring social posts and newsletters, Entertain, Inform, Educate, Inspire, and Offer.

Why you need a niche: why the birdshot shotgun approach to marketing fails, and how to use real customer feedback and data to find the golden few who actually need what you're selling.

Beating the blank page: practical tips on batching content, scheduling posts in advance, and setting appointments with yourself so marketing actually gets done.

The power of repetition: Derrel's story of a print ad campaign that took 27 runs before the phone finally rang off the hook, proof that consistency beats one-off efforts every time.

Compliance and educational marketing: how to market health and wellness products without making unapproved medical claims, using informational sheets, clinical trials, and community lunch-and-learns.

Whether you're a network marketer, an entrepreneur hunting for your real target audience, or a business owner looking for a structured social strategy, this episode is a practical blueprint for turning raw customer data into marketing gold.

Connect with Casey Eckert: liveyounger.com/caseyeckert, or call her directly at 214-642-4375.

The opinions expressed by guests on TOM Talks Online Marketing are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or Total Online Marketing LLC.

Derrel Allen -- Total Online Marketing
www.totalmagic.com

Kris O'Connor -- Kris O'Connor Marketing Gems
bttom.com/url/kris

Want to be a guest and talk about your own marketing gems? Reach out to Derrel at totalmagic.com/podcast.

Follow the show: bttom.com/url/pod

Derrel Allen and Kris O'Connor welcome a very special guest to the hot seat, Kris's son Sean O'Connor, founder of Texas AI Guy. Sean's building a fast-growing business creating AI cinematic video ads that let small businesses compete with bigger brands on a fraction of the budget. From the early "Will Smith eating spaghetti" days to today's photorealistic models, Sean breaks down just how far AI-generated content has come. He explains how reference images build a detailed character sheet that locks in a subject's face, so that person can be placed in any scenario, outfit, or location without ever stepping in front of a camera.

Topics covered:

Cinematic content on a budget: how Sean builds custom action sequences, like a Nike-style ad for a youth baseball camp or a dancing mascot for a local ice cream shop, to instantly level up a brand's visual storytelling.

The stop-the-scroll problem: why you've got less than two seconds to grab attention on YouTube Shorts and TikTok, and why creativity is what actually earns that attention.

Getting reviews that stick: Derrel shares his selfie-mode video review technique from the entertainment world, and Kris breaks down her quest formula that helped a South Texas business land over 500 five-star ratings.

Altruistic marketing: how pro-bono video work for local community events and nonprofits skips the sting of cold emailing and builds real word-of-mouth.

Disclosing AI content: what you actually need to know about flagging AI-generated, real-looking people on social media, legally and platform-wise.

Plus a fun detour into the rumored MySpace comeback, and finally, the real story behind the name TOM Talks Online Marketing.

Connect with Sean O'Connor: texasaiguy.com, or search Texas AI Guy on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

The opinions expressed by guests on TOM Talks Online Marketing are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or Total Online Marketing LLC.

Want to be a guest and talk about your own marketing gems? Reach out to Derrel at totalmagic.com/podcast.

Derrel Allen -- Total Online Marketing

www.totalmagic.com

Kris O'Connor -- Kris O'Connor Marketing Gems

bttom.com/url/kris

Follow the show: bttom.com/url/pod

Derrel Allen and Kris O'Connor sit down with Gary Upchurch, a reverse mortgage specialist from Mutual of Omaha Mortgages, to talk about reaching and serving the senior demographic. This one goes beyond general reverse mortgage info and digs into how to actually market to seniors, building trust and delivering real value to homeowners 62 and older.

Gary shares his own journey and how being a peer in that same age bracket helps him relate to clients working through retirement income and home equity decisions. He breaks down what a reverse mortgage actually is, a home equity loan with no monthly payment, and clears up common myths, from folks on a fixed income to wealthy estate owners with multimillion dollar homes.

Topics covered:

Educational content that works: why answering the "top 10" questions seniors ask through YouTube Shorts builds authority fast.

Referral partnerships: how Gary grows his business through trusted relationships with banks, financial advisors, and real estate agents.

The rule of repetition: why a message often has to land dozens of times in a noisy world before someone actually acts on it.

Digital tools for low tech professionals: practical ways to optimize a Google Business Profile and use AI to speed up ad creation and compliance.

The "greedy child" syndrome: how family dynamics shape the decisions seniors make around their home equity.

Whether you're a marketing pro looking to sharpen your approach to the senior market or a homeowner curious what a reverse mortgage could do for you, this episode lays out a roadmap for moving forward with confidence. As Gary puts it, it's about helping people get a reverse and move forward with life.

Connect with Gary Upchurch: bttom.com/url/ep14

Derrel Allen – Total Online Marketing

Kris O'Connor – Kris O'Connor Marketing Gems

bttom.com/url/kris

The opinions expressed by guests on TOM Talks Online Marketing are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or Total Online Marketing LLC.

Want to be a guest and talk about your own marketing gems? Reach out to Derrel at totalmagic.com/podcast.

Follow the show: bttom.com/url/pod

Derrel Allen and Kris O'Connor sit down with a man of many hats: former Mayor of Wylie, Texas, professional magician, and seasoned real estate agent Eric Hogue. Eric shares his journey from corporate America to real estate, and makes the case that success in any industry comes down to a servant mindset, treating your career like a real business instead of a side hobby.

Topics covered:

Personal marketing that actually works: Eric breaks down why real estate is a relationship business first. He walks through his approach to staying top of mind, personal newsletters, and why he sends closing anniversary cards instead of generic birthday greetings.

Social media with intent: why Eric runs LinkedIn as his business tool, keeps Instagram for personal life, and skipped Facebook entirely during his time as mayor.

DFW housing market, boots on the ground: homes are averaging 44 to 55 days on market right now, plus a look at how the Texas State Fair slows North Texas business down every year.

From Clinky the Clown to the Mayor's office: Eric's path from shy introvert to professional clown who paid for college in a yellow suit and red wig, all the way to the presidency of the Texas Association of Magicians and testifying before Congress alongside David Copperfield.

Resilience and what now: Eric opens up about his 2022 health crisis, a heart attack followed by complications, and how it shaped the book he's now writing about navigating the unexpected.

Whether you're an entrepreneur refining your marketing plan or a buyer trying to make sense of today's market, this one's a masterclass in resilience and personal branding.

Connect with Eric Hogue:
Website: erichogue.com
Instagram: @EricHogueRealtor
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erichogue/

Derrel Allen – Total Online Marketing

www.totalmagic.com

Kris O'Connor

bttom.com/url/kris

Follow the show: bttom.com/url/pod

The opinions expressed by guests on TOM Talks Online Marketing are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or Total Online Marketing LLC.

Derrel Allen (Total Online Marketing) and Kris O'Connor (Kris O'Connor Marketing Gems) get into why local citations still matter and how directory authority actually helps a business rank. Derrel runs TOUSAN BOLD, the Talk Of USA Network of Business Oriented Local Directories, 15 sites built for DFW businesses and the agencies that serve them, out of the main hub at talkofusa.com, with city-specific sites like talkofallen.com that have been live since 2012. He breaks down why the directory page itself doesn't need to rank on page one of Google to be valuable, it's the backlink authority it hands to your main site that does the work.

Kris brings her Google Business Profile expertise into the conversation and makes the case for nailing the basics, proper image alt tags and solid meta descriptions, before chasing whatever new marketing trend shows up next. Both of them land hard on NAP consistency, keeping your business Name, Address, and Phone number identical everywhere it's listed. Kris even keeps a dedicated document just to track exact spelling and formatting (ST vs Street, that kind of thing) so Google isn't left guessing.

If you've got some slower weeks this summer, this is your homework: go find out which directories your business should actually be listed in.

Derrel Allen -- Total Online Marketing

www.totalmagic.com

Kris O'Connor -- Kris O'Connor Marketing Gems

bttom.com/url/kris

Talk of USA

TOUSAN BOLD talkofusa.com

Follow the show: bttom.com/url/pod

Dal Sanders has interviewed the Sex Pistols and the Allman Brothers, built a viral television segment, landed an internationally syndicated TV show, and somehow ended up teaching kids communication skills through magic. His career doesn't follow a straight line -- and that's exactly what makes this conversation worth an hour.

Dal is the founder of Amazing Attractions and the Texas Magic Academy, a past president of the Society of American Magicians, and the current president of FISM North America -- the international federation that represents magicians worldwide. He came to all of it through rock and roll radio, which turned out to be better marketing training than most business schools offer.

In this episode, Dal walks Derrel and Kris through the full arc -- from spinning records and getting backstage access to legendary acts, to incorporating magic into live promotional events, to building the Texas Magic Academy around the idea that illusion is really just applied communication. He's candid about what didn't work, including high-cost ad campaigns that produced nothing, and what did, including creative risks that generated media coverage money can't buy.

The pandemic chapter is worth noting too. Dal pivoted when most entertainment businesses folded. That ability to read the room and move fast is a throughline in everything he's built.

Derrel knows this world firsthand -- he's a professional magician himself -- which gives this conversation a depth you don't get from a standard host-guest format. Two people who've both made a living doing the impossible, talking about how to build a business around it.

Derrel Allen -- Total Online Marketing
www.totalmagic.com

Kris O'Connor -- Kris O'Connor Marketing Gems
bttom.com/url/kris

Dal Sanders
stagemagic.com

Amazing Attractions
amazingattractions.com

Texas Magic Academy
bttom.com/url/tma
214-720-2262

Follow the show: bttom.com/url/pod

The opinions expressed by guests on TOM Talks Online Marketing are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or Total Online Marketing LLC.

Mari Villar is 63 and says she feels better than she did in her twenties. That's not a sales pitch opener -- it's her proof of concept.

Mari is a Purium representative based in Allen, Texas, and in this episode she sits down with Derrel and Kris to break down what cellular nutrition actually means and why she believes most modern health problems trace back to two things: inflammation and what we're unknowingly eating.

The conversation covers Purium's 12-week nutrition reset -- not a fad diet but a gut-brain focused detox designed to clear mental fog, improve sleep, and rebuild the microbiome from the ground up. Mari goes deep on glyphosate, the herbicide found in Roundup that she says is showing up in food, water, and air, and explains why she believes addressing it is foundational to any real health transformation.

She also walks through three core products: the Power Shake (one serving equivalent to six micro-green super salads), Biomedic (a pre and probiotic designed specifically to pull herbicides from the gut), and Essential Amino Acids built for vegan-friendly protein without stressing the liver or kidneys. And she makes an economic case -- two superfood meals a day for under $13, stacked against the $800 to $1,200 a month most people spend on groceries or eating out.

The back half of the episode turns into a live consulting session. Derrel and Kris push Mari on YouTube for long-term content visibility, AI for repurposing a single piece of content into 10 to 14 posts, and setting up a Google Business Profile as a service area business to build credibility without a storefront. Mari also shares how she's built referral partnerships with holistic practitioners and chiropractors through Purium's affiliate gift code system.

If you're a direct sales rep, a wellness entrepreneur, or just someone trying to figure out what's actually going on with your health, this episode covers a lot of ground in 34 minutes.

Derrel Allen -- Total Online Marketing
www.totalmagic.com

Kris O'Connor -- Kris O'Connor Marketing Gems
bttom.com/url/kris

Mari Villar -- Purium Representative
Instagram: @healthy.you071322

Follow the show: bttom.com/url/pod

The opinions expressed by guests on TOM Talks Online Marketing are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or Total Online Marketing LLC.

This episode got personal fast.

When Daryl Howard sat down with Derrel and Kris, it didn't take long to discover that Derrel and Daryl share more than a similar name -- they share a birth month, a love of magic, and a career built around performing it. What started as a marketing conversation turned into something closer to a masterclass on what it actually takes to build a sustainable business doing what most people think is a hobby.

Daryl Howard is a Dallas-based professional magician specializing in strolling close-up magic -- cards, coins, and everyday objects performed inches from your face, no props, no machinery, pure sleight of hand. He's been doing this since age eight when Mark Wilson lit the spark at the State Fair of Texas. Today he owns nearly 1,000 books on magic, holds memberships in both the Society of American Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and has been named Dallas's close-up performing magician of the year.

He's also the official close-up performer for Magic in the Living Room, a monthly show held the first Tuesday of every month at the Backdoor Comedy Club in Richardson, Texas.

The marketing conversation covers how Daryl generates bookings through platforms like The Bash and Gig Salad, why he targets event and wedding planners over the general public, and how he custom tailors every performance to the client -- including a poker-themed set for a retirement party full of card players. Derrel and Kris push him on social media, YouTube, and the untapped opportunity in packaging his scriptwriting and performance expertise to teach other magicians nationally.

If you're in the entertainment business, the creative services space, or just trying to figure out how to market something that doesn't fit a standard template, this one's worth your 47 minutes.

Derrel Allen -- Total Online Marketing
www.totalmagic.com/contact-us/

Kris O'Connor -- Kris O'Connor Marketing Gems
bttom.com/url/kris

Daryl Howard -- Daryl Howard Magic
darylhowardmagic.com
Facebook: facebook.com/darylhowardmagic
214-532-3619

Follow the show: bttom.com/url/pod