Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In episode #972, we discuss the future of podcasting. Tune in to hear where we think podcasting is going next. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Where Podcasting is Going Next [00:35] Luminary is a company that is trying to be the Netflix of podcasting. [00:55] Their at the stage where they are producing their own shows and they charge a subscription fee. [01:15] Podcasting is becoming a maturing field. [01:45] Neil thinks podcasting is heading towards full integration into daily life. [02:30] He thinks it will integrate with Alexa and other smart home devices. [03:15] Mary Meeker does an internet trend report every year. [03:45] There is a gap in monetization for podcasts. [04:15] Anchor allows you to make podcasts and monetize. [05:02] AI isn’t where it needs to b

In episode #971, we discuss if luck is even a thing. Tune in to hear if success is just a matter of good luck. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Is Luck Even a Thing in Business? [00:35] Neil met Guy Kawasaki and he said he would invest in luck over anything else. [01:10] Jim Collins wrote a post about the “Return on Luck”. [01:35] Being white and upper class was a benefit to the founder of Microsoft. [02:00] However, there are many people who grew up that way, so why are there so few people like Bill Gates? [02:20] Luck is great, but you have to work hard to capitalize on it. [02:45] Eric grew up in a middle-class family, but has had a good deal of success. [03:05] There is something to be said for hard work and execution, because you can’t pick luck. [03:30] Eric fo

In episode #970, we discuss a few ways to get in touch with leads. Tune in to hear the crafty ways we try to reach leads. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: A Couple Slick Ways to Get Ahold of Your Leads [00:35] Try text messages. [00:40] Sending one with the person’s name and a question mark may be enough to get their attention. [00:45] It’s one way to start a conversation. [00:55] Facebook Messenger is another useful tool. [01:05] Mobile Monkey or ManyChat are ways to broadcast through Messenger. [01:20] Schedule a call right when you get their attention. [01:34] You can always follow up with text-based reminders. [01:48] ScheduleOnce and HubSpot will help you get this done. [02:15] Text message open rates are somewhere near 99%. [02:40] If you call a lead within t

In episode #969, we discuss 7 creative ways to monetize your podcast. Tune in to hear how you can actually make money from a podcast. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Creative Ways to Monetize Your Podcast [00:32] 1: Use advertising. [00:45] Some podcasts have ads before, during, and after the show. This is a great way to monetize. [01:10] Podcast attention is highly rated right now. [01:20] 2: Throw your own live event. [01:30] Charge admission. [01:58] People who listen to podcasts are often in a high income bracket. [02:11] MeUndies spends a third of their marketing budget on Podcasting. [02:30] 3: Subscriptions. [02:40] Asian Podcasters monetize through subscriptions. [03:16] 4: Sell info-products. [03:57] 5: Sponsorships and VIP experiences. [04:16] Our li

In episode #968, we discuss which Slack community that is the best resource for marketers. Tune in to hear which community we both agree is the best. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Best Slack Communities for Marketers [00:33] Traffic Think Tank is a community run by Matthew Barbie, Nick Eubanks, and a third person. [00:56] It’s one of the most engaging Slack groups out there. [01:30] Neil signed up for the Authority Hacker course, because he liked their Facebook ad. [01:55] Traffic Think Tank is one of the favorite communities of Neil’s team. [02:15] Eric thinks he got value out of watching their videos. [02:41] TTT is always adding more content and the community around them provides value, as well. [03:10] That’s it for today! [03:16] We hit our goal of 1 Mill

In episode #967, we count out 7 creative ways to add to your email list without being spammy. Tune in to hear our tactics for collecting email addresses. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Creative Ways to Collect Email Addresses Without Being Spammy [00:33] 1: Spin the Wheel. [00:45] As long as you offer something of value, people will be excited about it. [00:48] 2: Add little yellow boxes and get them to opt-in to offers. [01:03] 3: Block off content. [01:15] Make a portion of the content accessible only if someone enters an email address. This could also just be bonus content. [01:44] 4: Create cloaked links and drive people back to an offer. Try Pretty Links. [02:22] 5: Create quizzes. [02:34] Collect enough info for a full lead. [02:41] 6: Use Outgrow to put c

In episode #966, we discuss how you can market when you’re a nobody. Tune in to hear how you can build your following and gain conversions. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Market When You’re a Nobody [00:40] Eric and Neil are technically “nobodies”. [01:06] Look to see who is getting traction. [01:20] BuzzSumo will help you figure out what’s hot in your field. [01:35] You can also cross-link with popular people and sites. [02:30] When Eric first started in marketing, he began emailing Neil trying to connect/cross-link with his site. [03:30] Most people do not know us! [03:42] The more people who don’t know you, the more people you can convert. [04:00] Consider all the outlets you can use (podcasts, videos, etc.). [04:30] Neil’s audio engineer badgered Larry

In episode #965, we discuss what you should do when you get complaints about your product or service. Tune in to hear how you should handle negative feedback. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What You Should do When People Complain About Your Product or Service [00:38] It’s a good thing when people complain, because you get more value from this kind of feedback. [00:59] Look for recurring feedback, because then you know it’s an actual issue and not just a one-off. [02:05] Sometimes, people will complain, but it won’t make sense to address it. [02:30] Solve the problems that a majority of the complaints are about. [02:54] Eric likes to send NPS surveys. [03:00] His team uses AskNicely. [03:28] Neil likes Qualaroo. [03:45] SurveyMonkey has built-in feedback tools. [0

In episode #964, we discuss when you should hire a sales rep. Tune in to hear if you need a sales rep and when it’s worth it to hire one. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: When Does it Make Sense to Have Sales Reps? [00:41] You shouldn’t hire a rep without testing out sales yourself. [00:55] You need to have an understanding of the objections you will run into. [01:11] Try doing it yourself for 30-60 days. [01:30] Once you have a process, hire a rep. [01:48] Start-ups fail because of premature scaling. [02:45] If you hire prematurely, you will only end up having to fire people and losing money. [03:01] When you hire people, it may not even work out. [03:15] Have the rep do a paid trial to see what their skills are. [03:40] The CEO of Saastr, Jason Lemkin, has a blog

In episode #963, we count out the 7 questions you need to ask a potential marketing hire. See which questions we think will guarantee that your next hire is a slam dunk. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Questions to Make Sure Your Next Marketing Hire is a Slam Dunk [00:36] 1: How do you get better at marketing? [00:41] What are you reading to enhance your skills and understanding of the field? [00:52] Marketing is ever-evolving, so you have to read blogs to stay up-to-date. [01:20] 2: What would you change? [01:30] If they can’t tell you how they would improve your business, how will they be as a hire? [02:07] 3: Have them do a paid trial. [02:55] 4: What do you do when an experiment fails? [03:06] A great way to understand their thought process. [03:30] 5: If you

In episode #962, we discuss how to target effectively on LinkedIn. Tune in to hear how you can get the right people to engage with your content. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Target Effectively on LinkedIn [00:38] On LinkedIn, you can target job titles, specialties, or seniority. [00:56] Targeting job titles is the easiest option. [01:16] Although everyone has odd titles nowadays. [01:30] The specialties option allows you to search for job function. [01:42] Seniority helps you narrow down the level of employee you are seeking. [02:10] It’s all about the content you produce. [02:24] Post content that’s related to your business. [03:02] When your post is more specific, you will get engagements from real leads. [03:30] LinkedIn groups are an option. [03:45]

In episode #961, we discuss whether blogging is still relevant. Tune in to hear if this method is still effective. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Do You Even Need to Blog Anymore? [00:35] We still blog, but we try not to spend money on it. [01:15] You can’t please everyone with one format, which is why it is important to blog. [01:21] Blogs still generate more traffic from a Google search. [01:40] Podcasting only gets good traffic for the first 30 days. [02:08] When you blog, you have more control over the SEO. [02:35] People are able to find you more organically. [03:00] In general, the answer is yes, but that doesn’t mean you need to create thousands of blog posts. [03:45] If you’re going to blog, write about new, fresh ideas. [04:05] Once Google recognizes your

In episode #960, we discuss 7 simple tactics that always work. Tune in to hear how you can use social media marketing to your advantage. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Dead Simple Social Media Marketing Tactics That Still Work Today [00:45] 1: Post your content repeatedly on social media. [00:55] Share a few times in the first 24 hours and you’ll get more hits than you normally would. [01:30] 2: Push things to your email list. [01:53] 3: Post a portion of your post on LinkedIn. [02:01] Make sure to link to your site so people can finish the post. [02:10] 4: Repurpose your content. [02:30] Make sure things are formatted for the sites you are using. [02:48] 5: A week after you’ve posted something, post the entirety of it to social media (like Facebook). [03:43] 6:

In episode #959, we discuss the craziest content marketing tactics. Tune in to hear what we think are the craziest tactics out there. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Craziest Content Marketing Tactic EVER [00:37] Neil’s craziest tactic was when he stopped doing content marketing as often and started creating and giving away free software instead. [00:52] Product-led growth has served him well. [01:25] Not many people know how to build products, so take advantage of that marketing tactic. [01:50] A crazy tactic is to use the marketing channel or method that isn’t popular yet. [02:38] Another crazy tactic is the content sprouting approach (more or less omni-channel marketing). [03:30] Figure out what’s right for your business. [03:43] UberSuggest is still growing m

In episode #958, we discuss how often you need to post on Facebook. Tune in to hear how often you need to post on this platform and why. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Often You Need to Post on Facebook [00:40] The median time spent on Facebook has gone down over the years. [00:57] The median engagement rate for Instagram is only slightly higher. [01:20] Eric’s team is only posting twice per day, but Neil’s team tries not to exceed one post per day. [01:45] People can ask not to see your content, so it’s to your benefit to not flood the site. [03:15] Neil boosts some of his posts, but not all of them. [03:30] When Eric goes live, he simulcasts it on YouTube and Facebook. They also boost the live stream to their custom audiences through an agency accelerator. [04

In episode #957, we discuss how paid ads are dying. Tune in to hear why this method doesn’t give you a good ROI anymore. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Paid Advertising is Actually Dying [00:40] The revenue isn’t dying, but the costs are getting so expensive, it’s hard for businesses to get a good ROI. [01:10] So much VC money is getting wasted on ad spending. [02:05] You need to think about upsells and downsells. [02:40] Think of all the possible outlets you can use to push your upsells and downsells. [03:30] The biggest companies in China are not ad platforms, which is different here in the US. [03:50] In the US, the podcasting market is worth $314 Million, whereas in China it’s $3 Billion. [04:15] China is better at monetizing, but we’re getting there. [04:1

In episode #956, we discuss what you should do if your business is failing. Tune in to hear how you can bring your company back from the brink. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: If Your Business is About to Fail, What do You Do? [00:35] When Eric took over Single Grain, it was about to fail. [00:54] Eric mapped out the worst case scenario and tried to plan for that. [01:15] Ultimately, it helped him turn things around and had contingency plans for various scenarios. [02:05] Khosla Ventures has great blog posts, including one called, “If/Then Planning”. [02:33] Look at your numbers. [02:52] Go back to basics: what was successful in the past? [03:10] Replicate your past successes. [04:15] Eric is focused and isn’t spread thin anymore. He used to burn a lot of money. [0

In episode #955, we discuss 7 hacks that will boost your conversion rate. Tune in to see how you can get your conversion rates through the roof. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Hacks to Boost Your Conversion Rate [00:40] 1: Personalization. [00:50] Try using Clearbit to help you personalize your pitch. [01:11] 2: Adding location to your copy. [01:52] 3: Don’t sleep on site speed. [02:10] 4: Remarketing videos. [02:34] Make sure you’re using the opposite pitch. [03:05] 5: Dynamic retargeting. [03:20] This is a more personal approach. [03:45] 6: Talk to your audience. [03:56] Whether on the phone or through a survey, you will see more conversions. [04:25] 7: Planning poker. [04:35] This is a way for the team to debate the finer points of certain A/B tests. [05:3

In episode #954, we discuss how you should structure your SEO team. Tune in to hear how you should structure your SEO team for greater success. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Structure Your SEO Team [00:45] Neil does a region-based search for team members. [01:05] He likes to look internationally for people to write content for their native country. [01:45] Eric once worked for an SEO strategist. [02:05] On this team, there was a lead, a strategist, and a tactician. [02:25] This was for a large company, so this won’t necessary be smart to replicate at a smaller company. [02:45] For smaller companies, you can have a manager and team members that serve specific purposes, like social and link-building. [03:25] It’s very important to hire someone for content repur

In episode #953, we discuss how to hire a VP of Growth. Tune in to hear how you should approach this type of hire. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Hire a VP of Growth [00:31] A VP of Growth is the person responsible for making your numbers go up. That could mean anything, really. They use whatever knowledge they have to increase all your numbers. [01:15] Ask for referrals. [01:30] Neil recommends researching your competitors and who their growth people are. [01:55] Shoot the growth people messages and introduce yourself. [02:10] Then ask these people for referrals (this may even include them). [03:40] Ask potential hires what they would do to grow your business and achieve your goals. This will help you understand their thought process and abilities. [04:40] Er