Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In episode #804, Eric and Neil discuss what you should do when you are not hitting your numbers. Tune in to hear why experiments are necessary for marketing. Eric and Neil 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 Should You Do When You Are Not Hitting Your Numbers [00:35] Back when Eric was at Treehouse, he was only one month into the job and the revenue was flat. [01:00] The CEO pulled him aside and said they would let him go if he didn’t improve the numbers. [01:09] Eric paused their ad spend and audited everything they were doing marketing-wise. [01:30] He saw some trends and bet everything on YouTube advertising. [02:00] If you are not hitting your numbers, your system isn’t working. [02:20] It’s important to perform drastic experiments. [03:10] Run traction meetings. [

In episode #803, Eric and Neil discuss how to nail your social media marketing. Tune in to hear why engagement is the key to your success. Eric and Neil 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 Nail Your Social Media Marketing [00:37] Everyone thinks you need to do so much. [00:50] Social media is about the community: if you don’t take time to build relationships, you won’t do well on social media. [01:00] Hubspot sucks at Facebook, because they are not taking the time to reply to comments and really engage followers and friends. [01:35] If you have 100,000 followers, but very few engage, Facebook won’t show others your content. [01:56] If you have a lot of engagement (sharing, etc.) Facebook rewards you with boosting your content. [02:25] Neil has a Facebook group with tho

In episode #802, Eric and Neil discuss the #1 thing you need to grow a business successfully. Tune in to hear what you absolutely must do to be a success. Eric and Neil 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 #1 Thing You Need to Do to Grow Any Business Successfully [00:35] The #1 thing is not a marketing tactic, it’s people. [00:50] Without a great team, you are not going to grow your business. [01:37] CEO’s have three responsibilities: Keeping money in the bank, driving the vision, and recruiting. [01:47] The Dropbox CEO recently talked about how recruiting is always top of mind for him. [02:16] Bill Gates said the first 20 people at Microsoft built the company. [03:03] If an employee isn’t a cultural fit, they aren’t going to stick around. [03:15] Only hire people who are

In episode #801, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 steps you have to take when creating a site from scratch. Tune in to hear the 7 most important steps in the SEO playbook. Eric and Neil 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 SEO Playbook: The First 7 Steps You Have to Take [01:08] #1: Keyword research. [01:20] Use UberSuggest or another keyword research tool and look for the keyword with the most traffic, least competition, and the highest CPC. [01:40] This will give you an idea of the keywords that will drive traffic. [01:57] Keywords with a high CPC leads to higher revenue for you. [02:43] #2: Write skyscraper content. [02:56] If you look at Wikipedia, they rank high because their content keeps getting longer and longer. [03:35] #3: Share the content. [03:45] Go to BuzzSumo,

In episode #800, Eric and Neil discuss the best way to compensate marketers. Tune in to hear how you should be paying your marketing team. Eric and Neil 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 Way to Compensate Marketers [00:32] Before they started recording, Eric and Neil were discussing how the writers at Agora Financial do Billions in business. [01:07] On a podcast, they heard, a man was offered a job at Agora. The company offered to pay his rent for the first 6 months on the job, but the salary was small. [01:27] However, he was offered a dollar for every lead he was able to generate, as well as 1% of every sale that resulted from his leads. [01:47] In general, the best marketers are compensated in relation to their performance. [02:35] Once your business is establish

In episode #799, Eric and Neil discuss expectations for SEO within the first 30 days. Tune in to hear where your site should be after 30 days. Eric and Neil 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 Should You Expect From SEO In The First 30 Days [00:35] If you are doing it yourself and you’re changing things every day, you should see an uptick in impressions. [01:08] If you are using an agency, in the first 30 days, there will be a lot of planning and brainstorming. [01:22] Within 90 days, you will see a change in impressions. [01:40] Eric has a cool webinar about his product “Clickflow”. [02:24] A lot of established companies suck at SEO. [03:12] When Eric started with SEO, he had a site called “Light Show Videos”. He also had a site called, “How to Get rid of Pimples”. [03

In episode #798, Eric and Neil discuss how you can grow your traffic without having to churn out new content. Tune in to hear what you can do to grow your traffic. Eric and Neil 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 You Can Grow Your Traffic By Blogging Less [00:40] On Wordpress alone, over 2 Million blog posts are being posted every day. [00:47] Backlinko only has 30 blog posts; they were aiming for quality over quantity. [01:30] Look at the most popular content posted by your competitors, post something similar that is ten times better. [02:31] If you take the time to write a quality, in-depth article, people won't’ ignore you. [02:54] Eric thought he was entitled to more traffic early on; no one should expect overnight results. [03:35] Mark Suster would write a blog post

In episode #797, Eric and Neil discuss a simple hack that will make your content spread. Tune in to hear how you can increase your subscribers, readers, followers, etc. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: One Simple Hack That Will Make Your Content Spread Like A Wildfire [00:38] This is about content collaborations (specifically on YouTube). [01:01] Eric has 11,000 subscribers on YouTube and they pick up 20-30 new subs per day. [01:15] So, they made a video for a channel with 40,000 subs and vice versa. [01:25] They gained 150 subs from this collaboration. [01:56] This also works with webinars. [02:15] ConvertKit grew through collaborations and webinars. [02:50] Even podcasts are a great way to collaborate. [03:30] Think about what you can offer and make sure it’s a win for both sides. [03:42] You can also pay people for the privilege of collaborations or promotions. [04:15] This helped Neil boost his fan base. [04:16] That’s it for today! [04:20] Go here to see how many downloads

In episode #796, Eric and Neil discuss when, if ever, you should give up on a lead. Tune in to hear how you should proceed with sales. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: When Should You Give Up On A Lead [00:35] Once people opt-in, Neil “sells them” right away. [01:20] Neil’s Sales Team will reach out a couple of times, schedule a call, see if they are qualified, pitch the customer, and then try to close. [01:50] If a lead reaches out, get them within the hours, but ideally within 5 minutes. [02:02] Once you get on a call, follow up within three business days if you don’t close over the phone. [02:22] Stagger your communication, so you don’t badger people. [02:38] Texting works and people tend to respond better to that. [03:14] Most sales teams have found that if you call within the first five minutes, you will double your revenue. [03:55] Acceptance rate from webinars are 100%. [04:20] Don’t give up on a qualified lead until they tell you to beat it. [05:05] If you want to call wit

In episode #795, Eric and Neil Discuss how to keep your ad costs down. Tune in to hear how you could be saving money instead of losing it! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00;27] Today’s Topic: How to Keep Your Ad Cost Down Even As More Competitors Jump On Board [00:41] It is a given that no matter what, more people will sign up to use social media sites. [01:25] Ad costs will go up the more people get on board. [02:05] Keep in mind, that whether it is Google or Facebook, the goal of every ad platform is to show the results with the highest quality, not who paid the most. [03:00] It’s all about the keywords you use! [03:15] Whichever generates more clicks, generates more income. [03:26] Always test your copy and see what works. [04:02] Eric recently look at some of his ads: the cost per acquisition for image ads was $12, while video was $4-5. [04:22] You have to have good messaging that is targeted at your audience. [04:35] You need to test over and over. [04:43] In the early days of advertising, some

In episode #794, Eric and Neil discuss how Pepsi managed to defeat Coke in two ways. Tune in to hear what you could learn from this soda giant. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Pepsi Defeated Coke In Two Battles (And What You Can Learn From It) [00:36] Coke is still the biggest beverage company in the world and they have a  larger market cap. [00:57] There is a book about this topic possibly called Fizzled and a podcast called “Business Wars”. [01:10] Pepsi went out of business a couple of times [01:15] When Coke was ahead and 10 Cents a bottle, Pepsi said for 5 Cents, you get double the amount of soda. [01:55] When you do something price-wise like Pepsi did, it’s a great way to gobble up market share and take over. [02:20] Uber and Lyft tried similar techniques and helped the companies grow exponentially. [02:55] Michael Jackson was hot in the 1980’s. [03:10] Pepsi was losing market share, so they paid Michael millions of dollars to do an ad. [03:35] This one spokesperson boo

In episode #793, Eric and Neil discuss some oft-ignored SEO strategies. Tune in to hear what techniques you should be leveraging. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Our Favorite SEO Strategy That You Aren't Leveraging! [00:39] International expansion is one of the largest sources of Neil’s traffic. [01:02] There is no competition on the internet outside of the English language. [01:22] Eric likes content expansion. [01:32] Convert your video ideas to a blog, then to a podcast, etc. [02:55] Neil gets a large percentage of his traffic from countries outside the United States. [03:20] Make sure you use Ahrefs Lang for international expansion. [03:45] Eric’s company has grown by 12% each month. [04:05] Once you have content that works for you, you can expand and grow your business. [04:12] That’s it for today! [04:20] Go here to see how many downloads the show is getting. Also rate and review to help Eric and Neil meet their goal of 1 Million downloads per month. They will throw a live

In episode #792, Eric and Neil discuss what you should do when your content marketing isn’t getting you any traffic or sales. Tune in to hear how you can turn things around. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topics: My Content Marketing Isn't Working. What Should I Do? [00:40] When Eric joined Singlegrain, their traffic was flat. [01:03] They audited their work and found the articles were low-quality and the algorithm wasn’t picking anything up in their content. [01:52] There are two camps: Blogger with no traffic, blogger with traffic but no sales. [02:10] If you don’t have traffic, try using SEMRush to figure out what is going wrong. [02:20] If a keyword has a high CPC, it means that the traffic is worth more. [03:00] If you aren’t making sales, you probably need to be more aggressive and use exit pop-ups, sliders, opt-ins, email marketing, drips, etc. [03:30] You will start seeing revenue when you create funnels. [03:47] Ahrefs has a keyword difficulty tool that shows how difficult it is

In episode #791, Eric and Neil discuss how you can figure out your messaging. Tune in to hear how you can create an irresistible hook. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Craft an Irresistible Hook [00:36] A Hook is something that draws people in. [01:10] If you think about Squatty Potty (the bathroom accessory), they did $20 Million in revenue. [01:36] They ran a commercial where a Unicorn was pooping rainbow ice cream and the spokesperson then ate said ice cream. [02:15] Neil is testing out a headline hook right now. [02:30] He also offers free resources. [02:45] BuzzSumo is a helpful tool to help you figure out what your hook could be. [03:20] A lot of it has to do with messaging. [03:30] Squatty Potty figured out their messaging. [03:52] Try using Survey Monkey or Qualaroo to figure out customers’ pay points. [04:20] Check out the Harmon Brothers’ ads. [05:30] You can hire people, but that is expensive. It’s better to figure out the messaging and hook on your own. [06:30

In episode #790, Eric and Neil explain why you shouldn’t reveal your revenue numbers. Tune in to hear why secrecy is always the best policy. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why You Shouldn't Reveal Your Revenue Numbers [00:45] Neil never talks about his revenue. [01:00] He is worried about people copying his tactics. [01:30] Why feed the competition? [01:45] You shouldn’t get mad, just don’t reveal your numbers. [02:30] True Ventures is an example of an ethical VC firm. [02:57] Eric has a podcast where he grills people about their actual numbers. [03:15] However, Eric has never revealed his company’s numbers. [03:40] Get all the information you can, but don’t share your information! [04:24] When you hear stats and numbers from others, it’s not always accurate. [04:40] Make sure the data is accurate before you decide to copy their techniques. [04:48] That’s it for today! [04:55] Go here to see how many downloads the show is getting. Also rate and review to help Eric and Neil mee

In episode #789, Eric and Neil discuss how you can shoot past your competitors. Tune in to hear this great hack! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Here's a Hack to Shoot Past Your Competitors [00:45] Mitchell Harper says that when you want to shoot past your competitors, do your opposition research and take their tactics. [01:55] Showcase as many episodes as possible in iTunes. [02:15] You can get a lot of data just by listening to other people’s podcasts. [02:50] Neil would never write an article breaking down his team’s entire strategy. [03:10] Take what you can from your competitors! [03:16] That’s it for today! [03:21] Go here to see how many downloads the show is getting. Also rate and review to help Eric and Neil meet their goal of 1 Million downloads per month. They will throw a live event once they reach their goal. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review.

In episode #788, Eric and Neil talk about the one thing that is going to disrupt the SEO industry. Tune in to hear what their predictions are for the future of SEO. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: This Is Going to Disrupt the SEO Industry [00:42] Voice search is going to disrupt the SEO industry. [01:28] We can’t predict when it will take over, but it is becoming more popular. [01:38] Right now, it is used for quick information, not for in-depth purchasing research. [02:50] Eric thinks it is still business as usual, until he sees the scales tipping. [03:10] Brian Dean wrote an article on Backlinko about voice search. [03:27] In general, a strategy for voice search isn’t needed yet. [03:50] Try to keep your rankings up. [04:10] Just be aware of the trend. [04:20] That’s all for today! [04:24] Go here to see how many downloads the show is getting. Also rate and review to help Eric and Neil meet their goal of 1 Million downloads per month. They will throw a live event once they reac

In episode #787, Eric and Neil talk about their favorite SEO hacks. Tune in to her what hack you should be using. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Our Favorite SEO Hack [00:40] Neil’s current favorite hack is brand-building. [00:50] When you build a brand and become visible, it’s easier to get rankings. [01:15] Stronger brands tend to rank higher. [01:55] Put as much money and energy into helping people by providing solutions to their problems. This is the best way to build a brand. [02:10] Eric likes the content re-usage framework. [02:35] It’s a process that scales really well. [03:05] Retaining a customer is less expensive than acquiring a new one. [03:55] Jeff Bezos said that “smart people change their minds often.” [04:08] That’s it for today! [04:13] Go here to see how many downloads the show is getting. Also rate and review to help Eric and Neil meet their goal of 1 Million downloads per month. They will throw a live event once they reach their goal. Leave some feedback:

In episode #786, Eric and Neil talk about their biggest SEO mistakes. Tune in to learn from their missteps. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Our Biggest SEO Mistake [00:40] Neil’s biggest mistake was always being short-sighted. [00:50] He has been doing this for 17 years and he wishes he had looked more towards the future. [01:15] He would constantly revamp his site, buy links, try to manipulate Google rankings, but none of that led to long-term success. [01:50] He burned through so much money using quick hacks like adding Wordpress links to the footer on his site. [02:10] He wishes he spent his money on long-term projects. [02:30] Eric learned a lot of white hat stuff doing an internship, but someone turned him onto black hat sites and ideas. [03:05] Unfortunately, the black hat ideas are greedy and short-sighted. [04:10] Their biggest mistake was not a tactic, but just being short-sighted and greedy. [04:35] Pick your opportunities wisely. [05:21] That’s all for today! [05:28]

In episode #785, Eric and Neil discuss email management strategies. Tune in to hear how you can stay on top of your email inbox. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Neil's Email Management Strategy Capitalizes On Remarkable Opportunities [00:40] As long as Eric has known Neil, he has responded to every email. [01:15] Neil says he’s OCD and can’t help it, which is why all of his emails get answered and his inbox is empty. [02:45] Neil also had a long email signature for a while, that he only recently cut out. [03:04] Neil put the Gmail app on his phone. [03:20] Whenever you open up an email, deal with it then and there. [03:30] Neil checks his email every hour for five to ten minutes. [03:50] Eric also builds in time to check his emails. [04:33] Neil woke up to 190-something emails this morning. [04:53] If you email Neil, he responds personally. [05:04] If you submit a support inquiry, it goes to his team. [06:18] Respond, otherwise you are leaving money on the table. [06:45] B