Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In Episode #83 Neil and Eric discuss the 7 ways to improve user trust on your website. Listen as they drop which factors you can improve on, which ones you can add to your current website, and why being transparent still counts. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: 7 ways to improve user trust on your website 00:34 – Add testimonials 01:08 – Add videos – because some testimonials are just made up! 01:50 – Add badges on your website like Google Partners and etc 02:26 – Add reviews 02:50 – Reach out to people to have your products honestly reviewed 03:34 – Have a great design on your website 04:04 – Go to land-book to check design ideas 04:24 – Check Dribbble for other people’s designs 04:48 – Transparency –people trust companies that are transparent! 05:08 – The more you can tell people help in transparency 05:57 – Buffer has good transparency 06:30 – Have badges from companies you’ve worked with 06:54 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Reach out to people for

In Episode #82, Neil and Eric highlight the tips, tools, and tactics to use when marketing your local businesses. Listen to learn why you’re not capturing your local market and what you can do about it. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to market your local business 00:40 – Do local SEO 00:46 – Check out and read Moz and David Mihm 01:49 – Make sure you understand variables 02:06 – Use tools like Moz Local, Yelp, and City Search 02:22 – If you’re not in them, you’ll end up losing tons of revenue 02:45 – Make people happy to encourage them leave a review 03:16 – Use Facebook for geo targeting to market your local business 04:16 – Use Pretty Link in Wordpress to track local ads 04:41 – Use localized websites to network with 05:50 – Make sure you’re getting reviews 06:18 – Don’t forget Google Adwords for call tracking 06:34 – Another tool is Callrail 07:18 – Your website is important 07:41 – Make your phone numbers clickable 07:59 – Make your form fields simple 08:

In Episode #81 Neil and Eric discuss how to stay up to date with latest marking news and trends—they’ll share their favorite blogs, websites, and tools you can use to make the most of your marketing journey. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to stay up to date with the latest marketing trends & news 00:37 – Read blogs like: Moz Search Engine Land Search Engine Journal Marketing Land Backlinko ConversionXL Unbounce Quick Sprout Neil Patel’s blog 01:58 – Jon Loomer & Digital Marketer 02:20 – Add blogs and feeds through Unroll 02:42 – Don’t just look at blogs, look at developer company blogs 03:46 – Listen to marketing podcasts Unemployable Ask Gary Vee Content Marketing Quickie The Marketing School Smart Passive Income My Wife Quit Her Job 04:44 – Feedly 04:53 – Use Panda for Google Chrome 05:18 – Save stuff to Pocket 05:35 – Stay up with trends by DOING 05:52 – Have your own blog or website 06:15 – Partake in marketing yourself 06:27 – That’s it fo

In Episode #79 Neil and Eric discuss why you shouldn’t be scared to spend money on marketing. Listen to discover why spending money on marketing doesn’t have to be BIG in order to be effective, and why going all-in on well-thought-out marketing plans and strategies pay off. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: Why you shouldn’t be scared to spend money on marketing 00:54 – If something is working, go all in on it 01:07 – The big marketers spend a lot upfront 01:25 – it’s natural to be scared in spending 02:29 – Remember that marketing doesn’t work like magic 02:46 – It’s not like you spend money and automatically make more 03:29 – If you’re not willing to test the waters, you’re not willing to discover ROI 03:38 – Projection isn’t possible if you haven’t started anything yet 04:24 – You need to spend on advertising somehow 04:53 – You can’t just set an arbitrary budget 06:28 – Create a bigger brand 07:03 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: If you want your marketing c

In Episode #78 Neil and Eric talk about the 7 deadly sins of marketing. Listen to find out which of these sins you’re committing, and learn how to avoid making them in the future.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: 7 Deadly Marketing Sins 00:34 – Sin #1 – Buying paid links 01:19 – What happens when you get caught buying links 01:55 – Sin #2 – Not optimizing your ads 02:37 – Sin #3 – AB testing incorrectly 03:34 – Sin #4 – Not playing the long game on content 04:43 – Sin #5 – Basing decisions purely from AB tests 05:50 – You don’t want to have brand confusion 05:56 – Sin #6 – Being schizophrenic with your tests 06:20 – You have to be willing to stomach the pain 06:40 – SEO takes time! 06:55 – Sin #7 – Starting to do any type of marketing without proper tracking 07:20 – No tracking means wasted marketing dollars 07:27 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: There is no shortcut to marketing. Everything takes time! The longer the content, the better it ranks.

In Episode #77 Eric and Neil talk about the 7 types of content you should be creating on your blog. Listen as they enumerate each type of content and how to utilize the types with key online tools. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: 7 Types of Content You Should Be Creating on Your Blog 00:37 – #1 Have long-form well-researched content 01:14 – #2 Infographics 01:28 – Check out 99Designs or Dribbble or Upwork 01:45 – Use WP Embed Code Generator 02:18 – #3 Take an audio file and put it on your blog 02:27 – Use Rev to transcribe your content 02:51 – #4 Have animated content like click through, quizzes and gifographics 03:25 – #5 Put videos on your blog 04:10 – #6 Question based content 04:15 – Check Quora and search popular questions 04:50 – #7 Have specific case studies 05:39 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Remember to put value into your content. A ton of tools are available–utilize them! Video and audio can still rank–transcribe them into your blog.

In Episode #76 Eric and Neil talk about how you can consistently produce content–whether it’s for a blog, a podcast, or for your social media platforms. Listen as they drop tips and value bombs to help you be successful in planning and scheduling your content. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to consistently produce content 00:50 – Have an editorial calendar and stick with it 01:12 – Make sure you have a schedule to follow 01:20 – Editorial Calendar plugin on WordPress 01:24 – CoSchedule 01:38 – Always have a month’s worth of content, or you’ll run into hiccups or issues 02:35 – Figure out the time you are most productive 03:00 – Pick out your titles in advance 03:15 – Use BuzzSumo for topic ideas 03:48 – Have editors and writers to keep the process rolling 04:38 – Look for the bottleneck 05:39 – Adjust your length to produce more 06:17 – The more content you have, the better you’re going to be 07:26 – Don’t forget about repurposing content 07:40 – Check out content repur

In Episode #75 Eric and Neil talk explainer videos—what they are, how they work, and how you can use them jack up your revenue. Listen as they introduce you to key video strategies, and discuss the oft overlooked secret to developing a great explainer video…an amazing copywriter. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:29 – Today’s topic: How you can use explainer videos to sell your products 01:04 – They’re a great tool for explaining your product service in an easy to digest way 01:35 – Breaks down objections and advantages 02:03 – The objection part is the key 02:20 – Aim for 1 to 2 minutes in length and always close with a CTA 03:30 – Inject case studies that trigger an emotional aspect 04:05 – Talking about Shark Tank, Squatty Potty 04:19 – A tool that helps you poop better 04:49 – An ad is content marketing 05:18 – Dollar Shave Club explainer video 06:08 – Demo Duck 06:30 – The storyline is the most important part of your video 07:01 – The second most important aspect? Voice over artist 07:

In Episode #73 Eric and Neil discuss Medium—should you sue it or should you not? Listen as they talk brand building versus monetization, the importance of content control, and more… Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:29 – Today’s topic: Should you be using Medium or not? 00:44 – Neil doesn’t see the value right now, especially if you already have your own blog that gets traffic 01:03 – You can use Medium to promote your blog…maybe 01:20 – Why build equity on somebody else’s platform? 01:45 – Why would you compound your investment on another platform 02:00 – Where’s the conversion tracking? Where are the tracking pixels? 02:20 – Now, if your written content doesn’t have anything to do with what your blog normally covers, go ahead and put it on Medium 03:15 – Medium is really a new, higher-quality version of Tumblr 03:38 – Medium lacks versatility 04:00 – You can test Medium for link building 04:15 – If your blog blows up, you have no control with Medium 04:28 – The plus side of Medium is this—they

In Episode #72 Eric and Neil discuss they type of content you should be publishing on LinkedIn. Listen as they tackle post-strategy for target audiences, the benefits of posting directly to LinkedIn, the metrics LinkedIn offers, and why you need a personal blog to supplement whatever you post on LinkedIn. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:29 – Today’s topic: What kind of content should you publish on LinkedIn? 00:45 – LinkedIn built up an organic traffic base 00:50 – Benefits of being able to publish on LinkedIn 01:12 – Posts rank on Google 01:29 – Eric syndicates his posts on LinkedIn 01:44 – The more content Neil posts on LinkedIn, the more contact requests he gets 02:02 – More contact requests results in more business inquiries 02:30 – Posting same content from your blog to LinkedIn doesn’t do as well as unique content 03:12 – Add your sites and projects to your LinkedIn profile 04:00 – Metrics on LinkedIn posts 05:06 – Writing specific, tailored content performs the best 05:57 – Google’s

In Episode #71 Eric and Neil highlight where marketing efforts are wasted. They’ll teach you the tools, techniques, and strategies to avoid that waste and minimize costs. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: Where are most people’s marketing efforts wasted? 00:41 – You don’t need a big marketing team 01:24 – Look for contractors 01:36 – Hiring too many full-time people can slow down the process 02:14 – Outsourced doesn’t completely mean overseas 02:49 – You have to be strategic in marketing 03:23 – Don’t over extend yourself 04:12 – Design related elements sometimes waste too much money 05:08 – Don’t dedicate everything to a specific marketing process 05:36 – Budget out how much money and time you want to spend 05:48 – Try things but don’t forget to track! 06:27 – Cyfe 06:41 – Google or Youtube: OKR 07:14 – Track your ROI thru Google Analytics 07:54 – Make sure you’re tracking the right stuff 08:46 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: A big marketing team is n

In Episode #70 Eric and Neil highlight how YOU can start your VERY OWN podcast! Listen as they talk about resources you’ll need to acquire before you start, the research you’ll need to conduct, the people you should follow, and the tools you can use to amplify your reach. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to start a podcast 01:05 – Pat Flynn’s guide to start a podcast 01:20 – John Lee Dumas’ posts and podcast series 01:41 – Libsyn 02:19 – People normally link out to iTunes and android 02:43 – Create a website where people can listen online 03:08 – Smart Passive Podcast Player 03:40 – Figure out your own process 04:11 – iTunes will give you an initial bump at first 04:25 – Be consistent! 04:46 – Have the right keywords in your podcast title 05:01 – Make sure your title is attractive 05:18 – In the start, it’s all about listens and reviews 05:40 – Have an intro and outro 06:02 – Do episodes in batches 06:38 – Make it easy 07:21 – Podcast Motor 08:00 – Create an appea

In Episode #69 Eric and Neil talk about churn—what it is and how entrepreneurs can reduce it. Listen as walk through the process of measuring churn, the importance of knowing what your customers love about your product or service, and what tactics you can implement to kill churn in your business. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: What is churn and how to reduce it? 00:35 – Churn is a metric number 00:42 – Churn = customers you are losing per month divided by all your customers 00:55 – Neil’s experience with churn 01:29 – If it sucks you’ll get high churn; if it’s great you’ll get low churn 02:14 – Churn of 2% or under is acceptable 02:38 – It’s difficult to scale a business with 5% churn 03:10 – Conduct a survey to your audience to know what’s wrong 03:35 – Neil’s tactics to reduce churn 03:50 – Yearly subscriptions 04:41 – Put invoices on the dashboard 05:11 – Find out what people love about your product 06:17 – Figure out what metrics are important to you or to the users 06:

In Episode #67, Neil and Eric discuss the importance of making a marketing hire—who it should be and why. Listen as Eric and Neil enumerate the positions you’ll want to fill in first, why getting somebody smarter than you is essential, and how paying a smaller salary with bonuses makes marketers work harder. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: Who should your first marketing hire be? 00:50 – Hire an executive assistant 01:26 – If you understand marketing within your organization, hire someone who compliments you 02:10 – Don’t hire someone with the same skill sets as you have 02:22 – You want people who are self sufficient 02:34 – Why you should not hire a big person 03:28 – You need a person that can evolve into a growth hacker 04:00 – In interviews, ask what applicants would do differently 04:24 – Hire someone tactical 05::26 – Your job as CEO is to hire people who are smarter than you 06:06 – It’s very hard to find great marketers 06:19 – Put people through a trial period 06:57

In Episode #66, Neil and Eric sit down to discuss the fundamentals of effective keyword research. They’ll talk about what tools you should use, why your focus should be on the quality of your content than the quality of your keywords, and how heavy, thoughtful blogging can seriously amplify your website ranking. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Do Effective Keyword Research 00:52 – Eric recommends Google Keyword Finder 01:22 – Neil uses Ahrefs 02:01 – Ahrefs shows you keywords your competitor gets traffic for and their rough rankings 03:15 – Create better content using Brian Dean’s Skyscraper Technique 03:32 – Optimize title tags 03:49 – Ahrefs added new features 03:52 – Content gap analysis 04:16 – Two free tools: Ubersuggest and Google Trends 05:15 – Don’t over analyze with keywords 05:29 – Traffic doesn’t come from just one keyword 05:55 – Neil and Eric are heavy on blogging 06:48 – Don’t just think about the keyword, think about the content you should be writ

In Episode #65, Neil and Eric discuss marketing conferences—their importance and where or not you should actually attend them. Listen as they share their experiences and tips when attending these conferences, and why the networking opportunities within the conference are a heck of a lot more important than the conference itself. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: Should you attend marketing conferences? 00:35 – it depends on what you want to learn 00:43 – Big vs small marketing conferences 01:04 – Neil attends marketing conferences for networking 01:58 – Eric loves conferences for the people he gets to meet 02:06 – Eric’s experience at the Traffic and Conversion Conference 02:58 – Google “How to Throw Mastermind Dinners” 03:54 – Finding the right people to extend long-term friendship to 04:00 – Neil hates conference “sessions” 04:17 – Sessions vs Blog Posts 04:33 – Don’t attend conferences for the sessions 05:30 – “When you’re talking to people, it’s not about what you’re tr

In Episode #64 Eric and Neil talk about marketing tactics for entrepreneurs just getting started. Listen as they highlight free, easy-to-implement tools, the importance of knowing your strengths, and why your initial entrepreneurial marketing efforts need to focus exclusively on one area or offer. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s Topic: Marketing tactics for entrepreneurs just getting started 00:55 – Start with a blog 01:36 – Look for stuff to give away for FREE 01:40 – Use content and social media 01:49 – Know your strengths 01:58 – Organic vs Paid 02:18 – Pick tactics that will compliment your skills 02:28 – Take the concepts and test them out 03:08 – Airbnb as an example 04:01 – Driving people from Facebook 04:16 – Built relationships with people 05:07 – Focus on one area first 05:38 – Consider your website 06:14 – Make sure to cover the basics 06:18 – Start with Google Analytics 07:15 – Don’t set up yourself to fail 07:32 – Leadpages 08:17 – Look at Google tag mana

Welcome to The Marketing School Podcast—your 10-minute resource to learn, grown, and nurture your passion for online marketing! In Episode #63 Eric and Neil talk about the art of emailing your list. Listen as they talk about the frequency with which you should email your list, how you can better preserve the trust between you and your list, and why email-based sales promotions should be both tactful and scheduled.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s Topic: How often to email your list 00:47 – Make your audience look forward to the next email 00:56 – Put value in your emails 01:11 – Email audience as long as they’re engaged 01:18 – Don’t send emails to people without engagement 02:14 – Send emails based on how often people engage 02:23 – Drip 03:07 – Tell a consistent story 03:27 – Consider what you are emailing 04:13 – Build trust with you audience before sending sales stuff 04:27 – Have a ratio between value content and sales emails 3 Key Points: Each email should make your audience lo

In Episode #62 Eric and Neil discuss their secrets for successfully recording and promoting podcasts. Listen as they share the physical tools they use, they software they rely on to produce The Marketing School, and the key concepts you need to master if you want to successfully promote your show. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:25 – Today’s Topic: The Art of Promoting and Recording Podcasts 00:35 – Microphones and recording multiple times 01:15 – Recording software 01:18 – Quicktime 01:25 – Issues Neil and Eric experienced 01:58 – ECamm 02:25 – Screenflow crashed twice 02:33 – Microphones to use 02:35 – Blue Yeti 02:40 – ATR2100 02:55 – iPhone microphone for backup 03:35 – Neil and Eric save 3 files for every recording 09:50 – Promoting a podcast 03:53 – Email blast 04:20 – Libsyn is not that accurate 04:41 – Product Hunt 05:59 – Email digest 05:29 – Shure MV88 06:30 – The BEST strategy in promoting 07:42 – The Art of Charm Podcast 08:37 – The more you can automate, the

In Episode #60 Neil and Eric discuss the relationship between digital marketing agencies and their customers—specifically how agencies treat their customers, and what agencies are getting wrong. Time Stamped Show Notes:  00:28 – Today’s topic: What Do Most Digital Marketing Agencies Get Wrong? 00:36 – Neil had an agency in the past and Eric has one in the present 00:53 – Oftentimes, big agencies hand your account off to a junior person 01:09 – The results are going to be limited 01:26 – Creating an agency should be about driving results to clients 01:33 – Another mistake is not understanding the client 01:42 – The relationship won’t work out 01:45 – Neil’s experience related to this 02:10 – An understanding between an agency and client is important before running a project 02:37 – Most agencies exclusively focus on building their client rosters 02:48 – Agencies lack client profiling and they shouldn’t 03:14 – Try a foot-in-the-door type of engagement 03:48 – Agencies and clients can