Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In episode #532, Eric and Neil discuss what to do once your business hits 7 figures. Ultimately, there are two paths you can take. Tune in to hear their advice about optimizing your business for growth or stability.  Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What You Should Do After You Hit 7 Figures in Revenue [00:34] Eric believes that once you hit 7 figures, why not strive for even bigger numbers? [01:18] Look at what works and double down on that. [01:47] Invest in what you can control. [02:10] Neil thinks that what you do to get to 7 figures, isn’t necessarily what will get you to 8. [02:58] 7 figures are hungry to make money right away, while 8 figure businesses look more to long-term investments. [03:24] If you can spend more money on acquiring customers than your competitors, it’s much easier to grow your business. [03:37] Celebrate that your business has reached 7 figures, but then think about what else you can do to optimize your business. [04:29] Really good marketers consider “sc

In episode #531, Eric and Neil talk about how Google Intelligence can help you understand analytics and grow your business. Tune in to hear which analytics are key to interpreting content performance. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Our Favorite Google Analytics Hacks That Actually Help You Grow [00:35] For mobile or desktop, there is a thing called Google Intelligence. It’s a program much like Siri or Alexa. [00:45] You can ask Google Intelligence questions about your website’s analytics and it will give you answer much like Siri or Alexa would. You do not actually have to know anything about analytics. [01:14] Neil likes to create segments for each different type of traffic source, which helps him to understand and parse the data. [02:23] Creating segments will help you fine-tune your marketing decisions. [02:28] Make sure that you are linking up Google Search Console and Adwords with Google Analytics. Combining the data will make your life easier. [02:48] Kaushik.net is a blog w

In episode #530, Eric and Neil tell you the real secret about how to raise your Google ranking. Tune in to hear the honest truth that other marketers won’t tell you. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Learn the Real Secret to Ranking on Page 1 (and What Most Marketers Won't Tell You) [00:37] Eric and Neil rank for a number of keywords or terms. [01:08] When trying to rank for those terms, they did not create pages specifically for them. [01:25] Eric has created hundreds of pages for Single Grain, but the majority do not rank well; it’s a quantity game. [01:34] There was no difference between the pages that ranked and those that did not. [01:47] Neil and Eric create a massive amount of content, because it’s a hit or miss game.There is no guarantee that the content will be a hit. [02:31] For the posts that rank, they have a process that involves Google Search Console. [02:56] Step 1: Install Google Search Console. [03:08] Step 2: Go to the Search Analytics section. [03:17] Step 3: Clic

In episode #529, Eric and Neil discuss strategies for becoming "Instagram Famous." Tune in to her great tips on building relationships, growing your following, and attracting Likes. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to be Insta-Famous Without Taking Off Your Clothes [00:37] Everyone on Instagram is either a celebrity or rich. The majority of the Insta-famous people are basically half-naked attractive people. [01:28] Eric follows Founder Magazine, because he likes their content and he believes they are adding value to his life. Tai Lopez is another account that Eric thinks ads value. [02:43] The more emotional content you use, the more engagement you will get. [03:13] If people don’t connect with you or your images, you won’t gain followers. [03:29] Engage with other users and respond to comments on your page as well as on other account pages. [03:57] Instagram tracks followers and likes; if the ratio is off, you won’t get promoted on the app. [05:10] Think about who you can build

In episode #528, Eric and Neil explain how you can be an event speaker without being a household name. Tune in to hear how you can eventually earn money and a following speaking at conferences. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Get Paid to Speak Even if Nobody Knows You [00:34] Neil shares the story about his early days of public speaking [01:00] He didn’t get paid at first and had to cover his own expenses. [01:26] A Harvard Football player now gets paid $25,000 for speaking gigs at financial firms regarding sales training. [01:33] The football player continuously reached out to every speaker bureau and eventually, they offered him paid gigs. [01:42] He also self-publishes books and then mails them out to the companies and people for whom he would like to work. [02:10] When you first start out, reach out to different conferences and offer your services. [02:26] The first speaking gig that Gary Vee (Gary Vaynerchuk) ever did, he asked for $5,000, because he wasn’t sure what kin

In Episode #527, Eric and Neil explain how you can quickly and easily create webinars. Tune in to hear some great tips for creating webinars and an explanation of why these could be key to your success. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Create a Webinar in Less than 45 Minutes [00:35] For those of you who already have content, you can turn it into a webinar. [01:01] For reference, look at The Content Reusage Workflow. [01:09] Eric recently looked at old content and repurposed some of it for a webinar. [01:21] However, if you don’t have any content yet, go to BuzzSumo, look at what topics are performing well, and then make your own webinar about those topics. [01:52] Check out SlideShare to see what the most popular presentations are. [02:18] You need to figure out how to transition people into leads or sales. [02:22] You want to do at least 30 minutes of education before you go into your pitch (max 15 minutes). [02:40] Follow all of that up with an offer for further webinars

In episode #526, Eric and Neil discuss the ways in which you can hook readers with a killer blog introduction. Tune in to hear their tips for creating great blog posts. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Write a Killer Blog Introduction that Really Hooks the Reader [00:34] Neil likes something hard-hitting and quick, when it comes to blog entries. [00:56] Statistics really draw him in. [01:21] Conversational-style writing is also really appealing to Neil. Hooking people with a personal story is usually successful. [01:38] Neil likes to write in the first person, as it makes it seem more personal. [03:10] Eric likes reading things that are written by marketing copywriters, because they know how to write a good hook. [03:37] Eric likes looking at The Boron Letters and the book Breakthrough Advertising. [04:07] Perry Marshal said that your goal when writing an email is to hook them into the next email. [04:28] It’s important to focus on how to keep readers interested. [04:42]

In episode #525, Eric and Neil discuss the best way to market to people making more than $150K per year. Tune in to hear the exciting ideas they have to boost your reach and potential earnings. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Best Way to Market to Individuals Who Make Over $150K a Year [00:37] There was an article on the Salesforce Blog about podcasts. According to the article, 16% of the people who listen to podcasts make over $150,000/year. [01:01] In addition, that 16% listens to roughly five hours of podcasts per week. [01:07] So, if you want to target that 16%, you should consider starting a podcast to increase your traffic and sales. [01:18] Marketing School gets about 550,000 listens per week. [01:38] If you don’t want to create a podcast, you can simply advertise on a podcast. [01:55] You can target your ads towards a certain income group on Facebook. [02:28] You can target prominent Venture Capitalists on Twitter or similar types of people. [02:40] Eric likes the idea

In episode #524, Eric and Neil discuss what to do when you get hit by a Google algorithm update. Tune in to hear why diversification is so important. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What You Should Do When You Get Hit by a Google Algorithm Update [00:42] Eric likes to check Search Engine Roundtable, because they talk about algorithmic updates and signals from different SEO tools (Moz Cast). [01:02] He tries to correlate this information with things happening on his site and what steps he can take to fix the problems. [01:17] In December, Eric and Neil noticed their search traffic declining. So, they knew an update was happening. [01:48] They noticed people who were talking about losing their rankings. [01:57] SEroundtable is calling the current algorithm the “Maccabees Update”. [02:10] There is a trend where blogs are getting fewer hits. Sometimes you just have to wait it out and weather the storm. [02:55] Changing too many things in your content, could have adverse effects. [03:10

In episode #523, Eric and Neil explain how you can increase your social media traffic whether you have funding or not. Tune in to hear some basic ideas about how to gain new followers and increase your reach on social media. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Exponentially Increase Your Social Media Traffic [00:35] Within your content, block off specific pieces of it and make people Tweet or Share it to gain access to the full content. [01:07] This is an easy way to gain 700-1000 more followers. [01:53] Eric still likes using paid advertising. Even if you’re starting with a small budget, you can drive more clicks or page views by using Twitter ads. [02:37] They are allocating a certain amount of dollars to YouTube ads in order to promote their new video series. If you don’t have that kind of money, a few dollars a day can make a difference. [03:08] GaryVee (Gary Vaynerchuk) runs ads for his Youtube page and those have proven effective. [03:23] If you’re trying to get more social

In episode #522, Eric and Neil outline ways that anyone can gain more Facebook fans without having to use paid ads. Tune in to hear their stellar advice on how to build a strong following. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Get Your First 1,000 Facebook Fans Without Paid Ads [00:36] Facebook is still important because they link back to other social media apps. [00:58] Blast your email list or whatever social assets that you have. [01:12] In your very first email, link to your Facebook page. [01:24] Use an exit pop-up on your website. For this, Neil likes to use Hello Bar on his Quick Sprout site. [01:33] Using this tactic, Neil gets about 1,000 fans per week [02:00] Think about who you can partner with for things like joint webinars; this will expand your reach. [02:40] You could get 50-100 more followers/subscribers doing collaborations. [02:58] If you want a lot of fans, join Facebook groups that relate to your business and participate. This means that you have to get in on c

In episode #521, Eric and Neil discuss how you can start to be successful with marketing. Tune in to hear specific ways you can achieve daily success as a content marketer. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Start Being Successful with Marketing [00:33] Establish a goal first, so you are not just shooting in the dark. [00:51] When you don’t have any set KPIs, it’s hard to nail anything down. [01:16] Once you have your KPIs, you want to break them down into specific small tasks that you need to complete in order to achieve them. [01:33] This way, as a marketer, you have a daily plan in order to hit your numbers. [01:48] A more specific goal would be to say, “I need to rank on Google for all the marketing-related terms.” [01:52] Then you do that by writing content and break your tasks down from there. You keep setting goal, upon goal, upon goal. It helps to break everything down into smaller bite-sized tasks. [02:26] You have to hold people accountable. [02:30] Their goal is to r

In episode #520, Eric and Neil talk about the year ahead in marketing and cover it all in six minutes. Tune in to hear what’s going to change and how to stay ahead of the curve in 2018. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 6 Minutes of Marketing that Will Get You Ready for 2018 [00:35] It’s important to start looking at video and working on your video strategy. [01:10] The rate at which video is growing, it’s important to grab a slice of that pie. [01:30] Even Instagram has video! [01:42] Look at the struggling platforms. Facebook is trying to compete with YouTube, but they want different types of content from YouTube. You will get way more reach with certain types of video on Facebook. [02:25] Neil has 900,000 Facebook fans, 30,000 LinkedIn Connections, but his video views on LinkedIn equate to same amount as Facebook. [02:50] Snapchat has been getting their butts handed to them by Instagram. So, they’re willing to do whatever it takes to win. They will tweak their algorithms to your adv

In episode #519, Eric and Neil give a few tips that they wish they had known when they were first starting out. Tune in to hear important tips that will help you succeed at content marketing. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Simple Marketing Tips that We Would Give Our Younger Selves [00:34] Happy New Year! Welcome to 2018! [00:44] Tip #1: Build a brand. [01:08] One of the biggest thing Neil learned, is that you must always build your brand. Tactics are not as important as branding. [01:37] Whether you like a brand or not, the bigger it is, the more successful it is. [01:53] This doesn’t mean you can’t be a micro-influencer. Unity Influence compiles micro-influencers. [02:20] The first site Eric created was called “Light Show Videos” and he was obsessed with rankings, but when he tried to sell his site, he only got a $50 offer. [02:49] He would look at Black Hat Forums and Wicked Fire to learn all of the tactics that he thought would help him build his site. [03:05] To play the long

In episode #518, Eric and Neil explain why it is very important to travel in order to successfully market to other countries and regions. Tune in to hear how traveling will help alter your perspective and the differences between some countries around the world.  Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Traveling Helps You Become a Better Marketer [00:34] Eric just got back from Japan and the trip gave him a lot of perspective. [00:49] He was invited to speak at an event and was given the opportunity to meet a lot of Japanese marketers. [00:52] He learned that LinkedIn isn’t popular there and people are more traditional in the work force. [01:15] A guy Eric met has his employees working from 7am to 10pm, which is a big difference from the American work culture. [02:15] The majority of the people in this world do not live in the US. If you really want to learn how to market to people in other countries, you have to travel. [02:35] Neil learned that Brazilians prefer to purchase from America

In episode #517, Eric and Neil explain why you should be patient and play the long game. Tune in to hear what's changed in content marketing over the years, how long you can expect to wait to see results, and how many followers you need before things start really snowballing. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why You Should Play the Long Game [00:35] When Eric and Neil first started, you could get results within six months. [00:52] Now there are many potential marketing channels, so it takes different techniques and more time. [01:15] Now, it takes a year to a year and a half. [01:20] In the US, during 2017, Facebook had more advertisers than inventory. [01:37] The question is: when is it going to be too expensive to do paid advertising? [01:48] Go for the organic route, do it for two or three years: you will succeed. [02:13] The Panchenko marketing agency started small, but now is publicly traded and does $200,000,000 in business, [02:54] Americans tend to move onto the next thing o

In Episode #516, Eric and Neil discuss ROI and how it takes time to see the results of your hard work. Tune in to hear why patience is a virtue when working with content marketing. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What the ROI Is of Content Marketing [00:51] With any kind of content marketing, it takes time; about a 12-18 month journey. [01:05] Eric’s first podcast, Growth Everywhere was only getting nine downloads per day during his first year. [01:22] By the second year, he was still only getting thirty downloads per day. Now he’s pushing 100,000 per month. [01:48] Meeting face to face is helpful to ROI. [02:03] When they started, content marketing was text-based. Now it goes across all mediums and channels. [02:48] The Sexy Confidence YouTube channel gets millions of views per month. [03:16] It may take you a year to two years to see results from your content marketing. [03:33] If you got into content marketing four or five years ago, you would probably see ROI in six months. [0

In Episode #515, Eric and Neil discuss how although marketing is fundamentally quite gray (“We’ll help get you some impressions.”), nowadays you are able to hold marketers accountable. Tune in to learn how to make things less ambiguous by assigning your team specific, bit-sized tasks and goals. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:28] - Today's topic: How to Hold Marketers Accountable [00:32] - Marketing is fundamentally quite gray (we’ll help get you more reach, some impressions, etc.), but nowadays you are able to hold marketers accountable. [00:50] - However, it’s still easy to make things ambiguous and wiggle out of being held accountable. [01:10] - As manager, you want to hold your team accountable, too. [01:15] - Eric likes to hold his team accountable for just one priority metric, like a CPA (cost per acquistion) goal or a certain return on ad spend. [01:45] - If you’re not tracking these numbers, it’s too easy to get off your goal. [02:04] - Neil finds that if you give a marketer too many thin

In Episode #514, Eric and Neil discuss marketing funnels to convert visitors into customers. Contrary to what you may believe, you don’t need to have a complex funnel, so when you’re just starting off, keep it simple. Tune in to hear specific examples of simple funnels. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:28] - Today's topic: How We Convert Visitors into Customers [00:55] - Everyone thinks you’ve got to have these complex marketing funnels, but when you’re starting off, complex funnels are a disaster. [01:18] - Start simple. Neil just launched a new website that pitches agency services and his flow is really simple: you put in a URL, they analyze your site, and before they give you the results, you enter in your contact details. That’s it. [02:04] – They key, espeically for lead generation, is to give some sort of value before you ask for their information. [02:20] - Eric has talked about the use of live chat on your site before, and now it’s even easier. Recently Facebook added the ability for you to add li

In Episode #513, Eric and Neil discuss how important it is to find places where you can buy back your time so you can focus on what’s important to your business and making money. They also share some apps that will prove helpful in showing you how to become more efficient with your time. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:28] - Today's topic: How to Buy Back Your Time so You Can Make More Money [00:52] - Hiring people for certain jobs doesn’t mean you think you’re better than somebody else. [01:10] - Hiring others can allow you to focus on the high-leverage things you can be doing. [02:04] - Eating at restaurants and ridesharing services are examples of ways you can buy back your time. [02:17] - Hiring people to help you do things gets you the leverage to have the maximum impact. [02:24] - It is easier to buy back your time now than ever before. [03:12] - Focus on your efficiencies. [03:35] - Use the RescueTime app to show you the places where you are inefficient. [04:07] - Applying the Pareto Principle