Marketing Speak

Is email the fax machine of our era? Are we living through a tectonic shift in how people communicate online? Can a chatbot really get you conversions? There are many commentators who have proclaimed chat and chatbots as the future of marketing.  But today I'm talking to someone who is actually creating that future. Larry Kim is the founder of Mobile Monkey, a Facebook Messenger marketing platform. And he's the founder of WordStream, a PPC marketing software company employing over 300 people and managing over $1B dollars in ad spend for tens of thousands of customers. Larry has been working at the coalface of AI innovation and natural language processing and has gleaned many important insights about the benefits and limits of automation and its role in marketing, along with some startling stats on the effectiveness of email marketing versus chat marketing.  If you're interested in cutting through the hype and hearing from someone who has grappled with the real-world implications also implementing these technologies, then this episode number 208, is a must-listen. Similarly, if you've been on the fence about chat and chatbots, you won't want to miss what Larry has to say.

Jay Abraham is a marketing legend and for good reason. This is a man who's literally made billions of dollars for his clients. If you're serious about marketing and I know you are, I would suggest you read any and all of his dozen books or better yet sign up for one of his live events to see him in action. But Jay's genius isn't limited to marketing. He is someone who is constantly monitoring trends in business, culture, and society at large. And you better believe he has some fascinating takes on the bigger picture, the problems that face us and ultimately where the human race is headed. I first heard of Jay way back in the mid-90s. Back then he was a towering figure and I never dreamed I would ever be able to have the privilege of calling him a friend, yet now I do.  Our conversations have really enriched my life in so many ways, and I'm grateful to be able to share this one with you. Now, this is the third time Jay's been on Marketing Speak. Those first two are must-listen episodes too, by the way. In this episode number 207, I'm confident you'll find unique out of all of Jay's many interviews over the years. Jay opens up about his personal journey and beliefs, what's really shaped him into the person he is today. We also dig into how to live a full and rich life where your business is just one piece of a puzzle that includes health, vitality, spirituality, and dedication to serving others.  This is a raw and real discussion about drawing true fulfillment from your life's work and infusing into your business's purpose and meaning. I hope you enjoy listening as much as Jay and I enjoyed creating it. Jay loved this interview so much he aired it on his ultimate entrepreneur podcast. I also published this episode over on my other show, Get Yourself Optimized so it's possible you may have already heard it. Even if you have, listen again. I promise it'll be worth your time. The insights you glean will undoubtedly bring tremendous value to your business and to your life. And now, on with the show.

In last week's episode, I interviewed an ex-Googler from the organic side of business. This week, I interviewed another ex-Googler, but from the advertising side of Google. You, my friend, are getting the inside scoop for two weeks in a row. If you have anything to do with the PPC or pay-per-click account for your business or for your clients' businesses, you know that it can be tedious and time-consuming work. Keyword research, optimizing bids, writing ad copy, doing A/B testing, or logging onto your account, may feel like falling into a black hole where time disappears. Kind of like going on to YouTube, but not nearly as fun. If you've struggled with PPC in the past, you may have asked yourself how a PPC expert would manage their account. An even better question might be how would the person who developed the system of AdWords run their account?  Today, you're extremely lucky as you're going to get the answer to that very question. My guest for this episode number 206 is Frederick Vallaeys. Frederick was one of the first 500 employees at Google and he spent 10 years building Google AdWords, now known as Google Ads, and teaching business owners how to use it as an AdWords evangelist. To say that Frederick is an expert in Google Ads is an understatement. In fact, the company he co-founded, Optmyzr, is all about helping business owners increase the efficiency of their Google Ads accounts through automation, enhanced reporting and a lot more. If the idea of automating your PPC sounds enticing, then you want to stick around for some highly valuable insights. Frederick and I will be talking all about things like remarketing, attribution, even Amazon ads, and a host of other advanced tactics and techniques that will make PPC management a breeze.

A Google penalty can be devastating for any business. Imagine waking up one morning to find your rankings wiped out and your traffic in a nosedive. Worse, it may not be immediately clear why you've even been hit by a penalty. The road to recovery can take months, sometimes even years for those who are inexperienced in SEO. My guest for this episode number 205 is an SEO expert who has a wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to Google penalties and the best strategies for site recovery. Kaspar Szymanski is Co-founder of Search Brothers and an ex-Googler who spearheaded global web spam initiatives as part of Google's search quality team. If you're a regular listener to the show, you may have heard me talk about how important it is for webmasters to understand Google penalties. If you run an online business and you're not taking Google's quality guidelines seriously, you are accepting a major risk to your profits. Thankfully, Kaspar and I will be revealing how you can mitigate that risk by following a few basic principles. We'll also be talking about what to do if you've already been hit by a penalty and the importance of E-A-T, which stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. This episode is packed with valuable information for any business. So without any further ado, let's get into it.

Would you like to learn how to truly unlock the power of your right brain, or to be more technically accurate, the right hemisphere of your brain? If you're a knowledge worker like me, you spent a lot of time in your left hemisphere. But with simple techniques at your disposal, which you're about to learn, you will be able to engage your right hemisphere in problem-solving ideation, developing marketing campaigns, creating your daily to-do list and so much more. By now, you probably know I have another podcast called Get Yourself Optimized. It's all about optimizing your life, career business, intimate relationship, peer group, health, mindset, even your soul. The problem is, statistically speaking, you're probably not listening to it. And you, my friend, are missing out. In fact, I'm about to prove it to you because I'm about to share with you one of my early episodes from that show for this week's Marketing Speak.  My guest for this episode number 204 of Marketing Speak is Bill Donius. Bill is an expert on creativity and unlocking the power of the right side of the brain. In fact, he's a New York Times bestselling author of the book, Thought Revolution, where he interviewed 200 CEOs, managers, and regular people, and it's all about how to think differently. Bill is a former public company CEO and his clients have included Fortune 500 companies such as Walt Disney Studios, Nestle, Wells Fargo, and Kawasaki. Bill also has a TEDx talk, which is a must-watch. And now and now without any further ado, on with the show.

Marketing expert Dr. Flint McGlaughlin shares insights from 25 years of research on human behavior in marketing. He discusses the importance of authenticity, credibility, and trust in messaging, highlighting the value of clear communication and engaging storytelling. The podcast also explores the significance of creating genuine relationships with customers, successful case studies, and the power of a strong value proposition in marketing.

As marketers, it's really important for us to understand what makes people tick, our target audience in particular. We learned a lot from last week's episode with Dr. Robert Cialdini, author of Influence and Pre-suasion. Now, we're going to continue to dive deep into people's brains and why they do what they do, and how we can rewrite their source code, installing new tiny habits that change their lives and their destinies. And of course, what you learn today about habit formation can help you install the habits you've been wishing you had for years. For example, hitting the gym, quitting smoking, waking up early, creating a morning ritual that you actually stick with. So this is a game-changing episode for you personally.  Today's guest in this episode number 202 is Dr. BJ Fogg. BJ is a world-renowned behavior scientist with deep experience in innovation and teaching. He runs the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University. He also teaches his models and methods and graduate seminars. On the industry side, BJ trains innovators to use his work so they can create solutions that influence behavior. The focus areas include health, financial wellbeing, learning, productivity, and more. Some really big names in Silicon Valley were BJ students.  BJ wrote a seminal book persuasive technology about how computers can be designed to influence attitudes and behaviors. That book, together with his early experiences, inspired an annual global conference on the topic. Fortune Magazine named BJ a new guru you should know for his insights about mobile and social networks. BJ has a new book coming out called Tiny Habits which you can pre-order on Amazon. It'll be out December 31, just in time for your New Year's resolutions. But here's a massive action you can take today, not having to wait till December 31. This will change your destiny. Register for The Optimized Entrepreneur workshop that BJ and I are teaching together at Stanford on October 1st, go to bitly.com/getoptimizedworkshop and now on with the show.

Persuasion, the ability to persuade. It's a core skill that every entrepreneur should be adept in. Without it, you'll probably find it hard to raise capital, attract clients, or even close a sale. Thankfully, becoming a master persuader is relatively straightforward. All you have to do is invest a little time and effort into learning a few basic principles, six of them to be exact. Those principles are outlined beautifully in the bible of persuasion, the book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, by our guest today Dr. Robert Cialdini or Bob as he likes to be called by. These universal principles of persuasion are as follows. Number one, reciprocity. We tend to reciprocate even if we really don't want to. This isn't just because of social pressure, it's in our genes even. Hare Krishna, for example, want to give you a flower, but you'll go out of your way to avoid them so you don't get stuck with a flower you don't even want and feel obligated to make a donation. But you will make that donation even though you don't want to because of that social pressure, the law of reciprocity. Number two, scarcity. When it's scarce, we want it more. We see scarcity used to manipulate us with special offers that are time-limited and/or quantity-limited, and it works. Number three, authority. If you are the undisputed guy or gal in your category, the one with the New York Times bestseller or the keynote speaker who's invited to all the big industry events, that status conveys a halo of infallibility and awesomeness on you. Number four, consistency. We want to be consistent with our previously formed opinions even if they're wrong. We don't want to look inconsistent, confused, wishy-washy, even just to ourselves, so we will double down on our stupid original bad calls. Number five, liking. This one seems pretty obvious, but it's insidious. We want to do business with people we like. It's unfortunate if those people are inept, and doubly unfortunate if the person we don't like for some unjustifiable reason is the exact right person for the job. Number six, consensus. This is also known as social proof. There are lots of ways we could have social proof. A client list with impressive names, as seen on logos from the major TV networks and in TV shows, a who's who of celebrity friends. It means basically that you've come preselected which saves me the consumer or client, a lot of time in terms of the due diligence that would normally be required. Fewer calories to burn in our big brains. Bob followed up with this seminal work with another one pre-suasion. I'll let Bob defined pre-suasion for you, but suffice it to say, it's powerful. Whether you're familiar with Bob's work or not, you probably have come across some concepts he's developed like social proof, because they have become crucial tools for marketers seeking to understand human behavior. Dare I say even a cornerstone to marketing. On this episode number 201, I'm excited to welcome Bob to my show so he can share with you some of his game-changing wisdom backed by hard science and lots of research on human psychology in marketing. If you're looking to understand your market on a deeper and more profitable level, and then to ethically influence them to take the action is right for both them and you, this episode is not to be missed.

You and I have made it to episode number 200 together. This, my friend, is a milestone. It was pretty awesome when we got to episode 100. But now, we are at 200. This is almost four years in the making, my friend. I couldn't be happier that you have joined me on this journey. I want you to be with me for the next 200 episodes as well. This episode, in particular, I'm quite proud of because it is a culmination of some of my favorite knowledge bombs. I have my favorite interviewer in the world interviewing me, this is my wife, Orion Talmay. She has her own wonderful podcast, Stellar Life. She interviews some of the most amazing people in the world—big-time authors, speakers, personal development experts, and so forth. You know what? Couples who podcast together stay together. You're going to love this episode. It's got a lot of good stuff and we go off on some really interesting tangents that may not be directly related to marketing but will enhance your life, I promise. Now, without any further ado, on with the show.

Link Building is an essential component to SEO, yet it is often given short shrift, probably because so much of it is outside of our control, at least in comparison to on-page SEO. While the on-page stuff can be quite technically complex in terms of the diagnosis and the implementation, after all, that's why a lot of companies bring me in to help them, at least it's pretty straightforward and that you are the master of your own destiny. Either you implement, or you don't. With link building, not so much. There's a lot of spray and pray happening, which obviously isn't very effective.  Effective link building is digital public relations. It's also mastering the science of persuasion- that wildcard element of the webmasters, bloggers, journalists deciding to link to your site doesn't have to be so much outside of your control. Yet too many businesses wind up throwing link building and the outreach side of it in particular into the too hard basket. This is a shame because it's often a massive missed opportunity that's leveraged against them by their competitors.  One company that has been a huge innovator and link building is Pitchbox. Pitchbox isn't just a tool, it's a robust platform that allows you to automate large chunks of the link building process, making outreach easier and saving you hundreds of hours. I should know; my team actually uses this tool. On this episode number 199, I'm joined by serial entrepreneur and Pitchbox co-founder Michael Geneles. If you've struggled to scale your link building efforts or even failed to get them off the ground, today's episode is going to be a godsend. We're going to be talking a lot about link building best practices. And Michael will be revealing plenty of insider knowledge, including his theory on why you should run your link building team like a sales team. Forget the old school link building techniques you've learned in the past because this is going to be next-level stuff. If you're looking to get the jump on your competitors online, stick around and let's get this party started.