Marketing Speak

Owning a portfolio of over 100 revenue-generating websites may sound impressive, but it can be more pain than it’s worth, especially if you put your trust in the wrong partners. There are so many details, financing options, manageability, scalability, performance metrics, valuation, negotiation and due diligence. Googling for the answers is not going to cut it. Doing adequate or even deep due diligence is the linchpin. My guest for this episode knows that better than anyone. At one point, Tom Shieh owned a portfolio of over 100 websites. He was making bank so much in fact that he was able to travel the world in Tony Robbins Elite Platinum Partnership, which is a six-figure investment per year. That’s where I first met Tom, by the way. Since then, Tom has lost nearly all of those 100 websites in an elaborate swindle. These days, Tom owns and operates Crimcheck, a company that does criminal background checks of potential hires and potential business partners. If you ever plan on building a portfolio of multiple websites, buying a business or website, going into business with anyone or selling your business for that matter, this episode is a must read. If all you get out of this episode is Tom’s due diligence checklist, you will save yourself a fortune.

Have you ever dreamed of becoming a household name? What about a bestselling author or the number one expert in your field? Or are you simply looking to take your business to the next level? Whatever your ultimate goals in business and life are, it all starts with building relationships, not just any relationships but authentic relationships that will attract people to you and bring clients, profits, and notability. My guest for this episode used this exact strategy to go from a $42,000 a year salary to now running a multi-seven-figure business. Her name is Selena Soo. She's helped many dozens of clients crack the publicity code, connecting with powerful influencers, building fan bases, and forging lasting relationships with people that matter in their industry. What Selena does is much more than your average PR agency. In a world where having a social media strategy is no longer enough, her insights will help you understand what sets truly remarkable people apart from everyone else and how to attract and build influence in the real world. 

Public Relations is a necessity for any growing business. When budgets are tight and there are other more urgent costs, hiring a glitzy PR firm can seem extravagant. The fact of the matter is most businesses probably already have all the tools they need internally to run their own PR strategy. This isn’t something I’m just making up. It’s the premise of a new book co-authored by Cameron Herold called Free PR. On this episode, I’ll be talking to Cameron about how he has helped thousands of businesses exploit free media opportunities and ditch expensive PR agencies. If you’re familiar with Cameron’s work, then you’ll understand that he knows what he’s talking about. By age 35, Cameron had created two $100 million companies. By age 42, he had taken 1-800-GOT-JUNK? from a $2 million company to $106 million company. You’ll also be learning a ton from Cameron in this episode about how to scale your own business. If you’ve always been curious about how the media works, wondered how you can get coverage and top tier publications and even how to land high-profile television appearances, all for free, this episode is going to deliver massive value to you and your organization.

If you run a business, you know that branding is more than just creating a logo. When done right, a brand represents your principles, it stimulates loyalty and aspiration in your customers, and adds value in the marketplace. Above all, a brand is a promise. Many of you know that I'm a big proponent of branding done properly, yet this is only the third episode of Marketing Speak that we've ever done on this topic. My guest for this episode Re Perez, a leading branding expert and the founder of BRANDING FOR THE PEOPLE, an agency that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses leverage the power of Fortune 500 branding techniques. In this episode, Re will be a guide on our deep dive into the nuts and bolts of an effective brand strategy, from type faces and signifiers of luxury to integrating your brand into your company culture. You're about to gain an education in how some of the most influential companies in the world use branding to engage and inspire. 

We live in a digital world, but real relationships are still the bedrock of any serious business. Meeting the right people involves more than just turning up to the usual networking events. It's an art form. Forget elevator pitches and business cards. If you want to intentionally grow your network to open doors and get more clients and revenue, you need a strategy. My guest on this episode is John Corcoran. John understands the true power of relationship building and he’s guided many small business owners and entrepreneurs in leveraging their network to grow their businesses and achieve success. John began his career as a writer in the Clinton White House. He's the founder of SmartBusinessRevolution.com, and the co-founder of Rise25. He'll be explaining how to level up your networking and connect with highly valuable people who can open the door to bigger profits, industry recognition, and untold opportunity. As the saying goes, it's not what you know, it's who you know.

Imagine buying a failing company for $2 and not just turning around in a couple months, but growing it to the point where you have offices in San Francisco, LA, and New York, and an impressive client list that includes companies like Lift, Intuit, and more. That's the remarkable story of Single Grain, the agency owned by my guest, Eric Siu. Eric is an SEO consultant and entrepreneur who's developed growth strategies for dozens of noted brands. He also cohosts the Marketing School podcast with Neil Patel who has also been on the show. Eric is the creator of ClickFlow, a CDN or proxy server for SEO. It's an unusual idea and actually similar to Gravity Stream, an optimization platform that I had developed way back in 2003 and got sold with my agency, Netconcepts, in 2010. In this interview, we'll be talking about the secret behind creating a more powerful connection with your customers, how to harness multichannel marketing, and the process behind turning your website into an evergreen traffic machine. Since Eric is a prominent speaker and podcaster, he'll also be providing some valuable tips on creating a personal brand and building an audience for your podcast.

The great wave of automation is coming, whether you like it or not. Eventually, all of our jobs are going to be replaced by AIs and robots. In the meantime, you have an opportunity to leverage automation throughout your business and in your marketing. You have two options - ignore automation at your peril or embrace the opportunity and adapt quickly. My guest hasn't just embraced marketing automation, he's made it his business to help others use automation to their advantage. I'm talking about Brad Martineau, Cofounder and CEO of SixthDivision. You'll be getting some real insight into how to incorporate automation into your marketing strategy and even your overall business strategy. You'll also be getting some power tips on using Infusionsoft and how to build an effective customer journey that gets results. If you're serious about leveling up your business, stick around as Brad reveals the secrets to doing automation right.

If there's one thing we could all use more of, its leads. Not just any leads, mind you, I'm talking about quality leads, qualified leads who know exactly what's up and understand the value of your offer. If there's one man who has turned lead generation into a science, it's Tom Poland. He even has a name for it, Leadsology. If you're skeptical, remember that Tom has founded and sold many multimillion dollar businesses himself. He even wrote a book where he explains how to do it. If you're looking to crack the code on lead generation for your business, then you want to hear what Tom has to say. This episode is all about the nuts and bolts of attracting and qualifying leads, and more importantly, how to create replicable, delegatable processes that work; in other words, a scientific approach to lead generation. Keep listening because it's time to stop messing about with random marketing experiments and create a system for bringing the right people straight to your sales page.

People don't usually mention hip-hop and SEO in the same breath. My guest is not only an entrepreneur, digital marketer and SEO engineer but also an independent musician who began his career as a hip-hop artist. He's also been able to leverage his skills as a rapper to become an innovative and original speaker at marketing conferences around the world. Mike King is the Founder of digital marketing agency iPullRank. He's a veteran of multinational agencies like Publicis Modem and Razorfish. He's also the proud new owner of UndergroundHipHop.com, a highly respected twenty-year-old music blog. On this episode, we will be geeking out on SEO covering everything from Latent Semantic indexing or LSI to Markov models to term frequency and more. Also, you will want to read all the way to the end of this episode as Mike will be revealing some of his favorite SEO resources.

It's no secret that podcasting has gone mainstream in the last few years, but there's a difference between running a podcast out of your garage and using it as a springboard for success. Our guest did exactly that. On this episode, I'll be talking to Jeremy Slate. You probably know him from the Create Your Own Life Podcast which was so wildly successful that he now teaches others how to leverage podcast appearances to massive effect. If you're interested in how to craft a media strategy that gets your message in front of the people that need to hear it, stick around because we'll be covering everything from how to get more podcast appearances to the value of media training to getting published in the mainstream media.