The Digital Marketing Podcast by Exposure Ninja

Sanjay Sauldie is an established digital marketing consultant, director of the European Internet Marketing Institute, EIMIA, CEO of his self-titled consulting agency, Sauldie, and the proud winner of digital marketing's Oscar equivalent, the Golden Web Award. These — and various other honours from his homeland — are what makes Sanjay one of the most sought after digitalisation experts.  When asked to describe himself, Sanjay says he's someone who tries to work with great heart despite the technical nature of his role. By removing ego, buzzwords and false promises from his work, Sanjay repeatedly delights his clients with his "surprise" success — sometimes even managing to double a company's share price using technology.  So, what does Sanjay do differently?  After consulting for nearly thirty years, Sanjay has developed a strong ethos along with new terms to describe how he thinks businesses should approach growth. Words like “digi-logue” perfectly capture Sanjay's belief that all CEOs need to know about digital technology and human relationships.  Instead of aligning big businesses with similar players or even bigger rivals like most consultants would, Sanjay takes established companies back to basics, warning them to keep a watchful eye on startups.  To do this, he takes existing team members out of their environment to create a false startup scenario. These individuals will then exchange information freely and without boundaries, in the same way an excited startup would. The whole point of this exercise is to build a startup mentality that gives businesses the ability to predict disruptions and remove the idea that an established company is in some way safer than a startup — or at the very least, immune to the change startups can bring.  Sanjay encourages CEOs to go back to school and to familiarise themselves with new technological concepts. He also emphasises not to rely on the knowledge of others, to visit startup events, perform market research without any bias, let go of limiting beliefs — and never to forget to do their basic homework.  All of this is what Sanjay calls developing a digital IQ.  According to Sanjay, digital illiteracy is the biggest risk to companies and in some ways, his track record proves it.   0:56 — Tell us more about yourself.   2:26 — What's the importance of company values?   6:20 — What's the one marketing achievement you're most proud of?   9:55 — How do you build trust with the CEOs you work with?  14:11— What one piece of advice would you give business owners?  16:05 — How important is old-fashioned strategic marketing?  19:47 — What makes companies successful?  23:35 — What resources should people use to upskill?  For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode158/

We're joined by Liz Willits for the second time, to chat about AWeber's 2020 Small Business Email Marketing Statistics report. In this episode, we also touch on the future of email marketing as well as address some of your most burning questions on how to get your emails opened, read and clicked.  With 94% of small business owners writing their email copy, we focus on giving practical advice to those crafting their own email campaigns.  So, if you've ever wondered if you should be writing fancier emails, experimenting with clickbait subject lines or doing something different to increase deliverability, we've got the answers.  Should we write emails like a mass broadcast, for example? Or like a private letter to a friend? Should they feel collective? Or individual? Liz sheds light on all these concerns, giving industry-specific examples to demonstrate her points. For those of you who have given up on email, this episode might make you change your mind.  Email-lover Liz bets that this marketing tool will continue to be effective for both marketers and consumers, with a few subtle changes. She’s excited about the development of AMP for email, Google's innovation to put an end to static email pages in favour of dynamic, interactive emails that allow you to make in-email purchases. It also lets you view real-time editing, constantly evolving Twitter feeds and engage with interactive polls.  So, according to Liz, emails won't stay static or old school, putting them back on every marketer’s map.  Finally, if you're just plain frustrated with your email performance, Liz provides some straight-talking advice by repeating the importance of having historical relationships and frequent interactions with your subscribers.  She says nothing else will have a greater impact on your deliverability and conversion rate. No amount of fancy formatting, A/B testing or curiosity-building will match the impact of having good relationships with your subscribers. While there are a few shortcuts Liz shares along the way, having an engaged email list is the number one thing you should work to improve as a result of this podcast. As Tim notes, he would always open an email sent from his wife.  Want more email insights? Download AWeber's 2020 Small Business Email Marketing Statistics report now.  Want to hear more from Liz? Watch her previous episode, Lessons Learned from the World's Most Successful Email Marketers.    1:38 – Tell us about AWeber and your work. 2:50 – What's changed over the last year in email marketing?  4:12 – Can you clear up what a HTML and a plain text email are?  5:54 – How can people avoid ending up in the Gmail promo tab?  11:06 – Do "fancy" emails work? 13:57 – Are simple emails better?  17:15 – What’s the role of a subject line?  19:30 – What do you think of clickbait-y subject lines?  23:40 – Where can people find a sentiment widget, and what are they?  23:59 – Should we write to individuals or audiences?  26:44 – How can you make emails sound natural AND professional?  28:45 – What's your perspective on the future of email marketing?  34:26 – Which email newsletters do you recommend? For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode157/

Larry Ludwig's approach to blog success is simple – make sure you add value to your readers.  In many ways, Larry takes a traditional approach to advertising, treating his online blog like a magazine. During our chat, Larry explains how his content process mirrors that of an editorial office where topics are discussed at length and planned ahead of time, month by month.  This in-depth content approach has served Larry well.  As the former owner of Investor Junkie, Larry built his personal finance blog from scratch, using affiliate marketing to achieve 300,000 visits per month. The site went on to rank #1 for the search term "how to invest stocks." It was later sold for an impressive $6M (in cash).  What's more inspiring is that Larry built this blog in 2009 during the height of a recession. Despite the economic slump, Larry used this downtime to take a leap of faith when many of his competitors stood still.  By listening to this episode of the podcast, you'll learn how to grow, monetise and ultimately sell a blog all from a first-hand perspective.  Above all, Larry hammers home an important message when it comes to SEO.  As we know, sophisticated search engines like Google now require content to follow E-A-T principles, meaning blogs should be expert, authoritative and trustworthy. Larry proves that playing this long game and focusing on the big picture of user experience equals a big reward.  Want to find out even more about Larry? Visit larryludwig.com     0:21 – Meet today's guest, Larry Ludwig   2:12 – What is Investor Junkie?    4:12 – What happened in 2018?    5:55 – How did you grow Investor Junkie?    7:18 – What's it like to buy during a recession?    9:03 – How did you get to 300,000 site visits per month?  11:38 – How would you describe your content planning process?  15:02 – How did you decide which pieces of content to update?  17:25 – How do you create depth within blog content?  20:11 – Did you focus on getting backlinks in the early days?  21:42 – Was social media important for the growth of your site?   23:15 – How did you justify paying for site visitors?  25:19 – Why did you choose affiliate marketing?  28:20 – What's the difference between your blog and low-revenue blogs? 32:24 – Why do you link monetisation with user satisfaction?  34:00 – What do you think of Amazon slashing its affiliate payouts?  36:29 – Do you think Amazon should still offer an affiliate programme?  39:37 – What sort of stats should a blog achieve for a similar evaluation?  43:52 – Where can people find you?  For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode156/

Go against the herd.  That's our key message for business owners who are feeling deflated by the current situation.  While most of your competitors will be following their basic instinct to retreat, this is your chance to get ahead before the eventual economic boom that's to follow. Remember, this is not the "new normal" it's just a temporary blip in the business world.  In this video, we share three ways to grow your business during lockdown that will help you to see this pocket of time as a blessing in disguise.  These are all practical applications of the sentiment "buy low, sell high" that show you how to make a smart investment. We're not talking about splashing all your hard-earned cash if this isn't the right move for you — but rather knowing that there will come a time where buying is high and selling is low again. So, consider it.  Firstly, think about what will make your customers backflip with happiness — then build it.  Secondly, use this period for time-intensive projects like improving your website. Trust us — this will become one of your best business assets.  Thirdly, invest in long-term marketing channels where the road to success is long and winding. You have the time and energy to pursue these now. Plus, the competition on social platforms and SEO terms is dwindling.   If you use this time wisely, your business is likely to make a quick recovery despite how dreary things may seem right now.  Remember: limit your news consumption, go against the herd and stay positive.    0:28 — What's a "temporary normal"?  1:43 — What to expect post-lockdown 2:38 — What does "buy low, sell high" mean in practice?  5:20 — Reengineer your product or service  7:13 — Make your website your best business asset  8:40 — Build long-term marketing channels  For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode155/

As a notoriously intense, high-pressure environment, being in sales is a tricky position to be in right now. It's also likely to be the department that feels the most immediate impact of this crisis and any other crisis that may arise in the future.  As leads dry up and morale slumps, how can sales departments rise to the challenge?  This episode focuses on advising sales managers, marketing consultants and business owners on everything to do with sales. We chat about how to strike a balance between being target-focused and being human, as well as how to alter your sales dialogue and take a second to refocus your energy.  Our Head Ninja, Tim sits this one out as Digital Strategy Manager. Instead, Dale Davies takes the hot seat to discuss the topic with our in-house expert, Sales Manager, Ali Newton.  As our resident sales Ninja, Ali sheds some light on the processes she's leaning on during this time, as well as the results of her latest departmental brainstorm session.  We also talk about sales from the perspective of leads where we share some observations and trends we're seeing in sales conversations and which businesses are thriving as a result of their smart positioning.  Lastly, we talk about survival and the chance of a silver lining — development for your sales team and yourself. Ali and Dale both share ways they are coping in the current situation, as well as the tried and trusted methods they use to be the most productive when working remotely.    3:17 — What can a sales manager do to help reduce the strain on sales employees?  6:12 — How can a remote manager tell if a sales employee is impacted by the current situation?  9:20 — How has your sales team collectively worked together to change sales dialogue?  10:42 — What are some of the ideas that have materialised from brainstorming sessions about crisis communication in sales?  11:25 — Are you mentioning the elephant in the room in sales conversations?  13:22 — Do you have to talk about growth and forecasting differently? How are you altering your sales pitch as a result?   15:10 — Have you seen a change in the types of companies looking for marketing? Which industries are thriving?  20:11 — How can sales consultants help businesses that are feeling the strain?   23:40 — Are you suggesting that businesses change their tone of voice during the crisis?  24:44 — Are you recommending that businesses communicate on different platforms and shift their marketing spend?  28:24 — Can you tell us a bit about how we've responded to the crisis at Exposure Ninja?  32:03 — What's your advice for other sales managers? How can they support themselves during this time?  33:40 — Have you reduced your sales goals and the pressure put on sales team members? Would you recommend this?  36:07 — Is there anything a sales manager can do to help their team self-develop during this downtime?  37:28 — Do you think sales managers should be working on self-improvement and personal goals right now? For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode154/ 

This week’s podcast is an ad-hoc episode in light of COVID-19.  We know that business owners need timely marketing advice.  That’s why we’re helping you to self-diagnose your business into one of the four following camps:  Camp 1 - Businesses that are close to breaking point and are losing custom fast Camp 2 - Businesses that are impacted but are still selling to some capacity  Camp 3 - Businesses that are positioned well but aren’t seeing results Camp 4 - Businesses that are unexpectedly making more sales than ever    Throughout the episode, Tim will address your business – whichever camp it’s in – to give his expert advice on what you should do to survive (or in some cases thrive) during the global pandemic.    As we’ve all turned into yogis during quarantine, much of this episode will be focused on energy.  We’re not talking about crystals and chakras, rather the energy of your customers which is on high-alert right now.  Whether your target audience is feeling on edge, overwhelmed, frustrated, concerned, panicked, bored, awakened or confused during this testing time, it’s your job as a business owner to align your marketing with this energy. Just like we’ve done at Exposure Ninja by creating resources for those who need to learn how to take their company remote at exposureninja.com/remote  Depending on your business type, Tim gets you prepared for making the most of your businesses hibernation, adjusting your business to keep sales flowing and maximising any opportunities you can identify.   Above all, our mantra for this period is the classic saying – this too shall pass.  This is a saying we’ve been reminding our clients, colleagues and community of whenever the entire thing seems all-consuming or too much to handle.  By knowing that there is an end to this state of uncertainty, it allows us to prepare for the future.  When it has passed, don’t let your business be behind the curve while your competitors have used this sudden space to polish their products and services. Instead, use this time wisely by making a long-term recovery or focusing on a more immediate comeback by altering what you offer. Finally, if you’re one of the “lucky” businesses with a product or service that’s still accessible, remember to play the fortunate card that you’ve been dealt by investing in your advertising when it will have the most impact.  Remember, while we all have to stay at home right now, we don’t have to stay stagnant.  0:56 -- Which of these four camps does your business fall into?   4:10 -- How to ensure your business survives during coronavirus 5:29 -- Why brave marketing moves can pay off during a crisis 7:46 -- How to align your marketing with your customer’s current ‘energy’  10:17 -- Here’s how we’ve done this at Exposure Ninja For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode153/

In this episode of the Exposure Ninja Digital Marketing Podcast Tim chats with fellow Ninjas, Digital Strategy Manager, Dale Davies and Sales Manager, Ali Newton. Today's show is about the most common marketing traps businesses can fall into. Namely, the negative effect of spending too much time worrying about them.  We often see that a marketer's advice is either misunderstood or taken too seriously. Perhaps leaders take such advice out of context or invest too much time into what's designed to be a quick tip.  The result? Businesses often create content that's either irrelevant or disengaging.  A great example of this is when businesses become too obsessed with their competitors. Most of us have either read or been told to 'keep an eye' on our competitors at some point in our business journey. After all, keeping tabs on your rivals is marketing 101. Right?  Well, this handy tip ends up being detrimental to most businesses when we put too much weight on what could be a throwaway comment.  At worst, this could leave clients with an unhealthy interest in monitoring their client's campaigns. In turn, this could result in neglecting your business success.  Ultimately, this show is a brutal look at marketing techniques that may be wasting your valuable time.  Here Tim, Dale and Ali discuss how to identify if you are engaging in time-sucking activities and what you should be doing instead.  And if you're still on the fence as to whether you should listen to this episode, for fear that this might be a waste of time, here's how it made Tim feel:  "I actually think that this podcast has been one of the most useful experiences of my life personally – slightly uncomfortable in places but overall very good" Enjoy! 4:48 What is the first biggest marketing waste of time? (No Focus Content)  5:40 How do people know if they are falling victim to this? (No Focus Content)  14:50 Ignoring your competitors or obsessing about them and neglecting your own marketing strategy.  19:00 How frequently should people be checking out their competitors?  20:00 Should I quit everything and focus all of my energy on my new business without testing?  23:50 How can you improve your e-commerce website's user experience?  31:30 Is selling online easy?  39:50 Are metrics trustworthy?  43:17 How important is it to follow marketing agencies advice?   52:00 Am I changing my campaign tactics too often?   For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to  https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode152/

This week on the Exposure Ninja Digital Marketing Podcast, Tim is joined by his birthday twin, Azeem Ahmad from Staffordshire University. As a frequent speaker at events like BrightonSEO, and having worked with both client and agencies alike, it's safe to say that Azeem knows his stuff when it comes to digital marketing.  Just in case you don't get the pleasure of bumping into Azeem at an industry get-together, we've grabbed him for a chat. And if you're looking to reduce your CPA, you're in the right place. Using his university experience, Azeem talks us through how to manage Paid Ads on a low-scale budget (not to mention in a competitive and seasonal market).  In this episode, Azeem tells us how he analysed user journeys and behaviours to determine which months proved to be most profitable for Staffordshire University. This vital information helped Azeem get ahead of the competition, tailoring content to prospective leads at the right time of year.  So, take a listen today and discover how you could use similar techniques to find out which times of the year are most profitable for your business.  Got a specific question you want answered? The time codes below will help you find what you are looking for. 2:55 What is Staffordshire University?  4:40 How long have you been at Staffordshire University and what sort of changes have you seen about how they market and how they use the internet to get more attention?  8:10 How do you figure out the number of touches a lead touches before they decide to become a student? 11:25 What are you tracking? 14:21 What is your budget like?  16:30 Do you do retargeting?  20:00 You achieved a 76% decrease year on year, what were the key learnings for you?  23:10 It seems like your content calendar approach to the year, is there a model for when your budget will be best spent?  26:25 When you are testing different benefits, how many would you test against each other?  31:15 Successes and failures?  35:28 Has anything you've tested turned out to be amazing?  38:45 If you had an unlimited amount of budget what would you do?  40:00 If you could go back and give yourself some advice on day one of working at Staffordshire University, what would it be?  For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to  https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode151/

This week on the show, we have Holly Pither from Tribe PR, an independent communications agency specialising in earned media to help organisations of all sizes increase their brand advocacy. She is here to talk about how brands can become 'tribes' and what that can do to build advocacy for your company.    You probably know people who are part of a brand’s ‘tribe’, you may even be part of one. We're talking about someone who is more than just loyal to a brand, they strongly advocate it. A classic example of a brand with a strong tribe mentality is Harley Davidson motorcycles. They know exactly what they stand for, they know who is part of that tribe, and they don't open it up to everyone.    But is your company tribe worthy?    You would be surprised at the array of different companies that are incorporating this 'tribal' brand affinity into their marketing. It can work with B2C and B2B companies. Your brand might never be as 'cool' as Harley Davidson, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a quality product or service that people won’t believe in.   Holly goes through and breaks down how to start to build this tribal brand mentality and helps us understand the most important element:    "People aren't just buying your brand, they are joining it."   2:44: What is Tribe PR 4:20: What is a tribe and are there any companies that already have tribes?  6:30: How would a business know if they have a tribe already?  7:48: "Is my brand cool enough?" Is this something every brand can do?  11:49: What's the first thing to do to start becoming a tribe worthy?  16:40: How do you ensure brand consistency? 22:55: How do you know your brand is going to resonate with customers?  26:39: How do you know if this stuff is working?  33:10 What are some of the successes and failures of the campaigns that you've run?  37:23 Is there anything that you've done where you've thought "they want to push this but I don't think it's going to work", then it's worked?  40:00 If you can pick only one marketing channel what would you pick?  40:50 If you had to annex Tribe PR in the next year, what would you do? 41:38 If you could go back and give yourself advice on day one of Tribe PR, what would it be?   For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to  https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode150/

In this episode of the Exposure Ninja Digital Marketing Podcast, we have David Deng who has built a massive Instagram following for his @entrepreneurshipfacts account. With an impressive 1.2milllion followers and 2,000-3,000 new followers each day.  David has a unique insight into how to build a successful Instagram page and this video will help answer questions such as, how many times a day should I post? What sort of content is best for my audience? And what hashtags should I use for my business?   We also get an insight into other aspects of building a large following on Instagram that may not seem too important at first glance, such as the username you choose for your account. This small but significant step is a great way to build followers and help your account become well known. So you need to get it right!  So sit back and enjoy as we get down to the nitty-gritty of how David has managed to build such an extraordinarily large Instagram following in 3 years.  2:30: When did you start the page and why?  5:30: Did you think it could get to a point where you could earn income from the page?  7:15: What does it look like on a daily basis managing a page with 1.2 million followers?   8:44: What have you learnt about posting frequency as you've built the page?  11:00: Instagram has seen a lot of content evolution recently, what sort of content best fits your audience?  12:35: What's more important, value or format?   14:00: As you were building the page did you start to feel pressure about creating new content? 16:40: What are the most effective growth strategies that you've come across in your journey so far? 19:41: How do you find the hashtags you use and do you have any tips?  22:30: What strategy do you use to promote other accounts?  25:14: How has your page been grown almost exclusively organically?   27:00: How did you align yourself so well with your target audience?  29:23: How will things change as Instagram starts to take away like?  30:20: Do you have an Instagram hacks?  34:38: What are some of the ways you can monetize your page?  36:06: How do you choose the relevant ads for your audience? 40:18: If three years ago David could see you today, what would he say?  For show notes and to get a free review of your website and digital marketing, complete with a tailored plan to increase your leads and sales online, head to https://exposureninja.com/podcast/episode149/