Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

In episode #693, Eric and Neil discuss the pros and cons of raising venture capital. Tune in to hear why the juice may not be worth the squeeze. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Should You Raise Venture Capital [00:40] Neil still raises venture capital. [00:50] If your idea is huge and you’re trying to swing for the fences, it is hard to do without raising venture capital. [01:18] It depends on what you’re trying to do with your business. [01:40] Rand Fishkin got so diluted while running Moz, that it ended up hurting him in the long run. [01:55] He could have sold the business for a profit, but did not take advantage of this opportunity. [02:20] His VC’s dissuaded him from taking what would have been a great deal. [02:35] VC’s can often steer you away from a clear vision, because they have their own desires. [03:25] Instead of trying to take money to make life easier up front. Think about the long term consequences. [03:50] You could end up in a fundraising cycle. [04:15] Build an audience first, so you have some leverage when you go to VC’s. [04:35] Neil met with some private equity guys in New York. [04:52] Neil didn’t want to do monthly or quarterly meetings, nor did he want to be beholden to investors. [05:15] Raising money is more painful than just working for yourself and getting to call all the shots. [05:25] Read Vivid Vision; it will help you figure out your goals. [05:44] That’s all for today! [05:48] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #692, Eric and Neil discuss how you can get wealthy people to respond to your emails. Tune in to hear how you can tempt people into business deals. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to get Rich People to Respond to Your EMails, When You're a Nobody [00:34] Loom is a tool that allows you to make screencast videos up to 10 minutes long. [00:54] Someone sent Eric a personalized Loom video that address Eric and his business. [01:11] Eric responded, but was ultimately not interested in pursuing a partnership. [01:30] The response rate is a lot higher with personalized videos. [01:45] Your best technique is to reach out to wealthy heads of companies and let them know what their business is lacking and how you could help them improve. [02:30] Neil tried this technique once with a man who owned a social networking site for older people. [02:45] Not only did Neil get a response, but he was connected to the CEO. [03:01] Eric and Neil once reached out to Zynga. [03:25] They had a conversation, but the deal never materialized. [03:45] Neil sent someone a package in the mail with cash inside. [03:57] The note said the person could keep the money, but asked that they just get on the phone with him for 5 minutes, because he had valuable information for them. [04:36] Take Neil’s idea and make it your own. [04:45] When you are speaking to someone’s needs, it will get their attention. [05:00] If you are consistent, you will be successful. [05:10] There are plenty of people having reputation issues. If you acknowledge their dilemma, you can get them on the phone by offering a solution. [06:24] That’s it for today! [06:28] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #691, Eric and Neil Discuss why you shouldn’t just read books all day. Tune in to hear why you need to limit the time you spend absorbing information. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why You Shouldn't Read Books [00:40] People spend so much time reading, that they end up taking little action. [00:55] If you don’t spend time implementing ideas within your business, this is problematic. [01:30] Someone wrote a post about when it’s time to learn and when it’s time to earn; it is important to delineate time for actionable ideas. [01:50] Experimentation is the ultimate teacher. [02:02] Make mistakes and learn from them. [02:15] Don’t read random books, read books that address your specific problems. [03:10] Make sure to take notes and take action on your ideas after reading. [03:35] Eric and Neil aren’t advocating ignorance, they’re saying limit your time absorbing information and spend more time enhancing your company. [04:26] That’s it for today! [04:31] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #690, Eric and Neil discuss how you can rank higher on Google without using SEO. Tune in to hear why optimizing user experience is key. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Rank Higher on Google (Without Doing SEO) [00:58] Check out Google Rank Brain. [01:10] There are backlinks, etc. but there is an ultimate factor that tells Google a result is relevant. [01:40] When you’re looking at user experience, bounce rate, etc., that is the ultimate signal that the result is relevant. [02:07] User experience is one of the most important aspects of a website. Optimize user experience. [02:20] Try UserTesting or UsabilityHub to examine your site. [02:45] Nothing beats talking to your users and hearing what they like and don’t like. [03:00] Once you have a big enough sample size, you can improve your site and rankings based on the solid amount of feedback. [03:25] If you are also trying to optimize for load times, try using GTMetrix to see how your site fares. [03:40] Eric’s site takes 10 seconds to load on mobile devices, which is far too long and it needs to be optimized. [04:15] When optimizing for usability, you need to test twice: once for desktops and another time for mobile devices. [04:30] You shouldn’t have separate mobile and desktop versions, just one killer site that works for everything. [05:15] Even if someone has an LTE or 4G phone, does not guarantee fast connections at all times. [05:36] When optimizing for user experience, make sure you’re running A/B tests. [05:58] Neil tested the pop-ups on his site and how it affected user experience on mobile and desktop. [06:27] That’s it for today! [06:33] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #689, Eric and Neil count out the essentials to building a million dollar business. Tune in to hear what steps you should take to achieve success. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Essentials to Building a Million Dollar Business [00:38] 1: You have to have something that people actually want. [00:54] 2: Go out there and find all the competitors and hit up their customer list; offer the same product to them for less. [01:25] When you’re starting off, you don’t have as many expenses and you can do free or low-cost work. [01:48] 3: Having a great team is the most important facet of any company. [02:00] Read the book Who? to learn how to build a great team. [02:11] 4: Get an office! [02:35] Having a physical location makes communication easy and it is helpful when building a solid team. [03:22] When Singlegrain was starting, they left an office space, but things got much easier once they all moved back into the same office space. [03:40] 5: Become a media company. [04:08] 6: You have to have upsells and downsells. [04:18] Stop trying to close new sales and focus on existing customers. [04:48] Marketing costs are lower and profit margins are higher. [05:00] 7: Focus in on one marketing channel. [05:10] Trying to do too many things at once will kill your business. [05:25] That’s all for now! [05:27] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #688, Eric and Neil discuss how you can out-market a multi-billion dollar company. Tune in to hear how you can beat out some of the biggest names in the game. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Out-Market a Multi-Billion Dollar Company [00:52] Allbirds shoes have raised over $27 Million in funding. [01:18] Nike and Adidas are shaking in their boots over this company. [01:35] Eric and Neil wouldn’t worry, they would just undercut Allbirds’ pricing. [01:56] The reason Allbirds is succeeding, is because they built up a great fan community. [02:20] Your first 1000 fans are the most important. [02:30] Eric likes Allbirds because they are comfortable, cool, and cheap. He found out about them through word-of-mouth. [02:50] Eric then went on and told about 20 people about Allbirds. He’s so enthusiastic about the brand. [03:50] Allbirds started by running a bunch of Facebook ads. [04:00] Eric would crank away at podcasts, while Neil would target influencers. [04:30] Neil would also guest post and focus on content marketing. [04:55] When releasing your product, get the community involved in feedback, which will make them feel more involved. [05:23] Eric is an investor in Unity Influence, which connects people with influencers. [06:00] That’s all for today! [06:05] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #687, Eric and Neil discuss the best hack for building thousands of backlinks. Tune in to find out the simplest way to get more site traffic. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Best Hack to Building Thousands of Backlinks Fast [00:45] Go to AHREFS and see which of your competitors is getting the most traffic. [01:15] Take your competitors top blog posts and turn them into infographics. Use 99Designs or Dribble. [01:38] Contact all the people who like the top blog posts and direct them to your infographic. [02:30] There was a HubSpot employee whose data Neil cited and used. When Neil’s infographics based on his work got more traffic, the HubSpot employee was understandably pissed. [02:53] News Jacking covers this topic of poaching/re-imagining others’ work. [03:12] Neil bought out another site that now redirects to NeilPatel.com. [03:55] Look up the skyscraper technique on Backlinko. This will help you re-imagine blog posts. [04:22] That’s all for today! [04:24] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #686, Eric and Neil discuss dealing with haters. Tune in to hear how you can face negativity head-on. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Haters Gonna Hate- How to Deal With Negativity on Social Media [00:45] Eric and Neil have received negative or snarky comments on their YouTube channel. [01:25] The moment you think you are the best at anything, is when someone swoops in and steals your crown. [01:45] It feels like you're making progress when you have haters. [02:02] Neil did the “Who is Neil Patel?” campaign. Some of the paid models were wearing less than enough clothing. [02:30] Men and women came after Neil for his supposedly sexist campaign. [03:10] If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. [03:22] Ultimately, the campaign was successful. [03:37] If you don’t have haters, you’re doing something wrong. [03:50] Pushing boundaries will always provoke people. [04:30] Neil has released free tools that undercut his competitors, which got the industry talking. [05:10] Focus on your end goal and ignore the hate. [05:30] Always apologize when you have done something wrong, but don’t give in to negativity. [06:10] Haters have internal stuff going on and it’s more about them than it is about you. [06:18] That’s all for today! [06:22] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #685, Eric and Neil discuss pricing. Tune in to hear how you can figure out the right price for your product or service. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Much Should Your Charge For Your Product or Service [00:40] How does one settle on pricing for a product? [00:48] Neil completely made it up. There was no logic behind his pricing. [01:35] If the market for your product is saturated, compare yourself to your competitors. [01:55] You can charge the same or more if your product is comparable. [02:20] Make sure you are price-matching or charging just under your competitor’s rates. [03:35] Price Intelligently is a great resource. [04:00] @Patio11 is a pricing nerd, who has written great posts about pricing products. [04:35] As yourself what price is too expensive and what price is so low it would make you question the quality of the product. [05:12] Crazy Egg has a partner that helps you chart out your rates. [05:50] Never take advice blindly, always run A/B tests. [06:51] Pricing is the biggest lever that you can pull. [07:04] Some companies adjust pricing as often as four times per year. [07:15] Do your due diligence and go with what seems right. [07:28] Domo is valued at $2 Million, but there are comparable products that are worthless. Why? [08:27] That’s it for today! [08:33] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #684, Eric and Neil discuss one way you can rank without using SEO or paid ads. Tune in to hear how you can rank without all the work. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Rank at the Top of Google Without SEO or Paid Ads [01:05] Neil doesn’t always come up with his own marketing strategies. [01:22] When Eric owned the elder care website, it wasn’t ranking. [01:50] They clicked on the top-ranking site, which was poorly curated. They bought out the site to use it to climb in the rankings. [02:45] Neil used this method to help his sites rank higher. [02:52] It’s a more affordable approach to ranking higher. [03:45] Everyone has a number at which they would agree to sell. [04:30] Buy a site that has diversified traffic, instead of just one stellar keyword ranking. [04:50] Buy a site with a good traffic portfolio. [04:53] That’s all for today! [04:57] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.