Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

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] You don’t want to be reactionary. [03:41] Wait it out and follow the advice of the people at sites like SEroundtable. [04:13] You have to diversify. If you get hit with an algorithm change, that could be the difference between six or seven figures of business. [04:38] Organic traffic at Single Grain is about 60-70%. [05:02] To diversify his website, Eric would focus on emails. [05:20] Neil gets 50% organic traffic. [05:39] Eric tries to diversify further by focusing on the multiple touchpoints you can use to reach out to new followers (YouTube, etc.) [06:23] Neil is getting a million views per month. [06:50] Paid ads is a great way to get your numbers up. Companies wouldn’t keep spending money unless there was an ROI. [07:05] You can use services like Taboola and Outbrain, re-marketing pixels, and social media as marketing channels. [07:20] Tweet ten times per day and see if it increases your website traffic. Experiment! [07:40] Come up with ways to get increased traffic through your different marketing channels. [07:44] Use push notifications. [07:57] Drift or Facebook Messenger are great live chat options to gain followers. [08:07] You can tie Facebook Messenger in with Zapier. [08:21] Use the signals they are using to gauge their traffic and success. [08:41] That’s it for today! [08:43] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway if you want to get in on a special giveaway opportunity! 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 #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 traffic, cross-promote throughout all your social media accounts. [03:50] Neil also puts re-marketing pixels on his site. [04:10] The rule of seven: if someone sees you online seven or more times, you are more likely to convert them into a follower/subscriber. [04:25] Eric really likes Meet Edgar, because it allows you to schedule posts across your different social media accounts. [05:00] He also likes If This, Then That or Zapier. When you have a new post, it will pull from the blog RSS feed and automatically posts it for you. [05:24] HootSuite, Buffer and the aforementioned scheduling tools can also hurt your business. You will get a bigger and better response from using Facebook’s own scheduling tool. [05:45] Neil tweets 40 times per day and can get 30,000 visitors per month! [05:39] Continually posting or re-posting content can get you more traffic. [06:10] That’s it for today! [06:11] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway if you want to get in on a special giveaway opportunity! 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 #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 conversations or even start them. [03:32] You can take shortcuts, but shortcuts won’t get you loyal fans. [03:41] “Give before you ask.” -Neil Patel [03:47] Neil and Eric give a ton of free advice in order to get return customers and to build an active and enthusiastic fan base. [04:17] Eric thinks giveaways are helpful to building a fanbase. KingSumo or Vyper are great ways to facilitate this. [04:59] Neil likes content gates: he blocks off certain content and makes it “premium” content that is only available to Facebook fans. [05:28] That’s it for today! [05:30] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway if you want to get in on a special giveaway opportunity! 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 #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 reach a certain number of YouTube viewers. To do this, they use a tool called 15Five and it checks in on your goals. [03:09] Document the process! [03:20] By the end of Q4, their goal is to have everything documented. In order to hand off your process to a new person and keep it seamless, you need to document your work. [03:55] You can use an internal Wiki to document your processes. [04:04] Document your wins and your losses so you can learn from them. [04:30] Eric and Neil found that when they gave more information before they asked them to become a lead, they are much more qualified and you collect more leads. [04:46] When they document, they also put in time stamps, because every six months to a year, they re-test they processes. [05:05] If you force people to Google Authenticate, you may lose business because people are worried about privacy. [05:44] You want to be able to have a feedback loop, but also use outside sources to gain knowledge about your company. Always be learning and innovating. [06:26] You’re going to make mistakes, but the key is to document and systematize everything. [06:47] Be ok with failure. [06:53] Eric received an anonymous feedback comment saying, “Less surprises, more planning.” However, they like to try new things very quickly and jettison whatever didn’t work. [07:30] That’s all for today! [07:32] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway if you want to get in on a special giveaway opportunity! 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 #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 advantage. [03:13] LinkedIn will get you more listens and views than YouTube. [03:26] Twitter clicks get you pennies, but the clicks are connections being made. [04:15] Really focus in on the one thing that has been working for you and then double down on it. [04:40] How Eric and Neil have doubled down: Eric and Neil now sit next to each other in the studio, they post their show on Spotify, and they do live episodes at various conferences. [05:00] Ad costs are going to rise in 2018. [05:14] As the costs rise on AdWords and Facebook, you will have to: create a funnel, push upsells, and push downsells. [05:30] Without a funnel, it will be harder for you to compete. [05:49] Live chat is going to get exponentially better in 2018. Facebook has added the ability to add free Facebook Messenger Live Chat to your site. Drift has added a developer platform. Intercom will continue to innovate, as well. [06:12] That’s your six minutes! [06:13] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway if you want to get in on a special giveaway opportunity! 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 #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 game, you must build a brand. [03:33] It’s about long-term reach and flipping it into other opportunities. [03:51] Tip #2: It takes time, but you should always play the long game. [04:09] When speaking with a mentor, the ex-President of JBL, even he said it takes time to build a brand. [05:00] Tip #3: If you are a consumer-based marketer, stick with that. If you are a B2B type of person, stick with that and don’t switch back and forth. [05:41] Neil has a loyal following right now, so it would probably serve his audience to build upon his current brand. [06:10] Stay within your “circle of understanding” and build upon that. [06:35] An episode of “The Profit” covered the story of a Hollywood star who tried to start a brick-and-mortar store. Because it was beyond her skill set, it is not succeeding. [07:16] That’s it for today! [07:17] For our daily giveaway, go to singlegrain.com/giveaway for a special treat. 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 #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 Americans over Brazilians. [02:42] In Brazil, when you do a payment plan, the law states that you must see the payment plan through. [03:06] Without traveling, you won’t understand what drives people to purchase. [03:22] The US is a melting pot, so traveling will be helpful to understand places within the country. [04:00] Eric met the CEO of a marketing agency and realized that in Japanese culture, it’s important to woo and entertain your clients in person. [04:47] Once you sign with an agency, the relationship spans years, unlike in the US, where people jump around a lot. [05:18] The cost to acquire a customer in Japan is more than in the US. [05:44] Their LTV (Life-Time Value) in Japan is almost double what it is in the US. [05:59] What Eric and Neil do in Japan wouldn’t work in the US. [06:25] In Germany they are very efficient, while Amsterdam is more laid back. [07:06] That’s all for today! [07:08] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway for a special 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 #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 over and over, while business people in Japan stick with on business for years. [03:15] Neil has been doing content marketing for sixteen years. [03:45] Neil started with blogging, but it has become so much more. Always play the long game. [04:04] Now, Eric and Neil get to call the shots about what they choose to invest. [04:30] Eric’s cousin works at a B2B marketing agency and gets most of his customers from old content he created. [05:00] This doesn’t mean new stuff isn’t working, it just means it will work in the future. [06:23] Eric has a great metric for content marketing. The URR (Unsolicited Response Rate) is important to gauge how well your content is working. [07:16] Once you get to 10,000 or so followers, it will continue to snowball from there. [07:31] That’s it for today! [07:32] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway for a special 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 #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. [03:44] If you want to do these kinds of things, spend the money up front. [03:50] Neil is spending $600,000-$700,000 per year on content marketing. [04:22] Eric did a breakdown of all their clients and 66% come from relationships based on the content they have created. The rest of it is because of SEO. [04:46] Literally everything that they do is content marketing. [05:28] The people with the most patience are the most successful. [05:37] There is a marketing agency in Japan that only focuses on Pachenko, which is a gambling game. They made $200,000,000 per year, but only had a few employees and a little bit of profit the first year. [06:28] This podcast gets 550,000 downloads per month, but they know it will take time to grow further. [07:00] For B2C, content marketing is helpful for building a brand. [07:44] A good example of B2C are Jake Paul's and Logan Paul's YouTube channels. [08:05] Hubspot has some good studies on content marketing. [08:16] That’s all for today! [08:17] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway for a special 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 #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 things to do, they won’t perform well, so he breaks down everything into small, bite-sized pieces for his team. [02:19] - For example, at Crazy Egg, he has a team that just focuses on everything from visitors to putting in a URL/signing up. Then he has another team that focuses on everything from signing up to paying. Then he has another team that focuses on everything from payment to installing the product. Etc. [03:15] - Give people one marketing task. [03:54] - Eric recommends reading the book The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results [04:30] - One metric that Eric looks at for the client fulfillment team is retention. [04:55] - Another metric he might look at is traffic or email conversions for the blog. [05:20] - It's all about FOCUS, and the one thing that most companies get wrong: they want their marketers to be accountable, but they just say “Go market our business.” Instead, you should be assigning specific tasks to each marketer on the team. [05:55] - When you use a “lagging” metric like revenue, that’s a little difficult for people to hit. Instead, from an SDR’s perspective, you should tie them to a more active metric than just sales appointments, like number of calls made per day. [06:54] - That's it for today! Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway for a special 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.