Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In episode 541, Eric and Neil discuss how SEO, as we now know it, is slowly dying out. Tune in to hear how SEO is morphing and what you can do to continue successfully marketing your company.  Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How SEO Is Dying and What You Should Focus on Next [00:34] SEO the way you’re used to it, is changing. [00:56] Voice search is going to change the way we search and use SEO. Google is starting to focus heavily on voice commands. [01:30] The end result is that you will most likely be sent to the top paid result. [02:13] You have to focus on where your audience’s attention is. [02:45] How can you market to people and grab their attention? [02:57] You have a lot of different targeting options: Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. [03:40] By experimenting, you will learn what is working for you. [04:17] Leverage paid ads, social media marketing, or business development. [04:35] Run one or more experiments per week. [05:38] When one channel tanks, you won’t be out of l

In episode #540, Eric and Neil discuss the very best advice for people who are just starting out. Tune in to hear what one piece of advice they wish they had heeded when they were in their twenties.  Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Ultimate Advice for Every 20 Year Old [00:33] At 20, Eric was unsure of his future. [00:59] You have to roll with the punches, stay the course, and be patient. [01:05] When Eric went to Japan, he met a number of business owners, including one who focused solely on marketing within Pachenko games. [01:30] 20-25 years into the business, he now has 20 offices around the world, a publicly traded marketing agency, and $200,000,000 in business. [01:58] The key is to be open-minded and to constantly be learning from others. [02:20] Stay with a project: good things will happen if you put in the work. [02:45] When Neil started out, he attempted to do too many things at once, instead of focusing on one project. If he had focused, he would probably be more finan

In episode #539 of Marketing School, Eric and Neil talk about some hard choices all marketers will have to make in the future. Tune in to hear about the future of marketing and what you can do to survive in the industry.  Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Marketing Advice You Need to Hear, But Don't Want To [00:37] Facebook Ad costs are on the rise. They had more advertisers than inventory in the US this last year. [01:05] SEO is changing because of voice searches. [01:25] Marketing is going to change so much over the next few years, that whatever you’re doing now will probably be defunct. [01:50] AI is going to affect the future of marketing. [02:15] In the next five to ten years, we will see more change than we saw in the last ten or fifteen. [02:42] Eric and Neil are aware of what is coming and are trying to plan ahead. [02:57] Build a micro-brand, stay connected, and adapt! [03:42] If you have a team, make sure people are experimenting with and testing methods. [04:12] The d

In episode #538 of Marketing School, Eric and Neil discuss what you should do when your revenue tanks. Tune in to hear why you should have a plan of action for this eventuality and tips on how to overcome this hurdle.  Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What You Should Do When Your Revenue Tanks [00:37] Everyone has their ups and downs, no business keeps climbing forever. [00:53] Microsoft once invested in Apple, so that they wouldn’t go bankrupt and Microsoft wouldn’t end up facing antitrust lawsuits. [01:15] Revenue often tanks, because companies are distracted. You can’t lose focus on your main revenue source. [01:45] Revenue also drops, because companies stop innovating their core products. [02:15] Rocket Fuel is a great book about a visionary and an “integrator”. [02:45] You need to have preventative measures in place for when your revenue takes a dip. [02:55] Even consider short-term loans from places like Kabbage. [03:10] Someone from IBM once made a billion dollar mistake. Th

In episode #537, Eric and Neil discuss whether Tai Lopez and other Internet marketers are scammers. Tune in to hear some surprising thoughts on this issue and how others could even learn from supposed scammers. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Do We Think Tai Lopez Is a Scammer? [00:36] Because they are in the marketing world, Eric and Neil are often asked this question. [00:43] Eric doesn’t think that Tai Lopez is a scammer and actually respects his hard work. [01:15] Neil knows Tai personally. [01:17] This conversation could also be about Sam Evans, Billy Gene, or Alex Becker. Neil sees all of these people as smart and creative marketers. [01:40] Tai is a very forthright person with no need to put up a front. [02:03] Instead of asking if someone is a scammer, try to learn from their techniques. [02:25] You don’t have to be in their world, but take the stuff that works for these marketers and apply it to your business. [02:37] Sam Evans is often considered a scammer, but he has ove

In episode #536, Eric and Neil discuss the one major marketing hack that professional marketers don’t want to share. Tune in to hear why “urgency” is key to making vital sales. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Killer Conversion Hack that Marketers Don't Really Want to Share [00:37] The killer conversion hack is urgency. [00:48] Neil thinks that 50% of his sales came from urgency. [01:00] Eric was taken in by a limited-time sale on Bonobos, so he knows that urgency is effective. [01:45] It has to be true scarcity or urgency to convince people to buy. If you do it too often, it’s like crying wolf. [02:20] For people who don’t complete the purchase, you can remarket all of those people with a video ad on YouTube and Facebook [03:35] The urgency you are establishing could be based on rising price (limited time discount offer), instead of scarcity. [04:01] Put countdown clocks within your emails to your list. [04:39] A ton of traffic still comes in after the offer expires. Make sure

In episode #535, Eric and Neil discuss ways that YouTube ads can help you build a successful business. Tune in for their tips on how to create dynamic, long-form ad videos. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How You Can Build a 6-Figure Business in Under 90 Days with YouTube Ads [00:35] Billy Gene is one of the most creative YouTube marketers as of late. [01:12] The first step to building a 6-figure business with YouTube, is to make video ads. [01:39] The Bold Agency is targeting the viewers of Gary Vee videos. [02:10] Alex Becker is funny and informative, which is helpful to drawing in customers. [02:45] You must sell something information-related. [03:06] Alex Becker sells marketing information software and has an elaborate funnel. [03:40] Have a clear demographic in mind when creating your business and ads. [03:57] Create an ad that tells a story, a benefit, and educates people in some way. An example of this is Alex Becker’s style for his ads. [05:14] Run a webinar! The easiest w

In episode #534, Eric and Neil count out 7 productivity hacks that will help you run your business more efficiently. Tune in to hear these great time-and-energy-saving hacks. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Productivity Hacks that Will Make You a More Efficient Marketer [00:34] Hack 1: Use Rescue Time, it’s a tool that analyzes how much time you spend on social media sites. This will give you something to compare with your analytics and give you an idea of where to spend more of your time. [01:23] You have to optimize your time and spend it on the sites that are getting you the highest ROI. [01:49] Hack 2: For mobile, Moment is an app that shows you how much time you’re spending on the phone and different apps. [02:28] Hack 3: Use Trello. It has boards that help you track all of your projects and their various phases. [03:32] Hack 4: TubeBuddy helps with posting videos to YouTube (tagging, etc.) [04:10] Hack 5: Use Google Analytics to help track your best performing pages and see w

In episode #533, Eric and Neil discuss how to manage clients who are never satisfied and ask for work above and beyond their contract. Tune in for some great advice on how to satisfy clients and remain profitable. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Handle Clients that Always Want More for Less [00:43] In the early days, Neil would give his clients whatever they asked for. [00:47] However, the moment you give in to unnecessarily demanding clients, you find that your margins decrease and it becomes a vicious cycle of rewarding complaints. [01:05] What he learned from this, was that it is of the utmost importance to structure your deal properly from the get-go. [01:18] When a company asks for something above and beyond the terms of the contract, tell them it won’t be possible, but that you can renegotiate/draw up a new proposal. It is important to set boundaries! [01:58] Once you do too much for free, you will lose money, and you will always have unhappy clients. [02:20] You have t

In episode #532, Eric and Neil discuss what to do once your business hits 7 figures. Ultimately, there are two paths you can take. Tune in to hear their advice about optimizing your business for growth or stability.  Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What You Should Do After You Hit 7 Figures in Revenue [00:34] Eric believes that once you hit 7 figures, why not strive for even bigger numbers? [01:18] Look at what works and double down on that. [01:47] Invest in what you can control. [02:10] Neil thinks that what you do to get to 7 figures, isn’t necessarily what will get you to 8. [02:58] 7 figures are hungry to make money right away, while 8 figure businesses look more to long-term investments. [03:24] If you can spend more money on acquiring customers than your competitors, it’s much easier to grow your business. [03:37] Celebrate that your business has reached 7 figures, but then think about what else you can do to optimize your business. [04:29] Really good marketers consider “sc

In episode #531, Eric and Neil talk about how Google Intelligence can help you understand analytics and grow your business. Tune in to hear which analytics are key to interpreting content performance. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Our Favorite Google Analytics Hacks That Actually Help You Grow [00:35] For mobile or desktop, there is a thing called Google Intelligence. It’s a program much like Siri or Alexa. [00:45] You can ask Google Intelligence questions about your website’s analytics and it will give you answer much like Siri or Alexa would. You do not actually have to know anything about analytics. [01:14] Neil likes to create segments for each different type of traffic source, which helps him to understand and parse the data. [02:23] Creating segments will help you fine-tune your marketing decisions. [02:28] Make sure that you are linking up Google Search Console and Adwords with Google Analytics. Combining the data will make your life easier. [02:48] Kaushik.net is a blog w

In episode #530, Eric and Neil tell you the real secret about how to raise your Google ranking. Tune in to hear the honest truth that other marketers won’t tell you. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Learn the Real Secret to Ranking on Page 1 (and What Most Marketers Won't Tell You) [00:37] Eric and Neil rank for a number of keywords or terms. [01:08] When trying to rank for those terms, they did not create pages specifically for them. [01:25] Eric has created hundreds of pages for Single Grain, but the majority do not rank well; it’s a quantity game. [01:34] There was no difference between the pages that ranked and those that did not. [01:47] Neil and Eric create a massive amount of content, because it’s a hit or miss game.There is no guarantee that the content will be a hit. [02:31] For the posts that rank, they have a process that involves Google Search Console. [02:56] Step 1: Install Google Search Console. [03:08] Step 2: Go to the Search Analytics section. [03:17] Step 3: Clic

In episode #529, Eric and Neil discuss strategies for becoming "Instagram Famous." Tune in to her great tips on building relationships, growing your following, and attracting Likes. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to be Insta-Famous Without Taking Off Your Clothes [00:37] Everyone on Instagram is either a celebrity or rich. The majority of the Insta-famous people are basically half-naked attractive people. [01:28] Eric follows Founder Magazine, because he likes their content and he believes they are adding value to his life. Tai Lopez is another account that Eric thinks ads value. [02:43] The more emotional content you use, the more engagement you will get. [03:13] If people don’t connect with you or your images, you won’t gain followers. [03:29] Engage with other users and respond to comments on your page as well as on other account pages. [03:57] Instagram tracks followers and likes; if the ratio is off, you won’t get promoted on the app. [05:10] Think about who you can build

In episode #528, Eric and Neil explain how you can be an event speaker without being a household name. Tune in to hear how you can eventually earn money and a following speaking at conferences. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Get Paid to Speak Even if Nobody Knows You [00:34] Neil shares the story about his early days of public speaking [01:00] He didn’t get paid at first and had to cover his own expenses. [01:26] A Harvard Football player now gets paid $25,000 for speaking gigs at financial firms regarding sales training. [01:33] The football player continuously reached out to every speaker bureau and eventually, they offered him paid gigs. [01:42] He also self-publishes books and then mails them out to the companies and people for whom he would like to work. [02:10] When you first start out, reach out to different conferences and offer your services. [02:26] The first speaking gig that Gary Vee (Gary Vaynerchuk) ever did, he asked for $5,000, because he wasn’t sure what kin

In Episode #527, Eric and Neil explain how you can quickly and easily create webinars. Tune in to hear some great tips for creating webinars and an explanation of why these could be key to your success. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Create a Webinar in Less than 45 Minutes [00:35] For those of you who already have content, you can turn it into a webinar. [01:01] For reference, look at The Content Reusage Workflow. [01:09] Eric recently looked at old content and repurposed some of it for a webinar. [01:21] However, if you don’t have any content yet, go to BuzzSumo, look at what topics are performing well, and then make your own webinar about those topics. [01:52] Check out SlideShare to see what the most popular presentations are. [02:18] You need to figure out how to transition people into leads or sales. [02:22] You want to do at least 30 minutes of education before you go into your pitch (max 15 minutes). [02:40] Follow all of that up with an offer for further webinars

In episode #526, Eric and Neil discuss the ways in which you can hook readers with a killer blog introduction. Tune in to hear their tips for creating great blog posts. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Write a Killer Blog Introduction that Really Hooks the Reader [00:34] Neil likes something hard-hitting and quick, when it comes to blog entries. [00:56] Statistics really draw him in. [01:21] Conversational-style writing is also really appealing to Neil. Hooking people with a personal story is usually successful. [01:38] Neil likes to write in the first person, as it makes it seem more personal. [03:10] Eric likes reading things that are written by marketing copywriters, because they know how to write a good hook. [03:37] Eric likes looking at The Boron Letters and the book Breakthrough Advertising. [04:07] Perry Marshal said that your goal when writing an email is to hook them into the next email. [04:28] It’s important to focus on how to keep readers interested. [04:42]

In episode #525, Eric and Neil discuss the best way to market to people making more than $150K per year. Tune in to hear the exciting ideas they have to boost your reach and potential earnings. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Best Way to Market to Individuals Who Make Over $150K a Year [00:37] There was an article on the Salesforce Blog about podcasts. According to the article, 16% of the people who listen to podcasts make over $150,000/year. [01:01] In addition, that 16% listens to roughly five hours of podcasts per week. [01:07] So, if you want to target that 16%, you should consider starting a podcast to increase your traffic and sales. [01:18] Marketing School gets about 550,000 listens per week. [01:38] If you don’t want to create a podcast, you can simply advertise on a podcast. [01:55] You can target your ads towards a certain income group on Facebook. [02:28] You can target prominent Venture Capitalists on Twitter or similar types of people. [02:40] Eric likes the idea

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

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

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 c