Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

On episode #501, Eric and Neil discuss why they enjoy working out of luxury hotel lobbies, as opposed to a communal work space like WeWork. Tune in to hear why you should consider spending some of your time in luxury hotel lobbies.  Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Work from Luxury Hotels for Free (and Why WeWork Sucks) [00:35] Even though Neil is a WeWork member, he prefers to sit and work in the lobbies of luxury hotels. [01:09] No one has ever kicked him out of the lobby nor asked if he was a guest. [01:20] Eric finds WeWork expensive and disappointing. [01:42] WeWork is great for freelancers looking for companionship. [02:11] Lobbies of luxury hotels provide networking opportunities. [02:30] Try it, because it’s a good experience and is better than a Starbucks. [02:50] Entrepreneurs are doing this all time (it’s their MO). [03:09] Look for hotels that are holding conferences that are relevant to you; work from the lobby and you will be much more likely to generate busines

On episode #500, Eric and Neil discuss the value of credit card points programs and how you can use them to your advantage. Tune in for some great tips on how to make money while spending money. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Fly First Class Around the World for Free [00:37] As entrepreneurs and marketers, you have probably spent a good deal on Facebook or Google Ads. [00:50] Neil recommends getting an American Express Gold Card, because they give you 3x the points for every dollar you spend. [01:05] For example, a first-class round trip ticket from LA to Dubai will cost roughly $30,000. If you use a cash back credit card, you will get 1.5-2% cash back. [01:30] For every $100,000 spent on advertising, the AmEx gold card will give you three times the points. [02:00] Unfortunately, the gold card only gives you 3x cash back on your first $100,000. So Neil keeps applying for more gold cards. [02:35] If you can put your client’s cost on your card, you will rack up points very qu

On episode #499, Eric and Neil list five hacks that will help you make more money off your customers (particularly existing customers). Tune in to hear some great tips that will help to increase your profits!  Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:28] Today’s Topic: 5 Simple Yet Effective Hacks that’ll Get Your Customers to Pay You Double the Money [00:35] Hack #1: Increase your prices. [01:12] Hack #2: Add upsells and downsells. The easiest way to get more money, is to get your existing buyers to pay you more; it is easier to get people who are already paying you to pay more money. [01:34] For example, GoDaddy offers 10-20 upsells or downsells when you are checking out. [01:52] What Eric and Neil have found, is that upsells that offer speed and automation tend to have the highest “take rate”. [02:22] Hack #3: Retain your customers. Use a program like Ask Nicely, as it will help you automate communication between you and your clients. [03:06] Think about how you can retain customers and provide a service fo

In episode #498, Eric and Neil discuss how to throw a virtual conference when you don’t have a built-in audience. Tune in for tips and tricks for building an audience and making sure your information reaches the masses.  Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Throw a Virtual Conference When You Have No Audience [00:37] When Eric attempted to throw a virtual conference a few years ago, he had no audience. [00:45] When throwing a conference, you must, first and foremost, set your goal or objective. [00:59] Eric reached out to a lot of people that he thought would be “smart”; he then had them record segments and let them blast their email lists. He made it easy for them to share the event with their social media following. [01:30] Eric made sure to make other people’s involvement as easy as possible, by fitting it around their schedules and workflow. [01:50] The end result was that they collected 6000 or so emails and sold a bunch of recordings of the conference for a total of about $50

In episode #497, Eric and Neil talk about how you can boost your iTunes podcast rating. Tune in to hear some great tips and hacks in order to gain subscribers, increase your popularity, and expand your business. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:28] Today’s Topic: How to Increase Your iTunes Podcast Ranking. [00:50] When looking to improve your ranking, you need to get into the “New and Noteworthy” section. [01:05] Join podcast communities, such as Podcasters’ Paradise, because they can help promote your show and boost your rankings. [01:25] Asking for reviews and rankings doesn’t really help, but what does is sending people from your email list over to your iTunes page. You have to convince them to subscribe. [02:05] Semantics got people to subscribe by promising a bonus. [02:45] Marketing School got as high as #8 in their business podcast rankings, but they often hover around 50-100. [03:05] iTunes only counts your listens and subscribers on their site or app. [03:19] Russell Brunson from ClickFunn

In episode #496, Eric and Neil talk about the five hacks you can use in order to generate clients using LinkedIn. Tune in for some great advice about how to use this networking site to your advantage. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:28] Today’s Topic: 5 Hacks to Generate Clients Using LinkedIn [00:35] Hack #1: Write content! They push content more than Facebook, because LinkedIn is hungry for content. [01:25] Hack #2: Use DuxSoup. DuxSoup allows you to visit profiles, collect email addresses, and send messages to LinkedIn users. DuxSoup will also help you sort out good contacts. [02:40] Hack #3: Ask people for feedback on LinkedIn. AlertFind allows companies to text and communicate with their employees with ease during times of crisis. You can use this system to hit up ideal customers and ask for feedback. [04:45] Hack #4: Filter out people for first or second-degree connections on LinkedIn. Using DuxSoup will help you filter and then reach out to these people. [05:42] Hack #5: Change your bio so that

In episode #495, Eric and Neil point out six ways to exponentially increase traffic to your site. Tune in to hear about simple and effective ways to boost your business’ visibility. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:28] Today’s Topic: 6 Ways to Exponentially Increase Your Traffic [00:34] Repurposing or updating your content increases hits to your site. You can reevaluate your content every few months. [01:15] Take the existing content from your website and put the opening lines or entire opening paragraph on LinkedIn and include a link to the full content located on your site. [01:45] Because LinkedIn isn’t as popular a networking site, it is more likely for them to push your content. [02:10] Another strategy is to use paid Twitter ads; engagement is high. [03:24] Try using SEMRush and Ahrefs in tandem: SEMRush will show you your competitors’ traffic, while Ahrefs will help you see the backlink count for their most popular pages. Take this intel and use it to write similar, but better content. [05:28] Th

In episode #494, Eric and Neil talk about ways to promote your business and retain customers without resorting to sleazy tactics. Tune in to hear how you can promote your business in an easy and fun way. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:28] Today’s Topic: Top Marketing Tools to Win Business Without Being Sleazy [00:35] An email service provider helps you send good content and increase business in a non-sleazy way. [01:02] Reaching out to customers or other companies individually provides value and goes a long way in retaining their patronage. [01:05] Neil also recommends checking out WebinarJam, because you can promote a product or service through “educating” clients. [02:00] WebinarJam is the best service, as they offer better tools to optimize your business. [02:50] Have some form of live chat available on your site. Intercom or Drift are great services for this, as they are more relaxed and conversational. [03:50] At Nextcon, Eric and Neil spoke with the conference founder who said he gets his custo

In episode #493, Eric and Neil discuss how you can create paid ad funnels through which you can drive traffic to your site and earn revenue through sales. Tune in to hear some great tips on how to automate your business in your absence. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Step Away From Your Business So It Grows on Its Own. [00:35] Neil believes you need a “funnel”. [00:47] If you can take your marketing funnel and fine tune it, you can constantly make income whether you are there or not. You can use tools like ClickFunnels. [01:07] Use Facebook to advertise, get people to register for a webinar, and then pitch your ebook or course (all of which brings in income). [01:27] You can also drive traffic through Google AdWords or YouTube. [01:52] You can also upsell (or downsell) different products and generate more interest and income. [02:22] The more products that you have to offer, the easier it is to step away from your business and still generate income. [02:38] It’s a similar c

In episode #492, Eric and Neil talk about how to manage your business while traveling. Tune in for some great tips on how to stay involved while also trusting others to step up in your absence. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:22] Today’s Topic: How to Run a Business While Traveling [00:31] Eric and Neil are going to try a new format for the next twenty or so episodes about this type of content and would like your feedback. [01:05] Eric likes to make sure he has ironed out processes and delegated important tasks before he travels. [01:40] Traveling internationally doesn’t mean you can’t reach your team; you can still work in your current time zone. [02:10] Compromising with your leisure and work time while traveling is the best way to get everything done. [02:30] Having amazing managers in place means you can actually enjoy your travels and have fewer work responsibilities while you’re away. [03:10] Parkinson’s Law applies: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” [03:50] Jus

In episode #491, Eric and Neil explain the purpose of Google’s AMP and why it may be killing your revenue. If you are an e-commerce business, this episode should be of particular interest to you. Tune in to discover how AMP is hurting your business. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27]   Today’s Topic: Google’s AMP Is Killing Your Revenue [00:35] Explaining the purpose of Google’s AMP. [01:13] When stripping down sites for mobile access, it strips away ads to get the sites to load more quickly. [01:30] Reasons why certain countries have different rates of search traffic. [02:30] Why your revenue will tank in spite of search traffic increases. [03:13] Even though Google says they are adding tools for publishers, take it with a grain of salt. [03:35] If you are an e-commerce business, it can be detrimental to use AMP. [03:48] That’s it for today! [03:50] Marketing School is giving away a 90-day free trial to Crazy Egg, which is a visual heat-mapping tool. [03:55] Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get y

In episode #490 of Marketing School, Eric and Neil explain why social media scheduling tools can hurt your numbers in terms of reach. Ultimately, live posts are still where it’s at. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:30] Today’s Topic: Buffer and Hootsuite Are Hurting Your Facebook Reach [01:05] When using Buffer and Hootsuite to schedule posts, it doesn’t get nearly as much engagement as “live” posts or by using Facebook’s own tools. [01:54] These tools are ok to use with Twitter. [02:19] They ultimately recommend to avoid using tools and post manually. [02:20] That’s it for today! [02:22] Marketing School is giving away a 90-day free trial to Crazy Egg, which is a visual analytics tool. [02:28] Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your free copy. You can also learn how to win a one-year subscription to Crazy Egg. 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: Neil

In episode #489, Eric and Neil give advice on how to increase the number of your Instagram followers. A lot of it is as simple as interacting and engaging others on the social media platform. Listen in for more specific advice on how to get your first thousand followers. Time-Stamped Show Notes:  [00:28] Today’s Topic: How to Get Your First 1,000 Instagram Followers [00:44] Gaining Instagram followers by doing “shout for shout” [01:59] Promote your social media profiles by cross-linking them all and linking to them from your website. [02:58] It’s harder to rank on Google organically, because if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t get money from ad revenue. [03:14] If you have an email list, link to your social media profiles in your blasts. [03:50] Interact and engage on Instagram to make your profile more visible. [04:35] That’s it for today! [04:37] Marketing School is giving away a 90-day free trial to Crazy Egg, which is a visual analytics tool. [04:43] Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway to get your free cop

In episode #488 of Marketing School, Eric and Neil discuss whether it is better to hire an agency or a freelancer to market your business. Tune in to learn which approach is best for you and your company. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Should You Work with an Agency or Hire Freelancers? [00:36] Establish a goal. [01:15] Freelancers are great if you have a lot of time to manage people; plus it’s more cost-effective. [01:46] Agencies tend to move faster than the companies that hire them; hire them if you need someone to push you. [02:33] You can find freelancers on sites like Upwork, Problogger, or Fivrr. [03:38] You can use tools like Hubstaff to manage your freelancers (it takes screenshots and helps to track their time). [04:15] Before you hire anyone, be sure to ask what they are going to do for your business. [05:00] Check agencies’ and freelancers’ past work, experiences, and ratings. [05:33] That’s it for today! [05:35]  Marketing School is giving away a 90-day free trial t

In Episode #487, Eric and Neil discuss how to learn copywriting when you suck at writing. Tune in to learn that you don’t have to be an expert writer to be a copywriter. Focus on overcoming objections and solving problems. They also shares books, tools, and helpful resources. Time-stamped show notes: [00:28] - Today's topic: How to Learn Copywriting When You Suck at Writing [00:43] - If you suck at writing, it doesn't mean you can't do copywriting to compel people to take action. [01:00] - Read Persuasion by Robert Cialdini and The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert. [01:53] - Neil is great at copywriting, but not writing. He learned he doesn't have to be the best writer from Frank Kern. [02:26] - You just need to be able to answer the customer's objection. [02:43] - Survey your visitors and find their objections. Use SurveyMonkey or any survey tool. [02:49] - Find out why people aren't converting and answer those objections in your copy. [03:08] - Solving people's problems will make them much more lik

In Episode #486, Eric and Neil discuss how to create the perfect “About” page. Tune in to learn how to have an About page that resonates with people through storytelling, connecting emotionally, and giving readers next steps to follow. Time-stamped show notes: [00:28] - Today's topic: How to Create the Perfect About Page [00:35] - The Single Grain About page describes our process, who we have contributed to, and our core values. [01:12] - Neil's About page is a story. Storytelling is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. [01:21] - Create a story with an emotional punch and you are more likely to convert those people into customers. [01:44] - Also give next steps about what people should do after reading your story. [02:30] - The story needs to resonate with people. [02:49] - Neil's About page used to have an image of Neil and things he liked, such as tacos. [03:16] - Think about how to connect and resonate with people. [03:25] - We speak at conferences to connect with people and find their

In Episode #485, Eric and Neil discuss how to write a killer blog conclusion that leaves the reader satisfied. Tune in to learn how having a conclusion can encourage the skimmer to read the entire article, encourage engagement through next steps and questions, and cap things off with a concise summary. Time-stamped show notes: [00:28] - Today's topic: How to Write a Killer Blog Conclusion That Leaves the Reader Satisfied [00:46] - How Neil always had a conclusion on Quick Sprout, his first big marketing blog. [01:09] - Ending a conclusion with a question mark encourages more comments. [01:19] - The conclusion should summarize the blog post. People scroll to the bottom and read the conclusion first. [01:46] - Eric likes to get to the point and extract value. [02:06] - Put next steps in the conclusion such as “leave a comment” and “check out this post”. [02:25] - Have conclusion, ask a question, and summarize things. Cap it off. [02:38] - That's it for today! [02:41] - Marketing School is giving awa

In Episode #484, Eric and Neil discuss how to turn marketing qualified leads into sales qualified leads. Tune in to learn the difference between a marketing qualified lead and a sales qualified lead; how to convert an MQL into an SQL through criteria, and how to automate the scheduling and sales calls. Time-stamped show notes: [00:29] - Today's topic: How to Turn Marketing Qualified Leads Into Sales Qualified Leads [00:39] - MQL or marketing qualified leads are actions that are taken inside your email marketing software or marketing automation software. Such as Drip or Marketo. [00:49] - Once someone visits a certain number of pages they may have a marketing score of 70 which makes them a marketing qualified lead. [01:02] - A sales qualified lead is based on the ideal client profile. [01:11] - How do you turn marketing qualified leads into sales qualified leads. [01:18] - Different behavior triggers can move someone into a sales sequence based on criteria that you set. [01:47] - Ask for a lot of crit

In Episode #483, Eric and Neil discuss how to do content marketing if you’re in a boring industry. Tune in to learn how you can use other forms of content like video, make content that is either fun or useful, find out what is popular, and build a brand over time. Time-stamped show notes: [00:29] - Today's topic: How to Do Content Marketing if You’re in a Boring Industry [00:34] - Squatty Potty in 2015 did $20 million in sales on Shark Tank. [00:58] - They spent $600,000 on a fun video with a unicorn pooping out rainbows. [01:24] - Content marketing can be video too. [01:29] - Use BuzzSumo to see what is popular. Education and helping other people is sexy. [01:50] - Your content just has to be helpful and people will link back to you. [02:03] - The Points Guy talks about credit cards and miles. [02:26] - The only way to build a brand is to provide value to people. [03:00] - How Neil couldn't find a good article on how to install a bidet. Some people may think it is boring, but if the content is hel

In Episode #482, Eric and Neil discuss how to drive traffic to your website using YouTube. Tune in to learn how you can boost your ranking by having transcriptions on your website, linking to your site from your video, asking for people to visit your site from the video, and using YouTube advertising. Time-stamped show notes: [00:29] - Today's topic: How to Drive Traffic to Your Website Using YouTube [00:35] - Make sure that you are transcribing your videos using a tool like Rev or finding a virtual assistant from OnlineJobs [00:48] - Make sure you have something for the search engines to crawl and have different pages on your site. Also make sure you are interlinking. [01:21] - YouTube gives you more views and authority the longer you keep people on YouTube. [01:43] - YouTube is owned by Google and has advertising that you can use to drive people back to your website. [02:05] - There may be a higher barrier to entry on YouTube, but you can even make selfie videos. [02:26] - Telling people within yo