Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In Episode #116, Neil and Eric list the 7 ways you can optimize your marketing proposals. Listen to learn more about optimizing proposals so you can ace that deal you’ve been aiming for. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 ways to optimize your marketing proposals 00:31 – #1 Don’t talk about how great your company is 01:02 – #2 Don’t assume the decision maker will talk to you 01:23 – Make sure to have case studies in the proposal 01:38 – Show screenshots where the business is messing up 02:00 – #3 Use Qwilr or Bidsketch—this will help you make nice proposals 02:43 – #4 Learn from the people you don’t close 03:27 – #5 People want something customized for them 04:07 – #6 Don’t send people proposals right away 05:16 – #7 Don’t just send the proposal—walk them through it 06:00 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: It’s not about you or your company, it’s about them! Get feedback from the people who didn’t close a deal with you—learn from it. Talk to people in detail before

In Episode #115, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 things you should say NO to as a marketer. Listen to know more about which things to say no to and the reason why. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 things you should say no to as a marketer 00:34 – #1 Making changes without data 00:57 – Make sure you test with data 01:10 – #2 Looking at the tactics all the time 01:26 – Leads to being in “tactical hell” 01:43 – Don’t focus on tactics 02:00 – #3 Don’t make short term gains for long term losses 02:53 – Don’t make changes for short term gains 02:57 – #4 Lack of organization 03:09 – Look at GrowthHackers Projects to organize all your ideas and experiments 03:28 – Look about documenting your marketing processes 03:48 – #5 Don’t do too many things at once 04:51 – #6 Don’t try to take everything on by yourself 05:48 – #7 Don’t run an A/B test on the same part of the funnel more than once at the same time 06:39 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Don’t EVER make chang

In Episode #114 Eric and Neil discuss how tools create better marketing ROIs for your business. Listen to hear their examples and to better understand that links are a big factor for tools. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How tools create a better marketing ROI 00:39 – Neil did a test 00:44 – Neil checked Hubspot 01:02 – Leads today from content marketing, conferences, sponsorships and ads 01:09 – During the early days, they got leads from their tools 01:12 – Word Stream also generates leads from their PPC creator 01:19 – Neil’s tool experiment on Quick Sprout 02:31 – Check Walkscore through Ahrefs and you’ll find a lot of anchor text going back to their site 02:56 – Don’t do black area 03:28 – Neil shares what he knows on Walkscore 03:55 – They created a tool 04:15 – How realtors helped Walkscore build links 04:40 – Realtors were able to use Walkscore as selling point 05:00 – Using links and badges these days can be hit by Google 05:46 – Don’t use tools for mischievous

In Episode #113 Eric and Neil talk about whether or not you should hire a PR agency for your business. Listen to know the pros and cons that are tied to hiring a 3rd party agency and why PR is not for new companies that are just starting out. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Should I hire a PR agency for my business? 00:44 – If you’re first starting out, don’t expect a launch to take you a long distance 01:19 – Neil shares his negative PR experiences 02:05 – The best way to hire a PR person is to have them work full time for you 02:13 – Neil shares more of his PR experiences 03:53 – Find a person to do PR – do not find companies 04:17 – Eric shares his PR experiences 04:36 – The PR industry is antiquated 04:37 – Neil recommended Chris Barrett to Eric 06:01 – PR makes sense if the costs make sense 07:01 – If you’re looking for PR people, check out: Janine from Fresh PR and Richard Lorenzen 07:39 – Your goal is to graduate from an agency and hire in-house 08:01 – That’s it for tod

In Episode #112 Eric and Neil share their insights on when and where it’s worth investing your time in the pursuit of long tail keywords. Listen to understand what long-tail keywords are, what they are compared to, and how their strategic implementation can always help you rank. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Is it really worth going after long tail keywords? 00:36 – Long tail keywords are 3-5 word phrases people are searching for 01:06 – Head term vs long tail keywords 01:35 – Wikipedia’s Abraham Lincoln page as an example 02:35 – Brian Dean’s 1M search results 03:28 – Long tail phrases are worth it 04:08 – Don’t think about long tail content 04:28 – Use Ahrefs to see long tail traffic that comes to your site 04:43 – When your content is older, you’ll start ranking for long tail phrases 04:50 – Use your Google Search Console 06:17 – Continually update content you already have 06:57 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Long tail keywords are worth using. Long tail

In Episode #111 Eric and Neil help you decide whether you should or should not repurpose your content to bring to followers in. Listen to learn what the advantages and disadvantages are, and the truth about Google’s penalties for replicated content. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: Should you repurpose your content? 00:39 – Maximize your investment by repurposing 01:04 – Posting on multiple platforms is repurposing 01:15 – Repurposing helps you get eyes in other areas 01:37 – Not all form of content should be text based 01:42 – Misconception on Google for duplicate content 02:11 – Make sure to link back to the original source 03:29 – Splinter out posts and create more content 03:52 – Google content repurposing workflow 04:30 – Think about the monetization aspect of your business 05:20 – Medium and Quora rewrites certain answers 05:52 – Using Rev to transcribe podcast episodes 06:02 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Repurposing content doesn’t mean you post the s

In Episode #110 Eric and Neil share their highlights from the past 100 podcast episodes. Apart from sharing what they’ve learned and what they’ve experienced, they’ll also thank all the listeners for being part of this journey with them! Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:26 – Today’s topic: Our biggest lessons from 100 episodes of marketing school 00:46 – #1 When you first launch a podcast, you won’t get too much traction 01:17 – As you do it more and more, people start to listen 01:52 – No huge ‘bang for your buck’ on the first 100 episodes 02:06 – #2 Great feedback but with couple of negative ones 03:11 – #3 People who launch a podcast for the sake of making one doesn’t do so well 03:41 – You have to have an audience to push it through 04:02 – #4 Consistency takes a lot of work 05:15 – #5 Blog audience helps the success of this podcast 06:03 – It’s not easy to get a lot of downloads and listens 06:22 – #6 Podcasting is just like blogging 07:11 – #7 Time buys you listens and traffic 08:24 –

In Episode #109 Eric and Neil talk about whether you should or should not have a Wikipedia page. Listen as they highlight the pros and cons of having a wiki page and to find out whether having one really does fit your business profile. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: The advantages and disadvantages of having a Wikipedia page 00:36 – Having a Wikipedia page adds credibility 01:05 – Neil used to have a Wikipedia page but he had it removed 01:23 – Knowledge graph pops Wikipedia to the top of search pages INSTEAD of Neil’s website 01:43 – A person or business can have a Wiki page for added credibility but not if you’re doing sales 02:53 – A Wikipedia page can help you with reputation management 03:28 – You can use it to verify your profiles 04:24 – Leonard Kim can help to make a Wikipedia page 04:41 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Every platform has its own advantages and disadvantages. Wikipedia ranks so if you run a sales website, don’t use it. A Wikipedia page ad

In Episode #108 Eric and Neil reveal how you can get more YouTube views for your videos. Listen as they list their key tips and tactics for bolstering viewership on your channel. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to get more YouTube views 00:51 – Make different playlists for different topics 01:17 – Going out of your way in videos to tell people what they’re going to learn 02:05 – Tube Buddy allows you to see what tags you’re ranking for 02:54 – Look for popular videos in your niche and reply to comments 03:57 – Be consistent in publishing 04:39 – Work on crafting your story 05:16 – Focus on crafting a story in your video 06:28 – Narrating and relating your story 06:53 – YouTube ads 07:07 – Retarget people on a service page and add more value 07:43 – Squatty Potty as an example 08:08 – Check out the interview on Squatty Potty 08:13 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Give value to your viewers—that is the cornerstone of YouTube success. Let your viewers know

In Episode #107 Eric and Neil highlight how you can take advantage of untapped ad opportunities. Listen to learn about the untapped opportunities that are available to you, and discover whether or not they are compatible with your business and budget.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to take advantage of untapped ad opportunities 00:33 – Check Twitch and see if it suits your target demographic 01:26 – Email bloggers around your niche and ask for advertisement opportunities 02:02 – It doesn’t cost very much 02:27 – And it converts well 02:41 – Podcast advertising on Midroll 03:12 – Driving leads from podcasts 03:42 – Pinterest ads can yield good ROI 03:50 – Taboola and Outbrain 04:23 – Apple’s new app ads 04:48 – Youtube ads 05:33 – Waze ads 06:11 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Give unconventional platforms a try for advertising. Ads don’t have to cost much $$$. Check to see if your target demographics are compatible to the ads you’re looking into.

In Episode #106 Eric and Neil talks about how you can speed up the slow growing traffic on your blog. Listen to learn their tips for boosting traffic, and why sometimes it isn’t your content that’s the problem, but the code base on your website. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Fix Your Slow Growing Blog Traffic 00:46 – Publish more content! 01:21 – Pay people to make content 01:36 – Check out ProBlogger 01:52 – The problem might be your internal structure and how you’re cross linking 02:18 – Link to your cornerstone content 02:31 – Use Google Search Console to look at the pages 02:55 – The depth of your content has to be longer 03:31 – You can add more value to your content 03:42 – Look at the code base too 05:00 – Neil’s friend from Goodreads added new servers 05:30 – Check out Google Page Speed or PingDom to know what makes your website slow 05:44 – Use a CDN Content Delivery Network 06:09 – Go to Twitter and search articles 06:57 – That’s it for today’s episode!

In Episode #105 Eric and Neil reveal how you can use mobile based pop-ups without getting Google angry. They’ll show you the technicalities to avoid and alternative ways you can make your site impervious to Google’s harsh penalties. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Use Mobile-Based Pop-Ups without Getting Penalized in Google 00:40 – In 2017, Google will start looking at mobile pop ups 01:02 – Neil’s animated interstitial on his site 02:53 – You can do a model that doesn’t own the whole page 03:19 – Google doesn’t want pop ups consuming the whole screen 04:01 – Use sticky bars instead of pop-ups 04:22 – Google “interstitial penalty, 2017” to read more 04:43 – Integrate quizzes on mobile devices 05:10 – Google is adding a news carousel for amp pages 05:28 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Pop-ups occupying the whole screen are a bad user-experience, which is why Google wants them GONE. Make use of the other techniques and tools other than pop-ups. Read more ab

In Episode #104 Eric and Neil list the 7 creative hacks you can use to help you generate more sales. Listen as they drop serious knowledge bombs about the tools and hacks you can employ in a business of any size.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: 7 Creative Email Hacks That Will Help You Generate More Sales 00:39 – #1 Use countdown timers like PlusThis 01:15 – #2 Run a reverse discount 01:43 – #3 Send customize emails with images with PicSnippet 02:15 – #4 Sign filled emails 03:39 – #5 When you should send out emails 04:23 – #6 Urgency and reminders 05:07 – #7 Scrub your list and use a service like MailGun 05:51 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Create a sense of urgency and offer discounts that go with it. Customize emails for your audience. Remove all the names from your list that don’t engage so your deliverability doesn’t suffer. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If

In Episode #103 Eric and Neil talks about how many links your website really needs. Listen to learn whether links need quantity or quality, and to know how you can outsmart your competitor with authority links. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How Many Links Does Your Website Need? 00:38 – Look at your big competitors 00:50 – Use Ahrefs to see how much traffic or how many links they have 01:16 – Look at the quality of links 01:40 – Outperform your competitors by having authority links 01:49 – Get high authority links by producing awesome content emailing journalists, editors, and writers 02:27 – Use Brian Dean’s Skyscraper Technique 02:38 – Use Buzzsumo and find people who link similar articles 02:59 – Use Ahrefs for breakdown of domain authority 03:08 – Moz’s study on links 04:20 – Eric Enge’s post that links don’t matter in 2016 05:09 – Don’t focus on competitive key terms 05:25 – Go to Quora and use questions to get idea for content 05:48 – That’s it for today’s episode!

In Episode #101 Eric and Neil talk about what components make a quality infographic. Listen to learn about how you can make your own infographic and how you can ensure that it delivers your post’s message. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: What makes a quality infographic 00:36 – Kissmetrics’ portfolio of infographics 00:50 – It’s not just the imagery 01:14 – Number 1: Have the right statistics 01:18 – Number 2: Make sure your topic is really good 02:02 – If you can show complex data sets, you’ll do well 02:10 – Number 3: Keep the infographic concise 02:22 – Number 4: Make sure it story flows well 03:08 – Number 5: Have a great design 03:18 – Dribbble and Visual.ly have great infographic designers 03:42 – Number 6: Make sure your colors are NOT crazy 04:17 – Put an embed code generator at the bottom 04:22 – For WordPress, it’s Embed Code Generator 04:28 – Number 7: Write the RIGHT headline 04:41 – Check CopyBlogger for creating headlines 04:48 – Number 7: Add text

In Episode #99 Eric and Neil share how you can design lead nurturing and lead scoring campaigns for your business. Listen to know whether you’re on the right track in nurturing and scoring your leads, when you need to set up a reengagement process, and when it’s just time to let go of a lead. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to design lead nurturing and lead scoring campaigns 00:42 – Google about Marketing Funnel – SingleGrain and Kissmetrics 01:01 – What SingleGrain does 01:48 – When people opt in, tag them in a certain way 02:00 – Don’t ask too many questions on a page 02:10 – Break down the process into 3 pages 02:45 – Take the best leads and cross reference with tools 03:30 – Lead scoring leads 04:02 – Drip and Infusionsoft 04:24 – When your threshold is reached, mark them as a qualified lead 05:07 – Nurture and have a good marketing funnel 05:47 – If the lead isn’t engaged, they aren’t likely going to close 07:04 – Make a reengagement campaign 07:36 – Frank Kern Se

In Episode #98 Eric and Neil discuss the 5 ways you can generate leads from Snapchat. Listen to pick up lead generation value from one of the markets most popular and most used social media tools. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: 5 Ways to Generate Leads from Snapchat 00:39 – Tell people to go to a specific page on your website 01:24 – Keep the url under 15 characters and use words 02:22 – Show your product or service in action 03:22 – Time based offers 04:18 – Do gamified offers 04:56 – Do shout outs to shout outs to grow your audience 06:25 – Bonus: do a giveaway 07:22 – Make sure you give time to your Snapchat tests 07:39– That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Build relationships first rather than selling to your audience immediately. Snaps are time based so make each offer a special one. Find someone who is relevant and tap into their network, have them do shout-outs using your offers. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in

In Episode #97 Neil and Eric highlight the 8 things you need to know about Facebook ads. Whether you’re using Facebook as your main advertorial platform, or just using it to occasionally boost revenue, this is the Marketing School episode for you. Enjoy! Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: 8 Things You Should Know About Facebook Ads 00:37 – Facebook ads are getting a lot more powerful 01:08 – Frequency 01:51 – Video Ads 02:11 – Screenflow or any screen casting tool 02:53 – “We have people watch our video and then we retarget those people” 03:28 – Don’t increase your ad spend too quickly 04:27 – Use variations and test…then test again. 04:37 – AdEspresso will allow you to make different permutations and headlines 04:53 – Qwaya 05:22 – Do campaigns with more ads 06:03 – When you make ads, drive all traffic to one post—make it singular, don’t have too many avenues for people to pursue 07:04 – Look at your settings and device types—how well do they intermingle? It’s important to

In Episode #96 Neil and Eric list the tools you can use to build and sell your own online course! Listen to learn which tools you can employ for maximum efficiency, and why it’s perfectly OK if you don’t do well on your initial program launch. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: Tools to help you build and sell your own online course 00:40 – Kajabi allows you to make a membership back-end 01:09 – WebinarJam where you can upload your videos and sell your products 01:22 – EverWebinar is under WebinarJam 02:00 – Use Drip or Infusionsoft to be able to tag people to move into a funnel 03:05 – Wistia where you can host videos 04:24 – Learndash is a WordPress plugin 04:42 – Build a membership site with OptimizePress and MemberMouse 05:12 – Twilio is an SMS tool to remind clients 06:14 – ClickFunnels allows to pitch a product and up sell 06:44 – Udemy is simply putting up a course and they’ll do the rest 07:43 – Check out Takedown Czar to help prevent piracy on your product 09:10 – That

In Episode #94 Neil and Eric highlight the 7 things EVERY marketer should configure in Google Analytics. Listen to learn about the things you already configured, the things you need to work on, and the things that are actually applicable to your business. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:28 – Today’s topic: 7 Things Every Marketer Should Configure in Google Analytics 00:40 – Make use of advanced segments 01:10 – Create a segment for each country you’re catering to 01:57 – Hook in AdWords with Google Analytics 02:19 – Hook in Google Search Console to Google Analytics 03:02 – Make sure you’re converting goals 03:25 - Callrail 03:46 – Scroll down to your segments and check the organic traffic 05:52 – Make sure you have the right Google Analytics reports 06:33 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Google Analytics has a ton of features; make sure you’re making the most out of them. You can interlink Google applications to each other to help out in providing results. It’s important to get