Marketing School | Digital Marketing | Online Marketing

In episode #938, we discuss whether it’s worth it to start a digital agency. Tune in to hear if an agency could help your cash flow. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Is it Worth it to Start a Digital Agency? [00:38] Neil started out with Advantage Consulting Services. [00:53] A lot of people start agencies and then parlay it into a software company. [01:15] It’s a good way to get cash flow for other projects. [01:54] Eric feels with every new client you ad, the service gets worse. [02:25] Neil started an agency because he gets so many leads, that he had no choice. [03:00] However, an agency doesn’t scale that well. [03:25] Consider keeping your agency lean to insure your cash flow. [04:40] Expansion is hurting Neil’s profits, but it’s still working for him. [05:00] It

In episode #937, we discuss how to effectively collect more emails in 2019. Tune in to hear our tips and tricks. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Effectively Collect More Emails In 2019 [00:38] There’s a ton of pop-up email software out there. [01:05] The benefit is that they optimize and convert for you. [01:26] Exit Intelligence will design your pop-ups, manage your account, and make sure you  hit your desired conversion rate. [01:35] It costs about $3000 for the service. [02:10] Pop-ups don’t work as well as they used to. [02:25] Quizzes are a great device to get more emails. [02:40] Eric and Neil aren’t sure what the best method is anymore. [03:00] Eric is going to stick to creating free tools. [03:15] You don’t have to build a tool, just find what works f

In episode #936, we discuss how embedding YouTube videos hurts your traffic. Tune in to hear how you can avoid this mistake. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Embedding YouTube Videos Can Hurt Your Traffic [00:38] There used to be a way to turn of the feature where YouTube would suggest or autoplay related videos. [00:50] Now, you can’t turn it off, so you end up driving traffic to someone else’s channel. [01:10] If you add “rel=0” to the code, it will include videos from your channel instead of random ones. [01:33] YouTube tries to incentivize people to stay on their site. [02:15] Neil would attempt to keep people on his site instead of watching more videos. [02:32] It is getting harder and harder for him to do that when going up against YouTube. [03:05] To jack up

In episode #935, we discuss how influencer marketing really works. Tune in to hear how you can make influencer marketing work for you. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Does Influencer Marketing Really Work? [00:35] Neil has used tons of influencer marketing. [01:02] Chinese influencers are killing the game and making a lot of money. [01:20] There isn’t a lot of good monetization through Instagram. [01:33] The US is behind China in influencer marketing. [01:52] It worked well at first, but now more people are doing and are charging a lot more. [02:40] The amount being spent on campaigns ends up being less than you spend, which is not a good use of marketing funds. [03:06] Try to find micro-influencers to get a better ROI. [04:10] Eric reads an article about the Chinese

In episode #934, we discuss how to created the perfect Instagram ad. Tune in to hear what you have to do to make a splash. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Create The Perfect Instagram Video Ad [00:35] Neil doesn’t do too much with Instagram ads. He prefers the ROI of Facebook and YouTube. [01:09] Instagram isn’t the place to reach large B2B companies. [01:22] The Insta audience skews younger. [02:10] On Instagram, you have to hook people within the first ten seconds. [02:34] Eric’s friend used to have a YouTube page that had a bunch of viral posts. [02:51] Ultimately, he wanted to help other people create viral videos. [03:30] Search Growth Everywhere+Kong and you will find more information on his friend. [03:40] Always have a hook. [03:48] Talk about the pro

In episode #933, we discuss whether you should coin your own marketing terms. Tune in to hear if you should create new terms in order to promote your business. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Should You Coin Your Own Terms For Marketing? [00:36] We have talked about this in the past. Our mutual friend, Brian Dean came up with the skyscraper technique. [01:12] Most people are coining hundreds of terms, but only a handful are taking off. [01:35] Neil would rather ride the coattails of a term, rather than inventing one. [02:04] Let someone else build the demand, while you go in and fill it. [03:11] It’s ok not to be the first-mover. [03:25] Drift invented the term “conversational marketing”, but Hubspot came up with the more popular “inbound marketing”. [04:12] Eric pref

In episode #932, we discuss what you ought to do with your old content that doesn’t get traffic. Tune in to hear our strategies for improving lackluster content. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What You Ought to Do With Your Old Content That Gets No Traffic [00:36] Everyone uses the “prune and crop” strategy, but most people use it incorrectly. [01:05] Using this, there is a good chance you could decrease your traffic. [02:20] HubSpot hires people to maintain and upgrade their content. [02:40] At Single Grain, we take the top 25 pieces and see if anything new is on the list. If the new content ranks, we check how many keywords for which it ranks. [02:57] If it ranks for hundreds of keywords, you are in good shape. [03:20] Neil has employees that are hired specifically t

In episode #931, we discuss 7 ways to promote your podcast. Tune in to hear how you can gain listeners. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Simple Ways to Promote Your Podcast [00:33] 1: Use Libsyn: it allows you to publish to multiple platforms at one time. [01:02] 2: Have an exit pop-up on your website for mobile visitors. [01:30] Anyone who visited Neilpatel.com on their phone got a pop-up before leaving the site. [02:15] 3: Promote your podcast in your email signature. [02:28] 4: Promote your podcast across multiple platforms. [02:48] 5: Use email marketing; it works! [03:20] 6: Advertise on other podcasts. [03:35] We advertised on Overcast and it proved helpful. [04:00] 7: Cross promote with other businesses in your sphere. [04:31] That’s all for today! [04:38]

In episode #930, we discuss how to use Amazon for content and product development. Tune in to hear how you can use reviews to your advantage. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Use Amazon for Content and Product Development [00:38] People feel compelled to write all kinds of reviews on Amazon, which gives you valuable insight. [01:06] Squatty Potty is a bathroom tool. If you wanted to make a product that competed, you would find out what the shortcomings are and make a superior product. [02:00] Neil loves the 1-3 star reviews, because it gives him good product development and content marketing ideas. [02:45] Look at marketing as finding problems and coming up with solutions. [03:22] The 4 and 5 star reviews don’t tell you as much as the other reviews. [03:42] 1 sta

In episode #929, we discuss whether you should rebrand your logo. Tune in to hear if a rebranding is worth the trouble. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Should You Rebrand Your Logo? [00:36] Slack recently rebranded their logo. [00:52] We are either neutral or against it. [01:17] People think the new logo looks like a swastika. [01:42] In general, think about how rebrands have gone historically. [02:00] Single Grain recently rebranded. [02:10] They created a story around the new logo and it fits their image more than the other one. [02:40] Eric and his team wanted to rebrand. [02:52] They wanted their logo to look more like a grain. [03:10] People really liked their rebrand. [03:22] Instagram rebranded. [03:33] People don’t like change and Eric didn’t like it himse

In episode #928, we discuss how you should respond to a PR crisis. Tune in to hear how you can salvage your company’s reputation. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: What You Should Do in a PR Crisis [00:38] The Fyre Festival debacle is a great example of a PR crisis for a lot of the people involved. [01:10] Celebrities were paid to promote this event and the event basically didn’t exist. [01:26] There are two documentaries about it on Netflix and Hulu. [01:40] In the weeks leading up to the Fyre Festival, they realized they weren’t ready to throw the event. [02:15] The result was an insane situation. [02:38] Typically, it’s good to admit when you’re wrong, instead of doubling down like the Fyre Festival organizers. [03:00] Deal with a crisis by being transparent. [03:11

In episode #927, we discuss the secret to winning with social media. Tune in to hear how you can crush the social media game. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Secret to Winning With Social Media [00:40] Slowly, we’re starting to do more and more social media posts. [01:10] Social platforms want people to be on their platform for long periods of time, so they see more ads. [01:20] If you post on social media, you get rewarded for popular content. [01:40] Whatever resonates with people will get circulated more by the site. [01:50] Engagement is the secret to winning. [02:08] We haven’t done that well on Instagram, because we are not optimized for Instagram. [02:35] Some people think longer content is better, but that isn’t accurate. [02:53] If you create long-form c

In episode #926, we discuss 7 simple ways to promote your blog. Tune in to hear the easiest steps you can take to promote yourself. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Simple Ways to Promote Your Blog [00:33] 1: Use advertising! [00:41] You have many options and it’s the most viable way to promote. [00:52] 2: Comment on other blogs in your field. [01:07] Leave thoughtful comments on related blogs and make sure you leave your name and web address. [01:30] 3: Guest posts and collabs. [01:40] No matter which format you use, this will help get your name out there. [01:56] 4: Repurpose your content on Quora. [02:07] You can get thousands of views per month. [02:38] 5: Email marketing. [02:48] Email lists are great ways to promote your business. [03:07] You can also buy e

In episode #925, we discuss whether publishing is worth the hassle. Tune in to hear if publishing has helped our careers. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: Is It Worth Writing a Book? [00:40] Eric is writing a book called, Levelling Up. [00:47] It’s about entrepreneurship. [01:15] There are many steps to publishing, the first of which is writing a proposal and pitching your book. [01:49] Neil has a New York Times bestseller on the market. [02:05] He feels it didn’t help increase his speaking fees or business. He would not publish again. [02:50] His book was unrelated, so he feels it would have helped to write a book that was more relevant to his business. [03:22] Selling books isn’t as effective as getting new visitors to your website. [03:43] Eric thinks Neil will co

In episode #924, we discuss how you can come up with unlimited content ideas. Tune in to hear how we do this every week. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Come Up With Unlimited Amount of Content Ideas [00:58] The Single Grain team goes to “content church” where they get together and brainstorm different ideas. [01:30] If you 25 new ideas from your team, one idea can be spun out into several kinds of content. [02:04] Use UberSuggest to check out how keywords are trending and ranking. [02:25] Every writer has their own ideas. If you give writers a topic, they won’t perform as well. [02:45] Have your writers pitch ideas. [04:25] If you have ideas for us, pitch us! We love hearing suggestions. [04:56] That’s all for today! [05:38] We hit our goal of 1 Million downl

In episode #923, we discuss a brilliant example of conference marketing. Tune in to hear who and what we are talking about. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: A Brilliant Example of Conference Marketing [00:35] Drift is a chatbot company. [00:55] Drift is sponsoring Saastr, but instead of getting a booth, they are offering a VIP experience for the conference. [01:30] Check out what they are offering. [02:50] Neil no longer uses Intercom, because it is too expensive. [03:10] Meanwhile, Drift is being creative and trying something new. [03:26] Just because something isn’t a good ROI, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it. [04:55] Burning money to be a leader is worth it if you’re a big company like Drift. [05:22] “Conversational Marketing” is similar to inbound marketing. Dri

In episode #922, we discuss our free live event! Tune in to hear why and how this free conference in downtown LA came about. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: We're Throwing a Free Marketing Conference For You [00:41] We promised we would throw a conference once we reached 1 Million downloads. [01:01] We have now reached that mark and will be throwing the event in downtown L.A. [01:20] We don’t have a venue yet. [01:30] The event will be a whole day with food and guest speakers. [01:45] We might even do a live Marketing School Q&A. [02:15] We will put out the information on our Marketing School homepage. [02:50] This could be a great networking opportunity. [03:25] If this event goes well, we will probably put on more events in the future. [04:45] Neither of us is goi

In episode #921, we discuss how you can produce 300 blog posts a month. Tune in to hear how this feat is even possible. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Produce 300 Blog Posts a Month [00:45] Eric and Neil have discussed created new, unique content. [01:10] Now, they want to discuss quantity instead. [01:26] You need a team to help you achieve 300 posts per month. [01:55] It isn’t the rule of 7 anymore, it’s probably more like the rule of 15. [02:20] You have to be omnipresent. [02:45] There’s nothing wrong with covering the basics instead of coming up with the newest content. [03:15] The omni-channel approach is the way to get yourself seen. [03:35] American Journalists are struggling right now. Find the people looking for work so they can help you create qual

In episode #920, we discuss how podcasts can make you more money. Tune in to hear how podcasts can be lucrative. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Podcasts Can Make You More Money (Even If You Don't Listen to Them) [00:40] Bundle podcasts and offer them as a deal, similar to a book funnel. [00:57] Russell Brunson did this with his podcast and it worked. [01:20] If you don’t have a podcast, contact podcast creators, license their podcast, and repurpose their episodes. [01:55] Once someone buys from you, you can always re-pitch them. [02:40] Think of starting a service that categorizes podcasts. [03:00] Russell Brunson’s podcast scheme earned him thousands of dollars. [03:40] When someone checks out, try to sell them more stuff using a service like ClickFunnel. [04:1

In episode #919, we discuss the 7 traits that make amazing content marketers. Tune in to hear what traits you need to be successful. We have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Traits That Make Amazing Content Marketers [00:35] 1: Consistency. [01:00] You have to be consistent to be successful. [01:10] 2: Creativity. [01:20] Think outside the box. [01:30] 3: Being data driven. [01:40] You have to make decisions based on data. [02:15] 4: Hiring non-Ivy Leaguers. [02:20] Sometimes, Ivy League alumni are too smart for their own good. [02:30] Neil had trouble understanding a Dartmouth graduate that he interviewed. [02:57] 5: Being open minded. [03:29] 6: Passion. [03:40] Do what you love and your content will fare much better. [03:51] 7: Resourcefulness. [04:01] Resourceful