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Actionable Marketing Podcast

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Now displaying: 2018
Dec 18, 2018

Marketers have unprecedented access to marketing measurables. They’re inundated with data. So, which marketing metrics matter the most?

Today, we’re talking to Andy Crestodina, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Orbit Media Studios. Also, he’s the author of Content Chemistry. Andy believes that the most visible marketing metrics are usually the least useful. He identifies and ranks metrics that matter.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

  • Inverse correlation between visibility of a metric and its importance/success
  • Metrics correlated with business success are difficult to get and require analysis
  • Social, Search, and Email Metrics: Easy-to-see metrics that offer low to medium importance that correlate to business success
  • Easy to see which post gets the most traffic, but it takes analysis to calculate conversion rate from visitor to downloader/subscriber/registrant per article
  • Critical Metrics: Revenue, margin, profit, utilization, and capacity are difficult to measure, but are critical to business success
  • Rather than trying to get reviews, try listening to your customers to make them happy enough to give testimonials and referrals
  • Deliberately seek out sales, revenue, invoice, leads, and other critical metrics
  • Look at your own biases as a marketer; deeper down you go in your funnel, the more impact of each action
  • Best ways/tools to track metrics include UTM campaign tracking codes and Google Analytics; avoid influencer marketing

Links:

 

Dec 11, 2018

Did you do a lot of stupid things when you were a kid? Did you get caught and yelled at? Was your #1 go-to argument: Well, my buddy was doing it first - only to be told, “Well, if your friend jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?” As a kid, there are certain people who influence and inspire you. As you get older, that doesn’t change. About 92% of consumers trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family, more so than any other form of advertising. The result: Influencer marketing.

Today, we’re talking to Shane Barker, a digital marketing consultant who specializes in influencer marketing. He shares the top three things needed to execute a successful influencer marketing strategy, as well as pitfalls to avoid.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

  • Influencer marketing is the practice of using social media influencers to promote your brand, Website, or products
  • Social media influencers have some type of influence over their followers, who trust and believe in them for information and guidance
  • Don’t look at the follower count; number of followers incentivizes who is an influencer, but fake followers are used to make that happen
  • Brands that use influencer marketing successfully include LinkedIn and LikeToKnowIt
  • Software can be used to find influencers - consider engagement rates and profiles, not “likes”; conduct research to build a long-term relationship
  • Pitfalls to Avoid: Don’t go after the influencer with the largest following and spend time selecting and setting expectations for an influencer
  • Measure success of influencer marketing via affiliate codes/links, Website/landing page traffic, brand mentions, engagement rates, etc.
  • Future of Influencer Marketing: How to scale this type of marketing, develop a win-win strategy, and educate brands on how to find influencers  

Links:

 

Dec 4, 2018

Do you enjoy your morning commute? Do you use that time to figure out what you want to accomplish? Goals you want to crush? It can be a peaceful time to think about various projects and who to work with to make things happen.  

Today, we’re talking to Steli Efti, co-founder and CEO of Close.io, about the intersection of inbound marketing and outbound sales. We discuss where to start, how to work collaboratively, how to grow and scale practices, and HUCA.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

  • Starts with customers - if you’ve had success with inbound marketing and data to identify ideal/non-ideal customers, that’s the foundation of outbound sales
  • Outbound Strategy: Ask customers for advice on how to sell to them
  • Be vulnerable when doing sales, ask for help, and create an MVP for insights
  • Decision-maker milestones to reach through outbound efforts that can be improved, replicated, and scaled
  • Not all sales reps are created equal; requires consistency and persistency
  • Would I want to buy from this person? Would I want to buy something from this person that I don’t really want to buy?
  • Salesperson Characteristics: Knowledgeable, influencing, trustful, confident, authentic, honest, competitive, and adaptive
  • Depending on your buyers, send emails or make calls to reach them
  • Hang Up and Call Again (HUCA): Philosophy that applies to trying again to get everything you want in life
  • Get outbound sales and inside marketing to work together to understand what they’re trying to accomplish and what insights they’re gathering

Links:

 

 

Nov 27, 2018

How many Webinars have you attended? Presented? How would you rate them? Unfortunately, most Webinars fail because they’re poorly executed and take a lot of time and energy to produce. How can you create a worthwhile Webinar?

Today, we’re talking to Todd Earwood, CEO of MoneyPath and creator of Webinar Works. He identifies the biggest difference between mediocre Webinars and those that drive sales results. Also, he describes five Webinar elements needed to increase a company’s ROI. When framed correctly, a Webinar adds value for a business.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

  • Software companies’ marketing tends to focus on inbound content-related emails and Webinars; Webinars bring marketing and sales together
  • Webinar Works helps companies create unique and different Webinars; teaches them how to save time creating content and make it effective
  • What are you doing wrong when it comes to Webinars? Hook is a dud and you can’t hold that stage - no matter how good the content
  • Webinars should include a host and thought leader; it’s a performance, not a PowerPoint, to keep people engaged and take action
  • Webinar Elements:
  1. Worrying about the wrong metrics
  2. Targeting a niche to build a hook focused on pain
  3. Offering polls to engage audience and qualify leads   
  4. Segmenting follow up
  5. Creating a “can of soup” to repurpose content

Links:

Nov 20, 2018

These days, content marketing is all about videos. This trend is expected to continue into the future. By 2021, it’s been estimated that 82% of consumer Internet content will be from the video medium. Video helps marketers improve SEO, increase engagement, and produce higher retention rates.

Today, we’re talking to Alex Schofield, account executive at Wistia, where he helps customers reach their sales and marketing goals by using the company’s video platform. He shares how to avoid the pitfalls of creating videos as one-off tactics to create a video strategy and think creatively for unique and budget-friendly uses of video.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

  • Reasons why marketers should embrace video (generate awareness and help people make decisions about different problems that your company could solve)
  • People retain 90% of message delivered via video, compared to 10% via text
  • Customers crave authenticity and human connection when dealing with businesses - video makes that possible
  • Use video as an inexpensive part of your email strategy to gain exposure; and use social exposure to build influence and awareness of your brand
  • People’s email filters are out of your control, but email is still effective - if you focus on how you deliver the video   
  • Think strategically about where video can play a part in every stage of your marketing funnel to guide prospects and help push them through their journey
  • Measure success by identifying the goal of the video and funnel stage
  • The B-word (Budget): Different types of videos for different budgets
  • Video Distribution: Include videos on the landing pages of your Website and work with existing avenues (email, social networks, etc.) to incorporate videos

Links:

 

 

Nov 13, 2018

The relationship between sales and marketing teams is often tumultuous and complicated. They share the same goals, yet they squabble and fight like children. They easily point fingers and tattletale about what the other is doing wrong. Let’s dive into the mind of a salesperson to understand how sales and marketing teams can work together, instead of against each other.

Today, we’re talking to Kris Nelson, head of sales at CoSchedule. He shares what sales teams truly think about marketers and how the two can minimize conflict and improve collaboration. Learn how to avoid pitfalls by following CoSchedule’s techniques.

 

Some of the highlights of the show include:

  • Sales and marketing people typically argue about bad leads, not following up on leads, etc.; there’s a stigma that sales and marketing teams just don’t get along
  • Minimize conflict through open lines of communication to develop rapport/trust
  • Establish credibility that you know what you’re doing as a salesperson; gain marketers’ trust by being good at selling the leads they give you
  • Share your opinions and feedback; don’t tear down processes, improve them
  • Define/evaluate marketing qualified leads (MQLs)/sales qualified leads (SQLs)
  • BANT: Budget, authority, need, and timing
  • Biggest breakdowns often occur when learning how to work together and how individuals communicate to be more efficient
  • Growing pains you experience as your platform, solution, and functionality evolve
  • Not all prospects are created equal; ways to handle different types of prospects
  • Establish who owns opportunities and when; work smarter, not harder
  • Ideal profile/persona of a CoSchedule customer
  • Common issue marketers struggle with centers around planning and visibility 

Links:

  • Write and send a review to receive a CoSchedule care package

 

 

Nov 6, 2018

Email marketing is that trusted friend that’s been around forever and will never let you down. You can always turn to it when you need some help. Plus, it gives you a whopping average ROI of 3,800%. That’s $38 for every $1 invested. 

Today, we’re talking to Matthew Montoya, the partner enablement and training manager at Constant Contact. He has helped consult more than 13,000 businesses on email marketing best practices. Email has been around a long time, but Matthew describes current trends and what works today. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • People who give you their email address are expressing interest in your business
  • Quantify the value of your email list by multiplying the size of your list by the price point of the average they sell to get a dollar figure
  • Biggest change in email marketing over the last seven years is mobile readership; 51% of business/non-profit emails will be opened on a mobile device
  • People used to spent 35-40 seconds reading an email; now it’s 5 seconds
  • Emails need to be succinct, make an impression, and include a call to action
  • Think of an email not as a massage, but an advertisement where people see the information, act on it, and go to your Website or elsewhere to learn more
  • Every contact matters and can produce money for your company
  • The more targeting and testing you do, the better your responses
  • HTML vs. Plain Text: Depends on your audience, but concise HTML emails usually generate higher, better responses
  • Preview email messages to see how they display on different devices
  • Know your audience to know what content they will find valuable and relevant
  • Constant Contact’s Marketing Pillars: Segmentation, personalization, automation
  • People look first at who sent an email, rather than the subject line; email should come “from” the brand
  • Test subject lines to avoid repetition and make sure they grab readers’ attention
  • Explore all marketing options across platforms - all work together to share a story

Links: 

Oct 30, 2018

A funnel is a way to visualize your prospects’ journey through the marketing and sales process. Figure out where in the funnel they are at - from the unaware to the purchase stage. So, it’s time to put fun back into that funnel!

Today, we’re talking to Emma Tupa, CoSchedule’s marketing automation strategist. She shares how to create personas, find a voice, breakdown funnel stages, and change communication tactics. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Marketers, do you know who you’re talking to?
  • Create buyer personas - collection of prospect characteristics based on research
  • Ways to create buyer personas depending on the stage of your business
  • Research and information lets you pinpoint your ideal customers and target them with specific messaging
  • Find your tone and voice to input personality into copy and effectively communicate in the customers’ language
  • Top of the Funnel or TOFU: Prospects in unaware or pain aware stage; use interesting and informational, but not intense content, to soft sell
  • Middle of Funnel or MOFU: Prospects in the solution aware to product aware stages; content connects dots between the pain and the best solution for it
  • Bottom of the Funnel or BOFU: Prospect are potentially purchase ready and in the most aware stage; content is geared to converting through calls to action  
  • Marketing is a science; involves reacting and re-engaging with prospects to get them down the funnel
  • Differences between marketing and sales materials, including emails

Links: 

Write and send a review to receive a CoSchedule care package

Oct 23, 2018

As a marketer, there’s so much to think about and focus on - SEO, content, direct marketing, emails, inbound strategy…but where on that list does word-of-mouth marketing rank as a priority? Maybe it’s not high enough. How do you get your customers to talk about you? What are the steps to create a word-of-mouth strategy for your business?

Today, we’re talking to Daniel Lemin, head of consulting at Convince and Convert and co-author of Talk Triggers. He shares how “same is lame” because consumers like different experiences and ignore average, as well as how talk triggers can turn customers into volunteer marketers and brand evangelists. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Talk Triggers focuses on customer-driven conversation; as the client or brand, become the content and give a story to tell
  • Talk Trigger Example: The Cheesecake Factory’s over-sized menu gets ⅓ of its customers to talk about it - usually, in jest
  • Another Example: DoubleTree hotel’s fresh, warm cookies; customers talk about the uniqueness and difference they offer - tangible part of experience
  • Talk Trigger Criteria: Remarkable, relevant, reasonable, repeatable
  • Get out from behind your desk to connect with customers and listen to them to uncover gaps in the customer journey
  • Talk triggers often live between what a customer wants and what they really want
  • Avoid surveys - don’t ask the customer what they want
  • Talk triggers could be characters or animals that become an integral part of branding and familiarity with your product (i.e. Freddie from Mailchimp)

Links: 

Oct 16, 2018

What does marketing look like today? Well, it’s a blend of art and science. It brings together creative visuals and copy with marketing research and analytics. Marketers are now creative creators dressed in lab coats. And, conversion rate optimization (CRO) - a system that increases the percentage of visitors to a Website that are converted into customers - is a perfect example. 

Today, we’re talking to Talia Wolf of GetUplift, which offers businesses and entrepreneurs training on how to increase conversions. Talia tells the truth and dispels myths about CRO. She also explains why CRO needs to be more customer centric and what it’s like when done right. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • CRO is not just about changing elements on a page and hoping for the best; it’s about solving people’s problems and improving the customer’s journey
  • Talia gets into people’s heads because they buy on emotion and then rationalize with different reasons; she focuses on people behind the screen rather than data
  • Emotional Targeting Process: Identifying emotions and getting to know customers better
  • Utilize customer surveys/interviews and competitor analysis; talk to people, ask the right questions, and analyze answers
  • Conversion Psychology: You’re not buying a product, but higher self-esteem and better versions of yourself
  • People browse and search for solutions via Google, then hit Command and open a bunch of tabs; 3 seconds to grab their attention and understand their pain
  • Do groundwork and run meaningful tests on strategies, concepts, or hypothesis
  • Color Psychology: People are influenced by colors in different ways due to their culture, emotions, experience, and more factors

Links: 

Write and send a review to receive a CoSchedule care package

Oct 9, 2018

Do you love podcasts? Of course, you do. And you’re not alone. About 48 million people listen to them each year - up 6 million from last year. One-third of Americans (ages 25-54) listen to podcasts monthly, so they’re not just for nerds anymore. It's not too late to jump in the game. The time is now. Want to start a podcast? How do you it? How much does it cost? What equipment and technology will I need? How do I land the best guests?

If you don't even know where to begin, fear not. Nathan Ellering and Jordan Loftis of CoSchedule are here to talk about the early days of the Actionable Marketing Podcast (AMP) and lessons they learned along the way.  

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • AMP podcast was created as a supplement to CoSchedule’s blog and reach new audiences
  • Smart people use CoSchedule as a tool, so the podcast gave the company an opportunity to build relationships with them
  • Finding guests can be intimidating; start with those around you,then feature customers and their stories and experience using your product and services
  • AMP was initially focused on content marketing; but people who do content marketing, do it as one part of marketing - that's not all they do
  • AMP gives you helpful information, and expect you to act upon it
  • If you want a podcast, start simple with just a microphone, room, and people to talk to; that's all you need - don’t over-complicate it and learn as you go
  • Listening to and looking at yourself at first is weird; may sound like a 12-year-old chipmunk and look like Harry Potter in flannel
  • Ultimately, when it comes to podcasts, it's about the content - whether it gets shared and how it connects with people
  • High-priced and high-tech mics and other equipment are not necessary; keep the cost low when starting a podcast - look around to see what you already have
  • Necessities: Mic, filter for that mic, Internet connection, call recorder, and quiet room; use Libsyn or some other podcast hosting option
  • Interviewing: Can be kind of a nerve-wracking experience - do it to learn it; #1 thing when interviewing is to be the listener's advocate or sit in the listener's seat
  • Build credibility to snag big-name guests; but don’t try to just name-grab, invite people who you think highly of and offer incredible value

Links: 

 

 

Oct 2, 2018

Do you work remotely? A recent Gallup study shows that more than 40% of the American workforce works remotely, at least some of the time.

Today, we’re talking to Sandra Lewis, founder and CEO of Worldwide101. It’s a premium subscription staffing company with virtual assists, expert marketers, and others across the world. Sandra shares six keys you need when working with a remote team to amplify their abilities and make them successful. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Key 1 - Hire for passion: You want them to be interested, passionate, and obsessive in your service and product
  • Key 2 - Analyze skill sets and strengths: Worldwide101 has two pillars that categorize someone's strength - structured or creative
  • Key 3 - Amplify those strengths: Amplifying a strength is having someone do what they do best; also look at what can complement a core strength (soft skills)
  • Key 4 - Provide ongoing learning opportunities: Keep people engaged and provide a path and cross training for them to grow their strengths
  • Key 5 - Provide great tools: Try new tools and build a tool stack that helps workers be more efficient and productive
  • Key 6 - Over communicate: Have face-to-face meetings, acknowledge every email, set check-in times to build trust and get to know someone remotely
  • To lead a successful remote team, keep it personal; do little things that make working remotely less isolated; love the people you work with and celebrate them

Links: 

Sep 25, 2018

The struggle is real for marketers because they are in the midst of a customer trust crisis. And things are only getting worse. Studies show that only 48% of the general population in the United States trust businesses. Earning the trust of customers can be difficult, so deliver what you promise when it comes to your products. 

Writing a case study is a great way to do just that. Today, we’re talking to Whitney Deterding, CoSchedule product marketing specialist, who focuses on the company’s case studies. You’ll learn from her that case studies need to resonate with your prospects and have a purpose. She shares best practices to use when selecting customers and avoiding pitfalls. Discover how to craft case studies that move your prospects down the funnel. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Case studies need to have social proof to build trust; gives people insight into how great your product or service is direct from the customer’s mouth
  • CoSchedule’s Customer Success Team has direct connection to customers; identify which customers should be used in case studies and testimonials
  • Sales Team deals with prospects all the time and become aware of problems they face and trends in various industries
  • Incent is a common tactic used to get customers to be in case studies; both CoSchedule and its customers reap benefits
  • Send personal Thank You messages or gifts to the customers to show how appreciative and grateful you are for their time
  • Questions to Ask: What  is the problem that your service/product solved? What steps were taken relieve a pain pont and generate results?
  • Do research beforehand to help you discover and uncover unique things that a customer might discuss
  • Transcribe and listen to interview recordings to highlight quotes and case studies
  • Present case studies with the customer’s logo, headshot, demographics, and other items to make it authentic and give readers something valuable to pull out
  • Once you’ve done the interview, there’s many ways you can use that information to move prospects through the funnel
  • Measuring the ROI of a case study depends on how it’s being used; include a call to action to measure conversions
  • Common pitfalls include trying to do too many case studies together - they tell the same story; and don’t control the interview - be able to pivot

Links: 

 

 

Sep 18, 2018

For companies that generate $5-$20 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), marketing typically sources about 42% of an account executive’s leads. For larger revenue-generating companies with $20-$50 million in ARR, marketing sources only 36% of an account executive’s leads. So, if your inbound traffic is flatlining, it’s time to look into new lead sources to grow your business. How? Outbound sales and marketing processes, which diversify lead sources that help grow your business.

Today, we’re talking to Trish Bertuzzi, CEO and founder of The Bridge Group and author of The Sales Development Playbook. The Bridge Group provides services to the B2B technology space in three areas: Sales development, inside sales, and account-based selling. Trish identifies the biggest challenges when companies are getting started with outbound sales or marketing. Best practices include automation and getting past cold processes to drive huge returns from outbound efforts. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Getting to engagement is hardest part of the sales process because we overwhelm buyers spam emails and robo voicemails
  • Different buyer types react to different ways of outreach; figure out your buyer type, analyze their preferences, and build a strategy
  • Effective Outbound Outreach Tactics: If you’re going to use the phone, tell a story with your voicemails; back that up with great emails and valuable content
  • Sales and marketing teams should build stories together and consider implementing a CRM, sequencing tool, and conversational intelligence tools
  • Get a steady stream of outbound leads through a strategy: Who to go after, what to say, how to say it, how message will be delivered, and how to analyze results
  • Get to the point when reaching out to someone for the first time; tell them your objective and what’s in it for them
  • Make voicemails and emails concise; subject lines matter and no attachments
  • The Bridge Group publishes two primary reports: Inside Sales for SaaS Metrics and Comp and Sales Development Metrics and Comp
  • Reports are the #1 lead source for The Bridge Group; they’ve impacted the company’s pipeline and revenues.
  • Look at the right numbers; how many fit your ideal customer profile?

Links: 

Sep 11, 2018

Marketers usually have many goals—sometimes too many. And let's not forget about these Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). As marketers, we can measure so much, but what should we focus on to influence real growth? There are several specific lead indicators that marketers can measure that ultimately influence revenue growth: Website visitors, email subscribers, marketing qualified leads, sales qualified leads, and customers.

Today, we're talking to Lindsey Morando, director of marketing at Hello Bar, which is dedicated to helping marketers build their email list. In this episode, learn why your community of email subscribers is your most valuable asset as a marketer. You’ll get advice on conversion tactics, as well as how to create lead magnets and content upgrades that turn Website visitors into subscribing fans.

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Definition of List Building: Creating, building up, and cultivating a community of people who have a common interest that you can support and offer a solution
  • People are 40% more likely to sign up for your email list than social media; 73% of companies report that email marketing is their top ROI channel
  • Generate traffic to Website to convert visitors into email subscribers; look at SEO efforts, social media, and where your ideal client is to be in front of them
  • Traffic Building Tips: Joint training, tutorial videos, and Webinars get people to know, like, and trust you; speak at events to increase brand awareness
  • Convert traffic into email subscribers by understanding users and what's going to get them to take action; see where people are going on your site using analytics
  • Pop-ups and lead captures sometimes get a bad rap; it's because you're not presenting the right message, at the right time, to the right people
  • Content upgrades are a lead capture within a blog post - it’s a pattern interrupt; quizzes, challenges, and games also work well
  • When building an email list develop a plan and schedule based on why someone would want to join your list; provide content that brings value to your community
  • First email should welcome people, share your story, and introduce you; can include a video or downloadable
  • First Email List: Start with people you know; let them know what to expect, what you're going to share, and what value you're going to provide with a call to action

Links: 

Sep 4, 2018

Does your blog stand out from your competition? Does it provide experiences that make prospects want to come back? If your blog is boring, what does that say about your products and services? But if your blog content is engaging, imagine what your target audience will think about them. 

Today, we’re talking to Barry feldman, mastermind behind Feldman Creative. In this episode, Barry shares some tips on what to do and not do to create standout content, build an audience, and offer awesome experiences through your content marketing. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Biggest impediment for content marketing success is tunnel vision, where companies focus explicitly on a blog but nothing more; expectations are unreal
  • Think about the entire content marketing funnel - capturing emails, building a community, and building a relationships; a blog is just a piece of that process
  • Build an audience; create assets that excite people and don’t depend on one channel
  • Barry’s experience with The Article Factory, a cheap content farm; you get what you pay for
  • Barry’s price for articles is higher because he understands SEO, writing, positioning, and conversion; he can help you reach your objectives
  • Blogs should be educational, entertaining, and inspiring; make customers the stars of your stories and showcase in-house/guest writers with opinions
  • High-quality content is so exciting that you want more of it; the purpose of a blog content is to get someone to subscribe to your Website
  • Invest more time and resources to create quality content; bigger is better
  • Successful content marketers position themselves as experts in their field; communicate authority with your posts
  • Content Marketing: Keep trying, roll with the changes, take it seriously; success isn’t instant and you don’t hit a homerun every time

Links: 

Aug 28, 2018

Our favorite thing about hosting the Actionable Marketing Podcast is picking the brains of  marketing heroes. So, we’re absolutely blown away by the amazing marketers we’ve gotten to learn from over the past two years.

To our listeners, you’re the reason we do this. It’s all about bringing the best of the best to you. To celebrate the 100th episode of AMP, here are some of our favorite guests, takeaways, and thoughts from more than 60 hours of marketing gold!

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Janna Maron: No more frustration by banking content and scheduling it to auto publish; publish less, but at higher quality
  • Michael Brenner: The most compelling way to guide everything you do as a marketer - what’s in it for the customer, colleague, and company?
  • Brian Clark: His biggest marketing mistake was the curse of knowledge - a cognitive bias where you assume the audience knows certain things you know
  • Noah Kagan: Helped Mint scale to its first 100,000 users in less than a year; what’s your goal and timeline?
  • Andrea Fryrear: Marketers are asked to do new projects all the time, but prioritize and simplify backlog of projects to be successful; plan your work, work your plan
  • Joanna Wiebe: Describes how to go deeper than Calls To Action and into Calls To Value; clearly articulate the ultra-specific value on the other side of a click
  • Tim Soulo: You should write 2,000+ word articles to rank in search engines, but people don’t want to read - they want answers to questions to solve problems
  • Nir Eyal: Psychology of habit formation and how marketers can capitalize on it; every product you use is to modulate your mood and alleviate pain
  • Jeff Goins: Four qualities in best-performing posts - piece is well written, contains a compelling promise, keeps that promise, and wows reader with value
  • Rand Fishkin: Remarkable customer research determines TRUE influencer status and who to partner with for co-promotion; share what audience values

If you enjoy AMP, write a review on iTunes and send a screenshot of it to be entered into a drawing to win the 100th episode giveaway, which includes a $100 CoSchedule swag package, bundle of three marketing books, and $50 Amazon gift card!  

Links: 

Aug 21, 2018

What’s the best way to market and grow a business? Do you often lock yourself in a conference room to avoid distractions and answer that question? Does one idea keep coming to mind? Guest writing for influential publications. 

Aaron Orendorff does it. He is the founder and CEO of iconiContent, as well as the editor-in-chief of Shopifyplus. Guest blogging was a foundational ingredient to scaling his personal brand. Aaron’s used guest writing to build clients for his own business and help land a job at Shopify. He shares the importance of writing for such publications, where to start, how to find ideas for articles to be accepted, and how to pitch articles.

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Aaron spent 2 ½ years guest posting, guest blogging, and writing articles for publications that he respected and wanted to be like
  • Aaron began building relationships and cold pitching to editors anywhere and everywhere to get ahold of email addresses
  • He understands that social proof is one of the most powerful levers to convince somebody to enter your funnel or start talking to you online
  • Cold Pitching Process: Reverse engineering of popular topics; speaking language/terminology of audience; using Buzzsumo to find popular social media
  • What are the headline formulas? What’s the word count? How did they use images? How are they interlinking? Did they like a lot of data?
  • Aaron sent publishers a complete article tailored to their publication; he identified topics related to popular posts on their site and discovered competitive holes
  • What gets responses from editors? Behind-the-scenes work, show instead of tell, and sending publishers a brief email with the attached article as a Word doc
  • Go to About or Contact Website pages for the publications or use tools to find email addresses of the editors
  • Rejections: Write an entire article for a specific publication, send it to the editors; wait to get rejected
  • Risk-to-Reward Ratio: Once rejected, tweak it and send to a different publication; work your way down a publication list; risk goes way down
  • After first “yes,” doors open and it’s far easier to write for publications a second, a third, a fourth time; promote articles after published to maximize opportunities
  • Guest writing has helped by getting attention from editors/other writers and building relationships with them through customized, valuable articles
  • To start guest writing: 1) Write complete articles tailored for specific publications; don’t send pitches; 2) Find what’s popular at their and competitors’ sites

Links: 

Aug 14, 2018

As marketers, you’ve probably been told that you have to pay to play. But how do you make the most out of what you put in? People buy from people who they know, like, and trust. 

Today, we’re talking to Amanda Bond, owner of Ad Strategist. She tells us how to get more results from our Facebook ads, how much to spend on ads, and how to scale the use of ads. She shares her “secret sauce” comprised of a 3-step formula that goes from engagement to purchases. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Stop guessing, get results with Facebook ads; manage ads to get a better ROI
  • As Facebook ads gain popularity and attract more advertisers, cost for them will only continue to rise; stay ahead of growth curve and remain competitive
  • The Strategy System: Put people through a customer journey - Connect, Commit, and Close
  • Connect: Amplify content, put the brand out there, and engage your audience; review Facebook Page Insights to identify how your organic content performs
  • Commit: For lead generation, Ad Strategist only targets warm custom audiences; a custom audience is one that has previously interacted with your brands
  • Close: When you set up your Facebook ad, it is the first thing you do; patch up holes of close/sales retargeting ads for them to convert to purchase decisions
  • Take 3 main objections submitted to customer service and turn them into Facebooks ads to overcome those objections and increase sales conversion rate
  • Make sure you can sell an offer before spending lots of money on Facebook ads
  • Continue to fill pipeline with new members and scale sustainably by figuring out what information an audience needs to know to make a future purchase decision
  • Targeting broad audiences can be just as cost-effective; power of Facebook ad tools and optimization
  • If brand new to Facebook ads, don’t start Facebook advertising before you understand your earnings per lead

Links: 

Aug 7, 2018

Want to provide a better experience for your prospects and customers, and make your work life a little more efficient at the same time? That’s the dream behind marketing automation. It’s about delivering the right messages to the right people in the most effective way. 

Today, we’re talking to Chris Davis, director of education at ActiveCampaign. He teaches us that marketing automation goes beyond email marketing and shares ideas on how you can improve your customer experience with automation. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Marketing automation is the process of employing technology to execute a marketing strategy
  • Hire and train each tool that you use in marketing to solve a problem
  • Owners wear many hats; marketing automation lets them do more of what they want to do in their business, than what they have to do
  • Examples of automation include someone filling out a form and your company following up or giving away something for free to obtain email addresses
  • Biggest mindset shift to automation is looking at your platform not as a way to send out emails, but as a way to collect data
  • Sole purpose of marketing automation is to scale personalization and make people feel individualized; automation allows you to sort or segment contacts
  • Before doing anything technical, define segments in your business; who are you going to be talking to? First 2 segments: customers and non-customers
  • Simple things become complex when understanding isn’t in close proximity; most businesses struggle to understand marketing and technology
  • Email can be the channel or means in which a message travels; send a message to customers to break the barrier of technology
  • Marketing automation qualifies customers and determines who should follow-up with them; automation serves as a facilitator
  • People prefer to buy online, rather than going into a store; their guards are down, but everybody still wants to be treated like a human being and individual
  • Outsourcing marketing can be a mistake; you may need someone internal to your business that is involved in the day-to-day to unleash your marketing

Links: 

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Jul 31, 2018

If you are a marketer, then you have probably heard of Rainmaker Digital’s Copyblogger and read some of its articles. Copyblogger is one of the most iconic marketing blogs in the world. It is kind of a big deal, and there’s a good reason for that. The team at Copyblogger works hard to publish specific content that the audience finds extremely useful and valuable.  

Today, we’re talking to Brian Clark, founder and CEO of Rainmaker Digital and creator of Copyblogger. Brian and Copyblogger are recognized by many as the most influential blogging resources. If you haven’t got the hint yet, Brian knows his stuff! So, learn all about audience, value, and generosity from him.  

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Getting back to basics with digital and content marketing automation and personalization; it’s still the human being in the middle of it that matters the most
  • Know your audience for automation and personalization to be a delivery engine that gets better content to people who care about it
  • Learn how to use new tools before applying them in the fundamentals of a sound digital marketing strategy; the tool does not make the strategy
  • Audience First Content: Build your audience by providing them value; then you will understand what products they want and need
  • Publish content first that attracts an audience, and then build a product
  • Copyblogger is considered the Bible of content marketing despite no advertising
  • Rainmakers: Use email marketing principles and have a product to sell to develop authority and clients
  • How much to give away for free with your content marketing - be generous, tell them everything, and share as much as you can, if you are selling something
  • Content Creation to Revenue Generation: Are you getting more business than if you weren’t doing content marketing?
  • Productize content and charge audience for information by knowing the objective and removing all objections that prevent buying
  • Know your audience to determine the right format (audio, video, written, etc.)
  • Internet is the greatest market research environment; it’s no longer about not having enough information, but how to manage and utilize it all
  • Biggest mistake made is trying to appeal to everyone and not turn anyone off

Links: 

Jul 24, 2018

Can a well-researched piece of content from a single URL help bring in millions of views in just one year? The answer is, “Yes.” CoSchedule knows exactly how that feels. Researched content helps you drive 10X results that convert into profitable customer action. 

Today, we’re talking to Michele Linn, who knows everything about research-driven content marketing. She is the co-founder and chief strategy officer at Mantis Research. Michele has amazing advice to offer on how to succeed at content marketing. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Research is crucial for content marketing; people want to find data that supports their thoughts and beliefs; become the authoritative source for some type of topic
  • Examples of research include CoSchedule’s State of Marketing Strategy Report, and research reports from Salesforce and Robert Half
  • Find new ideas for your audience/niche by conducting a survey, or looking for a stat that people believe but is not backed up by data   
  • Audiences that care most about research-based content are those in a new industry to gain justification, and on social media that like to share stats
  • Importance of research-driven content to prove or disprove something
  • Targeting Topics: Is it something that’s interesting to your audience? Does it align with your brand’s story? Is there other research available on this topic?
  • Research can be time consuming, about 4-6 months; but it is worth the effort
  • Research can be a guiding force and the glue that holds your story and editorial strategy together
  • Pitching researched content to justify time spent; what does client care about?
  • Content to produce results; start out small, don’t do too much at once
  • Tools and processes work well to gather research; try surveys and secondary research; determine sample size to be considered representative and valid
  • Metrics to measure for success include media mentions, impressions of research, leads, downloads, email subscribers, and backlinks
  • Research Process: 1) Strategy and planning, 2) Data science, 3) Compile data and turn into story, 4) Incorporate research into blogs, infographs, videos, etc.   

Links: 

Jul 17, 2018

How can you grow your website to become the world’s largest in your niche? Traffic without conversions does not let you influence profitable customer action, which marketing is designed to do. How can you get more results from your Website traffic? Marketing automation with Google provides prospective customers with what they want and when they need it to help influence their purchase decisions.

Today, we’re talking to Mike Danner, vice president of digital marketing at Ancient Nutrition. He helped the company’s Website, Dr. Axe, become the largest natural health Website in the world and generate about 19 million unique visits each month. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Ancient Nutrition and Dr. Axe help educate and provide supplements for those who want a natural approach
  • Ancient Nutrition is progressive and doing things right to grow its Website
  • Every generation requires its own revolution; current generation is focused on sustainable farming and getting rid of big manufacturing lines
  • Ancient Nutrition evolved out of passion and vision to become #1 natural health Website in the world and buy Whole Foods some day
  • Organic and surge approach through success leaving clues; seek the best and biggest to mimic
  • Use automation to help increase conversions; automation through ClickFunnels improved growth for Ancient Nutrition
  • Focus on the return received from training, not the cost of the training
  • Organize, optimize, customize when building automation
  • Funnels that trigger journeys include micro-intense steps (cart abandonment)
  • Review and analyze data to make decisions; phases of data absorption, monitoring, and testing - experimentation and exploitation
  • Shiny objects are fun, but deploy something to earn money
  • Marketing Automation and Integrative/Holistic Approach to Testing Program: How often are you going to test? What are you going to do with the data?
  • If brand new to marketing automation, anchor toward your goals; make as much as you can evergreen, and automation’s only as good as the multiplier

Links: 

Jul 10, 2018

Do you know how to use social media to build an irresistible brand and delight customers? Want to be amazing on Facebook, Instagram, and all the other sites? Need some inspiration for your social media branding? 

Today, we’re talking to Dave Kerpen, chairman of Likeable Media and best-selling author of Likeable Social Media. He shares his advice on what has remained relevant in social media over the past few years and what will continue to help you be successful. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • Dave’s favorite ideas/concepts include using social media for listening and storytelling to put ideas into the world
  • Brands that are good at storytelling are Redbox, Ahold, Century 21, and Work It
  • Dave’s #1 social media goal for brands is to make money; have a specific monetary ROI in mind
  • Move people down the sales funnel for awareness to purchase 
  • Social media savagery trend where brands troll the trolls; is it helpful or hurtful? Depends on your brand’s personality and audience
  • Biggest mistakes marketers make include using social media to sell too quickly, not sell at all, and not use advertising to take advantage of paid opportunities
  • Make sure you’re not selling too much and your content is something you would Like, share, or comment on
  • For paid opportunities, focus first on investing dollars into ads on social media
  • Future Social Media Trends: Musical.ly, videos, and messaging apps
  • Stop investing time into a social channel when the reason you joined no longer applies

Links: 

Jul 3, 2018

Every day, consider your marketing career mindset. You can plan all you want, but at some point, you need to get to work, create something your audience will love, and launch it. You’ll probably make mistakes and face roadblocks along the way. But whatever goal you have for your marketing strategy, getting and staying organized will help you on your path to success.

Today, we’re talking to Kelly Napoli, who is the content marketing coordinator at Obermiller Nelson Engineering (ONE). Learn how to collaborate with subject matter experts (SMEs), importance of taking risks with your marketing, and why starting is more important than anything else. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

  • ONE is trying a bit of everything with its content marketing to see what works and what doesn’t
  • Marketers should pick SMEs’ brains to figure out what clients find interesting
  • It works better and smoother to have a conversation with SMEs vs. asking them to write marketing content
  • Lessons Learned: Once you’ve got a plan, implement it or nothing gets done
  • Personas: Have conversations about your target market
  • Provide audience with content that’s beneficial for them; at the same time, you don’t necessarily want to give away your secret sauce
  • Efficient collaboration with remote teams involves utilizing tools, including phones and video chats
  • Email is not always the most efficient way to communicate
  • CoSchedule advances you through the collaboration and communication process
  • Organization is Key: Find what works for you; for ONE, it’s CoSchedule
  • You pay for software, so use it; focus on what needs to get done
  • If you have multiple projects and tasks, stay organized by using task templates and Excel spreadsheets
  • Going from two to four new blog posts monthly to be consistent and productive; publish content to produce results and influence certain perceptions
  • Get organized in chaos behind marketing management; turn to CoSchedule, learn from your mistakes, and find software to help you stay organized

Links: 

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