Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

In episode #711, Eric and Neil discuss exceptional marketing campaigns. Tune in to find out who are the best marketers in the game.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Most Exceptional Marketing Campaign in 2018
• [00:48] Neil loves Billy Gene’s videos.
• [01:22] Neil thought his “Wolf of Wall Street” themed video was so effective.
• [01:50] Eric prefers Grant Cardone.
• [02:25] Eric once watched an hour and a half interview with Grant and he liked it because he was emotional and honest.
• [03:43] Tai Lopez also does a good job of leveraging lifestyle marketing.
• [04:05] Grant Cardone has multiple shows.
• [04:15] He is a great example of consistency and quality.
• [04:35] Billy Gene and Grant Cardone are neck and neck when it comes to leveraging lifestyle marketing.
• [05:00] Look at their techniques and see what you can learn from them.
• [06:22] Look at their campaigns and see if you can borrow strategies and apply them to your business in a way that works for your brand.
• [06:40] If someone’s marketing tactics rub you the wrong way, don’t dismiss them; see what you can learn.
• [07:21] That’s all for today!
• [07:26] If you are interested in getting a software bundle from Eric and Neil, tweet at Eric and let them know!
• [07:45] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #710, Eric and Neil discuss how Clickfunnels earned their success. Tune in to hear how Clickfunnels beat the competition.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Clickfunnels Built Their Way To $100M ARR
• [00:40] Clickfunnels is a SAS Product that is a monthly subscription service.
• [01:00] They claim you can use their product to do everything you need to build a site and promote it.
• [01:15] Leadpages and Infusionsoft are their direct competitors, who they have since surpassed.
• [01:45] They reached $100 Million ARR without raising capital.
• [02:10] Once you set up a funnel, it continues to work.
• [02:30] They not only sell the product, but also training to make sure you use it correctly.
• [03:20] If you Google Grant Cardone/Russell Brunson 10X, they sold a huge bundle that made them a lot of money.
• [04:30] Clickfunnels does a ton of webinars.
• [04:50] They also use affiliate marketing to grow their business.
• [05:25] They stand out from the pack because they are very generous with their commissions.
• [07:06] Russell Brunson is a creative marketer.
• [07:30] Clickfunnels doesn’t have salespeople or a marketing team and they still beat their competitors.
• [08:44] That’s all for today!
• [08:55] Tweet at Eric if you are interested in a software bundling offer.
• [09:10] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #709, Eric and Neil discuss the one marketing channel you are probably neglecting. Tune in to hear what important channel you haven’t leverage yet.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: The One Marketing Channel You Aren't Investing in But Should
• [00:42] Branding is the one thing in which most business do not invest.
• [01:05] Big corporations are smart enough to spend big bucks on branding.
• [01:25] Think about all the things at the airport that are branded (the bins at security, the walls of your gate).
• [02:12] Most of the money comes from awareness campaigns.
• [02:35] The rule of seven applies here.
• [02:45] Awareness campaigns can help your company more than you think.
• [03:33] Neil believes in branding.
• [03:50] Neil doesn’t track all his branding campaigns; he believes it works.
• [04:15] There is a great Hubspot post about tracking your branding ROI.
• [04:40] Eric feels he is better at the less flashy aspects of marketing, which is why he does branding.
• [05:55] Nintendo has been around for 130 years.
• [06:16] Nintendo stood the test of time, because they have always had consistent branding.
• [06:57] That’s it for today!
• [07:01] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #708, Eric and Neil discuss a marketing hack you aren’t using. Tune in to hear why bundling can drive up your revenue.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Bundling: The Marketing Hack That You Aren't Using
• [00:36] Alex Becker teaches a course and has marketing automation software.
• [00:59] He uses the webinar to sell his software and other courses.
• [01:18] Eric used to partner with software and education companies and they would bundle software and offer giveaways.
• [01:40] This makes people feel like they are getting a lot of value.
• [02:15] HighRise and Basecamp offered bundling and the revenue went up for both companies.
• [03:00] Work out a bundling deal with someone in your industry. It’s a great idea to drive revenue.
• [03:33] GoDaddy has so many products that they offer as a bundle with web hosting.
• [04:25] If you have to offer upsells on top of bundling, you’re doing it wrong.
• [05:15] You need to comply with GDPR laws if you are bundling, especially if you are working with other companies.
• [05:40] That’s it for today!
• [05:44] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #707, Eric and Neil discuss why your blog isn’t loved by Google. Tune in to hear the one big mistake most people make.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: This is Why Your Blog Isn't Loved by Google
• [00:35] People like using web addresses that stick to the format “blog.domain.com”
• [01:08] Eric and Neil believe this is a mistake.
• [01:25] When Eric’s past companies switched from a sub-domain to a sub-folder, traffic increased.
• [02:30] If you’re going to switch, you have to change all of your internal links plus 301 them.
• [03:00] A lot of work is involved in switching over. Use Screaming Frog to make sure you changed everything over correctly.
• [03:45] You have to make sure you have an excel sheet your engineers can follow.
• [04:50] Go post by post when moving everything.
• [05:00] This is also an opportunity to update and delete content.
• [05:15] Make sure all your info is up to date.
• [05:22] That’s it for today!
• [05:27] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #706, Eric and Neil discuss why you should switch email service providers. Tune in to hear why you shouldn’t remain complacent.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: You Need to Switch Email Service Providers
• [00:38] Neil ended up switching because deliverability sucks after a while.
• [00:50] Neil has been having good luck with ConvertKit.
• [01:15] They make sure that the emails only go to people who consistently open Neil’s emails.
• [02:15] Deliverability dops because people either don’t clean their lists or because of spammers.
• [02:31] Neil doesn’t have his own IP, ConvertKit allows him to be on other IP’s.
• [02:43] Eric uses Drip.
• [02:50] Drip is more focused on ecommerce as opposed to ConvertKit who focuses on bloggers and online training courses.
• [03:15] Neil doesn’t believe it matters who the company targets; emails are emails no matter what you do.
• [04:00] ConvertKit does a lot of the work, so Neil doesn’t have to even think about it.
• [04:27] Eric may have been converted to ConvertKit because of Neil.
• [04:43] That’s it for today!
• [04:46] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #705, Eric and Neil discuss their feelings about conferences. Tune in to hear why Eric loves them and Neil thinks they are a waste of time.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why Eric Loves Conferences and Why Neil Hates Them
• [00:45] Eric likes that he can connect with distant acquaintances and friends.
• [01:05] It gives you the chance to deepen connections.
• [01:30] Neil hates them, because he sees the dinners as a distraction.
• [01:50] He believes you can pick up more information watching YouTube videos, which is less expensive than a conference.
• [02:12] Neil thinks people don’t implement the things they learn at conferences.
• [02:50] He doesn’t see a direct correlation between attending conferences and increased revenue.
• [02:58] Most marketers also go to the wrong kind of conferences.
• [03:15] Eric agrees you need to be more selective about which conferences you attend.
• [04:05] If you don’t expand your horizons, you will keep getting the same info from the same people.
• [04:49] If you are at the beginning of your career, there is probably more value to conferences.
• [05:05] Networking through Skype, Slack, or Telegram is also effective.
• [05:30] Neil has been turning down paid speaking gigs, because he doesn’t see the value in conferences.
• [06:01] Go to free networking events or even thrown your own.
• [06:20] Try to make a list of the people you want to meet, so you have some focus.
• [06:44] That’s it for today!
• [06:46] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #704, Eric and Neil discuss why they don’t worry about sucking at Instagram. Tune in to hear why it’s ok to suck at Instagram marketing.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why We Suck at Instagram (and You Should To)
• [00:45] Neil only has one image uploaded at this point.
• [01:05] The cool part about  Instagram is that it gives you a window into other people’s lives.
• [01:30] If it’s a viable way to get business, why don’t Eric and Neil use it?
• [01:40] They want to play to their strengths and there also isn’t enough time in the day to focus on Instagram.
• [02:10] The two biggest spends/revenue producers are Adwords and Facebook.
• [02:40] Nail the basics first, then expand.
• [03:05] Grant Cardone has an insane studio set-up, because he has a whole team.
• [03:35] When you’re starting out, you aren’t yet mastering anything.
• [03:47] Focus on a few basics, before trying your hand at Instagram.
• [04:25] When you are good at video and pictures, then you can worry about Instagram.
• [05:11] You need 10,000 followers to do well on Instagram and it’s hard to reach that level.
• [05:52] A lot of people have fake bot followers, which affects the account’s reach.
• [06:09] That’s it for today!
• [06:13] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #703, Eric and Neil discuss ways to optimize your website. Tune in to hear how you can increase conversions with simple SEO tricks.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: The SEO Hack You've Never Optimized For
• [00:40]  No one is focusing on site speed, which is important. Hosting deeply affects your rankings.
• [00:55] Google has a mobile-first index, which means fast sites will get ranked higher.
• [01:22] You also need to use a content delivery network.
• [01:48] There is a Google Page Speed tool or GT Metrix which will help you measure speed.
• [02:30] Eric’s website was too slow for 3G. They used GTMetrix to discover all their tags were slowing them down.
• [02:56] Ping Them is another great resource.
• [03:10] Don’t take servers for granted.
• [03:30] Optimize for faster load times, which will help with your conversions.
• [03:51] WP Engine has been a great resource for this.
• [04:33] However, WP Engine has been charging exorbitant rates.
• [05:20] Content Distribution Networks distribute your content through servers all throughout the world (it pings your content to closer networks).
• [06:01] Cloudflare is another option besides WP Engine.
• [06:50] That’s it for today!
• [06:54] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #702, Eric and Neil discuss the seven ways to get more engagement on your Facebook ads. Tune in to hear some neat tips and tricks.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Simple Hacks to Get You The Most Engagement on Your Facebook Ads
• [00:40] 1: Hit the “Boost Post” button in Facebook and drive it as a message.
• [00:55] This is a way to build up Messenger subscribers.
• [01:07] 2: When creating a Facebook ad, they give new ads premiere placement to judge its performance.
• [01:38] If you keep rotating your ads, you will get premiere placement and your cost per click will go down.
• [02:00] 3: Go for cost per engagement bidding.
• [02:05] Facebook is going to optimize for people who are apt to engage with your ad.
• [02:55] 4: Most visitors aren’t going to be buyers. So, you should set up a remarketing ad for those people.
• [03:33] 5: Ask for engagement in the ad itself.
• [03:48] You can coax people into commenting, liking, etc.
• [04:04] 6: Make sure you are using video ads. These drive the most conversions.
• [04:22] Don’t forget to use CC’s on your videos, so people can watch without sound.
• [04:50] 7: Run a contest.
• [05:10] If you over a giveaway or contest, it will help you get more engagement.
• [05:30] That’s all for today!
• [05:37] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #701, Eric and Neil discuss what happens when you buy links. Tune in to hear why this isn’t the best practice.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Here's What Happens When You Buy Links
• [00:35] When Eric was first doing SEO, he would peruse black hat forums.
• [00:47] Wicked Fire has a lot of offers for paid tools.
• [01:01] Eric would buy links for sites and his sites would shoot up in the rankings.
• [01:15] He was using cheap content brokers and they would blast a bunch of links, his rankings would increase, but then go back down after a couple days.
• [01:45] Neil tried this with sponsoring an online poker contest.
• [02:05] Sometimes these things work, but more often than not: you get burned.
• [02:27] It’s cheaper and smarter to build your own site with quality content.
• [02:41] Your rankings will maintain when you build your own site.
• [03:26] Always play the long game.
• [03:40] Build an audience.
• [03:50] Investors are burned from buying high-ranking SEO sites.
• [04:00] Sites that are built just to get to the top never last.
• [04:54] Don’t waste your time buying links.
• [05:02] That’s it for today!
• [05:06] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #700, Eric and Neil discuss the blue check mark and what it means. Tune in to hear how you can become a verified user on social media.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Get a Blue Checkmark on Social Media
• [00:35] The blue check mark means that you are “verified”.
• [01:05] On Twitter, there is a form where you can submit your name and argue why you should be verified.
• [01:30] It’s a way for famous people to safeguard their reps and not be easily impersonated.
• [01:50] To be verified on YouTube, you need more than 100,000 subscribers.
• [02:05] Proving that there are impersonators is another easy way to get verified.
• [02:25] If you are running ads on Facebook, you can talk to the ads manager about getting verified.
• [03:13] Don’t pay people who claim they can help you get verified. They are scammers!
• [03:30] A blue check mark hasn’t gotten anything for Eric or Neil, so it may not be worth it.
• [04:09] That’s it for today!
• [04:12] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #699, Eric and Neil count out productivity hacks. Tune in to hear the seven things you should be doing to enhance your success.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Productivity Hacks For Marketers
• [00:32] #1: Build checklists.
• [00:45] Eric’s team has a blogging checklist for all the writers they employ.
• [01:05] Checklists help you standardize processes.
• [01:12] #2: Use “If, then, this, that”.
• [01:20] When you publish, push to social media outlets, push to email, etc.
• [01:45] It will save you time not to do these things manually.
• [01:48] #3: Use dashboards. Try Domo or Scythe.
• [02:02] It’s a great way to track analytics.
• [02:11] #4: Stick with one marketing tactic at a time.
• [02:25] Don’t spread yourself thin and become adept at whatever you do.
• [03:00] #5: Use BuzzSumo alerts.
• [03:12] This will keep you up to date on how you are doing versus your competitors.
• [03:26] #6: Use Un-enroll Me.
• [03:36] It will help you unsubscribe from unwanted junk mail and clear your inbox.
• [03:50] #7: Use Supermetrics.
• [04:00] The reports are the most in-depth reports you can get. A great resource when presenting to investors.
• [04:25] That’s all for today!
• [04:28] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #698, Eric and Neil discuss why daily blogging is unnecessary. Tune in to hear what pace at which you should be producing content.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why We Don't Blog Daily (and You Shouldn't Either)
• [00:36] Neil used to blog seven times per day as an experiment.
• [00:55] It got him a ton of traffic, but he burnt out working at that pace.
• [01:15] HubSpot gets a ton of traffic and posts multiple articles on a daily basis, but they are able to keep that pace.
• [01:40] If you want to scale up and generate more traffic, blog every single day.
• [01:52] If you’re in the B2B world, don’t blog every day. It’s unnecessary.
• [02:13] The Kleiner-Perkins Internet Trends report comes out every year.
• [02:35] It is a popular guide that serves a huge community.
• [02:50] If you want high-quality leads, don’t blog every day. Write content that shows off how smart you are and what you have to offer.
• [03:15] Techcrunch is no longer the end-all, be-all that it used to be.
• [04:05] When you are starting out, doing one really good piece per week or month will do the trick.
• [04:25] Eric and Neil record three times every two months and record in batches of 20. This gives them a lot of shows in advance.
• [04:55] This helps them stay top-of-mind and provide high-quality content.
• [05:15] If you can’t provide value, don’t blog or podcast.
• [05:45] Everything has been done to death, which is why blogging is a hard game.
• [05:59] That’s all for today!
• [06:02] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #697, Eric and Neil discuss why they spend so much money on this podcast. Tune in to hear why giving something away for free can be a good idea.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why We Spent $46,452 on Marketing School
• [00:42] Eric and Neil enjoy doing this podcast.
• [01:15] They struggled with quality and methods at first, but eventually found their stride.
• [01:21] Now, they spend money on intro and outro music, editing, studio time, etc.
• [01:40] Ads and hosting are another expense.
• [02:05] Neil doesn’t like spending money if he doesn’t have to.
• [02:49] Eric thinks he has made at least $100,000 from producing this podcast, while Neil thinks he has made $0.
• [03:22] Neil does the podcast because he believes in the “rule of seven”.
• [03:40] The podcast is one of the seven touchpoints he uses to remain top-of-mind.
• [04:20] Marketing is going to get harder and harder, so having multiple touchpoints is important.
• [05:00] Eric and Neil could make more money monetizing the podcast, but they have decided it’s more beneficial to keep it free.
• [05:15] This podcast was on the Entrepreneur Network, but they didn't want to read ads during the show, so they got booted.
• [05:50] Conservatively, they could be making $200,000/year off the podcast alone.
• [06:10] They believe you should do things for free as long as you enjoy it and something good comes from it.
• [06:50] They are playing the long game.
• [07:10] Sometimes, they get great ideas while working on the podcasts the end up making them money.
• [07:50] That’s it for today!
• [07:53] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode 696, Eric and Neil discuss why Google and Facebook aren’t your only options. Tune in to figure out where else you can market yourself.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Internet Doesn't Start and Stop With Facebook and Google
• [00:35] Facebook and Google are the two largest platforms out there.
• [01:05] There are still so many different advertising platforms you can use besides the top two.
• [01:20] Figure out where your audience is hanging out.
• [01:25] In general, you will make more money from Facebook and Google AdWords, because they scale more quickly.
• [01:35] However, other avenues can be nearly as successful.
• [01:46] The people who are doing the best right now, have teams who are reaching out to different outlets and working out custom partnerships.
• [02:00] These teams are cutting out the middle-man.
• [02:24] People are still using direct mail and it still works for certain targets.
• [03:13] Figure out who your audience is and how they would like to be targeted.
• [03:35] Pay-per-click ad costs go down when you simultaneously run ads on other outlets.
• [04:05] You need to keep your brand top-of-mind.
• [04:15] A midwestern businessman runs a billboard ad for a few months per year and it increases his business.
• [04:40] No one wants to do billboards anymore, but they still work!
• [05:00] Zappos advertised on the bins at airport security and it was genius.
• [05:07] That’s all for today!
• [05:11] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #695, Eric and Neil discuss why you should work for someone else before you start your own company. Tune in to hear why you should learn the ropes from someone else.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: You Shouldn't be an Entrepreneur First, You Should be an Employee
• [00:38] Neil hasn’t been an employee since he was 18 or 19 when he worked at Hollywood Video.
• [01:02] Eric found the structure about being an employee was helpful to understanding what makes a company work.
• [01:35] He switched jobs often, because he was chasing the next opportunity. Each time, he learned something new about what makes a successful company.
• [02:15] You should start out as an employee, because you need to try things out to see what you like.
• [02:35] Bill Ackman, successful hedge funder, thinks you shouldn’t start your own company until you’ve worked in the industry for some time.
• [03:15] You need to learn from others before you go out and make your own mistakes.
• [03:40] If you learn from other’s good examples first, you are more likely to succeed in the future.
• [04:18] The Ali Baba CEO, Jack Ma, made a video about this very topic and he agrees with Eric and Neil.
• [04:48] You don’t have to make all your money when you’re young.
• [05:05] Be prepared to fail before you succeed.
• [05:17] That’s it for today!
• [05:20] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #694, Eric and Neil discuss a simple hack that will up your LinkedIn views. Tune in to hear what you should be doing to increase your LinkedIn presence.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: One Simple Hack That'll 10X Your LinkedIn Views
• [00:36] Lead Quizzes founder, Jeremy Ellins, has given Eric and Neil some great advice.
• [00:54] Jeremy posted a video of an interview and tagged certain influencers on LinkedIn.
• [01:40] Tagging influencers gets their attention and will get them to comment.
• [01:55] The influencer has to be relevant to what you are doing.
• [01:58] Ultimately, the download’s on Jeremy’s podcast doubled.
• [02:20] Eric and Neil get request to re-post and comment on LinkedIn pages and most times, it gets their attention.
• [02:42] “Bro Language” does really well.
• [02:55] Bro language is concise, to-the-point sentences. It’s not always great prose, but it gets the job done.
• [03:30] Bro language is becoming overused and is getting filtered out, but as long as you don’t use it too often or at length, it can still be effective.
• [04:12] That’s all for today!
• [04:14] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #693, Eric and Neil discuss the pros and cons of raising venture capital. Tune in to hear why the juice may not be worth the squeeze.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Should You Raise Venture Capital
• [00:40] Neil still raises venture capital.
• [00:50] If your idea is huge and you’re trying to swing for the fences, it is hard to do without raising venture capital.
• [01:18] It depends on what you’re trying to do with your business.
• [01:40] Rand Fishkin got so diluted while running Moz, that it ended up hurting him in the long run.
• [01:55] He could have sold the business for a profit, but did not take advantage of this opportunity.
• [02:20] His VC’s dissuaded him from taking what would have been a great deal.
• [02:35] VC’s can often steer you away from a clear vision, because they have their own desires.
• [03:25] Instead of trying to take money to make life easier up front. Think about the long term consequences.
• [03:50] You could end up in a fundraising cycle.
• [04:15] Build an audience first, so you have some leverage when you go to VC’s.
• [04:35] Neil met with some private equity guys in New York.
• [04:52] Neil didn’t want to do monthly or quarterly meetings, nor did he want to be beholden to investors.
• [05:15] Raising money is more painful than just working for yourself and getting to call all the shots.
• [05:25] Read Vivid Vision; it will help you figure out your goals.
• [05:44] That’s all for today!
• [05:48] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #692, Eric and Neil discuss how you can get wealthy people to respond to your emails. Tune in to hear how you can tempt people into business deals.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to get Rich People to Respond to Your EMails, When You're a Nobody
• [00:34] Loom is a tool that allows you to make screencast videos up to 10 minutes long.
• [00:54] Someone sent Eric a personalized Loom video that address Eric and his business.
• [01:11] Eric responded, but was ultimately not interested in pursuing a partnership.
• [01:30] The response rate is a lot higher with personalized videos.
• [01:45] Your best technique is to reach out to wealthy heads of companies and let them know what their business is lacking and how you could help them improve.
• [02:30] Neil tried this technique once with a man who owned a social networking site for older people.
• [02:45] Not only did Neil get a response, but he was connected to the CEO.
• [03:01] Eric and Neil once reached out to Zynga.
• [03:25] They had a conversation, but the deal never materialized.
• [03:45] Neil sent someone a package in the mail with cash inside.
• [03:57] The note said the person could keep the money, but asked that they just get on the phone with him for 5 minutes, because he had valuable information for them.
• [04:36] Take Neil’s idea and make it your own.
• [04:45] When you are speaking to someone’s needs, it will get their attention.
• [05:00] If you are consistent, you will be successful.
• [05:10] There are plenty of people having reputation issues. If you acknowledge their dilemma, you can get them on the phone by offering a solution.
• [06:24] That’s it for today!
• [06:28] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #691, Eric and Neil Discuss why you shouldn’t just read books all day. Tune in to hear why you need to limit the time you spend absorbing information.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why You Shouldn't Read Books
• [00:40] People spend so much time reading, that they end up taking little action.
• [00:55] If you don’t spend time implementing ideas within your business, this is problematic.
• [01:30] Someone wrote a post about when it’s time to learn and when it’s time to earn; it is important to delineate time for actionable ideas.
• [01:50] Experimentation is the ultimate teacher.
• [02:02] Make mistakes and learn from them.
• [02:15] Don’t read random books, read books that address your specific problems.
• [03:10] Make sure to take notes and take action on your ideas after reading.
• [03:35] Eric and Neil aren’t advocating ignorance, they’re saying limit your time absorbing information and spend more time enhancing your company.
• [04:26] That’s it for today!
• [04:31] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #690, Eric and Neil discuss how you can rank higher on Google without using SEO. Tune in to hear why optimizing user experience is key.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Rank Higher on Google (Without Doing SEO)
• [00:58] Check out Google Rank Brain.
• [01:10] There are backlinks, etc. but there is an ultimate factor that tells Google a result is relevant.
• [01:40] When you’re looking at user experience, bounce rate, etc., that is the ultimate signal that the result is relevant.
• [02:07] User experience is one of the most important aspects of a website. Optimize user experience.
• [02:20] Try UserTesting or UsabilityHub to examine your site.
• [02:45] Nothing beats talking to your users and hearing what they like and don’t like.
• [03:00] Once you have a big enough sample size, you can improve your site and rankings based on the solid amount of feedback.
• [03:25] If you are also trying to optimize for load times, try using GTMetrix to see how your site fares.
• [03:40] Eric’s site takes 10 seconds to load on mobile devices, which is far too long and it needs to be optimized.
• [04:15] When optimizing for usability, you need to test twice: once for desktops and another time for mobile devices.
• [04:30] You shouldn’t have separate mobile and desktop versions, just one killer site that works for everything.
• [05:15] Even if someone has an LTE or 4G phone, does not guarantee fast connections at all times.
• [05:36] When optimizing for user experience, make sure you’re running A/B tests.
• [05:58] Neil tested the pop-ups on his site and how it affected user experience on mobile and desktop.
• [06:27] That’s it for today!
• [06:33] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #689, Eric and Neil count out the essentials to building a million dollar business. Tune in to hear what steps you should take to achieve success.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: 7 Essentials to Building a Million Dollar Business
• [00:38] 1: You have to have something that people actually want.
• [00:54] 2: Go out there and find all the competitors and hit up their customer list; offer the same product to them for less.
• [01:25] When you’re starting off, you don’t have as many expenses and you can do free or low-cost work.
• [01:48] 3: Having a great team is the most important facet of any company.
• [02:00] Read the book Who? to learn how to build a great team.
• [02:11] 4: Get an office!
• [02:35] Having a physical location makes communication easy and it is helpful when building a solid team.
• [03:22] When Singlegrain was starting, they left an office space, but things got much easier once they all moved back into the same office space.
• [03:40] 5: Become a media company.
• [04:08] 6: You have to have upsells and downsells.
• [04:18] Stop trying to close new sales and focus on existing customers.
• [04:48] Marketing costs are lower and profit margins are higher.
• [05:00] 7: Focus in on one marketing channel.
• [05:10] Trying to do too many things at once will kill your business.
• [05:25] That’s all for now!
• [05:27] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #688, Eric and Neil discuss how you can out-market a multi-billion dollar company. Tune in to hear how you can beat out some of the biggest names in the game.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Out-Market a Multi-Billion Dollar Company
• [00:52] Allbirds shoes have raised over $27 Million in funding.
• [01:18] Nike and Adidas are shaking in their boots over this company.
• [01:35] Eric and Neil wouldn’t worry, they would just undercut Allbirds’ pricing.
• [01:56] The reason Allbirds is succeeding, is because they built up a great fan community.
• [02:20] Your first 1000 fans are the most important.
• [02:30] Eric likes Allbirds because they are comfortable, cool, and cheap. He found out about them through word-of-mouth.
• [02:50] Eric then went on and told about 20 people about Allbirds. He’s so enthusiastic about the brand.
• [03:50] Allbirds started by running a bunch of Facebook ads.
• [04:00] Eric would crank away at podcasts, while Neil would target influencers.
• [04:30] Neil would also guest post and focus on content marketing.
• [04:55] When releasing your product, get the community involved in feedback, which will make them feel more involved.
• [05:23] Eric is an investor in Unity Influence, which connects people with influencers.
• [06:00] That’s all for today!
• [06:05] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #687, Eric and Neil discuss the best hack for building thousands of backlinks. Tune in to find out the simplest way to get more site traffic.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Best Hack to Building Thousands of Backlinks Fast
• [00:45] Go to AHREFS and see which of your competitors is getting the most traffic.
• [01:15] Take your competitors top blog posts and turn them into infographics. Use 99Designs or Dribble.
• [01:38] Contact all the people who like the top blog posts and direct them to your infographic.
• [02:30] There was a HubSpot employee whose data Neil cited and used. When Neil’s infographics based on his work got more traffic, the HubSpot employee was understandably pissed.
• [02:53] News Jacking covers this topic of poaching/re-imagining others’ work.
• [03:12] Neil bought out another site that now redirects to NeilPatel.com.
• [03:55] Look up the skyscraper technique on Backlinko. This will help you re-imagine blog posts.
• [04:22] That’s all for today!
• [04:24] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #686, Eric and Neil discuss dealing with haters. Tune in to hear how you can face negativity head-on.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Haters Gonna Hate- How to Deal With Negativity on Social Media
• [00:45] Eric and Neil have received negative or snarky comments on their YouTube channel.
• [01:25] The moment you think you are the best at anything, is when someone swoops in and steals your crown.
• [01:45] It feels like you're making progress when you have haters.
• [02:02] Neil did the “Who is Neil Patel?” campaign. Some of the paid models were wearing less than enough clothing.
• [02:30] Men and women came after Neil for his supposedly sexist campaign.
• [03:10] If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.
• [03:22] Ultimately, the campaign was successful.
• [03:37] If you don’t have haters, you’re doing something wrong.
• [03:50] Pushing boundaries will always provoke people.
• [04:30] Neil has released free tools that undercut his competitors, which got the industry talking.
• [05:10] Focus on your end goal and ignore the hate.
• [05:30] Always apologize when you have done something wrong, but don’t give in to negativity.
• [06:10] Haters have internal stuff going on and it’s more about them than it is about you.
• [06:18] That’s all for today!
• [06:22] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #685, Eric and Neil discuss pricing. Tune in to hear how you can figure out the right price for your product or service.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How Much Should Your Charge For Your Product or Service
• [00:40] How does one settle on pricing for a product?
• [00:48] Neil completely made it up. There was no logic behind his pricing.
• [01:35] If the market for your product is saturated, compare yourself to your competitors.
• [01:55] You can charge the same or more if your product is comparable.
• [02:20] Make sure you are price-matching or charging just under your competitor’s rates.
• [03:35] Price Intelligently is a great resource.
• [04:00] @Patio11 is a pricing nerd, who has written great posts about pricing products.
• [04:35] As yourself what price is too expensive and what price is so low it would make you question the quality of the product.
• [05:12] Crazy Egg has a partner that helps you chart out your rates.
• [05:50] Never take advice blindly, always run A/B tests.
• [06:51] Pricing is the biggest lever that you can pull.
• [07:04] Some companies adjust pricing as often as four times per year.
• [07:15] Do your due diligence and go with what seems right.
• [07:28] Domo is valued at $2 Million, but there are comparable products that are worthless. Why?
• [08:27] That’s it for today!
• [08:33] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #684, Eric and Neil discuss one way you can rank without using SEO or paid ads. Tune in to hear how you can rank without all the work.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Rank at the Top of Google Without SEO or Paid Ads
• [01:05] Neil doesn’t always come up with his own marketing strategies.
• [01:22] When Eric owned the elder care website, it wasn’t ranking.
• [01:50] They clicked on the top-ranking site, which was poorly curated. They bought out the site to use it to climb in the rankings.
• [02:45] Neil used this method to help his sites rank higher.
• [02:52] It’s a more affordable approach to ranking higher.
• [03:45] Everyone has a number at which they would agree to sell.
• [04:30] Buy a site that has diversified traffic, instead of just one stellar keyword ranking.
• [04:50] Buy a site with a good traffic portfolio.
• [04:53] That’s all for today!
• [04:57] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #683, Eric and Neil discuss how you can get paid speaking gigs. Tune in to hear how to land these lucrative opportunities.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Get Paid $10,000 For an Hour Speech
• [00:36] If you’ve never done public speaking, you should, because it’s the quickest and easiest way to make money.
• [01:00] If you don’t get paid, you can get compensated in other ways.
• [01:25] Figure out what you want and negotiate for that (accomodations, leads, etc.).
• [01:45] It took Eric 2 years to get a paid speaking gig, but it Neil 4-5.
• [02:00] Don't expect the get paid from day one.
• [02:35] Make a speaking engagements page on your website.
• [02:45] Make sure you get images and footage of you speaking.
• [03:25] Get comfortable asking about budget and audience demographics.
• [03:53] Create YouTube videos that show you giving a speech/webinar. It will help you generate public speaking leads.
• [04:35] Bryan Harris has a helpful tool that helps people find speaking engagements.
• [05:25] Speaker bureaus are a great way to get gigs, but don’t sign an exclusive deal with anyone.
• [05:45] Self-publish books and send them to corporations as a marketing campaign.
• [06:45] Speaking engagements can always lead to other opportunities.
• [07:22] Be patient and scrappy.
• [07:45] It may take a while to land gigs.
• [08:00] Offer bonuses like meet and greets with conference attendees.
• [08:30] That’s it for today!
• [08:34] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #682, Eric and Neil discuss GDPR. Tune in to hear how you can become GDPR compliant.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How GDPR Affect Your Marketing Efforts
• [00:52] This is something the EU came out with two years ago. As of May 25th 2018, this is something that anyone who does business with the EU will have to put into effect.
• [01:50] You have to be really transparent with your data collection.
• [02:05] It’s all about transparency.
• [02:38] You also need a system in place that allows people to wipe their information from your database.
• [02:50] If you aren’t working with or in the EU, you don’t have to worry about GDPR.
• [03:33] Neil’s site has an opt-in tick box for anyone in the EU.
• [03:58] The penalty for violating GDPR is €20 Million or 4% of the year’s revenue.
• [04:38] You can’t auto-tick boxes anymore.
• [04:55] Eric found his conversions rates got better, even though he couldn’t auto-opt-in for people.
• [06:00] Neil tested his conversions and has not seen any changes by implementing GDPR.
• [06:33] They decided to implement these rules universally.
• [07:12] Look at your privacy policy and terms of service to see if they align with GDPR rules.
• [07:18] Disclaimer template has lawyers that can look over your business and figure out if your are GDPR compliant.
• [07:54] If you want a good example of a business that is trying to be GDPR compliant, check out Slides.com.
• [08:24] If you’re within the US, check out Privacy Shield.
• [08:40] That’s all for today!
• [08:42] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #681, Eric and Neil discuss the best way to survey your audience. Tune in to hear how and why you should survey your customers and why it is so vital to improving your business.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Best Way to Survey Your Audience
• [00:35] There are two types of data: quantitative and qualitative.
• [00:45] Google Analytics tracks quantitative.
• [00:56] Over 95% of your traffic (and maybe more) don’t convert. Why?
• [01:10] The Google numbers won’t tell you. You have to talk to your customers through phone, email, and text.
• [01:20] Surveying is qualitative data. When combined with quantitative, you will be able to greatly improve your business.
• [01:44] Eric was recently reading the blog “Wild Audience”. The site surveyed him.
• [02:00] The questions he answered were a way to qualify visitors and segment them into the right campaigns.
• [02:40] Survey Slam was recommended by “Wild Audience”. It’s a WordPress plugin that costs $97 for the developer license.
• [03:10] You leave money on the table by not putting people into the right classification.
• [03:18] Don’t ask too many questions at once and make sure they aren’t biased.
• [03:40] Make sure your questions are open-ended, so you don’t accidentally bias the survey.
• [04:22] You can use a word cloud to combine your qualitative feedback.
• [04:29] From there, you can look at what the commonalities are and make decisions based on the insights you gain.
• [04:49] When people are done with the survey, make sure to show them a Thank You page that will drive a conversion.
• [05:21] That’s all for today!
• [05:24] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #680, Eric and Neil discuss what you should be doing on your Thank You page. Tune in to hear how you can use this page to drive more conversions.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Here's What You Should Put on Your Thank You Page
• [00:38] Make the most of your “Thank You” page.
• [01:20] Eric put a video on his page, thanking people for joining the community. It’s a way to drive another conversion or get the viewer to share the page.
• [01:48] Neil also has a video that explains what his customers’ options are, which directs them to more conversion paths.
• [02:30] For Ecommerce businesses, someone already has to buy a product to get to your Thank You page.
• [02:45] Try to offer relevant upsells to these people.
• [03:15] Try to target people based on their presumed needs. Survey your customers!
• [03:30] Once you know what they are looking for, offer similar upsell items.
• [04:06] Amazon is great at Ecommerce upsells.
• [04:30] On the Thank You page, make sure your upsells are one-click and easy to use.
• [04:55] Convert Flow knows what kinds of things people have purchased from your website and will offer them upsells automatically, based on the information they have collected.
• [05:10] That’s all for today!
• [05:12] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #679, Eric and Neil discuss why videos are better than text content. Find out why you need to be incorporating videos into your marketing.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Why Videos Are Better Than Text Even Though They Don't Rank on Google
• [00:41] Eric thinks videos are better than text. YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world and videos can rank on the front page.
• [00:55] Because we all have faster internet, video content in rising in popularity more so than before.
• [01:05] Neil thinks text generates long-term search traffic that can’t be beat.
• [01:28] In an ideal world, you would do video and text.
• [01:45] Video is time consuming, harder to rank, harder to go viral, etc.
• [01:57] Even so, the people who watch are more engaged and conversion rates are higher.
• [02:10] Incorporating video into your blogs is a great method.
• [02:40] At conferences, Eric and Neil get great responses from the videos they post.
• [03:00] If you can’t get high view counts, get other sites to embed your video.
• [03:10] Add subtitles and translations to your videos to reach a wider audience.
• [03:25] Anchor.fm can make a video for you from your audio podcast. You can then post it to Instagram and Facebook.
• [04:05] Eric and Neil know recording in a studio is better than recording a podcast at home.
• [04:30] Neil’s office does sales presentations over video.
• [04:45] They also do a lot of video conferencing. Because of their casual dress code, everyone keeps a dress shirt around to throw over their more casual clothes.
• [04:55] Videos build relationships and deeper connections.
• [05:08] That’s all for today!
• [05:12] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #678, Eric and Neil discuss cheap ways you can get celebrities to promote your business. Tune in to hear how you can get affordable celebrity plugs!

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: A Really Cheap Way to Get Kim Kardashian to Promote Your Business
• [00:38] There is a site called Charitybuzz where celebrities post causes that are important to them.
• [00:53] You can bid money for a celebrity’s time and the money will go to their charity.
• [01:00] Tai Lopez probably uses this site.
• [01:15] You can get videos, podcast audio, etc. from big celebs.
• [01:25] You can’t be aggressive with your product, but you can do a meet and greet or get photos, video, audio and in effect promote your business.
• [02:08] Eric and Neil have had people do free work for them (they offered).
• [02:16] These people did their research and offered a solution in order to build a relationship.
• [02:33] Eric and Neil have a mutual friend who built a relationship with Neil, simply by being persistent.
• [02:58] People look at you in a different light when celebrities get involved.
• [03:18] It’s surprising how many of these celebrities have less money than you think.
• [03:26] Logan and Jake Paul crush Instagram, YouTube and their income is $1 Million per month. If these are the cream of the crop, think of others who probably don’t make as much, but have a similar influence level.
• [03:51] That’s all for today!
• [04:16] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #677, Eric and Neil discuss how sex is still used in marketing. Tune in to hear what they think about this method of advertising and whether you should be using it.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Sex Still Sells
• [00:40] The most popular people on the internet still use sex to sell.
• [00:56] We’re still at a place in marketing, where sex sells.
• [01:24] When you see Trump in the news all the time, it’s because he is generating reactions, which is kind of selling.
• [01:35] Using sex is problematic, whether you are leveraging men’s or women’s sexuality.
• [01:53] You’ll get a lot of haters, but you will also get a lot of conversions.
• [02:00] There was a case study done by affiliate marketers where they posted a Facebook ad and the image was of a woman’s breasts. The click-through rate was extremely high, but it was also extremely distasteful.
• [02:32] GoDaddy used Danica Patrick to sell their service.
• [02:55] That was tasteful.
• [03:05] Beats used the Kardashians, but in a way that wasn’t overtly sexual.
• [03:30] Now is not the time to use overly aggressive sexual marketing, because of the current political and cultural climate.
• [03:42] The world is evolving to become more inclusive and less exploitative.
• [04:10] If you have to use sex to make your business work, your product or service may not be the best.
• [04:55] If you search “International Women’s Day Ads” or “Most Empowering Ads for Women”, this will give you an idea of how sex can sell in a non-exploitative way.
• [05:26] That’s all for today!
• [05:30] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #676, Eric and Neil Discuss the two schools of thought on content marketing. Tune in to hear how your conversions rates can be affected.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Content Marketing Doesn't Work The Way You Think
• [00:37] There are two schools of thought on content marketing: The first is: Write a lot of content and you will get rankings, traffic, and generate a ton of sales.
• [01:02] Someone will not convert the same way if they visit your home page vs. your blog post, because the intent is to read, not to buy.
• [01:20] You just have to keep in mind how conversions work.
• [01:38] The second school of thought is that quality wins over quantity every time.
• [01:50] Backlinko writes infrequent, high-quality content.
• [02:07] HubSpot posts the most content, but their quality isn’t as good.
• [02:44] However, they still do extremely well in rankings, conversions, etc.
• [03:08] Backlinko is worth less than HubSpot.
• [03:40] Guest contributors can bring in new audience members and get you more conversions.
• [04:01] It’s all about finding high-ranking keywords and flooding the marketplace, which is what HubSpot does well.
• [04:20] It’s all about creating a framework/system for posts and guest posts.
• [04:35] Read the post from Tomasz Tunguz of Red Point Ventures about how content marketing compounds.
• [04:48] You will have hits and misses, but the more you post, the more likely you are to be successful.
• [05:00] Content marketing will boost your site authority.
• [05:20] That’s it for today!
• [05:26] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #675, Neil breaks down his long and short-term strategies for success. Tune in to hear what keeps Neil in business.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Neil Patel's Personal Marketing Strategy
• [00:50] Neil used to have an ad agency 16 years ago. The way they grew the business was through cold-calling clients.
• [01:13] Once blogging became a thing, he decided to use it to generate leads.
• [01:42] Right now, Neil still spends a lot of time and money on content marketing.
• [02:00] They get 2 million visits per month thanks to content.
• [02:20] If you don’t keep releasing more and more new content, your numbers won’t go up.
• [02:37] They are now buying and merging other businesses.
• [03:08] They spend 80% of their money on giving away free marketing tools.
• [03:24] Giving away free stuff is the best way to generate traffic.
• [03:45] Neil thinks creating tools are a good long-term plan.
• [04:48] Over the next few years, after continuing to give away tools and grow the business, Neil will semi-retire, leaving his team in charge.
• [05:15] He has already wound down public speaking engagements.
• [06:01] That’s all for today!
• [06:11] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #674, Eric and Neil discuss the First Mover Advantage. Tune in to hear why being first may not make you the best.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic:  How First Mover Advantage Can Kill Your Business
• [00:50] Coca-Cola is the beverage king. They are the first mover.
• [01:11] The first mover advantage helped Coke become the dominant brand.
• [01:26] Peter Thiel has a concept that says whoever the first to market is, gets a huge advantage. However, you also end up with a lot of high costs and inefficiency.
• [02:17] Last mover advantage is taking what has been done and improving upon it.
• [02:31] Being the last in is a huge advantage.
• [03:23] Moz was the first marketing tool out there, but other brands that came after have overtaken them.
• [03:35] SEMRush and AHREFS are go-to’s and improved upon what Moz does.
• [03:58] YouTube did really well at first, because they didn’t have to deal with the lawsuits other sites did.
• [04:30] Napster was a great service, but they had to deal with lawsuits and they got destroyed.
• [05:18] As tech evolves, it also gets cheaper.
• [05:30] When Moz released their financial info, it was found that they spent hundreds of thousands on server costs.
• [05:40] This is something you can spend a lot less on now.
• [06:09] That’s it for today!
• [06:13] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #673, Eric describes his long and short-term goals for Singlegrain. Tune in to hear what makes Eric so successful!

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Eric Siu's Personal Marketing Strategy
• [00:55] Daily, Eric’s team is focused on retaining clients (services and sales).
• [01:15] He personally wants to remove himself from the business almost entirely.
• [01:38] What is working is podcasting, video, SEO, content marketing, and referrals.
• [02:00] Big clients may start small, but if you can build trust, you will be able to expand into a bigger account.
• [02:35] Podcasting is 15-20% of sales.
• [02:45] 0% comes from video, because they are just starting to use it.
• [02:53] 50-60% comes from content marketing and SEO.
• [03:10] Most of his money is spent on content marketing and SEO.
• [03:18] Eric found Vivid Vision really helpful when planning long-term goals.
• [03:32] Eric’s long-term goal is to have Singlegrain be self-sustaining.
• [03:45] People tend to poach great marketing talent. He wants to build-on flexibility, so they always feel engaged and challenged, so he won’t lose them.
• [04:29] If he could go back and change his initial approach, he would only focus on one area of marketing.
• [04:42] In the beginning, he wishes they didn’t switch from tactic to tactic too quickly.
• [05:16] Patience is key!
• [05:23] Eric’s long-term vision is to have buy and grow many different businesses.
• [05:55] That’s all for today!
• [06:00] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #672, Eric and Neil gush about HubSpot’s stellar marketing. Tune in to hear how you can be more successful like HubSpot.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: The Genius of HubSpot's Marketing
• [00:35] HubSpot is a CRM and they are a large, publicly traded company who coined the term “inbound marketing”.
• [01:00] HubSpot’s marketing is so good, because they aggressively use content marketing; they looked at the data and saw what moved the needle.
• [01:20] They check what ranks for their competitors and copies that topic/style.
• [01:45] HubSpot also hires the best.
• [01:57] In order to maximize their content marketing, they have two full-time employees who repurpose all their content.
• [02:08] They call them ’historical content managers”.
• [02:20] HubSpot also finds ways to offer free tools that are similar to successful paid versions.
• [02:30] They are ruthless.
• [02:52] Website Grader was a great resource and helped HubSpot get backlinks and traction.
• [03:20] They have created a large community by creating a conference series. Their own users throw HubSpot conferences around the world.
• [03:45] David Cancel says one of the biggest winners was creating the agency partner program.
• [04:05] They love creating symbiotic relationships.
• [04:36] HubSpot is getting 70% open rates using Facebook Messenger.
• [04:43] When they did this, chatbots were new.
• [05:00] Sales rep’s close ratios are the same from free tools as the ratios for content.
• [05:20] That’s all for today!
• [05:41] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #671, Eric and Neil discuss which A/B you should run to improve your sales. Tune in to hear what will help you up your conversions.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: What Kind of A/B Tests Should You Run to Improve Your Sales
• [00:40] Add pop-ups to your site!
• [00:42] You can use tools like Opt-in Monster, Sumo, and HelloBar to do this.
• [00:52] From there, you just try to drive people to a conversion.
• [01:08] Headlines and copy affect conversions more than most things.
• [01:20] Get on the phone with your customers and ask what got them on board.
• [01:35] You’ll find people will say a lot of the same things.
• [01:39] Take what worked and incorporate it into your headlines and copy.
• [01:53] You need to make sure your copy is cohesive throughout your site.
• [02:00] Urgency is key. Have deadlines.
• [02:09] Use Deadline Funnel to create a countdown.
• [02:17] When something seems limited, it makes it more appealing.
• [02:30] The final email you send out before the deal expires is usually what gets the most conversions.
• [02:45] Having all your form fields on one page can be overwhelming. Break your checkout process into a couple or a few parts.
• [03:07] Conversions will go up by at least 9%.
• [03:22] Test your pricing every now and again.
• [03:25] BugSnag changed their pricing several times during their first year in business.
• [03:47] When doing customer development, ask them what prices are deal breakers.
• [04:03] Play around with button color, text size, and images. These things don’t necessarily affect conversion as much as people say, but it counts as content.
• [04:25] When people aren’t buying, Neil surveys them to see what didn’t work.
• [04:35] Do a remarketing campaign addressing these negatives (maybe using video).
• [04:54] Also run a test using the video.
• [05:04] Try short-form vs. long-form copy and see what performs better.
• [05:30] Optimize your ads.
• [05:40] On Facebook, add video and a lot of text content.
• [05:56] The conversion rate goes through the roof.
• [06:07] Test out freemium, free trials, etc.
• [06:37] That’s it for today!
• [06:41] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #670, Eric and Neil discuss how you can consolidate your marketing. Tune in to hear how you can get back to basics.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Consolidate Your Marketing
• [00:36] When you look at anyone in marketing trying to grow a company, they don’t know what to do first or even how to do them.
• [01:03] Eric has about 40 tools in his marketing stack, which is crazy, because that’s the number after they consolidated everything.
• [01:14] It’s overwhelming. The operations guy keeps telling him to prune the tools.
• [01:31] When you shut a tool down, you drop the ball on five things, so it’s a slow process.
• [01:58] Some of the tools Eric stopped using have resurfaced, because his team has decided to retest them.
• [02:40] Eric’s team tried to shed a link cloaking tool, which has since been reincorporated.
• [02:50] The point is that paying for all these unnecessary tools is like death by a thousand cuts.
• [02:55] Neil says stick to the basics.
• [03:05] He posts social media content manually.
• [03:20] Neil’s team uses Google Analytics, Google Search Console, HubSpot, SEMRush, and a product management solution.
• [03:44] SAP and Oracle combine a lot of tasks into one product.
• [04:05] Eric’s team needs to get better at consolidating.
• [04:15] When your team is testing tools you’ve already gotten rid of, they are wasting time.
• [04:44] Using Segment is going to allow you to consolidate your data.
• [05:05] Prune every quarter.
• [05:15] Whenever you have too much going on, look at what’s driving results and dump the rest.
• [05:45] Decision fatigue is at play here.
• [05:55] That’s it for today!
• [05:59] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #669, Eric and Neil discuss tactics for reaching influencers. Tune in to hear how and if you should be trying influencer marketing.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Reach Influencers
• [00:34] Influencer marketing is getting bigger and bigger.
• [01:01] Go after micro-influencers first. People on their way up are easier to get.
• [01:15] Micro=5,000-20,000 followers.
• [01:27] Search for specific hashtags, see who is geographically close to you, and get in touch.
• [01:36] You will find these upstarts are open to collaboration.
• [01:43] There are Instagram pods, where people follow and promote each other.
• [02:01] Influencer marketing doesn’t work the way most people think.
• [02:14] When one of the fit tea guys started using influencer marketing, it was low cost and converted well.
• [02:31] Over time, as more products and influencers came around, influencer marketing didn’t work as well.
• [03:00] The only way to really get a good ROI today, is to pay relevant influencers who have the customers you are targeting.
• [03:15] Going after Kim Kardashian won’t work unless you have a mainstream product her audience will love.
• [03:37] You can reduce costs by only paying for the first 12 or 24 hours of the posted image.
• [03:46] After a week, the view count is going to be so small, it doesn’t matter if it goes up or not.
• [04:18] Do what most people aren’t: have contests to encourage engagement.
• [04:44] That’s it for today!
• [04:50] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #668, Eric and Neil break down their marketing dollars. Tune in to hear what the biggest marketing costs are and how you can avoid overspending.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Where do Neil and Eric Spend Their Marketing Dollars?
• [00:51] Eric spends about $10,000-$15,000/month on blog content.
• [01:12] Neil spends about $4,500/month on video content.
• [01:24] Podcasting costs Eric and Neil $700/month each.
• [01:40] They spend the same on video content.
• [01:48] Eric’s team just starting ramping up/retargeting their ads and spent $3000-$4000.
• [01:54] Neil spends most of his money on making and giving away free tools, which costs around $80,000/month.
• [02:12] Building tools takes up a lot of time.
• [02:20] Neil’s team found it is cheaper to buy out other companies than to spend money on marketing.
• [02:50] Building free tools gets you organic traffic.
• [03:02] If they were to add in salaries, that would only add an additional $25,000 to the mix.
• [03:15] Neil’s numbers include salaries in his estimation.
• [03:33] Editing blogs costs about $2000/month, but Neil doesn’t pay for translations.
• [03:52] If you build up brand equity, you can get a lot of work for free.
• [04:10] One strategy for people with a minimal amount of capital: find people to partner with. You will get stuff for free and both of you will gain a new audience.
• [04:35] Guest posts are really helpful.
• [05:28] That’s it for today!
• [05:32] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #667, Eric and Neil discuss which channels are causing your sales. Tune in to hear how you can track this information.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: What Marketing Channel is Really Causing Your Sales?
• [01:03] If you are direct-response marketing, using Wicked Reports can help you succeed.
• [01:20] Wicked Reports will find out when your leads opted in, took actions on your website, and will track how profitable that lead became months down the line.
• [02:02] Google Analytics also has multi-channel attribution.
• [02:27] When thinking about multi-channel attribution, you will find that some channels drive the majority of your revenue. However, marketing is all about the rule of 7.
• [03:30] You can’t always put a price on good will. Some of your social media work won’t show up in analytics.
• [04:20] Segment will take your data points and push it to your CRM.
• [04:46] That’s all for today!
• [04:49] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #666, Eric and Neil discuss what to do with your success. Tune in to hear what your next steps should be.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: So You're Making Money Now... What's Next?
• [00:48] Neil’s current salary is $0 and he dumps all profits back into his company.
• [00:55] He has no other passions, so what would he do with the money?
• [01:10] Neil thinks a business is like a baby and they only want to nurture their baby.
• [01:30] Take the absolute minimum salary that you would need. Don’t forget you have to pay taxes on your income!
• [01:45] Putting your profits back into your business is the best ROI.
• [02:15] The best bet is always the one you take on yourself.
• [03:05] If you have other aspirations besides your business, that’s cool, but if you want to further your business, always reinvest in it.
• [03:32] If you’re content and don’t care for more money, take the money and do what makes you happy.
• [03:50] OR you could hire people to run your business and take it to the next level.
• [04:22] If you want more, but aren’t a great leader, hire the right people to run your business.
• [04:45] Be ok with letting go of control.
• [04:56] Read the book Rocket Fuel for inspiration.
• [05:10] The COO Alliance is the only organization in the world that wants to help the number 2 leader in every company.
• [05:37] Invest in your number 2, because they will be the driving force of your company.
• [05:44] That’s it for today!
• [05:47] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #665, Eric and Neil tell you what you should do instead of starting a business. Tune in to hear why you don’t have to start your own business.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Forget Starting a Business, Do This Instead
• [00:46] Neil thinks starting a business is one of the hardest things to do. It is far easier to buy a business.
• [01:25] Buy a company and grow it.
• [01:48] Income Store has over 800 websites. They buy other websites and promise a return to their investors.
• [02:09] They brought in $28 Million last year.
• [02:29] If you think you can’t afford to buy a business, you can always do cellar-based financing where you pay a monthly fee.
• [02:53] You can do a lot of creative things to cut costs and improve profits.
• [03:05] You can also only buy a portion of the company and include a clause where you can buy them out in the future.
• [03:34] FE International has great content about buying businesses.
• [03:45] Buy Biz Sell, Flippa, and Empire Flipper are also great resources.
• [04:02] If you are looking for low-cost deals, Flippa and Empire Flipper are good for that.
• [04:34] Neil’s favorite business purchases are blogs that aren’t properly monetized.
• [04:45] Buy a business once you have proven that you can grow someone else's business.
• [05:00] Use those skills to grow your own site.
• [05:30] Grow things on your own and once you're confident, buy a business.
• [05:34] That’s all for today!
• [05:37] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #664, Eric and Neil discuss a simple way to increase your time on site. Tune in to hear what you can do to give users a great experience.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic:  A Stupidly Simple Way to Increase Your Time on Site by 19%
• [00:35] Time on site meaning, time visitors spend on your site.
• [00:41] If you can increase the time spent on your site, Google will see this and up your ranking.
• [00:50] If you have a high time on site, you're less likely to get hit by the Google Panda Update.
• [00:56] The panda update is all about measuring quality.
• [01:30] If your time on site is low, it’s a negative signal.
• [01:50] You want to deliver a good experience.
• [01:53] Amazon recently came out with a product called Amazon Polly.
• [01:57] Amazon Polly takes your text and converts it into an audio file.
• [02:14] Using this increased Eric and Neil’s dwell time by 19%.
• [02:25] Use the Polly WordPress plugin.
• [02:50] Make sure you add videos to your blog posts!
• [03:04] This has increased Neil’s dwell time.
• [03:25] Embed the videos wherever it makes sense.
• [03:55] Use Pocket on your mobile device: it’s a text-to-speech tool.
• [04:05] It will read articles to you.
• [04:08] That’s it for today!
• [04:12] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #663, Eric and Neil discuss why your traffic is going to tank. Tune in to hear how you should deal with this problem.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: Your Traffic Is Going to Tank and You Won't be Able to Fix It
• [00:52] A lot of paid advertisers change their algorithms, so you can’t control your output.
• [01:13] There will inevitably be a time in your business when traffic declines.
• [01:20] Not everything is in your control. Just accept it and diversify your traffic sources.
• [01:45] An omnichannel approach will help you maintain your traffic.
• [02:00] The easiest channels to go after are: content marketing, paid ads, social sharing, link building, and building an email list.
• [03:00] There are a ton of channels. Experiment and see what works.
• [03:30] Eric’s team uses Northstar from Growth Hackers.
• [03:39] It’s a project management tool that helps you be more methodical.
• [04:22] Cross-posting video content is helpful and gets you organic traffic.
• [04:45] Remember to re-target people.
• [04:55] Webinars are another great option for driving new traffic to your site.
• [05:05] That’s it for today!
• [05:10] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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In episode #662, Eric and Neil discuss what old brands can teach you about marketing. Tune in to hear how classic brands stay relevant.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:27] Today’s Topic: What The Oldest Brand in The World Can Teach You About Marketing
• [00:35] Stella Artois is the oldest brand in the world.
• [01:00] The old brands last because they are boring. They repeat their marketing over and over.
• [01:15] It’s also key that they are a great product.
• [01:30] Stella and other older brands take pride in creating a good product.
• [01:45] They also try to stay relevant.
• [02:00] Their ads are prevalent and they attempt to stay top-of-mind.
• [02:40] Old brands do well when they adapt to fit with trends.
• [03:31] Stella made special cans for the Cannes Film Festival.
• [03:54] Someone told Neil that Stella Artois is considered “crappy”. Here in the U.S., it has a different reputation.
• [04:11] Perception is everything.
• [04:30] Influencers are important to hyping up your product.
• [04:49] That’s all for today!
• [04:55] Go to Singlegrain.com/Giveway for a special marketing tool giveaway!

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