When Marketing Can Go Wrong: Taco Bell Adds Quality Meats To Its Creative Roster, How We Are Going To Test Using AI On Our Marketing Qualified Leads

In Episode #48 Neil and Eric discuss their respective strategies for studying competitors. Listen as both hosts explain why examining the competition—while occasionally valuable—is not as helpful as examining customers, and why your big strategy shifts should be determined by YOU as opposed to the competition. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:10 – How much should you focus on your competitors? 00:15 – Neil doesn’t focus on competitors too much 00:29 – Remember that the market is HUGE 00:45 – There’s a LOT of room out there 01:03 – Making a shitload of money as #2 or #3 is awesome—you don’t need to be #1 01:47 – Just focus on building your OWN business 02:12 – SEMrush 02:15 – Use it to gain keen insight into what your competitors are doing 02:49 – AdBeat 02:54 – See what your competitors are doing with more granularity 03:13 – If you’re going to pay attention to competitors, may attention to new products and market shifts 03:55 – If you don’t, you’ll get left behind 04:10 – Don’t sweat the small stuff—look at their roadmap 04:46 – Talk to your customers BEFORE making a big shift 05:05 – As long as you’re talking with your customers, you’ll never miss a beat 05:50 – Don’t do legwork for free 06:35 – When all you do is monitor your competitors, you’re playing a constant game of catch-up 3 Key Points: When it comes to competitors, only pay attention to their new products and market shifts—the rest is small potatoes. You do NOT need be #1. Never forget the market is HUGE. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

17 Syys 201610min

In Episode #47 Neil and Eric walk through their Top 10 Plugins for WordPress—they’re not only talk about the plugins and their features, but best practices for making the most of these WP add-ons.  Time Stamped Show Notes:  00:15 – Sharing the Top 5 Wordpress Plugins 00:35 – Yoast SEO plugin 01:03 – ThriveLeads is all about content upgrades 01:20 – Allows for opt-ins that are relevant to specific content topics 01:52 – Allows for the addition of an easy CTA for every post 02:02 – Pretty Link 02:09 – If you’re promoting someone else’s product as an affiliate, you can cloak the affiliate link 02:47 – Also great for Facebook ads 03:03 – PolyLang 03:13 – Requires more work, but it creates SERIOUS ROI 03:49 – Most people don’t speak English, yet most of the content available is in English 04:16 – Manual translate your content 05:05 – CoSchedule 05:19 – A wordpress plugin that organizes everything into an editorial calendar 06:56 – WPSmush 07:09 – Condenses images to make to help pages load faster 07:12 – WordPress Popular posts 07:47 – link every page to popular posts 08:20 – WP Checklist 08:26 – Creates a checklist for each and every piece of content 09:20 – HelloBar Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16 Syys 201613min

In Episode #46 Neil and Eric explain how to measure the results of your content marketing efforts. Listen as Neil and Eric illustrate why measuring your content marketing, while important, isn’t necessarily KEY until your content marketing and its reach has hit a certain level of exposure. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:30 – How to measure the results of your content marketing efforts 00:40 – What gets measured gets managed 00:55 – One thing you can do?—start simple. Track what’s important using a spreadsheet 01:45 – With content marketing, it takes time to measure results so be patient 01:50 – Neil never measures ROI from content marketing 02:25 – When you’re spending your OWN time on content marketing, there’s virtually no cost 02:45 – Content marketing is a LONG-TERM play 03:00 – As long as traffic keeps going up, you’ll be able to find a way to monetize 03:20 – Once traffic exceeds 10,000, start collecting emails 04:15 – Calculated Risk 04:55 – Content marketing is a 12-18 month journey before you see any traction 05:35 – Think of content marketing like you think of PR 06:35 – Writing eCommerce posts didn’t get the most traction…but they were the most loyal 06:50 – Moral of the story, buzz does not necessarily equate to sales 07:58 – Each visitor isn’t the same, attract the RIGHT type of readers 08:28 – Cyfe will allow you to build out dashboards with ease 09:10 – Make something people want before you start measuring 3 Key Points: Content marketing takes time, there won’t be short term wins. Attracting the RIGHT type of readers is more important than attractive LOTS of readers. What gets measured gets managed. Resources Mentioned: Calculated Risk – Blog from a WSJ journalist CYFE – Social media, analytics, marketing, sales, support, infrastructure... all in one place. Track your entire business in real-time. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15 Syys 201612min

In Episode #45 Neil and Eric talk testimonials—what they are, why they’re important, and how you can go about collecting them for your business. Listen as Neil and Eric share their personal experience with testimonials—both good and bad—and illustrate why you should never create a fake testimonial. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:30 – How you can get testimonials from your customers 00:39 – Testimonials are KEY because they do all the hard legwork in terms of winning new business 01:28 – Add company badges and testimonials to your homepage 01:49 – YesInsights 02:39 – Email people asking for feedback 03:03 – Roughly 3 people out of every 100 will give you feedback…at least one of those should be good enough for a testimonial 04:32 – A testimonial will give you a conversion lift of around 8% to 10% 05:19 – Net Promoter Score 06:05 – Be sure to ASK people if you can use testimonials…if you don’t, you can get in BIG trouble 06:15 – However, when it comes to logos, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission 07:14 – Do NOT make-up testimonials 08:15 – Bottom line?—testimonials are powerful and awesome, but you need to be careful when using them 3 Key Points: Don’t make up a testimonial—people will see it from a mile away. Always ask permission before using a testimonial. Testimonials will help your conversions, but not by any astronomical amount…10% if you’re lucky. Resources Mentioned: YesInsights – Get Customer feedback with simple one-click surveys. Net Promoter Score – A management tool that can be used to gauge the loyalty of a firm's customer relationships Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

14 Syys 201611min

In Episode #44 Neil and Eric talk about generating more blog topics for your website—why it’s so important and the tools you can use to ensure your content is always fresh. Listen as they share their personal strategies for creating winning blog content that’s not only interesting to them, but interesting to their readers. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:30 – Generating more (and more exciting) blog topics 00:37 – Use BuzzSumo 00:53 – Take what BuzzSumo gives you and IMPROVE upon it 01:54 – Look at posts that are fairly new 02:20 – Take the sub-headers and turn those into individual posts 02:58 – Use Google News or Trends to see what’s hot 03:23 -- Learn how to write content that’s fresh AND informative 04:00 – The internal search feature on your website isn’t sexy, but it is valuable 04:35 – Go to NeilPatel.com in the footer click on TOOLS and then type in your competitor’s URLs 05:00 – Don’t copy your competition, outperform them 05:55 – Convince and Convert 06:30 – Look into your analytics and figure out which of your posts have done well—find the key elements and piggyback off them for new content 07:48 – Feed.ly 08:10 – Whenever you’re coming up with new ideas, you need to strike while the iron is hot or keep a running inventory of those ideas 3 Key Points: YouTube advertising is cheap right now but it won’t be forever. Someone else’s laziness is your competitive advantage. When your ad doesn’t resonate, retarget, retarget, retarget! Resources Mentioned: BuzzSumo – A valuable took Neil and Eric use to identify trending blog topics Convince and Convert – Strategic advisors that work with world-class organizations to make digital marketing and customer experiences remarkable Feedly – Organize and share relevant news stories Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

13 Syys 201612min

In Episode #43 Neil and Eric hammer out the realities surrounding YouTube advertising. Want the two-word summary?—it’s awesome! YouTube advertising is one of the easiest ways to revolutionize your business, listen as Neil and Eric show you how. Time Stamped Show Notes:  00:30 – Does YouTube advertising REALLY work for your business? 00:38 – It’s a hidden GEM! 00:55 – Any time you’re running display, you’re looking for TRACTION more than anything 01:45 – Going all-in with YouTube advertising saved a company 02:10 – At CrazyEgg, YouTube advertising generated more revenue in one month than any other medium 02:52 – Check out Tai Lopez 03:33 – YouTube advertising is extremely profitable—but it is expensive to set up and it’s a lot of work 04:05 – Bid on pre-roll and search ads 04:40 – Leads coming in at less than $1 a pop 05:10 – For Growth Everywhere, we’re targeting entrepreneurial viewers 05:39 – Other people being lazy is your opportunity 06:41 – The key to getting an add that works really well is answering objections 07:47 – When people watch your ad and don’t buy, hit them with another ad, retarget them 08:30 – Get in on YouTube ads while the costs are low 3 Key Points: YouTube advertising is cheap right now but it won’t be forever. Someone else’s laziness is your competitive advantage. When your ad doesn’t resonate, retarget, retarget, retarget! Resources Mentioned: Tai Lopez – A guy who did YouTube advertising RIGHT Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12 Syys 201612min

Welcome to The Marketing School Podcast—your 10-minute resource to learn, grown, and nurture your passion for online marketing! In Episode #42 Eric and Neil discuss their favorite marketing tools, like Infusionsoft & LeadPages—and why. Enjoy! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

11 Syys 201613min

In Episode #41 Neil and Eric talk about how to generate more leads. Neil stresses the importance of not just getting people to sign up, but getting qualified leads that are viable for your business. Learn as they share. Time Stamped Show Notes:  00:30 – How to generate more leads for your website 00:39 – Tools you can use 00:40 – Hello Bar 00:45 – SumoMe 01:03 – Figure out why someone should become a lead 01:19 – Give something to convert them into a lead 02:15 – Make sure content is categorized 02:35 – Segmenting your audience 02:57 – Example on marketing funnel post 03:15 – Give a bonus on the topic 03:39 – Sending people to case studies 04:33 – It’s about getting qualified leads 05:01 – Taking people down to a long funnel 05:16 – Putting click to action after getting leads to sign up 05:35 – Drip and Infusionsoft 05:50 – Make sure to segment people from your website 06:04 – Lead scores 06:39 – Breaking leads into multiple steps 07:14 – Try storytelling as a strategy 07:53 – Test your call-to-action buttons 08:59 – Let them fill out what they want to fill out 09:20 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Give something to people to convert them into a lead. It’s not about having a lot of leads; it’s about getting qualified leads. Storytelling is a strategy that engages people to convert. Resources Mentioned: Hello Bar – tool to collect more emails SumoMe – tool for having takeovers or pop-ups Drip – email service provider Infusionsoft – another email service provider Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

10 Syys 201612min