AI Is Changing the Workplace, Agency Reality Check, Cold Emails That Work, and Marketing’s New Price Tag

In Episode #267, Eric and Neil discuss how to start a marketing agency. Tune in to learn how to scale yourself up from zero to a million as well as how to create an effective marketing tactic when you’re just starting out. It’ll get you those clients and perhaps a date on Tinder, too! Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Start a Marketing Agency 00:40 – Neil shares why he named his first agency ACS 00:44 – ACS stands for Advantage Consulting Services 00:47 – Neil and his co-founder thought of the name 01:07 – ACS was created 16 years ago 01:30 – Neil is starting a new marketing agency 02:03 – Neil wanted a website like iProspect’s, which is one of the biggest marketing agencies 02:14 – When starting a website, have your own unique angle 02:20 – Keep it simple 02:22 – Go on Crunchbase, find companies that are recently funded, email them their flaws in a full detailed document 02:49 – From there, you can get clients and start having your own agency 03:05 – If you want to start a marketing agency, you have to be confident in marketing 03:11 – You have to do business development 03:28 – If you’re starting out, use Mixmax’s sequences 03:30 – Set up sequences and reach out to people like a cold outreach 03:57 – Going from 0 to 1M, it all starts with you 04:12 – Eric got a client from Quora by answering a question for SEO 04:21 – Think about where your people are hanging out 04:30 – Eric has a friend who currently makes money from Instagram 04:50 – Neil asks Eric the one thing he would do if he’s just starting 04:59 – "Give free advice every single day” 05:24 – People will eventually respond to you 05:33 – Eric even sent Neil a couple of emails before responding to Neil’s blog 05:45 – “You got to show value first and then, from there, you can scale up” 05:50 – Neil will also do the same thing as Eric if he’s just starting out 06:00 – Neil will send an email with the name and a catchy sentence about the person’s business 06:39 – Use tools like Mixmax, Outreach and ZenProspect to make sure you have a CSV of the company names for the outreach 06:47 – Marketing is a numbers game 07:02 – Eric used to take videos to get clients 07:22 – Start to build up your portfolio and do some work for free to get referrals 07:33 – It’s going to be tough at first 07:39 – Neil has a reader who used his marketing funnels to get dates on Tinder 07:50 – Funnels is compared to the act of swiping 07:58 – The more people you email, the more opens you’re going to get 08:20 – In Tinder, there’s a feature called “super like” 08:49 – A “super like” is when a person made you a favorite 09:00 – If you have a good headline, people will click through 09:20 – Make sure you have a good image, just like in Tinder 10:00 – “Do good work and then things will start to happen” 10:05 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Confidence is important, but being an excellent marketer is fundamental—people will know if you are an expert or are just trying to be one. There’s no elevator to success. Reach out to people as often as possible and offer free work if needed. Create a plan and research how you will develop your business. 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.

24 Apr 201713min

In Episode #266, Eric and Neil discuss how to leverage Pinterest search ads. Tune in to learn why the best time to try Pinterest search ads is NOW and how you can leverage it efficiently to get the most success. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Leverage Pinterest Search Ads 00:34 – In 2017, Pinterest has released the ability to run ads where you can target specific keywords 01:03 – Pinterest is growing and becoming a serious business 01:21 – Pinterest users are almost equally divided by men and women in other countries 01:33 – Neil asks Eric to try selling digital products to men and women to see who converts better 01:40 – Women have a higher conversion rate and are less likely to refund 01:47 – Eric wouldn’t make a refund 01:53 – Guys always return Neil’s products 02:05 – When a woman buys your product, they are more likely to read it, implement it, and learn from it 02:19 – A guy buys it, but doesn’t do anything with it 02:37 – One of Eric’s friends says “people are buying perceived progress” 02:57 – Neil has tried Pinterest search ads and it works really well 02:59 – You have to really target your product in your search 03:09 – You may want to get into it now as it’s still new 03:30 – Don’t blame Neil, but you can blame Eric if you lose money 03:45 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Pinterest is becoming a more viable and serious business—it might be worth it to run your ads through this platform. Create a product that is easily targeted in your search. Pinterest is still unsaturated with ads, so there’s a good chance of you succeeding if you try it now. 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.

23 Apr 20177min

In Episode #265, Eric and Neil discuss what Apple search ads are. Tune in to find out the benefits of investing in an app, whether it’s a fit for your business, and the ways you can boost your install rate via Apple apps. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: What Apple Search Ads Are 00:37 – If you’re searching on the App Store, you can actually bid on specific keywords that will trigger your app on a search 00:49 – You’ll have a sponsored ad on top of that and people can click through 00:57 – The goal is to get more installs 01:13 – Eric has been testing this for quite some time 01:17 – The average cost per install or CPI has been getting higher over the years 01:37 – If you have an app you want to push, this is one of the ways to do it 01:51 – Neil has also tried this and it works if your app has a decent rating 02:13 – The rating should be from a good number of people 02:47 – Apps are supplemental for businesses, but don’t try to bet everything on the apps you create 02:59 – It is too expensive 03:15 – It might worth a shot for your business—so try it 03:26 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: You can bid on a specific keyword to call up your app on the App store. Your app needs decent ratings for the search ads to work well. Apple search ads aren’t as sophisticated as Facebook or Instagram ads—but, is still worth a try. 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.

22 Apr 20176min

In Episode #264, Eric and Neil discuss how you can master the art of upselling. Tune in to find out how YOU can master the art of upselling, the benefit of targeting your existing clients, and how offering more speed and more automation can be your ticket to doubling your revenue. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Master the Art of Upselling 00:36 – Eric went to San Francisco to meet existing and prospective clients 01:05 – Before going into the meetings, Eric had a talk with his team to discuss what they can offer their clients 01:25 – Eric showed them mind-blowing facts about their clients’ competitors 01:41 – Eric probably gained an additional $150K in contracts 01:54 – You need to add value, first, to master the art of upselling 01:56 – If the client is satisfied with your work, they want to meet you and this is an opportunity to upsell 02:02 – “It’s all about expansion” 02:15 – Upselling is about speed and automation 02:28 – Neil learned this from Ryan Deiss of Digital Marketer 03:21 – “You can’t just do more speed and more automation of something random, it has to be related to [your product]” 03:32 – Trey Lewellen uses Click Funnels for selling gun related products 03:51 – Trey drives people to a landing page to buy gun oils 04:00 – Trey has more upsells 04:22 – Russell Brunson’s interview with Trey 04:58 – Eric uses Mixmax to set reminders for himself 05:15 – Eric makes sure he follows up with his prospective and current clients and believes salespeople should do the same thing 05:34 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Adding value is the way to master the art of upselling. Offering speed and automation for the product or service you offer is a great way to upsell. The customers that have stayed with you the longest are the easiest to expand upon.  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.

21 Apr 20179min

In Episode #263, Eric and Neil discuss what boosting a Facebook post actually does. Tune in to learn the benefits of boosting a Facebook post, whether it’s right for your company, and how to bank off that increase of traffic and engagement. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: What Boosting a Facebook Post Actually Does 00:40 – Eric gets more emails when they boost a post 00:55 – Boosting a post makes it easier for Eric to test new content 01:13 – Eric is more interested in collecting more email addresses when he boosts a post 01:34 – Initially, boosting a post results in more engagement; then, you try to see if you can collect more emails from the CPA and from there, see if you can make an ad campaign from it 01:47 – Neil isn’t fond of the idea of boosting Facebook posts and would rather buy friends 01:55 – If you’re boosting a post, make sure your post has an email capture 02:21 – If you’re going to spend money on Facebook, spend it going to a landing page or getting more fans 02:36 – Neil hates the concept of boosting a post, but has seen it successfully done 03:00 – Eric has done live videos in the past and would boost to their live audience, then retarget them 03:15 – At the end of the day, it is figuring out what works for you 03:54 – The value of Facebook Live has grown a lot 04:10 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: The goal of boosting a post is to grow your audience and increase that engagement with your content. You spend money to increase your Facebook presence, so make sure you are also leading your audience to your website. Find out what works best for you and suits you well – tests are invaluable for finding this out. 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.

20 Apr 20177min

In Episode #262, Eric and Neil discuss how to drive traffic with LinkedIn. Tune in to learn how LinkedIn can actually be cheaper, some tactics you can apply to increase your click-through rate, and how you can divert your LinkedIn traffic to your own website.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Drive Traffic with LinkedIn 00:41 – Make sure your targeting is tight and your offer is relevant to your target people 01:01 – You can possibly get a click-through rate of 1% if the target is right and the offer is good 01:07 – These are from the newsfeed ads you see on LinkedIn 01:12 – After seeing the 1% click-through rate, switch the advertising to CPM for cheaper clicks 01:28 – Eric’s click-through rates have gone up to 2-3% 01:39 – You think you can’t make LinkedIn cheap, but you can actually can 01:43 – Add everyone who adds you as friend on LinkedIn; the limit is 30K friends 01:53 – Take all your contacts from your website, post your blog posts on LinkedIn once a day, using the first paragraph or two—then, add a link to continue reading at the bottom 02:05 – That will drive traffic from LinkedIn to your website 02:09 – Neil increased his overall traffic through this tactic 02:30 – Adding the share button is also an option 02:38 – Using Zapier and IFTTT, you can push your updates to LinkedIn automatically 02:58 – LinkedIn drives leads 03:13 – Every time Neil publishes a blog post, he shares it to every marketing group in LinkedIn 03:26 – Participate in the group as well and add value 03:32 – Buffer is also good for sharing in groups 04:07 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Target your offer to the right demographic. You can get higher click-through rates and cheaper clicks in LinkedIn. Posting your blog posts in LinkedIn and sharing them to groups can significantly boost your overall traffic. 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.

19 Apr 20177min

In Episode #261, Eric and Neil discuss how to capture more email addresses at conferences. Tune in to learn the routers that you can bring to conferences that make acquiring new email addresses easier. Eric and Neil also discuss the right and most efficient way to network at these conferences. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Capture More Email Addresses at Conferences 00:40 – A startup called Zenreach has a router that allows you to collect emails and it behaves like an automation sequence as well 01:18 – Everybody needs wi-fi, especially in conferences 01:34 – Another way to collect email is to go to the conference’s bar or networking hall and have a chat with people 01:47 – See how you can help people, collect cards, and follow-up 02:02 – If you don’t want to drink, you don’t have to 02:30 – Neil doesn’t really drink at conferences 02:58 – Neil usually gets selfie requests at conferences 03:08 – Evernote Premium can scan a business card and add the email address automatically to your contact form 03:34 – You can also take a picture using the FullContact app, then link it to your Zapier which adds people to LinkedIn automatically 04:02 – Using Zapier with Evernote and FullContact will make your life easier 04:20 – After adding the contacts in your phone, you can add them to your Google Apps as well 04:39 – Make sure you take multiple routers with you to conferences 04:55 – Neil has a good post on networking 05:05 – “Don’t be the guy that hangs around and tries to prolong the conversation” 05:14 – Be efficient with your time 05:18 – Just try to add value 05:31 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: You can collect emails at a conference through online tools and casual conversations. If the conversation is about to die, just say nice to meet you and move on. At the end of the day, It’s all about sharing and adding value. 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.

18 Apr 20178min

In Episode #260, Eric and Neil discuss the 7 SEO tasks you can start automating today. They drop tried and true tools that will help you automate SEO tasks—eliminating the risk for human error and streamlining your workflow processes. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 SEO Tasks You Can Start Automating Today 00:33 – First is to use Ahrefs for link alerts 00:47 – It shows the new links that have been acquired by your competitors 00:56 – The link alerts can be sent to you 01:15 – Eric shares an example of how to link build depending on your niche 01:36 – Buzzsumo is a tool that can be used for link building, too 01:43 – Second is to use IFTTT: If This Then That to automate social sharing 02:00 – You can also time it 02:15 – Zapier is quite similar to IFTTT 02:22 – You can hook your blog RSS feed to your Slack 02:47 – SEO is like Formula 1 racing where fine tuning is essential 03:03 – One of the best WordPress plugs is in Yoast 03:17 – If you have WordPress multi-channel, Yoast automatically generates the site maps for each domain 03:42 – You can also use Zapier to hook in your RSS feed to your spreadsheet 04:07 – Your content writers can internally link to the links that you have 04:45 – Sixth is to sign-up for an SEO product like MOZ and OnPage 05:01 – It will automatically notify you when something is off with your SEO 05:28 – Track your keywords using Authority Labs 06:18 – Go to Google Analytics and set up alerts there 06:39 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: Automating SEO tasks eliminates room for human error. SEO requires fine tuning and consistent tweaks. Tracking your keywords will help you improve your ranking. 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 Apr 201710min