Digital Marketing Fastlane

Latest Episodes:

Storytelling With Jarie Bolander From The Daily MBA Feb 12, 2020

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The Daily MBA is about being a better entrepreneur, one day at a time. My main focus is on innovation, entrepreneurship and technology management. Through relevant original posts, links to great articles and several educational series, The Daily MBA strives to be part of making entrepreneurs better.

This action-packed episode is brought to you by the performance marketing experts at Voy Media.

When (and How) to Effectively use Controversial Advertising Feb 05, 2020

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This action-packed episode is brought to you by the performance marketing experts at Voy Media.

https://voymedia.com/

Today i'll be discussing something we see improving results EVERYWHERE we implement it, and you can do this EASILY. This thing is to use CONTROVERSIAL creative angles. In your ads, video footage, video text, copy - across all parts of your creative, make bold and polarizing statements - not like a PR crisis, but just let your guard down. You would probably explain a product differently to your friends at a bar than you would to someone in a professional setting. The bar setting relates more to people’s mindsets scrolling on social media, but a guarded professional setting is the state you’re most likely to be in when making ads.The basic concept: lean into controversy. You will slice through the noise, even if a boring brand, if you make a polarizing statement. His example was leggings - typically a competitive niche, but if you use a polarizing angle like plus size, body confidence, etc., you can stand out a lot (a fast growing e-commerce brand that does this well is ShaperMint, check out their ads library ASAP - I have no affiliation with them).A few tips when doing this.

First, READ CUSTOMER REVIEWS. We read Amazon reviews for our brand and competitors which helped find tons of relatable stories wee would’ve never thought of (highly recommend). In this example, it’s for a special kind of belt with no buckle, and this is the line became the cornerstone of the creatives: “I’m fat, I’m a truck driver, and I sit all day. I hate how my belt digs into my stomach roll” (loosely based on a real review). We included this in video copy, showing a trucker. The video was done really well by our designers, good hook, good stock footage. CTR went way up, ROAS went way up.
Use humor. I don’t have the studies in front of me but supposedly when you use humor, people are less likely to disagree with you. This is important when making controversial statements that might otherwise offend people. Also humor is just a great hook, it’s what a lot of people want when they go on social media.
“I” ( i ) statements, not “you”. It comes off like a customer review even if it isn’t, so it feels more organic, it’s now a relatable story. If you say “you”, like “Do YOU have [insert glaring vulnerability]?”, it might work, but it could turn people away. When you frame it as “I”, it takes away a lot of the potential offensiveness
Vulnerability in the hook, especially when you use the “I” statement, it allows you to address a vulnerability of the audience in a way they’re more likely to listen to. A weird source of where this is done EXPERTLY is standup comedy. If you watch clips of Bill Burr, he does this very well. They start with a controversial statement, and often about their vulnerabilities
Don’t worry about vulnerabilities/offending, you likely won’t offend if you are genuinely providing a solution for a very real problem. A lot of the reason people buy something is to improve their life in some way, so by addressing how your product helps that vulnerability is fine, regardless of the subject matter.

If you get real relatable stories, use humor, say “I” and not “you” as much, and address a real vulnerability in the hook.

List Building & Lead Magnets: Build Email Lists & Profit Jan 27, 2020

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WHY you should build an email list

https://voymedia.com/

Email marketing commonly generates 15-30% of stores’ revenue. What would your business look like over time with 15-30% more revenue? It’s very important to build this list, because the bigger it is, the more revenue you get from email marketing.
Building an engaged email list is a great long-term move for your brand.
Also, the only things you own in e-commerce are your website and email list. These social media platforms are rented, they’re more likely change over time.
It helps generate repeat business which is good long term.
Here is how to build an email list with Facebook Ads:
- Make separate campaigns for this, and target top of funnel AND middle funnel audiences.
- Link the ads to a signup page for a LEAD MAGNET.
- A lead magnet is something of value that people would submit their email address for. This could be free downloadable content, a free video course series, or entering a giveaway.
- Some Lead magnet best practices:
  - It should solve a REAL problem for your target customer
  - Promise a quick solution
  - Is very specific
  - Simple, easy to understand
  - High perceived value
  - Instantly accessible
  - Demonstrates credibility for your brand
- For example, a lead magnet that could do well is “110 Michelin-star-chef vegan recipes for FREE”. It’s specific, has a lot of perceived value, has authority.
- The landing page FOR YOUR LEAD MAGNET should have a field where one enters an email address in order to redeem the free thing.
You can MONETIZE THIS IN THE SHORT TERM:
- Many brands fear that they’re spending ad dollars on something with no direct purchase conversion, so it’s hard to track returns, but that’s no true.
- To monetize these campaigns, have purchase upsells immediately after the signup ON the signup confirmation page.
- This often works well because the audience’s guard is down, they’ve signed up for your lead magnet so you take you somewhat seriously.
- One great trick we see work REALLY well, is upon signup, have a little bar that says “50% complete”, and have a sale pitch video (or Video Sales Letter) on the screen, and say “watch X amount of this video to access [the free thing]”. If you have a really good Video Sales Letter here, this can be very effective, and VERY Profitable.
We have several brands where we get THOUSANDS of email signups for less than $1 each, and the ROAS on the upsells pays for the ad spend handsomely.
AND, if done well, the ROAS on the upsells can even just be a profitable campaign upfront.
SO… TO SUMMARIZE: Make ads for a lead magnet, have a great lead magnet, and upsell them after they sign up for the lead magnet.
Thanks for listening, and if you’d like me to send you some examples of this, feel free to email me at eric@voymedia.com, put PODCAST in the subject line.

Increasing Customer Lifetime Value (or Improve Repeat Purchase Rate) Jan 03, 2020

Show notes

Today’s episode is about INCREASING CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUE.

Customer Lifetime Value is how much you earn from each newly acquired customer.
By increasing the lifetime value of a customer, you can earn more money long-term, AND afford higher acquisition costs on paid advertising.
This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT as costs to advertise increase.

E: Tip #1: Email

An engaged email list is great for getting repeat purchases out of your customers.
The truth is, the only things you truly own in digital are your website and email lists. Social media and everything else is rented.

K: Tip #2: Organic Social

Many customers likely follow you on social media. Keep them engaged with your brand.
Post a high volume of organic social content on as many platforms as you can. 5 posts a day, ideally.
Use engagement metrics to determine what content is best.
BONUS: look at relevant Instagram hashtags for top-performing organic content inspiration. THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW YOUR NICHE ENJOY SEEING IN THEIR FEEDS.

E: Tip #3: Facebook Groups

Facebook is pushing for this, group posts get more reach than organic posts, they’re even more quote-unquote “organic” than organic posts, and they’re a great way to build a community with your brand.
Groups are becoming what organic social used to be. Since so many people follow so many different things now, the regular news feed is less intimate or personal.
These are great for finding User Generated Content! People post pictures and videos using your product. User generated content is great for ads.

K: Tip #4: Customer Service

Good customer service will make a great impression on customers. They are more likely to do business with you if they know you can address any questions they might have in a timely fashion.
Facebook Chat and Messenger apps are quickly becoming the preferred way for customers to communicate with brands, more so than email or phone. A lot of brands don’t realize this.

E: Tip #5: Customer Feedback Surveys

Incentivize feedback surveys
Bucket.io
You can make custom audiences based on certain peoples responses.

K: Tip $6: Increase Average Order Value:

Increasing your average order value will raise your customer lifetime value. Subscription plans, upsells, bundles, post-purchase upsells, can all help you do this.
Check out our epside increasing Average Order Value that gives you all of the details.

E: If you want examples, screenshots, or have any questions, contact eric@voymedia.com, and put PODCAST in the subject line. Thanks for listening!

This action-packed episode is brought to you by the performance marketing experts at Voy Media.

https://voymedia.com/

Ad Creative Inspiration - How To Get Awesome Ad Creative Ideas Dec 30, 2019

Show notes

Today’s episode is about HOW TO GET AWESOME AD CREATIVE IDEAS. Ad creatives are one of the most important things in advertising. It often has the biggest impact on performance. This episode will show you FAST and ACTIONABLE ways to get TONS of awesome ad creative ideas.

K: Look at the Instagram Hashtag of the niche.

This one takes 5 seconds and gives you priceless information.
If my niche is vegan food, look at the IG hashtag “Vegan Recipes”. Immediately you’ll see the top posts, which tells you what content people respond to for this niche.
Look for similarities in the top posts, especially compared to the Recent posts. In this example of Vegan Recipes, immediately I can see that high-resolution closeups of food work well.

E: The Ads Library is amazing to see.

Go to any brand’s Facebook Page, under Transparency click See More, then GO TO AD LIBRARY. This shows you all the ads they are running.
We find following the same few brands closely for months helps you get an idea of trends.
So if you see them testing a bunch of styles in October, and a few months later it’s December and they’re only using ONE of those styles, that tells you this ONE remaining style was the winner of their test, and it likely performed best.
We suggest you follow a small handful of brands with great ads. We like Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Snow Teeth Whitening, ShaperMint, Pet Plate, and Zipify for non-physical products. We have no affiliation with these brands.

K: See the Ads Library of FAST GROWING brands in your niche.

We choose the fastest growing brands because they’re more likely to have strong direct-response advertising than the big corporate brands.
For example, instead of Nike, look at Allbirds. Instead of H&M, look at Everlane.
ALSO, look at FAST GROWING BRANDS who are not in your niche, but have the SAME TARGET AUDIENCE. For example, if you’re a PREMIUM HOME DECOR brand, and your audience is female ages 25-34, look at a brand like Everlane. See their tone, styles, because this is probably the type of content that attracts your target audience.

E: Look at the ads and content of DIRECT COMPETITORS.

Even if you are a small brand, look for who your direct competitors are. There are many ways to find this, but a quick way is to go on SimilarWeb.com, where you can look up your website and see what other sites are commonly visited by your website visitors.
See what marketing angles, language, tone they use. See what content on their feeds does well, and what does poorly.
If you can get an idea of testing trends over time in their Ads Library, you can find insights to save THOUSANDS of dollars on creative testing.

K: The last tip we have is REVIEW SCRAPING. This one is HUGE.

E: If you want examples, screenshots, or have any questions, contact eric@voymedia.com, and put PODCAST in the subject line. Thanks for listening!

This action-packed episode is brought to you by the performance marketing experts at Voy Media.

https://voymedia.com/

What is a Landing Page? The Complete Guide Dec 26, 2019

Show notes

Today we’re going to be talking about LANDING PAGES. We’ll cover WHAT a landing page is, WHY you should use one, and a TON of best practices.

E: What is a landing page?

A landing page is a dedicated sales page for a specific offer or promotion, with the sole purpose of getting the visitor to take action on that specific offer (add to cart, or complete a lead form).
THIS IS DIFFERENT from a product page in that it can be a little more introductory, educational.
THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM A HOMEPAGE in that it’s more specific to the offer you’re promoting, whereas a homepage often has several options for users to click to maybe learn more about the brand overall, maybe see products, maybe contact customer service, etc. The ONLY action we want the user to do on a landing page take is clicking Add to Cart (or Sign Up).

K: WHY YOU SHOULD USE A LANDING PAGE:

A well-made landing page increases conversion rates for specific offers. If a higher percentage of your traffic converts, then you make much more money.
Even if it just increases your conversion rate from 2% to 4%, that’s DOUBLE the revenue.
Its always easier to increase Conversion Rate from 1% to 2% than doubling ROAS on ads.

Best Practices:

K: NO HEADER NAVIGATION.
- We don’t want visitors to be diverted away from the offer by About Us pages or catalog pages.
- We want them to focus solely on the offer we’re promoting on the landing page.
K: CALL-TO-ACTION BUTTONS ONLY.
- The ONLY buttons on a landing page should be Call-To-Action buttons like "Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” (which adds the item to their cart, NOT just leading them to the product page).
E: LESS IS MORE: simpler designs are way better here. Eliminate as many unnecessary, “loud” visuals as possible.
E: LAYOUT - BASICS:
- From top to bottom, you want a headline, maybe a sub-header right below it, then a hero/main image or video, with a Call to Action button underneath.
  - Everything I just mentioned should be visible with ZERO SCROLLING, on both mobile and desktop.
    This action-packed episode is brought to you by the performance marketing experts at Voy Media.

https://voymedia.com/

Creating Effective Facebook and Instagram Video Ads Dec 23, 2019

Show notes

This action-packed episode is brought to you by the performance marketing experts at Voy Media.

https://voymedia.com/

K: Welcome to the podcast, it’s your host, Kevin Urrutia, and my co-host, Eric Philippou. Today we are talking about VIDEO AD TIPS. If you’re serious about advertising, you’ll most likely be making videos. The SEQUENCE of great video ads is very important, and it’s often what confuses people the most when they’re planning a video ad. After making literally thousands of video ads, this is a Sequence you can bank on: Hook, problem, solution, call to action 1, credibility, call to action 2

E: Hook:

The hook is the most important part of the video. It’s what grabs the audience’s attention.
If you don’t have a good hook, people will not watch your video, and therefore won’t be persuaded by your video.
The hook must engage your audience.
It can be as simple as an adorable pet looking at the camera, with it’s cute face taking up the whole screen.
For good hook ideas, literally go to Instagram, search a hashtag relevant to your niche, and see the top posts, especially video posts, and try to spot patterns in the video content.
- For example, go to, VEGAN RECIPES hashtag. Okay, a lot of top video posts are delicious food close up.
Pop-culture and current events are also great ways to grab attention. (baby yoda meme)

K: Problem/Solution:

Identify the problem, or a pain point that your product addresses. Ask something like “Can’t find delicious vegan recipes?”, or “Battling Cravings as a Vegan?"
THEN offer the solution. For example, “This product lets you make delicious vegan food easily”.
Show features and benefits of your product or service.

E: Call to Action:

Tell the customer how to buy your product, like “Click here to buy now!”. This makes the difference between them just watching a cool video, and them actually taking action and clicking the link.

K: Credibility:

Social proof, like reviews or customer photos, press release quotes, are all great ideas here. Video testimonials are great.
Background about the brand’s history, such as “Founded by a world-famous vegan chef"
Finally, close the video with another Call-To-Action.

E: Bonus Tips:

VERTICAL VIDEO is ideal. DO NOT make horizontal videos other than for YouTube. If you’re advertising on Facebook, Instagram, or even Snapchat, go vertical.
STORIES: Instagram Stories are a fast growing ad placement, so if you’re making a video, consider making another version for Instagram Stories, in the 9-by-16 aspect ratio, with “Swipe Up” Calls to Action instead of Click Here.

E: If you want examples, screenshots, or have any questions, contact eric@voymedia.com, and put PODCAST in the subject line. Thanks for listening!

Improve Page Speeds To Increase Conversions Dec 12, 2019

Show notes

Interview with Lukas Haensch the founder of Path Monk.

Who has also been a part of Google's Mobile Performance Optimisation team

https://pathmonk.com/

This action-packed episode is brought to you by the performance marketing experts at Voy Media.

https://voymedia.com/

Data-Driven Decisions in Facebook Ads Nov 22, 2019

Show notes

This action-packed episode is brought to you by the performance marketing experts at Voy Media.

https://voymedia.com/

Intro: Welcome to the podcast. Today we have a VERY special episode - DATA DRIVEN DECISION MAKING in Facebook Ads. This skill is so important because it affects every single decision you make, from analyzing ad creatives to determining profitability.

K: The NUMBER ONE tip to data driven decisions is Staying Objective

The most common thing we see after auditing thousands of accounts, is that the marketer is too emotional, or subjective, about certain things.
Often times this is the ad creative, for example the video they worked so hard on making just doesn’t perform well, but they put a lot of effort into it so they keep pushing it and it loses them more money. This is poison.
This is one of the benefits of working with an agency. Agencies are typically less emotional about your marketing and can turn unprofitable things off without hesitation.

E: Making Decisions Too Early

So many times we see people making huge decisions on very little data.
Set your decision-making window based ABOUT every 50 conversions. If it takes you 7 days to get 50 conversions, always look at the 7-day window. If 14 days, look at the 14-day window when making big decisions.
Don’t make huge decisions on ONE DAY of data unless you’re spending 4-figures per day and getting a ton of data.

K: Misunderstanding Metrics

Learn what each metric means, and how they all relate to each other.
Once you know what each metric means, you know which are important to you.

E: Set Up Columns in Facebook Ads Manager

Once you know what metrics are important to you, you can set up your Facebook Ads columns to show you ONLY the important metrics.
To take it a step further, you should set up your columns to show metrics at all levels of the funnel.
FOR EXAMPLE From right to left: CTR, Outbound Link Clicks, Landing Page Views, Add to Carts, Purchases, Costs for each (in that same order), then Spend, ROAS, and finally Delivery.
If you want a screenshot of how we set up our columns feel free to shoot me an email at eric@voymedia.com

K: 5) Knowing Your Business’s Success Metrics

Knowing your business’s success metrics will save your business.
You shouldn’t even be marketing until you know these metrics.
Average Order Value and Conversion Rate, or close rate (for Lead Generation) are really important to benchmark and try to improve.
You must know margins, and calculate breakeven ROAS or CPA accordingly.
Once you know these metrics, you can set success metrics so you know when to scale, and kill metrics so you know when to stop a marketing effort.

Holiday Promotion Ad Creatives Nov 18, 2019

Show notes

This action-packed episode is brought to you by the performance marketing experts at Voy Media.

https://voymedia.com/

Intro: Welcome to the podcast. Today we are talking about holiday promotion ad creatives. We are entering the holiday season, which is very different from the rest of the year, in terms of the mindset of the buyer. This episode will help you make better ad creatives to make the most of the holiday season, plus ANY one-time promotion or sale.

E: 1) Unique Selling Proposition:

The holiday season is the advertising Super Bowl. People will be bombarded with ads, and will be hyper-aware of the competition and different options.
If you don’t
Identify Motivations and Barriers
Why Would Someone Purchase? Why Not?
- Price, variety, unclear how it works.
What Are Unique Benefits?
- What problem does your product address
Many brands we see just don’t mention their unique selling proposition. Go through your own feed, you’ll notice in a lot of ads you see, brands drop the ball on this a lot.
This is a core trait of great ads year-round, not just in the holiday season.

K: 2) Seasonal Relevance

During the holidays, people are shopping for OTHERS, not themselves. They need to give a gift for their wife, brother, and even PETS!
If you straight up say “50% off, great gift for Dads” in your ad, this will resonate more than if you just said “50% off”.
By saying who it’s a good gift for, you’re actually helping people figure out, “Oh, what should I get for so-and-so this year?”
- You’re solving a problem of theirs.

E: 3) Clarity

Don’t be fancy, just tell the offer from the start. Do not start with any fluff or build-up.
This means, open your ad with “50% off everything”. NOT “Every year, millions and millions of people face this crazy problem…”
Mention the PRODUCT early so they know what you are selling.
Mention the BRAND early for brand association.
We are seeing CLARITY win across dozens of accounts lately. This is not only for promotions, but year-round.

K: 4) Urgency

It’s not enough to just show someone an offer and a cool ad.
You MUST drive them to action.
Use HEAVY scarcity appeals to get them to act.
Shipping mentions, deadlines, etc.
“24 hours left”
“SALE ENDS AT MIDNIGHT DECEMBER 1”
“BIGGEST SALE OF THE YEAR”
Fear of Missing Out, FOMO, is huge here

E: 5) Technical Tips

Lead with mobile first. Square, vertical, and even the 9x16 Instagram Story design.
Try a variety of formats.
Always ask, “Would I click this ad?”, always put yourself in the customer’s shoes.

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