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Latest Episodes:

Why You Should Play the Long Game | Ep. #517 Dec 30, 2017

Show notes

In episode #517, Eric and Neil explain why you should be patient and play the long game. Tune in to hear what's changed in content marketing over the years, how long you can expect to wait to see results, and how many followers you need before things start really snowballing.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:27] Today’s Topic: Why You Should Play the Long Game
[00:35] When Eric and Neil first started, you could get results within six months.
[00:52] Now there are many potential marketing channels, so it takes different techniques and more time.
[01:15] Now, it takes a year to a year and a half.
[01:20] In the US, during 2017, Facebook had more advertisers than inventory.
[01:37] The question is: when is it going to be too expensive to do paid advertising?
[01:48] Go for the organic route, do it for two or three years: you will succeed.
[02:13] The Panchenko marketing agency started small, but now is publicly traded and does $200,000,000 in business,
[02:54] Americans tend to move onto the next thing over and over, while business people in Japan stick with on business for years.
[03:15] Neil has been doing content marketing for sixteen years.
[03:45] Neil started with blogging, but it has become so much more. Always play the long game.
[04:04] Now, Eric and Neil get to call the shots about what they choose to invest.
[04:30] Eric’s cousin works at a B2B marketing agency and gets most of his customers from old content he created.
[05:00] This doesn’t mean new stuff isn’t working, it just means it will work in the future.
[06:23] Eric has a great metric for content marketing. The URR (Unsolicited Response Rate) is important to gauge how well your content is working.
[07:16] Once you get to 10,000 or so followers, it will continue to snowball from there.
[07:31] That’s it for today!
[07:32] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway for a special giveaway.

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What the ROI Is of Content Marketing | Ep. #516 Dec 29, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #516, Eric and Neil discuss ROI and how it takes time to see the results of your hard work. Tune in to hear why patience is a virtue when working with content marketing.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:27] Today’s Topic: What the ROI Is of Content Marketing
[00:51] With any kind of content marketing, it takes time; about a 12-18 month journey.
[01:05] Eric’s first podcast, Growth Everywhere was only getting nine downloads per day during his first year.
[01:22] By the second year, he was still only getting thirty downloads per day. Now he’s pushing 100,000 per month.
[01:48] Meeting face to face is helpful to ROI.
[02:03] When they started, content marketing was text-based. Now it goes across all mediums and channels.
[02:48] The Sexy Confidence YouTube channel gets millions of views per month.
[03:16] It may take you a year to two years to see results from your content marketing.
[03:33] If you got into content marketing four or five years ago, you would probably see ROI in six months.
[03:44] If you want to do these kinds of things, spend the money up front.
[03:50] Neil is spending $600,000-$700,000 per year on content marketing.
[04:22] Eric did a breakdown of all their clients and 66% come from relationships based on the content they have created. The rest of it is because of SEO.
[04:46] Literally everything that they do is content marketing.
[05:28] The people with the most patience are the most successful.
[05:37] There is a marketing agency in Japan that only focuses on Pachenko, which is a gambling game. They made $200,000,000 per year, but only had a few employees and a little bit of profit the first year.
[06:28] This podcast gets 550,000 downloads per month, but they know it will take time to grow further.
[07:00] For B2C, content marketing is helpful for building a brand.
[07:44] A good example of B2C are Jake Paul's and Logan Paul's YouTube channels.
[08:05] Hubspot has some good studies on content marketing.
[08:16] That’s all for today!
[08:17] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway for a special giveaway.

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How to Hold Marketers Accountable | Ep. #515 Dec 28, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #515, Eric and Neil discuss how although marketing is fundamentally quite gray (“We’ll help get you some impressions.”), nowadays you are able to hold marketers accountable. Tune in to learn how to make things less ambiguous by assigning your team specific, bit-sized tasks and goals.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:28] - Today's topic: How to Hold Marketers Accountable
[00:32] - Marketing is fundamentally quite gray (we’ll help get you more reach, some impressions, etc.), but nowadays you are able to hold marketers accountable.
- [00:50] - However, it’s still easy to make things ambiguous and wiggle out of being held accountable.
[01:10] - As manager, you want to hold your team accountable, too.
- [01:15] - Eric likes to hold his team accountable for just one priority metric, like a CPA (cost per acquistion) goal or a certain return on ad spend.
[01:45] - If you’re not tracking these numbers, it’s too easy to get off your goal.
[02:04] - Neil finds that if you give a marketer too many things to do, they won’t perform well, so he breaks down everything into small, bite-sized pieces for his team.
[02:19] - For example, at Crazy Egg, he has a team that just focuses on everything from visitors to putting in a URL/signing up. Then he has another team that focuses on everything from signing up to paying. Then he has another team that focuses on everything from payment to installing the product. Etc.
[03:15] - Give people one marketing task.
[03:54] - Eric recommends reading the book The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
[04:30] - One metric that Eric looks at for the client fulfillment team is retention.
- [04:55] - Another metric he might look at is traffic or email conversions for the blog.
[05:20] - It's all about FOCUS, and the one thing that most companies get wrong: they want their marketers to be accountable, but they just say “Go market our business.” Instead, you should be assigning specific tasks to each marketer on the team.
[05:55] - When you use a “lagging” metric like revenue, that’s a little difficult for people to hit. Instead, from an SDR’s perspective, you should tie them to a more active metric than just sales appointments, like number of calls made per day.
[06:54] - That's it for today! Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway for a special giveaway.

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How We Convert Visitors into Customers | Ep. #514 Dec 27, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #514, Eric and Neil discuss marketing funnels to convert visitors into customers. Contrary to what you may believe, you don’t need to have a complex funnel, so when you’re just starting off, keep it simple. Tune in to hear specific examples of simple funnels.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:28] - Today's topic: How We Convert Visitors into Customers
[00:55] - Everyone thinks you’ve got to have these complex marketing funnels, but when you’re starting off, complex funnels are a disaster.
[01:18] - Start simple. Neil just launched a new website that pitches agency services and his flow is really simple: you put in a URL, they analyze your site, and before they give you the results, you enter in your contact details. That’s it.
[02:04] – They key, espeically for lead generation, is to give some sort of value before you ask for their information.
[02:20] - Eric has talked about the use of live chat on your site before, and now it’s even easier. Recently Facebook added the ability for you to add live chat that points directly into Facebook Messenger – and it’s free right now.
- [02:40] - And then you can drive people into a simple, many-chat chat funnel.
[03:00] - If you visit the Single Grain website and give them your email, they use Clearbit to enrich the lead to figure out what your company is about, what the employee size is, what the revenue count is, and how much money your company has raised.
[03:35] - Again, give the site visitor something of value, like helping them analyze something, or give them a great piece of content.
[04:15] - There are so many types of lead funnels you can do, like give away a free book.
[05:06] - Or offer a free hour-long educational webinar, and then get people to sign up and provide their email. Works for B2B and B2C.
[05:30] - Check out Russell Brunson’s (co-founder of ClickFunnels) book DotCom Secrets: The Underground Paybook for Growing Your Company Online
[06:13] - That's it for today!
[06:15] - Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway for a special giveaway.

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How to Buy Back Your Time so You Can Make More Money | Ep. #513 Dec 26, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #513, Eric and Neil discuss how important it is to find places where you can buy back your time so you can focus on what’s important to your business and making money. They also share some apps that will prove helpful in showing you how to become more efficient with your time.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:28] - Today's topic: How to Buy Back Your Time so You Can Make More Money
[00:52] - Hiring people for certain jobs doesn’t mean you think you’re better than somebody else.
[01:10] - Hiring others can allow you to focus on the high-leverage things you can be doing.
[02:04] - Eating at restaurants and ridesharing services are examples of ways you can buy back your time.
[02:17] - Hiring people to help you do things gets you the leverage to have the maximum impact.
[02:24] - It is easier to buy back your time now than ever before.
[03:12] - Focus on your efficiencies.
[03:35] - Use the RescueTime app to show you the places where you are inefficient.
[04:07] - Applying the Pareto Principle to relate to how time relates to making money.
[04:28] - Use the Moment app to see how much time you are spending on your phone.
[05:11] - Google a task prioritization chart and use that to see where you are spending your time and on what tasks.
[06:34] - That's it for today!
[06:45] - Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway for a special giveaway.

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The Biggest Thing that Will Change in Marketing in 2018 and Beyond | Ep. #512 Dec 25, 2017

Show notes

In Episode #512, Eric and Neil talk about how marketing is where all the attention is and today that attention is split in many different ways. Tune in to learn how marketing has evolved from just content marketing to much more, the need to be omnipresent, and how audiences differ not just on channels but also on devices.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:27] - Today's topic: The Biggest Thing that Will Change in Marketing in 2018 and Beyond
[00:45] - Years ago most marketing being done was strictly content marketing.
[01:19] - Attention is so very split now and because of that a marketing plan needs to use all available channels.
[02:33] - Some examples of people, such as Tai Lopez, who are making the most of all channels.
[03:10] - Make sure you are omnipresent. When people start telling you that they are seeing you everywhere, you’re doing something right.
[04:19] - People are seeing what’s happening in the world through social media and it often serves as a major new source.
[05:20] - In the beginning focus on one channel and then develop a plan on how to branch off and build your omnipresence.
[06:00] - The audience is different not just from channel to channel, but also on devices, as in mobile vs desktop.
[07:20] - What it means to be a T-shaped marketer.
[08:12] - That's it for today!
[08:14] - Go to SingleGrain.com/giveaway for a special giveaway.

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How to Turn Shit into Sugar | Ep. #511 Dec 24, 2017

Show notes

In episode #511, Eric and Neil discuss how it's possible to turn a failing company around. Tune in to hear their advice for turning shit into sugar.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Turn Shit into Sugar
[00:32] Before Eric worked for Single Grain, they were an SEO agency. When Google made adjustments, Single Grain turned to shit, because what they were doing no longer worked.
[01:00] When Eric took over, the balance was negative.
[01:31] In the first year, his podcast was only getting nine downloads per day, but he kept going because he knew something great was beginning to happen.
[01:49] He knew he would make things happen if he stuck to his goals.
[02:04] Eric was afraid to lay people off, but when things are shitty, you have to make quick decisions in order to turn things around.
[02:22] Getting help from his peers was extremely helpful.
[02:39] Neil has learned that anytime you think you can turn shit into sugar, it doesn’t happen overnight.
[03:02] Analyze your business and its problems. Set goals to attack the issues.
[03:32] It typically takes well over a year to turn a company around.
[03:49] When things are really bad, you can fix it if you don’t give up and have a good team around you.
[04:11] The numbers should start improving once you have goals and people in place.
[04:21] When Eric was leading the marketing team at another company, they only had funding for another five months.
[04:42] He decided to cut everything on the marketing side and focus on the one thing that had the potential to be effective.
[04:54] He bet the entire company on one marketing channel.
[05:03] Sometimes, you have to have to the guts and focus to bet it all on one channel. Once it works, you can expand your approach.
[05:24] Eric recommends learning how to play poker; it may help you learn how to deal with ups and downs.
[05:40] Neil recommends you read Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, because it will help you turn your shit into sugar; it will help you organize your plan of attack.
[06:15] That’s it for today!
[06:17] Eric and Neil recommend the Problem Solvers podcast, because there is a great episode about the Hello Fresh CEO. To listen go to singlegrain.com/solve.

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How We Live in a World Where Common Sense Is No Longer Common | Ep. #510 Dec 23, 2017

Show notes

On episode #510, Eric and Neil discuss how logical conclusions are not always the best marketing techniques. Tune in to hear how they flip the script and explain why common sense is no longer common.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:27] Today’s Topic: How We Live in a World Where Common Sense Is No Longer Common
[00:40] Even ignoring the current political climate, the world is crazy right now.
[01:00] E-commerce checkout pages: does it convert better to have all the form fields on one page or does it make sense to break it down into two steps and force people to click through?
[01:14] Most people would break it down into two steps, because it converts better than the first option.
[01:40] You get people to micro-commit by breaking it down into two steps.
[02:00] Most people would assume it would be common sense to put it all on one page.
[02:20] Mike Chang (fitness expert) would ask you to fill out a quiz to see if you qualify to buy his product.
[02:44] This converted into greater sales.
[02:52] Instant Checkmate has a similar tactic: they make you wait to see the information.
[03:20] It goes against logic and common sense, but this method converts to more sales.
[03:40] It also goes against logic to have a long-form landing page, but it converts better.
[04:35] Common sense is not common all the time. 50% of the info they give you is true, but the other 50% is based on your knowledge and experience.
[04:50] Just because something seems logical, doesn’t mean it is going to convert to greater sales.
[05:15] When you switch things up and think outside the box, you get better results.
[05:49] That’s it for today!
[05:53] Eric and Neil recommend the Problem Solvers podcast, because there is a great episode about the Hello Fresh CEO. To listen go to singlegrain.com/solve.

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5 Tips to Become the Best Marketer | Ep. #509 Dec 22, 2017

Show notes

In episode #509, Eric and Neil give 5 tips on how to become the best marketer. Tune in to hear their insightful list and why retaining new information is an important facet.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:27] Today’s Topic: 5 Tips to Become the Best Marketer
[00:34] Tip #1: Run an experiment every single week.
[00:49] At Crazy Egg, they used to have people sign up using Google Authentication, which increase conversions by 30% because it was so much easier.
[01:14] Because people are now worried about privacy, just asking for name, email, and password is more effective.
[01:29] Tip #2: Create your own Mastermind (a group of like-minded people who come together to learn what they don’t know)
[01:51] Find a few people in your area and meet up about once a month.
[02:28] Tip #3: Learn from other podcasts.
[02:37] Podcasts with founders usually reveal growth numbers and how they got there.
[03:45] Tip #4: Create content! Creating content helps you articulate your thoughts.
[04:20] Tip #5: Pay for information.
[04:35] If you pay for information, it forces you to actually retain and appreciate the info. Because you have absorbed this information, you are then able to go implement it.
[05:05] That’s all for today!
[05:07] Eric and Neil recommend the Problem Solvers podcast, because there is a great episode about the Hello Fresh CEO. To listen go to singlegrain.com/solve.

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How to Sell Millions Without Ever Opening Your Mouth | Ep. #508 Dec 21, 2017

Show notes

On episode #508, Eric and Neil explain how you can make money without having to speak. Tune in to hear the steps to making this possible and other great silent marketing tips.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Sell Millions Without Ever Opening Your Mouth
[00:34] Start with blogs: you start to build an audience this way.
[00:59] After building an audience, you can then sell them something.
[01:15] Neil believes blogging is one of the most powerful tools out there.
[01:43] Eventually, through following free advice or info from a blogger, you’ll end up digging deeper into their resources and buying something.
[02:25] A woman who worked for Blackberry was following Neil’s advice and if he'd had an option to offer marketing services, she most likely would have spent money on him.
[03:30] By building and audience, you are building a relationship.
[03:51] Eventually, you will have to open your mouth, but at the beginning you can build a relationship with written content.
[04:17] Go to BuzzSumo, type in your industry’s keywords, and it will show you the most popular articles based on those keywords. Go write better versions of that content!
[04:30] Once you have written the better article, go back to BuzzSumo and find the original article. Click on the “view shares” button, which will show you everyone who has shared that content.
[04:41] Hit up everyone who shared that content with a simple email that lets them know you wrote a similar article which will most likely interest them.
[05:28] A tried and true SEO tactic is guest posting on larger blogs.
[05:55] Link building is still important.
[06:10] Singlegrain didn’t have a strong link profile, so they did a lot of guest posting, which got them a higher domain authority. They piggybacked off that and starting building a strong foundations.
[06:41] Dr. Axe went to SEMRush, put in competitor URL’s, and they wrote better versions of the most popular articles.
[06:54] Take the most popular competing articles and put them into Ahrefs and see which pages have the most backlinks. The ones with the most views, but the fewest backlinks are the articles you want to re-write.
[07:27] That’s it for today!
[07:29] Eric and Neil recommend the Problem Solvers podcast, because there is a great episode about the Hello Fresh CEO. To listen go to singlegrain.com/solve.