In episode #31, Wilco talks what you should do in 2019.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:00: If you can set big goals and the 1st of January, you can do the same thing on the 16th of July, right?

01:28:  I just checked, and the last time I recorded that podcast episode was one year ago.

02:24: People usually listen to a podcast while they have some alone time.

03:55: Because the more people I see downloading this episode, the higher the chances that I'll keep on doing the podcasts.

07:00: But because in the end, entrepreneurs are problem solvers.

07:33: So the best thing you can do, this is really like the best thing you can do this year is really dial in to what's working so far.

07:45: But whatever it is that's working for you so far, go all in on that.

08:00: Do more of what actually works.

09:39: Last a week I had a call with one of the previous head of growth of Kissmetrics.

10:17: Go deeper in what's already working.

Transcription:    

Speaker 1: 2019, it's yet another new year with a lot of new chances and things that we can do in our business to grow our business, and usually I see two different types of people.

There's the kind of people that are like, Ah, this is going to be the best year ever, and setting high goals, and do all that stuff. And the people who are just, you know, they just keep on moving forward day in, day out. I personally, I'm a bit in between. I do usually use a new year, like the end of a year to sort of like really set new goals and map out the year. But at the same time I realized that, New Year's just like any other day, I mean, if you can set big goals and the 1st of January or you can do the same thing on the 16th of July, right?

But anyway, it is a new year and it is a moment that I usually do plan things ahead. And that's why I wanted to share with all of you, sort of my thoughts are what you should be focusing on in 2019 if you want to have a rapid growth in your business.

And first of all, I want to sort of address the elephant in the room. Where have you been? I mean, I just checked, and the last time I recorded that podcast episode was one year ago.

It was actually in January, 2018, which is insane. Time has flew by super, super fast, and actually, there's a reason obviously why I haven't been podcasting. And it's actually, it's, it has to do a lot with what I'm going to talk about in today's podcast because obviously you can only do so much, and you sort of have to, like, you have to sort of measure what's working and what's not working to see where you put your time.

I mean, for sure running a podcast can be very, not just lucrative, but it's a really good way to build an audience with people because, if you post stuff on Facebook or if you post stuff on YouTube, people will watch your content or go through your content while they are distracted because they're seeing other videos and other posts and all that.

But if people listen to your podcasts like you probably are right now, people usually listen to a podcast while they have some alone time. What are during a car or whether they're walking or on a bicycle. I mean, I'm Dutch, so obviously I listen to podcasts a lot when I'm on my bicycle. But, but it's really you and you and me time set up. So it's a real great way to build an audience. A, but if I looked at my statistics for my outcast, I never really promoted it very much.

I did, when we launched it, I obviously did a campaign using a viral, which went really well, that really kicked it off. And after that I never really promoted after that. And that's also why, if you're listening, your one of the few followers. Like, we got, I'm not sure how many downloads we have. I think we got like 25,000 downloads ish, something like that. But in the grand scheme of things, that's not a lot.

And that's also why I'm actually recording this podcast because I want to sort of measure how many people are still subscribed. So I'm, we're going to put out this podcast with good stuff. I'll get to that in a second. But the reason my, my self is recent for this podcast, is also to see like, Hey, is, is the podcast something I put I should put back on track for 2019? So, if you're listening, please do let me know. Should I do the podcast? Like should you send me a message on Facebook for example, like should I keep doing the podcast or should it, should it just be it just one podcast and then it's done again and hopefully share this with your friends as well. Because the more people I see downloading this episode, the higher the chances that I'll keep on doing the podcasts.

Now, with that having said, as I mentioned it, it's time and the beginning of the year to make a plan what to focus on and the same goes for you, like as an entrepreneur, as a marketer, there's no way you can follow through, follow up on all the potentials. There are, I mean, these days there's so much you can do and you can, you can obviously run paid ads. You can do that on, on Facebook and on YouTube and Google, Google Ads.

You can do affiliate marketing, you can do content marketing, you can be blogging, you can do videos, you can, you can be great at social media. You can be an expert on, on Instagram. You can do PR, you can do, you can work with influencers. There's like the options are pretty much limitless. I mean, if, if people are saying that they don't know how to get traffic, it's really because they haven't tried hard enough in my honest opinion.

I'm not saying like initially it can be hard, right? It sure can be. But there are a lot of opportunities. And the problem with that is that it actually becomes overwhelming and people do everything a little bit. And then it's hard because all of these things, it only works really well if you put a lot of time and energy into it because obviously, there is a lot of competition out there, right?

So, while I was making my plans, one of the things I was asking myself, like, like in, in my business, to, you know, a viral and connectio.io, we obviously have various ways how we get customers into our business, right? So, for example, we're running viral campaigns. For example, we are running Facebook ads.

For example, we, well not so much last year, but like previously we've worked a lot with affiliates and like, we're doing some content marketing. And what I ask myself is like, what's the best way to grow our business? Is it to, to do, to add more channels? Right? So besides the Beta, it's, besides to content marketing, should I add another channel? Like an auto traffic strategy? Should I be doing more with influencers? Or should I do more PR, or should I go all in on affiliates and add that in?

And what I realized is that, that I'm guilty of this as well, and I see a lot of entrepreneurs do the exact same thing, is that we are doing everything we can to figure out what's working, right? So we're trying to, you know, to get some traffic from somewhere. We're trying to grow our business and at some point, something is working and we're like, this is awesome. You know, for example, your, your, your Facebook ads, they're starting to come forward and you started to spend a bit more on Facebook ads, and every single time you spend a dollar you get two or $3 out, and it's awesome, and you get better at it and better and better. And over time, it actually turns into a business. And you've got this awesome thing where you're running Facebook ads and you're spending x amount of dollars and you're like, you're making way more and it's good, and everything is awesome.

So what do you do after? Well what a lot of people do, what I've been doing as well. It was like, awesome, we figured this out, right? But now I want to have a new challenge, so I want to figure something else out.

And I sort of drop what I did, start something new, right? And then I started figuring that out. But because in the end, entrepreneurs are problem solvers, and we're sort of thrive on the kick of like solving puzzles, solving, at least that's for me, solving puzzles, coming up with awesome solutions and, and sort of beating the game, right?

Figuring out what's working and what's not. So for a long time I've been doing that, right? I, I've been doing initially years and years ago, I was doing SEO. I sort of figured that out, and I was like, Oh, let's do the next thing, right?

And then I started doing Google Ads and figured that out. And then I went back to zero, started doing something else, started doing affiliate marketing, like work a lot with affiliates. Figured that I'd worked really well. Stop doing that. went to paid ads.

So I kept on going from one thing to the next, which is looking backwards the dumbest thing you can do, right? So the best thing you can do, this is really like the best thing you can do this year is really dial in to what's working so far. And I cannot tell you what that is for you. I mean, every business is different. There's businesses who thrive on Facebook Ads. There's businesses who go all in on content marketing, and that's what's working for them. But whatever it is that's working for you so far, go all in on that. And that's really my realization.

Do more of what actually works instead of going with the, like, sometimes I just go with a good feeling and like, Oh this is cool or this is nice, but like look at the numbers and see a measure what's actually working. And that doesn't just go and like, this doesn't just apply in like what actual traffic source but even inside a specific traffic or a specific marketing strategy.

So I'll give you an example. Right now I'm reconsidering or replanning my email marketing strategy, right? So what kind of emails are we going to send, and how are we going to engage with their audience? And like, to what extent are we doing offers or special or special promotions? To what extent do we just go in on content? To what extent do we use email to send people into different mediums? Like for example, YouTube or Facebook, et cetera, like all these kinds of things.

So I'm, I'm, I'm figuring out a new plan. And initially I was working on that plan, and I was just going with my gut, like, why do I think is it working? And I'm like, wait a second, once again, do more what works.

So I went into wicked reports. That's my analytic tool to measure a lot of, lot of this stuff to literally see over the last year what specific email campaigns worked and what emails worked and what, which ones didn't work. And when I say worked, I mean which ones actually brought in revenue, right?

So, based on that, I'm now able to see like all right this part, it looked really cool, and it was awesome, but actually didn't tell like did not convert at all. People were not interested in it. So just didn't work. Right. So now I know like I am able to see exactly what's working, and this year I'm going to do more of what actually works.

And I'm actually, it's funny, last, last a week I had a call with one of the previous head of growth of Kissmetrics. Kissmetrics is a big software as a service company. You may have heard of him. It's right now owned by Neil Patel, or at least he bought the blog. He actually started the, founded that company. Anyway, it's quite a big company.

And I was speaking to the head of growth, previous head of growth for that company. I asked him the same thing, like, like, this is the situation where I'm currently at. I'm like paid ads are working well and I'm like, oh, all these kinds of things. What do you think I should do if I want to double my business this year? And he said, he didn't say like, Oh, you add another channel. No. He said, go deeper in what's already working.

Right? So for example, if your paid ads are working, go deeper. Figure out if there's a way you can maximize it more. Figure out if there's another platform that's sort of similar as what you're currently doing. But you can, you know, push ads there. I mean, if you're already running ads on, for example, Google, they may be, you want to go for like other search engines as well, even though they're not as big, but still it can add up to it, right?

So, it's really all about going all in. And that's really what my message for today, for all of you today is, is like when you're trying to figure out where you're headed this year to grow your business, don't just go for the latest hype. Don't just do because other people say it's cool to do or because you know, it's, you know, it feels good.

But really look at your business, and ask yourself like, what's been working so far? And do more of that, right? Really go all in. If something is already working for you, don't just try to divert your attention to something else and try to add something altered because it's often way easier to double something that you're already good at than to start a brand-new skill and figure that out.

I mean, I'm, I'm currently trying that as well. I'm not sure if it's the best decision yet. I'll let you know later on. But for example, paid ads, working well. Content marketing, I'm like, I'm not good at like, I know a lot of marketing stuff, I've got a lot to share, but it's not like I'm a good content marketer, so, where, unlike some people who get hundreds of thousands of followers and all that, I'm not that person, right?

So I'm not sure if if this is, if this is is, you know, we're, I should spend my attention basically because obviously it takes a lot of time to figure it out. While, if I would put all that same time and do stuff I already know, for example, we're running viral campaigns or running paid ads using connectio.io, and I think all that stuff, it's probably a better ROI.

So in that sense, I should probably listen to this episode myself once again, because it's really all about doing more what's working for you right now and up to this point. And that's really my message for all of you today. So, once again, it's been a year since I did a podcast episode. So, I'd love to hear from you if I should do more of these and if so, why or what did you want to listen and, yeah, if you want to share this with any of your friends, I'd appreciate that a lot. And with that having said, I hope you all have an amazing day. Cheers.