Actionable Marketing Podcast

How often do you think about customer experience? Marketers put tons of time and energy into creating a brand to communicate a value proposition that makes people feel a certain way about their company. But good marketers know that it’s not about brand, but brand perception developed through conversations and interactions with customers.

Today, we’re talking to Chris Paul, head of customer experience at CoSchedule. He describes how different departments and employees at a company can work together to make sure they are on the same page when it comes to the company’s brand and adding value to customer experience.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• Learn about your brand from both customers and co-workers
• All products, services, and solutions evolve over time; so do customers’ needs and demands
• Consider product market fit and then pivot and make changes when necessary
• Dawn of a new era where customers are not afraid to tell you what they think
• Know customers’ experiences and expectations to create positive experience
• Help customers grow and be successful by orchestrating value and addressing their pain points/problems
• How to identify existing and future stakeholders
• Offer customers on-demand support via various channels, including social media
• Delegate and streamline support requests to effectively respond to customers
• Improve customer experience by aligning and collaborating with departments and teams, don’t silo them

Links:

• Write a review on iTunes and send a screenshot of it to receive a cool CoSchedule swag bag!

How would you like to make $22 on every $1 spent promoting content? Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, let’s find out.

Today, we’re talking to Freyja Spaven and Daniel Daines-Hutt, authors of How We Drive A $22:1 ROI From Cold Traffic, Using Facebook And Promoted Content. They share secrets to their success when it comes to researching, planning, designing, copywriting, and testing to promote content via paid ads on Facebook.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• AmpMyContent helps small business that have funds, but are time poor and unable to leverage content
• Tweaking content to make it 10X more effective
• Paid Ad Process:
• Ad goes to cold audience

• Drives them to piece of content
• Presents hyper-specific, next-step offer with highly efficient lead magnet
• Over-inundation of content; 83.6 million new posts are published every month
• Facebook ads allow you to get a lot reach, without spending a lot of money
• Research: Push traffic to good, not bad content; determine if ad is profitable; and interview readers regarding a problem that needs a solution
• Avoid creating a lot of content that doesn’t highlight your expertise about a topic
• Ads start at a loss; use bottom-up testing to make ads profitable
• Create ideal audience for your content to make an ad that resonates with them
• Supply and Demand: More specific your ads, the more Facebook charges
• How people consume a newsfeed ad; on auto-pilot with their attention, interest
• Use Facebook machine learning to your advantage to obtain user data and create algorithm to achieve conversion goals
• Branded Solution: Ad content should educate readers about specific systems and processes that reduce stress and solve relevant problems
• Getting people into a room, but not offering them anything; every piece of content should have a call to action
• Email is an effective channel to make sales

Links:

• The Definitive Guide to Paid Content Promotion: Facebook Edition
• How to Create Killer Content That Gets Results In Any Industry
• AmpMyContent
• Freyja Spaven on Twitter
• Daniel Daines-Hutt on Twitter
• The 10X Marketing Formula by Garrett Moon
• Mad Men
• Machine Learning - Facebook
• What topics and guests do you want on the Actionable Marketing Podcast? Send me your suggestions!

Do you do whatever you can to get a prospect’s attention? Many marketers actually miss the mark when it comes to connecting their customers and content.

Today, we’re talking to Heidi Cohen, chief content officer of Actionable Marketing Guide. She describes how you can build momentum to keep your content visible, consumable, and actionable. Also, Heidi shares a method to follow for your content’s amplification and distribution process.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• Difference between distribution and promotion of content
• Distribution Method:
• 1. Ignite (up to first three days): Build a network and spark participants’ interest and willingness to engage with and share your content
  2. Fuel (first month): Plan, manage, and schedule social media marketing to keep content fresh and visible; utilize many mediums (i.e. video, audio)
  3. Spread (ongoing): Road test content to determine what works or doesn’t to attract new people; perform audit to update content and get conversions
• Less than 60% of digital traffic is human; build relationships and be creative to reach humans who will share your content
• Ways to create new or keep content going include visuals/images, guest posts, build authority, get people involved, take content live, and go to conferences   

Links:

• Heidi Cohen
• Subscribe to Heidi Cohen’s Newsletter
• Hootsuite
• Buffer
• Aaron Orendorff
• How To Avoid The Most Costly Mistake In Influencer Marketing With Shane Barker
• Andy Crestodina
• Steve Dotto
• The Secret 3 Steps For Content Amplification And Distribution Success
• 5 Basic Content Types Customers Need
• How We Increased the Readership of Buffer’s Blog to Over 1.5 Million Visits
• Yale Appliance
• Brian Dean
• The New York Public Library on Instagram
• How to Network at a Conference: 101 Tips From Marketing’s Best
• Content Marketing World
• Gini Dietrich
• Write a review on iTunes and send a screenshot of it to receive a CoSchedule care package!

We’ve talked about influencer marketing and referral marketing. Now, it’s time to talk about affiliate marketing. With all these types of marketing, where does one end and the other begin? They’re all related, but each is a little different.

Today, we’re talking to Arlen Robinson, chief operating officer and co-founder of OmniStar Interactive. Arlen describes the differences between types of marketing, how to set up a structured program for affiliate marketing, and how to recruit and create incentives to bring affiliates on board.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• Affiliate Marketing: People who are outside affiliates, not customers, promote your business, products, and services
• Referral Marketing: Your customers who refer your business to people they know
• Influencer Marketing: Someone who has their own audience and following
• Every business should implement an affiliate or referral program because of stats
• Due to abundant shopping options being available, consumers get overwhelmed
• Create an affiliate program by defining reasonable goals and promotional strategies, as well as ways to measure success
• Find and recruit affiliates via online directories and social media; be competitive and get their attention by offering sizeable incentives - cash is king
• Other incentives could include offering products, merchandise, and gift cards
• Affordable solutions are available to internally track and manage sales, payment process, and content influenced by individual affiliates
• Use a viral loop to create a constant flow into your affiliate and referral programs

Links:

• Omnistar Interactive
• How To Avoid The Most Costly Mistake In Influencer Marketing With Shane Barker [AMP 115]
• PayPal
• Openinfluence
• Izea
• What topics and guests should be on AMP? Send your suggestions!

How can you improve your content marketing? How can you take advantage of an opportunity to entice people? Every company has the typical branding and collateral, but CoSchedule goes above and beyond with a tower of donuts!

Today, we’re talking to Ann Handley, award-winning content marketing expert and Chief Content Officer (CCO) for MarketingProfs. Ann shares how she organizes her team, what’s she focusing on for the company, and how she measures effectiveness and success. 

Some of the highlights of the show include: 

• CCO: Person at a management level who manages content - what a company sells and does
• MarketingProfs educates and trains marketers; helps them figure out how to use modern digital tools, tactics, and techniques
• Six Elements of Campaign Marketing: Strategy, plan, create, communicate, analyze, and management
• Identify what's important to marketers; always ask - what does our audience need to know to be successful in marketing?
• Focus on the Future: Plan what needs to be done now to know what you will offer in the next six months
• Remote teams require knowing what everybody's working on and where things are at; MarketingProfs’ philosophy is “When in doubt, cc”
• Utilize project management tools; don’t buy helpful tools and then not use them
• Hire people who are able to work in your company’s environment and who value and crave the type of autonomy offered
• Metrics used to measure success depends on the content; review open rates, trends, and other indicators - what metrics matter more holistically and broadly
• Ann redesigned and re-launched her Website because to align her personal and professional worlds
• Focus on your distribution strategy to make your content stand out; distribute conversational and helpful content via email to connect directly with people

Links: 

• Ann Handley
• MarketingProfs
• Everybody Writes
• MarketingProfs Campaign Framework
• Total Anarchy Newsletter
• Confab
• ClickZ
• Andy Crestodina
• Value vs. Vanity: Revealing Which Marketing Metrics Really Matter The Most
• What topics and guests should be on AMP? Send your suggestions!

Marketers have unprecedented access to marketing measurables. They’re inundated with data. So, which marketing metrics matter the most?

Today, we’re talking to Andy Crestodina, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Orbit Media Studios. Also, he’s the author of Content Chemistry. Andy believes that the most visible marketing metrics are usually the least useful. He identifies and ranks metrics that matter.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• Inverse correlation between visibility of a metric and its importance/success
• Metrics correlated with business success are difficult to get and require analysis
• Social, Search, and Email Metrics: Easy-to-see metrics that offer low to medium importance that correlate to business success
• Easy to see which post gets the most traffic, but it takes analysis to calculate conversion rate from visitor to downloader/subscriber/registrant per article
• Critical Metrics: Revenue, margin, profit, utilization, and capacity are difficult to measure, but are critical to business success
• Rather than trying to get reviews, try listening to your customers to make them happy enough to give testimonials and referrals
• Deliberately seek out sales, revenue, invoice, leads, and other critical metrics
• Look at your own biases as a marketer; deeper down you go in your funnel, the more impact of each action
• Best ways/tools to track metrics include UTM campaign tracking codes and Google Analytics; avoid influencer marketing

Links:

• Orbit Media Studios
• Content Chemistry
• A Guide for Content Marketing Metrics: The 37 Most (and Least) Useful Metrics
• SEMrush
• Google Analytics
• Garrett Moon at Content Marketing World
• Barry Feldman
• QuickBooks
• How To Avoid The Most Costly Mistake In Influencer Marketing With Shane Barker [AMP 115]
• Write and send a review to receive a CoSchedule care package

Did you do a lot of stupid things when you were a kid? Did you get caught and yelled at? Was your #1 go-to argument: Well, my buddy was doing it first - only to be told, “Well, if your friend jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?” As a kid, there are certain people who influence and inspire you. As you get older, that doesn’t change. About 92% of consumers trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family, more so than any other form of advertising. The result: Influencer marketing.

Today, we’re talking to Shane Barker, a digital marketing consultant who specializes in influencer marketing. He shares the top three things needed to execute a successful influencer marketing strategy, as well as pitfalls to avoid.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• Influencer marketing is the practice of using social media influencers to promote your brand, Website, or products
• Social media influencers have some type of influence over their followers, who trust and believe in them for information and guidance
• Don’t look at the follower count; number of followers incentivizes who is an influencer, but fake followers are used to make that happen
• Brands that use influencer marketing successfully include LinkedIn and LikeToKnowIt
• Software can be used to find influencers - consider engagement rates and profiles, not “likes”; conduct research to build a long-term relationship
• Pitfalls to Avoid: Don’t go after the influencer with the largest following and spend time selecting and setting expectations for an influencer
• Measure success of influencer marketing via affiliate codes/links, Website/landing page traffic, brand mentions, engagement rates, etc.
• Future of Influencer Marketing: How to scale this type of marketing, develop a win-win strategy, and educate brands on how to find influencers  

Links:

• Shane Barker
• Shane Barker’s Email
• Content Solutions
• Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages
• LinkedIn
• The Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to LinkedIn
• Liketoknow.it
• Grin
• Influence.co
• Fiverr
• Send suggested AMP topics and guests

Do you enjoy your morning commute? Do you use that time to figure out what you want to accomplish? Goals you want to crush? It can be a peaceful time to think about various projects and who to work with to make things happen.  

Today, we’re talking to Steli Efti, co-founder and CEO of Close.io, about the intersection of inbound marketing and outbound sales. We discuss where to start, how to work collaboratively, how to grow and scale practices, and HUCA.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• Starts with customers - if you’ve had success with inbound marketing and data to identify ideal/non-ideal customers, that’s the foundation of outbound sales
• Outbound Strategy: Ask customers for advice on how to sell to them
• Be vulnerable when doing sales, ask for help, and create an MVP for insights
• Decision-maker milestones to reach through outbound efforts that can be improved, replicated, and scaled
• Not all sales reps are created equal; requires consistency and persistency
• Would I want to buy from this person? Would I want to buy something from this person that I don’t really want to buy?
• Salesperson Characteristics: Knowledgeable, influencing, trustful, confident, authentic, honest, competitive, and adaptive
• Depending on your buyers, send emails or make calls to reach them
• Hang Up and Call Again (HUCA): Philosophy that applies to trying again to get everything you want in life
• Get outbound sales and inside marketing to work together to understand what they’re trying to accomplish and what insights they’re gathering

Links:

• Close.io
• Steli Efti’s Blog
• Steli Efti Keynote
• Steli Efti’s Email (subject: bundle, and refer to AMP)
• Send suggested AMP topics

How many Webinars have you attended? Presented? How would you rate them? Unfortunately, most Webinars fail because they’re poorly executed and take a lot of time and energy to produce. How can you create a worthwhile Webinar?

Today, we’re talking to Todd Earwood, CEO of MoneyPath and creator of Webinar Works. He identifies the biggest difference between mediocre Webinars and those that drive sales results. Also, he describes five Webinar elements needed to increase a company’s ROI. When framed correctly, a Webinar adds value for a business.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• Software companies’ marketing tends to focus on inbound content-related emails and Webinars; Webinars bring marketing and sales together
• Webinar Works helps companies create unique and different Webinars; teaches them how to save time creating content and make it effective
• What are you doing wrong when it comes to Webinars? Hook is a dud and you can’t hold that stage - no matter how good the content
• Webinars should include a host and thought leader; it’s a performance, not a PowerPoint, to keep people engaged and take action
• Webinar Elements:

1. Worrying about the wrong metrics
2. Targeting a niche to build a hook focused on pain
3. Offering polls to engage audience and qualify leads   
4. Segmenting follow up
5. Creating a “can of soup” to repurpose content

Links:

• MoneyPath
• Webinar Works
• HubSpot
• GoToWebinar
• Wistia
• Rev
• Write and send a review to receive a CoSchedule care package

These days, content marketing is all about videos. This trend is expected to continue into the future. By 2021, it’s been estimated that 82% of consumer Internet content will be from the video medium. Video helps marketers improve SEO, increase engagement, and produce higher retention rates.

Today, we’re talking to Alex Schofield, account executive at Wistia, where he helps customers reach their sales and marketing goals by using the company’s video platform. He shares how to avoid the pitfalls of creating videos as one-off tactics to create a video strategy and think creatively for unique and budget-friendly uses of video.

Some of the highlights of the show include:

• Reasons why marketers should embrace video (generate awareness and help people make decisions about different problems that your company could solve)
• People retain 90% of message delivered via video, compared to 10% via text
• Customers crave authenticity and human connection when dealing with businesses - video makes that possible
• Use video as an inexpensive part of your email strategy to gain exposure; and use social exposure to build influence and awareness of your brand
• People’s email filters are out of your control, but email is still effective - if you focus on how you deliver the video   
• Think strategically about where video can play a part in every stage of your marketing funnel to guide prospects and help push them through their journey
• Measure success by identifying the goal of the video and funnel stage
• The B-word (Budget): Different types of videos for different budgets
• Video Distribution: Include videos on the landing pages of your Website and work with existing avenues (email, social networks, etc.) to incorporate videos

Links:

• Wistia
• Wistia Learning Center
• We Just Launched Three Soapbox Ads That Cost $111,000 to Produce
• Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2016–2021
• SalesLoft: Video in Sales Emails Increases Reply Rates 26%
• TOFU, MOFU, BOFU: How To Talk To Prospects At Every Stage Of The Marketing Funnel With Emma Tupa From CoSchedule
• CoSchedule Academy
• CoSchedule Marketing Resource Hub
• Write and send a review to receive a CoSchedule care package