The Business of Digital Podcast

100th Episode

For the 100th episode the guys thought a week long series was a good idea. After 2(ish) years and 100 episodes they thought they would go "Old School". So when we say old school what do we mean? Generation 1 SEOs. Link builders that started before link building was even a thing. And other great people that we spend 30-50 minutes digging deep into how things have changed, stayed the same and what the future holds.

100th Episode Series Guests

Monday - SEO With Greg Boser

Tuesday - Digital Marketing With Matt McGee

Wednesday - Link Building With Debra Mastaler

Thursday - Pay Per Click With Jim Banks

Friday - Digital Ad Innovation With Dana Todd

The one thing that we did notice is that despite the focus on more history than current we still think there are some good nuggets that you will get in each episode to help you today. So go listen and again thank you to those that have listened for 2 years and those that just started this week. It has been a fun 2 years and hopefully we will keep getting better the next 2 years.

Dig in with your hosts as they give you some tips, steps and many examples to help you sell your project to your boss and leadership.

How to Sell Your Project to Leadership

No matter the size of the company you are at or if you are agency/in-house you likely have seen it happen or had it happen to you - projects just don't launch. Companies often have one or maybe a few goals but how they get there is in constant flux. Sometimes people and priorities change, sometimes budgets and resources get shifted and sometimes HR/Lawyers get wind of what you are doing and squash your project like a bug (that always hurts!).

The entire presentation/training that Dave often gives is 10 sections and takes 60-90 minutes to cover. For today we picked a few of the sections and really focused in on the selling of a project and how to make sure you avoid people cancel it in the home stretch.

1. Internal Audit

Understand your resources, tools, weaknesses and skills compared to what you need to complete your project.

2. Teams Involved

Matt digs into some examples including one for a well known large company that was just short of the finish line but HR/Lawyers found out and put an end to the project. At the 11th hour the project came to a halt of course. Matt gives a great example of why SEO and PPC should talk about projects and coordinate or problems will happen.

3. Stakeholders

Make sure that you always include everyone and think beyond the immediate people involved. Thinking beyond immediate people you can insure that additional levels are aware and included at some level.

4. Align Goals

Ask all of the stakeholders what their metrics and goals are for the month/quarter/year. Then figure out how your campaign or project can impact those metrics and help them meet those goals.

Of the entire presentation that Dave gives this is only the first 40%! We will cover the rest or at least more of the presentation in the future. If you are interested in hearing this training in person just let Dave know.

Dig into Partnership Marketing with us and help your community or charity that aligns with you and your business.

Partnership Marketing For Good & Profit

The guys dig into examples from REI, Patagonia, and of course the recent Pissed Meal from Burger King.

So What is Partnership Marketing for Small Business?

Partnership marketing is a collaboration between two or more businesses with the aim of creating a mutually beneficial marketing campaign which helps all involved meet their business objectives.

A SOCIAL MEDIA BARK-OFF OF EPIC PURRPORTIONS – PAWS VS CLAWS

Some years ago Matt's company did something similar where they partnered with The Humane Society of The United States and NEADS/Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans to raise awareness and money for animal welfare and rights. To see the examples and more about what they did back in 2013 go visit the Bark-Off.

More Digital Marketing Industry Examples

Two other great people and companies that are out doing things is Seer Interactive & Wil Reynolds along with Search Influence & Will Scott.

Wil Reynolds - Sleep Out

Will Scott - Causes and GiveNOLA

Episode 98 Mentioned Tools & Resources

Lock Busters NYC

ReKindle Project

Patagonia Will Donate the $10 Million It Saved From Tax Cuts to Environmental Groups

What is Partnership Marketing for Small Business?

Since no one can be 'happy' all the time, Burger King launches 'real meals'

Brad Pitt’s Brother Recreates Ending of ‘Se7en’ for a Beer Commercial

We all have a never ending list of tasks and projects. So why not dig into some Productivity Tools for Digital Marketers to help you and your digital team?

Productivity Tools for Digital Marketers

Dave talks about tools that in-house and solo consultants can use and Matt focuses on some growing agencies may want. Between the two they cover a whole number of tools and use cases to help you and your teams be more productive at your job.

If you get nothing else from the show you should at least remember that:

Mat loves Slack and Google Docs/Sheets/Etc. and Dave does all he can on the show to not curse about how much he dislikes them both!

Project Management & Time Tracking

Workfront

Paymo App

Toggl

Freshbooks

Harvest

If you are a consultant or agency - there is a legal level of protection (talk to your lawyer) that comes with documenting what your team works on.

Meeting Tools

Make it easy for remote or those that may also work from home (WFH) sometimes be able to join meetings.

freeconferencecall.com

Uberconference

Zoom

appear.in - video

Talkshow

Loom

Two other great resources that have some of these tools and many more that we didn't cover are the following:

Remote Work Tools

Serpstat Blog

Data & Reporting Automation Tools

Getting data from any and all sources can be a pain. APIs and other tools are now available to help speed up reporting and data gathering.

Analytics Edge - pull into excel

Supermetrics - pull into google sheets, studio and excel

Google Sheet Macro for SEMRush

Build your own PHP tools that can leverage APIs from majestic, semrush, ahrefs and other tools - even GSC and reporting

More Tools

Hunter.io

Zapier

IFTTT - Dave covers a number of ways he uses IFTTT applets currently.

AirTable - if just google sheets or just google docs isnt a fit... you can create tabs that are under one project

Episode 97 Mentioned Tools & Resources

Wait you want more? There will be future shows where we will dig into task specific tools so keep your eyes and ears open!

So you think you don't need a website do you? Give a listen to the long list of reasons and examples why we disagree and think that you still need a website!

Its 2019, Do All Businesses and Influencers Need Websites?

So you don't need a website eh? We imagine that you likely fall into one of these reasons why you think you don't need a website.

I have a listing on Facebook so I don't need a website.

I already claimed my Google My Business listing so I don't need a website.

I already have a big following on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/YouTube/Etc. so I don't need a website.

I already have a store on Amazon/Etsy/Ebay so I don't need a website.

I don't sell anything, I am an influencer so I don't need a website.

We dig into a number of reasons why all those "excuses" or ways of thinking are wrong. Here are some quotes from a Twitter thread that all say why you need to think past just your social profiles and establish your own base on a website.

Ann Handley - BECAUSE EMAIL. For the love of Pete, people. Don't outsource your connections! Or your data! (Or anything important in life, if I'm keeping it real.)*

Christopher Penn - Never build on rented land.

Rand Fishkin - Building a career as an influencer? I cannot recommend enough that you create a website & an opt-in email list. Take those photos+posts from IG & put them up as blog posts. Just a bit more work and you'll protect yourself from IG's inevitable downgrading of "organic reach"

Udemy Example

In the episode Dave mentions an example that talks about Udemy and selling courses on it - or at least not relying 100% on it. If recent changes to Instagram, ongoing changes on YouTube and the almost no organic reach of Facebook still haven't convinced you, give a read to Krystal's story.

Krystal Wascher - DON’T BUILD A BUSINESS ON A PLATFORM YOU DON’T CONTROL

Do you ever apply for jobs?

Even if you don't own and run a business think of a website as just another resume. Or a way to get what you want in front of someone searching for you that YOU want them to see.

If nothing else - set up a single page resume site or have a free WordPress site.

Do you have a podcast?

Again, don't rely on just the podcast hosting sites that create a profile for you. Go beyond that and create a website and really build out your presence online. If you missed it or have questions on podcast hosting do check out that episode too.

Episode 96 Mentioned Tools & Resources

Watch: Influencer Jessy Taylor films her own breakdown after Instagram account gets deleted

Photography In A Post-Instagram World

Twitter Thread

Why I stopped selling my online courses on Udemy