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As marketers, we all wish we had that magic crystal ball that could tell us exactly what out clients want. Well, there is a way we can put ourselves in our customer’s shoes by zeroing in on their emotional needs. Because the truth is, most people buy based on emotion over logic.  Today’s guest, Wes McDowell, helps small businesses do exactly that by incorporating psychology into their websites. Find out how using certain wording can encourage a sale to go one way versus another, and how honing in on a few areas can really make all the difference.

In this current world of social platforms like TikTok and Instagram, we’ve all no doubt seen the influencer marketing boom hit like a ton of bricks. Celebrities, and even once unknowns, are thrust into celebrity courtesy of their ability to influence their large group of followers, are called upon by brands and companies to collaborate to market products and services. But Jason Falls, digital strategist, and author of Winfluence, cautions us to ask ourselves, do you just want people posting about you, or do you want them to influence an audience? There is a difference, and today we’re going to learn all about influencer marketing versus influence marketing.

Every digital marketer could lecture you for days on the importance of SEO and why your business absolutely needs it in order to succeed in the online search game. But what they also should be stressing, is how to prove the ROI of SEO.  Because after all, how can you improve on something - or even know it’s working - if you aren’t measuring it? SEO consultant, Roger Bryan, helps us understand different marketing techniques and opportunities, with a focus on the data. The numbers don’t lie and they tell a great story, you just have to learn how to listen to them and take action accordingly.

How do you know if you have a content gap on your website? How can you find and fix what isn’t actually there? In this week’s episode, Alex Valencia shares with us how you can do a competitive analysis to uncover what content is missing from your website and keeping you from generating more leads online.

It’s no secret that more and more people are using their mobile devices to access the web on a daily basis, outnumbering those using desktops. Google has recognized this, and  in order to ensure the very best user experience, it is taking a “mobile-first” approach to indexing websites. From an SEO perspective, what’s the difference in optimizing for desktop versus mobile? What does it take to rank at the top of the Google search these days, and how important is mobile to that? We posed all of these questions and more to Cindy Krum, CEO & founder of MobileMoxie, where she’s been optimizing for mobile even before the iPhone was a thing. She’ll update up on all the changes and what you need to be doing for yourself and your clients.

It seems like once one platform adds a new feature, the others all rush to create a similar one, making them all that much more similar to each other. But after seeing an article discussing how one company boosted their traffic by over 500% using the new Google Web Story feature, I obviously had to check it out. So we went directly to the source, the author of the blog post – and the creator of the Web Story in question – Andrea Volpini. In this episode, Andrea breaks down how Google’s Web Story feature is different than the other Stories you see from Instagram, Facebook, etc., and how you can put on your Director’s hat and create “trailers” for your other written content, such as blog posts.

When it comes to navigating the world of SEO, it’s an everchanging landscape. There are definitely some hard and fast rules that everybody follows, and then you have a few people making their own mark and creatively stepping outside the box.  One of those innovators is Areej Abuali, who we talked to in this episode. She offered some new and exciting insight and ideas into addressing SEO issues for our clients as well as our own businesses. She also looks into the crystal ball with us and shares her thoughts on the future of search, including up and coming new search engines, and its effect on the almighty “Google ranking”.

When it comes to inspiring others to dig deep to find their passions and turn them into success, John Lee Dumas - the Entrepreneur on Fire - is the luminary that immediately comes to mind. JLD is constantly finding ways to inspire entrepreneurs, and his latest passion is no different. We talk to JLD today about his latest book, and how he’s using that to embolden others who might be stuck on their path to success and financial freedom.

Whenever a platform releases a new app or feature, we go straight to the experts to learn more. When we heard that Instagram rolled out their new Guides feature, we called on our good friend and Instagram “It Girl”, Jenn Herman, from Jenn’s Trends, to help get us in the know. Jenn shared with us that this is Instagram’s way of allowing users to post longer-form content and filled us in on the latest news and tips on how to utilize this new feature perfectly for B2B marketing.

Curious about this new Clubhouse platform, we decided to dig a bit deeper into it and find out just what it was all about and why so many business professionals – and well-known names - were flocking to it. We reached out to Mike Stelzner, from Social Media Examiner, to get his take on this since he’s always ahead of the curve. And he did not disappoint. In this episode, Mike gives us the quick and dirty lowdown about what Clubhouse is, how it works, who’s hanging out there, and the many ways you can be leveraging the platform for your business.

We often discuss the importance of email marketing on this podcast, and this episode is no different. There is no other platform that allows you to own your continually curated list, and no fear that it could all disappear tomorrow if Facebook or any other platform you use to market on suddenly disappeared. That email list of yours is still there, and it’s still your property. We spoke with Jenna Tiffany of Let’s Talk Strategy, who also is an evangelist of email marketing. She got us excited about some new email marketing trends to look out for this year, and clued us in on some of her tired and true tips – including building and keeping your list clean -that continue to help propel her client’s businesses forward.

What metrics are your company looking at to gauge your performance - and that of your clients - when it comes to marketing? How could you do a better job marketing, measuring and reporting those results? The answers, according to Dustin Clark of Element Three, lies in your marketing value chain. By using this strategy, you’ll be able to not only see your bottomline, but explain exactly how and why you got there.

Have you noticed that your blog traffic is dropping off? Or that certain posts aren’t bringing in as much traffic as they used to? Perhaps you’ve been blogging since 2005 and you’ve got a lot of blog content that’s no longer relevant. If any of th

As marketers and business people, we’ve all struggled with outreach and figuring out how to start that initial relationship. Should we go email or try for an introduction? We certainly don’t want to come off as too salesy or overstep our bounds. But at the same time, you need to remember that taking a one size fits all approach is a recipe for failure. If you want to be successful in your outreach efforts, follow the advice of Rand Fishkin, CEO of SparkToro, find a way that is novel and unusual, and always put the focus on them and not yourself. Make sure you’re offering value to them, backed up by research. In other words, do your homework and put in the effort, as opposed to just asking for a favor. You’ll find you’ll have much greater success.

This past year has been hard for networking, especially those that rely on that and referrals for their own business’s survival. So how can you continue to network when you can go out there and plan meetups with large groups? Well, you take it 2D! Christel Wintel is a professional networker that hasn’t let the pandemic stop her, as she has managed to successfully continue her referral group’s regular networking meetings thanks to Zoom and a little creativity. By following a few simple rules with a positive attitude and a willingness to dive into something a little bit different, you can still benefit from networking in the current world we’re living in.

Did you know that even some the most well-know national newspapers are using AI to write some of their articles? It’s true. And you probably didn’t even notice. So how can Marketers leverage AI as part of their Marketing strategies? We’ve all undoubtedly encountered a chat bot a few times in the past few years, and that is certainly using AI technology. But RJ Talyor, AI platform founder & CEO at Pattern89, reminds us that the key is to make sure you’re not losing that humanness in the process. Machines are great with data, but it still takes a human to differentiate the nuances of those gray areas that test ethical or inappropriate boundaries. After all, an eggplant emoji is just an eggplant to a machine, but humans know better.

Are you putting together next year’s marketing budget, trying to navigate the coronavirus minefield? Wondering how much to spend, what channels to use, and what your messaging should be? Here are nine things to consider when developing out your own digital marketing plan.

Like many business owners, you’re most likely always searching for new avenues to be seen and heard. Have you thought about podcasts? Getting featured on the right podcasts will increase your visibility, help build your credibility, and attract new qualified leads for your business. But maybe you just don’t have the time to pitch yourself to podcasts, or maybe you just don’t know where to start. Consider working with someone who specializes in just that, like Kristin Molenaar from YesBoss. Kristin has built a career around helping business owners double their new client leads just by being a featured podcast guest.

What’s better than one social media marketing expert?  How about 4 of them teaming up to create a Marketing super team known as “The 360 Marketing Squad”. Covering all aspects of Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, this super group has the experience, knowledge and determination to help small businesses not only step up their marketing strategies, but learn how to track their progress so they know what’s working and what needs tweaking.

If you’re a baseball fan, you know that for the pitcher, pitching isn’t just about their arm speed. There are far more processes that must all come together to make a pitcher effective. And so the same can be said for sales and marketing. Most people aren't struggling with their sales departments. What’s happening is they’re spending too much money on sales and underinvesting in marketing, because they are having to rely on sales to do all of this work. Business owners need to know how to market better and what to expect, but also what to ask for from their own internal departments. In this episode, Sean Doyle of Fitz Martin, gives us a scientific approach to sales and marketing, and shows us a more effective way to close the deal.