Growth Mapping Podcast

Today we’re going to be talking about marketing your business in 2018. It’s a new year and it’s time to consider new technologies, new channels of traffic, and other factors that might be new or upcoming in 2018. You won’t want to miss this guide to what to consider as you make your marketing plan for next year. Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 1:40: Voice search: Will Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa change how you market in 2018? ● 4:15: How the changing Google algorithms and search methods will impact how you leverage SEO and the way you work your site. ● 5:30: Thoughts on differentiating yourself through your brand, particularly through content marketing and education. ● 8:00: How you can have a mini personal brand built around one specific niche. ● 9:45: Why personality matters. ● 10:40: Some “old school” strategies that still work.

Today we’re going to talk about how to use chatbots for sales and marketing. Everyone is jumping on chatbots as the new thing, and we are excited to cover the topic today. Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 1:00: What Sujan has found chatbots work best for, as well as how he categorizes the different types used for various applications. ● 2:55: What a driftbot is and what they’re best for. ● 4:45: Why people might choose a chatbot over other types of marketing, as well as what type of people are more likely to use a chatbot and why. ● 8:00: Examples of companies that are using chatbots effectively. ● 10:30: Details about chatbots: How much they are, how long it takes to get it up and running, and whether it’s possible to build one on your own.

Creating leads with content is a time-honored and effective approach to building your sales funnel, but it’s also time-consuming. Today we’re going to talk about ways to build that funnel without relying on SEO and content marketing. If you want to add another strategy to your marketing, you won’t want to miss today’s episode. Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 1:20: Why you should make sure you should understand and get into the heads of your clients and customers. ● 3:30: Getting immediate traffic using paid ads: where to start. ● 4:50: Ideas for an evergreen webinar: what you should include (and what you shouldn’t). ● 6:50: How to reel people in without handing them the solution to their problems. ● 10:00: How Sujan handles his webinars in a way that gets him signups.

Having a good marketer is essential to the success of your business. But how can you find a great one? Today we’re going to be talking about some of the questions you should ask during the hiring process. If you’ve wondered how to get a fantastic marketer, you won’t want to miss today’s episode! Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 1:20: How you can tell the difference between people who know what they’re doing and people who just have a good online portfolio. ● 3:30: Why you should not necessarily be impressed with brand names on a resume. ● 5:20: Why some people who have had brilliant strategies at a large corporation might not work out well with a startup. ● 6:30: Why Sujan does not necessarily want to hire a manager to handle his marketing. ● 8:15: Tips on gauging how well the potential marketer will do in the real world. ● 9:50: Why team culture is an important factor.

Have you gotten to the horrible point when things with your company are plateauing? This can happen at many different stages during the course of your business and it’s frustrating no matter when it occurs. Today we’re going to talk about what to do when your business stops growing. Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 1:05: How to use data to determine what has stopped working. Take a look at each channel in your analytics and find out what’s happening. ● 3:20: Why it’s a mistake to start dumping money into channels without knowing the math behind it. ● 4:20: Why talking to your customers is key. ● 6:50: Thoughts on reducing the churn rate, increasing the conversion rate, and helping people to want to keep using your service. ● 9:40: Thoughts on making a sales funnel through paid traffic sources. ● 10:30: When to determine that things aren’t working so you don’t spend money unnecessarily. Be willing to change courses, but figure out the math before you jump to a new channel.

Today we’re going to talk about how to get thousands of people on your email list when you’re literally starting with nothing. So many people will tell you that your email list is one of your most valuable assets. Here’s how you can grow yours. Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 1:15: Why you should start big and what that means. ● 3:30: How to use your LinkedIn contacts to your advantage. ● 6:00: How to use email signatures and website banners to get people to sign up for your email list. ● 7:15: Tools to use to build your email list. ● 8:30: How you can use giveaways to encourage people to sign up for your list. ● 9:25: Tips on working with other people and co-marketing.

After a five-week break, we are back! Today we’re going to cover how to do a content audit and the importance of doing one in the first place. Whether you have a small site or a bigger business, you won’t want to miss today’s episode. Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 1:25: Some of the things that Sujan did with his websites during his hiatus in terms of auditing his content. ● 3:30: What Sujan did when he found out that approximately six pages of content were getting a lot of attention. ● 6:30: How Aaron manages to gather data with some of the larger companies that he does work for. ● 9:00: Some ways to keep your data organized. ● 10:00 Why content strategy makes a difference and some encouragement if you are not getting the results you want. ● 11:20: Some simple tools to try to begin your content audit.

Today we’re going to talk about the differences between link-earning and link-building. These are both essential to SEO, but Google greatly prefers link-earning over link-building. Do you know the difference? Get ready to find out more about these strategies and how one can help the other. Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 1:25: How link-earning works and how it compares with standard link development. ● 3:40: Where Sujan publishes the content that brings in links, as well as details on why his content works. ● 4:35: Why knowing your customers helps you earn links. ● 7:10: Aaron’s thoughts on the two most important qualities to have when you are trying to earn links,.as well as Sujan’s contrasting thoughts. ● 10:20: How gaps in the industry can help you build your brand and earn links. ● 11:55: Thoughts on creating a resource or anchor piece that does the work for you.

Today, Sujan is picking Aaron's brain on LinkedIn. We are going to talk about how to leverage LinkedIn as a platform. Aaron has been crushing it on LinkedIn and Sujan has been secretly stalking him. On this episode Aaron shares strategies and tactics that have helped him find and build an audience and speak to them directly. Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 00:54 How LinkedIn has changed and how they are trying to be a popular social media network. ● 01:18 LinkedIn cares about natively created content and it is favored by their algorithm. ● 02:17 Crafting impactful stories for a status update. Using pure text with no outbound links. ● 04:48 Crafting careful updates with a structure that generates curiosity about what is behind the "see more" button. ● 06:09 We have a group for global marketing leaders which allows us to use LinkedIn to send direct messages and group announcements. So we use LinkedIn's targeting to create a group and use it almost like an email list. ● 07:54 Tactics of getting an audience together and being smart about the direct message strategy. ● 09:44 When opportunities come up it's a good idea to jump on them while they are still working. Right now status updates are working for creating a narrative and providing one impactful lesson. ● 10:47 Strategy of creating the story and then editing it down to 1300 characters. ● 11:44 Aaron creates at least one status update post a day. This is pretty much how pulse was early on. ● 12:39 How posts get sent to a sample audience. If there is engagement LinkedIn will show it to a wide range of people. Get engagement happening by asking for help from friends and co-workers. 14:04 Native video for LinkedIn has the potential for outstanding reach.

Today we’re going to talk about how to grow your business to a million dollars and beyond. A lot of people get stuck and aren’t sure how to reach that elusive 7-figure goal. If you want to be a millionaire, you won’t want to miss today’s episode! Some of the highlights of the show include: ● 1:00: The method of breaking down your goal by month. In short, you need to reach $80K per month to reach one million dollars, so you need to decide how to get to that point. ● 2:30: The importance of breaking down your goal by the number of clients. How much does your typical client spend, and how many customers do you need to convert in order to reach $1M per year? ● 5:30: Evaluating what you need to do to get the traffic you need that will help you convert more visitors into customers, which will help you reach your goal. ● 7:50: The importance of team-building as well as creating a process that allows you and your team to function smoothly. Also, thoughts on why company culture is vital. ● 10:00: Why size matters. How big is your market? How big is your channel? These make a difference. ● 11:30: Why niching down might not be the best strategy. ● 14:20: How focusing on intangibles can help you get to a million dollars in revenue even if you don’t have a brand.