Maze Marketing Podcast

In this episode we talk to Ryan Baker about 'The Market Journey Path'. 

Listen now to learn:

• What is 'The Market Journey Path'?
• Why we need to consider our customers and clients as real people, not just dollar signs
• The difference between the buying market and the waiting market
• What to do when people aren't ready to buy from you
• The importance of knowing your customer's pain points
• Why it's important to grow beyond the buying market and into the waiting/contented market
• Why YouTube is a great way to educate your audience
• How you can use your ad content to qualify people

In our last conversation with Chris (episode 37) we only scratched the surface of Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO). Chris helps people improve their conversion rates as part of their paid advertising strategy. We continue that conversation in this episode by digging a little deeper and discovering how to run A/B tests.

Rob, Jonathan and Chris talk about...

• The best times of the year to run A/B tests
• What the home page on your website should not be trying to do
• The type of A/B test to run to discover what matters to your page/website visitors
• The trouble in making assumptions without testing
• The questions to ask in helping create AB tests
• Three things you can do with the simplest of A/B tests
• Why you probably don't need a big fat website redesign
• What a failed A/B test can tell you
• Whether to use a landing page builder or create a website
• The minimum threshold of traffic and conversions you need to run A/B tests
• The advantages and disadvantages of hiring an agency to handle your CRO
• And if you decide to use an agency, how do you select a good one.
• The free tool you can use for running as many A/B tests as you like
• The tools to use when you're ready to scale up
• And the tool not to use when you're getting started with CRO
• The biggest mistake that people make when A/B testing

There are more PPC agencies around than ever before. You'll find PPC experts at every networking meeting. But if you generate leads to feed an offline (or these days online!) sales process, it's hard to find an agency who can deliver GOOD affordable leads to your sales team.

In this episode, Rob and Jonathan talk with George Krahn, who runs an agency helping people create transparent end-to-end online lead generation systems that deliver on a good ROI. 

Whether you work for an agency, hire an agency or do the work yourself, you'll get a lot from this wide-ranging, holistic conversation. 

They discuss...

• An 80/20 holistic approach to improve your systems and generate more leads
• The importance of retargeting
• Why you absolutely should be following up with your leads
• The elements that all good CRMs must have
• What an audit of your marketing systems will look like and what you'll get as a result of one
• Why there's so much wastage in marketing systems
• A clear example of where data and a simple tweak saved a client tens of thousands of $s
• Why you must have conversion tracking in place
• Why you should know the source of your leads and their most recent activity

In this episode, Rob and Jonathan are talking to Chris Dayley, who specialises in Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO). Chris helps people improve their conversion rates as part of their paid advertising strategy. They discuss two techniques that you can apply immediately to your paid advertising strategy. And even if you're not running ads, there's a technique you can use to improve conversion rates on your website. Listen now to learn:

• Why improving your conversion rates is a big win
• What makes a good A/B test (if you haven't heard of A/B testing then you really should listen to this podcast!)
• Where most people get stuck when running an A/B test
• Why it's essential to begin with a good business question
• Why you don't need super design skills to run A/B tests
• The first two A/B tests you can run with any new landing page or advert to get started.
• Why you don't want to be making assumptions until you have data
• How to run an Existence Test on your homepage
• How much traffic do you need before you can run A/B tests

Page speed has been a big thing in SEO for a long time. But many people don’t realise that page speed is very important for paid advertising too.

Dan Wilkinson started work as an AdWords consultant, but was always deeply interested in Google Analytics. He noticed a few years ago that Google and Facebook were penalising certain advertisers without notice or reason. He started spotting patterns: the things that looked like ad fatigue in Facebook or low impression share in Google were in fact indicators of poor page load speed.

Listen now to learn:

• The typical difference in conversion rate between 2 and 3 seconds
• Why most web developers are ill-equipped to improve site speed
• The difference between a ‘web developer’ and a ‘web optimiser’
• Where the tipping point in performance now lies
• How improving your paid speed can improve ad profitability, without changing your ads
• Why Google has introduced ‘Core Web Vitals’, and why it matters
• The points deduction on page speed for each incremental second in load time
• What Google is measuring in terms of page speed and user experience
• The three measurements Google really cares about
• How to improve performance with lazy loading
• Page speed advice for Shopify users
• Page speed comments on all the main ecommerce platforms
• Page speed challenges with WordPress
• The fastest Shopify and WordPress themes
• The fastest non-WordPress page builder
• A myth surrounding Google Analytics page load time
• Why blindly pasting tracking codes into the head of the page can slow page load time by 10-15 seconds
• How to achieve a 98-100 page speed score
• The page speed problems caused by video
• What fonts improve page speed (and which ones harm it!)

When we talk to people about LinkedIn ads, we usually hear objections such as:

“Do they really work?” (Yes)

“Aren’t they expensive?” (Cost per qualified lead can be low)

It is time to debunk these myths. LinkedIn have put a lot of work recently into their advertising platform. On this episode, we interview LinkedIn Ads expert AJ Wilcox. On the call AJ explained:

• What ad format to run with 95% of the time
• Whether to use single image or single video ads
• Whether to write long or short copy ads
• Why people go to LinkedIn, and how they respond to ads
• How we now have engagement retargeting on LinkedIn :-) :-) :-)
• Why the targeting options on LinkedIn are essential for B2B marketing
• What customer lifetime value you need to run LinkedIn ads profitably
• What kinds of offers work on LinkedIn (i.e. what to say in your LinkedIn ads)
• How to get very senior people to respond to your ads
• How long to run an offer before changing it
• What is a reasonable testing budget for new LinkedIn advertisers
• What’s the lowest budget you can spend to still see results
• How to complement your paid LinkedIn efforts with organic networking
• The breakdown between mobile and desktop impressions
• The two biggest mistakes people make (i.e. how to avoid the ‘LinkedIn Stupidity Tax’)
• How many ads to test at any time

We're all familiar with the concept of nurturing potential customers over the buying cycle. But how should you prioritise your efforts?

One approach is to use something called a 'Behavioural Engagement Nurture Sequence'... where the marketing people receive from you is driven my the recency of their engagement.

Listen now to learn:

• Why a long-form sales page can easily out-perform webinars and sales teams
• How people really read (and re-read) sales pages
• Whether to use a video sales letter or a long copy sales page (and the one exception)
• How a behavioural engagement nurture sequence differs from a conventional nurture sequence
• Why you need content in multiple formats
• How many emails you really need to write
• What to do with unengaged contacts
• How to organise all your marketing nurture efforts around the principle RFM (recency, frequency and money)
• What a Fibonacci sequence is, and how to incorporate it into your efforts

Vicky Fraser is a former direct response copywriter who now helps people to write outstanding business books. Books that actually change the lives of your readers. Listen to this interview now to learn:

• Why most business books are dull
• How to decide the scope of the book
• Why your book should be a delight to read
• Where to start your planning
• Why the 'big idea' for your book will often emerge over time
• Whether to write your own book... or hire a ghost writer
• Why work with at least one writing accountability partner
• How to plan and protect your writing time
• Why to strictly separate writing and editing
• Why to keep one person in mind when you're writing
• Why your stories and anecdotes don't have to be strictly true
• How to test your stories before including them in your book
• How to reuse and re-purpose content when writing your book
• How to promote your book once it's written (and why to start this NOW)
• How to come up with your book title
• When to write the back blurb (hint: not as you're about to publish the book!)

Testimonials are a critical part of any marketing and sales system. The problem? Most testimonials are lousy - and fail to reveal the true value you provide.

Justin DeMers has a different approach to testimonials. Listen now to learn:

• Why your customers have stories your potential customers NEED to hear
• Why a "success story" won't do you much good
• Why the universal thread in any successful story is conflict
• Why perfect testimonials can attract bad clients
• How to ask for great testimonials without feeling awkward
• How to guide your customer through the testimonial
• When to ask for testimonials (not necessarily the end!)
• How to pull customer objections into your testimonials
• Why you should capture your own testimonials
• What format to capture your testimonials in
• What formats to publish in - and why video is king

If you sell based on trust and DON'T have a book, it's time to ask why not. In this episode, Mark Beaumont-Thomas explains why and how to write a successful book in a sensible time frame. Listen now to learn:

• Why the barriers to entry in book publishing are lower than ever
• Why you won't make money out of a book in isolation
• Which formats to publish your book in
• Why self-publishing costs are less than you might think
• Pros and cons of Amazon's print-on-demand service (Amazon KDP)
• How to get constructive feedback on your manuscript
• How long your book needs to be
• How to define the scope of the book so you don't run off-track
• Pros and cons of dictating your book draft
• How we published the first edition of Maze Remarketing in under a month
• Why a non-fiction book should pay attention to the narrative arc
• How long it should take to publish a successful business book
• When to cut off one book and start another

If like Rob, you're sceptical about the effectiveness of LinkedIn for individual business owners, then listen to this conversation Rob and Jonathan had with Ted Prodromou, author of LinkedIn For Business.

LinkedIn puts your profile in front of 1000s of people each day. So it's worth spending some time updating and optimising your profile.

In this podcast, Rob, Jonathan and Ted talk about...

• The importance of using keywords throughout your profile
• Treating your professional headline and summary like a Google ad
• Why using Groups is more challenging than it used to be
• The power of the 'Insight Tag'
• Why you should be posting content to your company page
• The different types of LinkedIn ads that you need to pay attention to
• LinkedIn is not just for B2B
• And why, even with LinkedIn, you should be building relationships with people not directly sell to them.

In this episode we branch away from paid advertising and discuss how PR can expand your marketing maze. On this call we interview PR expert Neil Anderson. Listen now to learn:

• The key ingredients of a press release
• How to grab attention so your press release is actually used
• How the internet has changed press released
• What impact press releases can have on SEO (organic search listings)
• How to identify the right story
• When to use a press release, and when to run an ad
• What structure to start with
• How long a press release takes to produce, and how much it might cost
• How to expand your PR effectiveness with remarketing

Google Analytics allows you to sharpen your remarketing strategy. And best of all, it's free! Listen now to learn:

• What remarketing capabilities you get in Google Analytics (beyond native Google Ads)
• How to avoid marketing to the people who bounce from your website
• How to improve your remarketing ads click through rate
• How to remarket to people who interact with particular campaigns, without sending them to unique landing pages
• An advanced technique for remarketing to mobile traffic
• How to remarket based on transaction frequency or value
• Remarketing audiences you'll still want to configure natively in Google Ads

Chris Davis is a marketing automation expert, and has worked with ActiveCampaign, LeadPages among other companies. Today Chris runs Automation Bridge, a marketing automation training company. Listen now to learn:

• Why it's harder than ever to select the right marketing tools
• The single biggest marketing automation mistake
• How to determine your strategy before selecting tools
• How to get the most from your tools
• When to stick with your tools, and when to change platforms
• What to look for in your marketing service providers
• How to take ownership of your marketing systems

Paul Fairbrother is the Head of Education at AdEspresso, and an Instagram and Facebook Ads specialist.  

Paul used to be a social media manager, and noticed that all the paid channels are now pay to play.  Paul used AdEspresso’s tools to create and manage ads at scale, before he before an employee. He realised looking back that he had interacted with 70+ content pieces before becoming an AdEspresso customer.

Things we discuss on this call:

• The myth of the funnel – why one ebook or one blog post isn’t enough
• Why there shouldn’t be a divide between organic and paid search teams
• How PPC automation tools can save you hours each week
• How to split test in Facebook and Instagram (and how this could half your advertising costs)
• How to run paid ads successfully if you don’t have hours each day to learn the different platforms
• Why Instagram should be a part of your advertising strategy
• Key differences between Facebook and Instagram
• What sort of images work best on Instagram
• What works on Instagram, and what doesn’t!
• Why Instagram can work well for shopping
• The interrelationship between Google and Facebook ads
• Why Instagram Stories are under-used
• Best format for videos (not landscape!)
• Why use lookalike audiences with your cold Facebook ads
• Important audience considerations for remarketing

Links:

Most online conversations about email marketing focus on tools. Everybody wants to know: which email provider is best?

In this episode, Rob and Jonathan discuss the right questions you should be asking and what features to look for when searching for an email marketing system.

They discuss..

• The difference between Infusionsoft and MailChimp? (hint: there's a big difference)
• Why there are so many different price points
• Why you absolutely should not send emails directly through your domain or with a service like Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail
• The problem with entry-level tools
• The difference between list-based and contact-record-based tools
• The power you can add with correctly used tags and custom fields
• Why you need to consider what your core system is before you even look at which email marketing system to use

In this episode, Rob and Jonathan are talking to Ben Hunt, marketer, former web designer and author of several books including, "Save the pixel" and "Web design is dead".

Ben shares a sneak peek at a new concept he's developing, called Holistic Marketing. If you sell based on expertise and are tired of the marketing funnel analogy, holistic marketing may be a more robust, ethical way to build your business.

In their discussion of Holistic Marketing, they cover...

• Why web design is more marketing than creative design
• How you 'find your space' and 'find your place in time'
• How to create different ways for people to access what you're offering and why this is important
• Why you should be as generous as you can with your content
• Why you shouldn't simply choose a niche. You must be that niche.
• Getting paid for who you are not what you do
• The power of interviews for generating content
• Looking to the past and the future for content ideas, but inhabiting the present

Link

In this episode we're debunking some of the most common myths surrounding email marketing. 

Rob and Jonathan talk to Josh Earl, a copywriter, email marketer and programmer. Josh tells us how he became an email marketer and shares the results of some of his recent email marketing experiments. Listen now to learn about...

• Inactive subscribers: Should they stay or should they go?
• When it's worth including a p.s. in our emails
• When should we nurture and when should we sell in our emails
• Why email service providers are not all equal
• Why many people set up overly complex email marketing systems
• Some valuable advice for anyone getting started with email marketing 
• Should we segment our messages for different audiences

In this episode, we discuss nine marketing tools that we think you should pay attention to.  

If you're confused about which marketing tools to use, we'll help you get started. Listen now to learn:

• Why you're probably asking the wrong marketing questions
• Nine marketing tools we prefer
• Why pen and paper can be your best marketing tool
• Google Ads Editor vs' Google Adwords. Which is better?
• Why you should learn some basic design skills
• Find a tool to easily document the ads that you set up
• The URL shortening tool that can track sources
• The essential tool that connects all other tools
• Why you should spend some time to get to know your CRM system
• The importance of using a landing page builder
• Why you should get friendly with Messenger bots

I (Rob) met Chad Prince in late 2018 at Perry Marshall’s Paradigm Shift ad writing workshop. At the workshop we spent two days working on Perry’s Swiss Army Knife ad writing method. We wanted to know: with enough creative minds in the room, could we quickly write 50 or 100 very different ads?

Listen now to learn:

• The big hole people get stuck in when writing ads
• How to apply the 80/20 principle to your ad testing
• How to test a wide variety of ads without spending a fortune
• How to kill ineffective ads quickly
• How to accelerate the ads learning curve
• How the Swiss Army Knife works
• How to employ accelerated human creativity
• Why to test both positive AND negative emotions
• How to avoid getting emotionally attached to your ads
• How to convert high-performing email subject lines into Google or Facebook ads
• How to create banner ads on Google without a graphic designer
• Why you’re ‘farming’ your ads, not setting and forgetting

Links

Building a remarketing maze isn't right for everyone. So what is the use case? And should you begin on Google, Facebook... or somewhere else?

The answer comes down to your buyer's level of awareness. In other words, how much do they know about the problem they have, and about your solution?

On this episode we talk about how to audit your audience by awareness, in order to make sensible investments in your marketing systems.

Webinars are a viable sales strategy in any marketing maze, and automated webinars are often positioned as the ultimate 'quick fix'. Supposedly all you need to do is record a webinar, automate it, and watch the money roll in... 

What would possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot, actually. On this episode, webinar expert Damian Qualter explains:

• Why run a webinar instead of sending people to a video
• How to run automated webinars ethically
• Why you should always run a live webinar first
• How long your webinar should be - and where to place your pitch
• How to decide on your webinar topic
• What to offer on your webinar, and at what price
• Webinar metrics to look at
• Whether to run webinars for warm or cold audiences
• How to deal with no-shows
• Why email alone isn't enough as a webinar follow-up strategy

All the profits in your business come from one single source: your customers. No matter how much you know about marketing, you HAVE to understand your customers and what makes them tick.

Luke Szyrmer learned all this the hard way. After seeing multiple of his own start-up enterprises fail, he decided to collaborate with his market instead.

The ‘80/20’ or Pareto principle is an established mathematical fact. Everything in the world that can be impacted by positive or negative feedback loops is impacted by this… including your ads.

A small number of your ads will drive the most profit…

While a small number of ads will cost you large amounts of money.

Most of the time this effect is hidden. In this episode we explain how this works, why it is so important, and how to leverage the 80/20 effect in your paid ads strategy. Listen now to learn:

• What craters on the moon have to do with the success (and failure) of your ads
• What Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Waffen Buffet also have to do with the success of your ads
• Why ‘80’ and ‘20’ is misleading
• Why you need to be testing more ads… and expecting most of them to fail

Messenger marketing - the act of communicating with prospects and customers through Facebook's messaging platform - is a big deal right now. Most of us have at least one messaging platform installed on our phone, and on the face of it open and click through rates are extremely high.

On this episode we examine messenger marketing in detail, and look at some of the advantages and pitfalls. Listen now to learn:

• Why messenger marketing is NOT a replacement for email
• The difference between messenger marketing and messenger bots
• Key things to understand about Facebook Messenger
• When to use a bot… and when to not
• Why segmentation and interaction REALLY matters
• Differences between Facebook ads and messenger marketing (even though it’s the same platform)