Today’s Click and Convert podcast guest is Magda Houalla, Director of Marketing Strategy at AspireIQ. As a leader in the influencer marketing space, Magda helps brands across all industries start and expand their campaigns to meet, and exceed, their own specific goals. Magda’s client list includes the likes of Zevia, Freshly, Bed, Bath & Beyond, LL Bean and Walmart.
In this episode, Magda shares her expertise in influencer marketing, discussing a range of topics with Sean, including:
When Magda became interested in influencer marketing and how she progressed her career to get to where she is today
The size of businesses that Magda works with primarily
What influencer marketing is and how a campaign might differ from a product endorsement
How to find the right influencer to fit your brand and how different brands could leverage influencer marketing
How influencer marketing for different budgets
The different timescales for influencer marketing campaigns and how this will vary between brands
How influencer marketing can work with a range of different demographics
How Magda and her team help brands manage their expectations with ROI on these campaigns
How the evolution of social media platforms allows brands to access different audiences with influencer marketing
Want to learn more about influencer marketing? You’ll find lots of resources at aspireiq.com/click-convert.
On today’s show, Sean speaks with Chris Shipferling, Managing Partner at Global Wired Advisors, where he is the first point of contact for clients looking to sell their online business. For the past seven years, Chris has focused exclusively on high-level consulting for multi-million-dollar omnichannel, digitally native and Amazon-based private label and reseller brands. Chris and his partners use their 70+ years of combined investment banking experience to provide a superior level of service that was previously unavailable in the lower middle market.
But it’s not just expertise and experience to offer comprehensive financial advice. Each member of the Global Wired team has also owned, operated and sold multiple digitally native and Amazon-based businesses, meaning they are uniquely qualified to guide client companies through each step of the complex sale process.
Chris enjoys working closely with entrepreneurs and small business owners throughout the transaction process. Getting to know clients on an individual level means that Global Wired Advisors can better assist them in realising their goals to achieve the best possible sale outcome.
Sean and Christ cover a number of topics, including:
What Chris did before Global Wired Advisors and how he got involved in this sector
The types of business that Global Wired Advisors works with
How long a business would typically be trading, and which factors they should consider before selling
How it can be difficult for service-based business to sell, given the heavy reliance on the founder
The general process for determining the value of a business, though this will vary between businesses
How building a business with the intention of selling can actually be beneficial
How business owners know it might be time to consider selling
The types of potential buyers for these businesses
How people know they can trust an agency to help sell their business
You can find out more about what Chris and his team do by visiting the Global Wired Advisors website, where you will find white papers and blog posts that explain their services. You can also input your business data into their valuation tool to get an estimate of your business value.
If you’d like more customised data about how Global Wired Advisors might help you, you can also schedule a free consultation with Chris.
Check out the Marathon des Sables Podcast, where Sean interviews MdS participants in the run-up to the big event- 250km through the Sahara Desert over six days- in April 2020.
As always if you have any questions you can get in touch via Twitter @SeanClark.
Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes, Stitcher and now on Spotify. If you liked it we’d be grateful if you could leave a review.
Check out the Marathon des Sables Podcast, where Sean interviews MdS participants in the run-up to the big event- 250km through the Sahara Desert over six days- in April 2020.
As always if you have any questions you can get in touch via Twitter @SeanClark.
Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes, Stitcher and now on Spotify. If you liked it we’d be grateful if you could leave a review.
On this week’s show, Sean speaks to Traci Reuter, founder and CEO of Divine Social. Traci has a gift for looking at any business’ vision, mission and message and mapping out the right strategy for them. She’s passionate about helping businesses grow using authentic and meaningful social advertising. With 25 years of experience, it’s safe to say that Traci knows her stuff when it comes to high-level marketing strategy. She shares her expertise as co-host of Social Media Marketing Happy Hour podcast, and as a contributing author in the bestselling The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising (3rd edition).
Today, Traci shares her expertise as a guest on this podcast, offering up some of her greatest secrets behind mapping out a powerful social advertising strategy. She and Sean discuss a number of topics, including:
How Divine Social came about
The key foundations for any business when starting a new campaign and how research is the most important step of any campaign
The suitability of different platforms, such as Facebook or Instagram, for different clients. Traci also gives us an insight into which she prefers
Traci’s current approach to audience creation and how much she targets
Divine Social’s preferred creative approach for effective ads, but how they adapt for clients
How Divine Social approaches testing
The most common mistakes in social advertising campaigns
Tips on estimating and setting budgets
How to keep up with ever-changing platforms and ensure that strategy fits with their abilities
Want to find out more?
Divine Social has a landing page especially for Click and Convert listeners, packed with resources to support with the topics discussed in this episode.
Check out the Marathon des Sables Podcast, where Sean interviews MdS participants in the run-up to the big event- 250km through the Sahara Desert over six days- in April 2020.
As always if you have any questions you can get in touch via Twitter @SeanClark.
Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes, Stitcher and now on Spotify. If you liked it we’d be grateful if you could leave a review.
On this week’s episode, Sean speaks to Adam Lundquist. Harvard-educated, this former radio shock jock became is responsible for one of the first viral YouTube videos, when he uploaded one of his interviews in the platform’s early days. This viral video sparked Adam’s interest in the power of the internet and internet marketing. Now an agency owner, Adam has featured in a range of traditional media, such as VH1, MTV, and The Best Damn Sports Show. However, he’s also translated his knowledge into new media, featuring as a published author in Search Engine Journal, PPC Hero and Wordstream, to name just a few.
Adam’s digital marketing agency, Nerds Do it Better delivers paid search campaigns, making use of advanced statistical analysis from Harvard. This allows Adam and his team to remove inefficiencies and generate a consistent flow of customers in a cost-effective way.
Sean and Adam discuss a number of topics, including:
Adam’s journey from radio shock jock to YouTube
How Adam became interested in statistical analysis and the essence of the advanced statistical analysis that Adam looked at during his Harvard studies. Adam also explains the decision behind the launch of Nerds Do it Better
How to give potential customers the confidence that you can help them, and the importance of picking up the phone
How Adam advises measuring the spectrum of the whole marketing campaign
Human-generated vs automated ads – the benefits of each and how each has its place
The importance of ad copy, and tips for writing it
Tips on generating calls from ads, rather than just a click and how these other leads can be more difficult to track and test individually
Check out the Marathon des Sables Podcast, where Sean interviews MdS participants in the run-up to the big event- 250km through the Sahara Desert over six days- in April 2020.
As always if you have any questions you can get in touch via Twitter @SeanClark.
Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes, Stitcher and now on Spotify. If you liked it we’d be grateful if you could leave a review.
Joshua Ramsey, fractional CMO and digital marketing executive. He owns a digital marketing agency and works with companies to assist them in mapping out a more robust marketing strategy to dominate the marketplace. With nearly thirty years of digital marketing experience, Josh is also a Google Partner.
On top of this, Josh hosts his own radio show and, when he’s not doing that, he’s travelling around the country to teach his marketing strategies and methods that have proven so successful over the years. As if that wasn’t enough, Josh has also masterminded, coded and has marketing and sales programs. Over the past ten years he’s built a CRM, programs for Operations Management and Website Auditing, as well as the world’s largest library of SEO descriptions.
Today, he’s here to share his expertise and talk about the release of his new book, The SEO Gimmick. Sean and Josh cover a range of topics including:
What fractional CMO is exactly
Where to start with building an effective website
The limitations of using simple, self-build website platforms
Marketing priorities for companies, and where SEO and paid advertising sit in this list of priorities
The importance of setting goals, and ensuring that these are realistic in line with your company. These goals apply to all areas of your business type and size.
Judging the value of an agency for your business and how to choose the right agency for you
Balancing a finite budget
The value of a good website
How valuable a CRM is in boosting conversions and how offline marketing campaigns can be as effective as their online counterparts
Josh also talks about what you can expect from his book, and how it will help businesses avoid being ripped off. The book is available to download from Joshua’s website– though listeners of the Click and Convert podcast can get a hard copy of the book if they contact him directly and mention the show.
Check out the Marathon des Sables Podcast, where Sean interviews MdS participants in the run-up to the big event- 250km through the Sahara Desert over six days- in April 2020.
As always if you have any questions you can get in touch via Twitter @SeanClark.
Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes, Stitcher and now on Spotify. If you liked it we’d be grateful if you could leave a review.
On this week’s Click and Convert podcast, Sean speaks to Rick Cesari ahead of the release of his new book Video Persuasion. Rick has helped major brands, from GoPro to George Foreman build billion-dollar brands through brand response advertising and strategic video marketing. His new book puts the proven marketing techniques of big brands into the hands of small business owners, entrepreneurs, inventors and Amazon sellers, to name just a few examples.
This week, Rick brings his expertise as bestselling author, speaker, consultant and marketing & brand strategy guru. He shares his advice on video marketing best practices for influencing customers and building a brand.
Sean and Rick cover a range of topics, including:
The role that video now plays in impacting a buyer’s decision-making process
How technology has made it easier to produce high-quality video marketing content in-house
Lighting and audio quality as the two most important elements of successful video content- you don’t need expensive equipment, you can even use your smartphone
The three main types of video that buyers respond to: tutorial, demonstration, customer testimonial – Rick has tutorials for creating this on his website
How important testimonials can be to the success of your business, as well as how to ask for testimonials
Creating compelling, interesting content for services that aren’t tangible, avoiding a standard talking-head video
How vital the pre-production stage of video creation is
Three simple ways to hook people into your video
How to choose a third-party for video production and ensure that their skill set fits your needs
The difference between video content for direct response and video content for brand building
Want to find out more?
Video Persuasion is available on Amazon from October 15th. However, you can get a copy of his report, The Top 3 Most Effective Types of Video Content, in the meantime. Rick will send notifications about the book’s release to those who sign up.
Keep an eye out for the book on Rick’s website- making a purchase via this page will enter you into a competition in which you could visit the set of Rick’s upcoming George Foreman commercial.
Check out the Marathon des Sables Podcast, where Sean interviews MdS participants in the run-up to the big event- 250km through the Sahara Desert over six days- in April 2020.
As always if you have any questions you can get in touch via Twitter @SeanClark.
Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes, Stitcher and now on Spotify. If you liked it we’d be grateful if you could leave a review.
Alex Debecker is co-founder and CMO of ubisend, an AI company that helps businesses solve challenges with conversational software (aka ‘chatbots’). He moved to the UK in 2016, after having built and sold a marketing agency in Belgium
Over the last three years, the company’s client list has seen significant growth, with clients including the likes of Unilever, Google, NHS and Archant. Recognised as thought leaders in their field, ubisend push the boundaries of AI and trailblaze best practices of this nascent chatbot technology.
As CMO, Alex’s role has been pivotal in raising the profile of ubisend and acquiring their impressive client list.
On today’s show, Alex and Sean discuss a range of topics, including:
A run through of what exactly a chatbot is, what they’re powered by and what they can do
How the likes of Siri, Alex and Google Home share chatbot qualities
Situations in which a chatbot is particularly useful and examples of sectors where they aren’t suitable
Advancements in chatbot technology and how this might continue to develop
How chatbots can understand context to maintain longer, more complex conversations
The ways in which chatbots can learn and evolve
The necessary resources and time to effectively implement chatbot technology
How chatbots can be a useful source of information about customers and what analytical data can be extracted
The integration of chatbots with other third-party solutions, systems and technology to gather even more data. Which of these systems work best with chatbots in different sectors
Alex’s thoughts on the “creep” factors in a world where chatbot technology is increasingly difficult to distinguish from human interaction and why it’s important that chatbots don’t pretend to be human
How to weigh up the initial cost of implementation vs. the potential ROI
The future of chatbots and how it will simplify search for users
Want to find out more about ubisend or chatbot technology in general? Get in touch:
This week, we speak to Mark Williams-Cook, Digital Marketing Director of Candour. With 15 years of experience in the digital marketing industry, Mark has spent his time working at senior management and director level at three major UK digital marketing agencies, working as a full-time affiliate, making and flipping websites, one of the first in the YouTube Partner Programme and built and sold SaaS tools for both SEO and social media.
Over the years, Mark has worked with the likes of Expedia, Hitachi, FatFace and Groupon on their search marketing. On top of this, he’s talked at digital conferences (BrightonSEO, Retra and TalkingTech to name just a few) and is Chartered Institute of Marketing Faculty speaker- he’s even designed one of the first iterations of their digital bootcamp. In addition to this, he currently runs three digital marketing courses with Jarrold Training for Search Engine Optimisation, Google Adwords and Google Analytics.
However, even with all of these achievements, what pleased his mum was something a little lower-key. Mark wrote a chapter on SEO in Build a Brand in 30 Daysand she said this made her happy as it was something tangible because she didn’t really understand what he did for a living.
Mark’s current goal is to make Candour the best possible place to work in order to attract amazing staff who can create great results for clients.
Sean and Mark cover a number of topics, including:
The different types of SEO that should be considered
Just how large the job of ‘SEO’, what skills are required and how more people might need to be involved than you’d first think
The importance of mobile SEO in today’s world
How the loading speed of your website might impact SEO rankings
The role that links play and how quality trumps quantity
Where content fits in the SEO plan and how quality is so important
How we can and should be using Google’s AI
The personalisation of search in light of Google’s AI
Daily tasks for an SEO and how measuring and tracking your rankings is vital
Opteo is a Google Ads management tool and much more. If you run one Google Ads account or 100 Opteo will save you time and enhance your ad management skills. Smart, powerful, and built to make life easier. It will automate routine Google Ads tasks, and alert you automatically to trends and even make automatic recommendations. You can then spend more time on high-level strategy and creative work.
We use Opteo in our agency to make us more efficient and effective.
On this week’s Click and Convert podcast, Sean interviews Naeem Arif. With nearly 30 years of experience as a business owner and management consultant, Naeem has provided consultancy to CEOs, directors and senior leaders of major corporations around the world. He’s developed a formidable reputation for his success over the years in an array of different industries, including retail, hospitality, manufacturing, consulting and the public sector.
He has experience working with some of the world’s biggest brands – Jaguar Land Rover, BBC and British Airways to name but a few – and has been involved with 26 different transformation projects, helping to deliver over £1 bn of success during this time and providing support with the most recent business challenges, such as the GDPR and brexit.
However, this hasn’t been at the cost of his own business ventures. Naeem is also the CEO of a number of multi-award-winning companies, employing 22 people in the Midlands.
On top of all of this, Naeem has shared his expertise in his four Amazon best-seller books, published in English, Mandarin and Russian, and today, he shares his expertise with us.
Sean and Naeem cover a whole host of topics, including:
Where responsibility for customer service should lie within a business, and how it can extend further than your ‘customer service’ staff
Practical advice for becoming a ‘customer first’ business and how all employees must share the same mindset for it to become possible
The main stages of a customer-first transformation journey, and the importance of realising, and accounting for the fact, that a customer’s experience of your business isn’t necessarily a linear journey.
Why leading on price is never a good idea- make customers value your business through a unique product or service
How businesses can understand, and calculate, lifetime value and how doing good deeds for your customers can reap long-term rewards
An explanation of the three key sections in Naeem’s book: Create, Share and Retain. Naeem also explains why businesses should focus more energy on the retain stage
What Naeem thinks the modern customer journey looks like and how speed, simplicity and having multiple touch points are vital components
How businesses can monitor and measure their own customer service level and how the Net Promoter Score is one of the easiest way to do this.
