Sure Oak: Digital Marketing, SEO, Online Business Strategy, & More

How to reach out to Phil Singleton: Why would anyone want to be a podcast guest? Well, according to the CEO of Kansas City Website Design and SEO, Phil Singleton, podcast guesting is one of the most efficient and cost-effective tactics for achieving SEO and marketing gains. That is, compared to more commonly employed link-building and lead-generation strategies, podcast guesting has typically required less effort in order to achieve meaningful results. Be a Podcast Guest and Reap the Benefits Phil Singleton has been featured as a guest in over 100 different podcast interviews this past year, alone. His extensive experience sharing his knowledge as a guest expert on various podcasts has allowed him to refine his general process. Phil originally wanted to be a podcast guest as a way of ‘testing the water’ before creating his own production. Appearing on his first show was simple for Phil. He sat in his usual office, at his regular chair, and comfortably shared his expertise with Kim Doyal and her listeners. With the interview out of the way, Phil was not sure what to expect. However, it soon became clear that filming the interview would be the easiest step to finishing Kim’s podcast. Kim and her team worked to have graphics made, organized the appropriate backlinks, and prepared clips to promote through social media. Phil was stunned. Even though he was not directly involved in the post-production hustle, Phil realized he would reap many of the same benefits, just for appearing as an expert on her show. Seeking a way to help out and achieve even more value, Phil suggested writing up a long-form blog post to accompany the podcast. Phil realized that he could gain a lot of value if he could be a guest on a podcast and then reciprocate by aiding with marketing efforts. How to Find Podcasts Looking for Guests (and Be Featured!) Even with 100s of episodes of experience behind him, Phil believes anybody could be a guest on a podcast. Currently, Phil enjoys the help of his team of bookers to set appointments and find podcasts looking for guests. Still, the process of becoming a podcast guest does not require specialized skills or talent. Phil has a few tips for those wondering how to find podcasts looking for guests: 1. Identify What Shows You Would Like to Be On You cannot be a guest on a podcast without knowing what shows are out there. Just conducting internet research is a good way to find podcasts looking for guests. Phil suggests rifling through iTunes and other sites with broad podcast libraries available. When researching podcasts, consider what industries and niches are addressed. Phil explains how in this case, maintaining a very narrow niche may limit your opportunity. Broaden your scope and consider appearing as a guest on general business podcasts as a niche expert. 2. Build A Database of Opportunities Once you have an idea of what shows might be a good fit for the information you have to share, it is time to create a database. You may need to continue your research in order to locate the proper contact information and process for submission for each show. 3. Create A One-Sheet Like a resume, your one-sheet should showcase some of your greatest achievements and talents. However, the one-sheet needs to be concise and simple for your podcast host to read. Make it easy for the podcast host to determine whether or not a collaboration will be possible by introducing you...

How to reach out to Phil Singleton: Why would anyone want to be a podcast guest? Well, according to the CEO of Kansas City Website Design and SEO, Phil Singleton, podcast guesting is one of the most efficient and cost-effective tactics for achieving SEO and marketing gains. That is, compared to more commonly employed link-building and lead-generation strategies, podcast guesting has typically required less effort in order to achieve meaningful results. Be a Podcast Guest and Reap the Benefits Phil Singleton has been featured as a guest in over 100 different podcast interviews this past year, alone. His extensive experience sharing his knowledge as a guest expert on various podcasts has allowed him to refine his general process. Phil originally wanted to be a podcast guest as a way of ‘testing the water’ before creating his own production. Appearing on his first show was simple for Phil. He sat in his usual office, at his regular chair, and comfortably shared his expertise with Kim Doyal and her listeners. With the interview out of the way, Phil was not sure what to expect. However, it soon became clear that filming the interview would be the easiest step to finishing Kim’s podcast. Kim and her team worked to have graphics made, organized the appropriate backlinks, and prepared clips to promote through social media. Phil was stunned. Even though he was not directly involved in the post-production hustle, Phil realized he would reap many of the same benefits, just for appearing as an expert on her show. Seeking a way to help out and achieve even more value, Phil suggested writing up a long-form blog post to accompany the podcast. Phil realized that he could gain a lot of value if he could be a guest on a podcast and then reciprocate by aiding with marketing efforts. How to Find Podcasts Looking for Guests (and Be Featured!) Even with 100s of episodes of experience behind him, Phil believes anybody could be a guest on a podcast. Currently, Phil enjoys the help of his team of bookers to set appointments and find podcasts looking for guests. Still, the process of becoming a podcast guest does not require specialized skills or talent. Phil has a few tips for those wondering how to find podcasts looking for guests: 1. Identify What Shows You Would Like to Be On You cannot be a guest on a podcast without knowing what shows are out there. Just conducting internet research is a good way to find podcasts looking for guests. Phil suggests rifling through iTunes and other sites with broad podcast libraries available. When researching podcasts, consider what industries and niches are addressed. Phil explains how in this case, maintaining a very narrow niche may limit your opportunity. Broaden your scope and consider appearing as a guest on general business podcasts as a niche expert. 2. Build A Database of Opportunities Once you have an idea of what shows might be a good fit for the information you have to share, it is time to create a database. You may need to continue your research in order to locate the proper contact information and process for submission for each show. 3. Create A One-Sheet Like a resume, your one-sheet should showcase some of your greatest achievements and talents. However, the one-sheet needs to be concise and simple for your podcast host to read. Make it easy for the podcast host to determine whether or not a collaboration will be possible by introducing you...

How to reach out to Curt Mercadante: For many, the struggle of growing into adulthood involves searching for a unique self-identity and purpose. Those most familiar with their innermost convictions often feel happier and more fulfilled than those who remain unsure of their life purpose. This may be because purpose-driven individuals identify and set goals that align with their overall motivation and follow strategies that adhere by a core set of known personal values. Similarly, for any growing brand to successfully mature into a booming company, its founders must carefully consider the underlying purpose of their brand. With years of experience as a business coach and keynote speaker, Curt Mercadante believes that companies with a solid brand purpose are more successful overall than those focused primarily on turning profits. With a clearly defined brand purpose, it is possible to pursue more effective and tailored business strategies as your company goals and values also become clear. How To Find Brand Purpose Contemplating your life or brand purpose can seem overwhelming at first. How can you be sure you have identified the proper brand purpose? Having helped businesses and individuals alike in uncovering their intentions, Curt offers some helpful advice to help narrow it down. 1. Identify Your Strengths People often confuse strength and skill, Curt warns. Strengths are innate talents, and, being as natural as instinct, relying on these talents is typically the most efficient way to accomplish a task. Skills, however, are talents that have been trained and practiced. Playing up your skills may be useful, but it is not nearly as effective as when you play up your innate strengths. Purpose-driven brands focus on accentuating their strengths. In order to get an understanding of your brand’s comparative strengths, it may be useful to compare the intrinsic differences between your company and your competition. Brands that emphasize their strengths often have an easier time envisioning the future of their company. 2. Consider Company Core Values Generally, core values shape how we act and present ourselves. The core values you identify for your brand will assist you in maintaining consistency in how you fulfill your company purpose. Making the company core values accessible to all team members can also establish uniformity in brand decision-making, even for large companies. Curt explains that core values are non-negotiable and do not change significantly over time. Even under duress, someone would be unwilling to abandon core values that they truly believed in. Your company should search for values that they can staunchly stand behind in order to better understand your brand purpose. 3. Think About Objectives What are your goals? Setting goals for your company also gives a little insight into your brand purpose. While company goals and company purpose may not be the same exact things, the goals you set reveal the ways in which you attempt to fulfill your underlying purpose. Remember, while your brand may set the goal to make profits, a genuine company purpose reaches beyond the financial success of the company. Goals should be seen only as a way of finding fulfillment as you realize your brand purpose. Be sure to set goals that are reasonably achievable, otherwise, it can become frustrating to fulfill that company purpose. 4. Figure Out Brand Preferences Preferences are not make-or-break circumstances but are usually situations and ideas that are more favorable.

How to reach out to Curt Mercadante: For many, the struggle of growing into adulthood involves searching for a unique self-identity and purpose. Those most familiar with their innermost convictions often feel happier and more fulfilled than those who remain unsure of their life purpose. This may be because purpose-driven individuals identify and set goals that align with their overall motivation and follow strategies that adhere by a core set of known personal values. Similarly, for any growing brand to successfully mature into a booming company, its founders must carefully consider the underlying purpose of their brand. With years of experience as a business coach and keynote speaker, Curt Mercadante believes that companies with a solid brand purpose are more successful overall than those focused primarily on turning profits. With a clearly defined brand purpose, it is possible to pursue more effective and tailored business strategies as your company goals and values also become clear. How To Find Brand Purpose Contemplating your life or brand purpose can seem overwhelming at first. How can you be sure you have identified the proper brand purpose? Having helped businesses and individuals alike in uncovering their intentions, Curt offers some helpful advice to help narrow it down. 1. Identify Your Strengths People often confuse strength and skill, Curt warns. Strengths are innate talents, and, being as natural as instinct, relying on these talents is typically the most efficient way to accomplish a task. Skills, however, are talents that have been trained and practiced. Playing up your skills may be useful, but it is not nearly as effective as when you play up your innate strengths. Purpose-driven brands focus on accentuating their strengths. In order to get an understanding of your brand’s comparative strengths, it may be useful to compare the intrinsic differences between your company and your competition. Brands that emphasize their strengths often have an easier time envisioning the future of their company. 2. Consider Company Core Values Generally, core values shape how we act and present ourselves. The core values you identify for your brand will assist you in maintaining consistency in how you fulfill your company purpose. Making the company core values accessible to all team members can also establish uniformity in brand decision-making, even for large companies. Curt explains that core values are non-negotiable and do not change significantly over time. Even under duress, someone would be unwilling to abandon core values that they truly believed in. Your company should search for values that they can staunchly stand behind in order to better understand your brand purpose. 3. Think About Objectives What are your goals? Setting goals for your company also gives a little insight into your brand purpose. While company goals and company purpose may not be the same exact things, the goals you set reveal the ways in which you attempt to fulfill your underlying purpose. Remember, while your brand may set the goal to make profits, a genuine company purpose reaches beyond the financial success of the company. Goals should be seen only as a way of finding fulfillment as you realize your brand purpose. Be sure to set goals that are reasonably achievable, otherwise, it can become frustrating to fulfill that company purpose. 4. Figure Out Brand Preferences Preferences are not make-or-break circumstances but are usually situations and ideas that are more favorable.

How to reach out to Doug Kirk: What if it were possible to achieve a higher ranking on Google and to improve content marketing efforts with one sweeping strategy? Well, according to Doug Kirk, president of Optimize 3.0, companies can do just that by re-structuring their website content into topic clusters. What Are Topic Clusters? A website organized into topic clusters features pages of lengthy, informative content intended to anticipate and answer questions consumers typically consider before agreeing to make a purchase. More than that, in order for an ordinary webpage to function as a topic cluster, the authoritative site must also internally link back to other relevant content. Webmasters have been structuring their content into topic clusters since the advent of the internet and, to this day, continue to out-rank company websites for targeted keywords. Despite documented successes, this model has not been widely adopted until recently. However, Doug believes that with growing accessibility to specialized tools, such as Hubspot topic clusters for SEO, more companies will begin experimenting with this model. How To Build Topic Clusters The process of creating topic clusters concurrently optimizes your content to rank higher as a suggested result on search engines for particular industry-related keyword searches. In order to secure this lofty position on a Google results page, it is necessary to conduct thorough keyword research. Logically, the SEO keywords you choose should reflect the words and phrases most commonly searched by individuals fitting your buyer persona. (We can ensure these factors are integrated into your keyword research.) Step 1: Keyword Research and Planning for SEO Topic Clusters At his inbound marketing agency, Doug uses a questionnaire to learn about his clients’ buyer personas so that he can make strategic decisions about keyword selection. Once he has a preliminary concept for the main segment, called a pillar page, Doug puts together a template. This template aids in keeping topic cluster formatting consistent throughout your website and creates a general outline for SEO content creation. Step 2: Content Planning and Creation for Topic Clusters According to Doug, the most effective content is ‘brand agnostic’. Such content is not promotional, but instead provides readers with unbiased information. Doug suggests a chat with the sales department in order to uncover what type of information consumers are seeking. Listen to the types of questions consumers are asking your sales team prior when making their purchasing decisions, then write content that offers in-depth answers to those questions. Step 3: Internal Linking within Topic Clusters With educational pillar page content in place, Doug continues his work by linking back to supporting content from elsewhere on the site, a process called internal linking. Topic clusters benefit from robust internal linking, and Doug suggests including approximately five internal links to related content. Internal linking is an important SEO tactic for your own website. If you're not familiar or want to build up your own internal links, check out Sure Oak's

How to reach out to Doug Kirk: What if it were possible to achieve a higher ranking on Google and to improve content marketing efforts with one sweeping strategy? Well, according to Doug Kirk, president of Optimize 3.0, companies can do just that by re-structuring their website content into topic clusters. What Are Topic Clusters? A website organized into topic clusters features pages of lengthy, informative content intended to anticipate and answer questions consumers typically consider before agreeing to make a purchase. More than that, in order for an ordinary webpage to function as a topic cluster, the authoritative site must also internally link back to other relevant content. Webmasters have been structuring their content into topic clusters since the advent of the internet and, to this day, continue to out-rank company websites for targeted keywords. Despite documented successes, this model has not been widely adopted until recently. However, Doug believes that with growing accessibility to specialized tools, such as Hubspot topic clusters for SEO, more companies will begin experimenting with this model. How To Build Topic Clusters The process of creating topic clusters concurrently optimizes your content to rank higher as a suggested result on search engines for particular industry-related keyword searches. In order to secure this lofty position on a Google results page, it is necessary to conduct thorough keyword research. Logically, the SEO keywords you choose should reflect the words and phrases most commonly searched by individuals fitting your buyer persona. (We can ensure these factors are integrated into your keyword research.) Step 1: Keyword Research and Planning for SEO Topic Clusters At his inbound marketing agency, Doug uses a questionnaire to learn about his clients’ buyer personas so that he can make strategic decisions about keyword selection. Once he has a preliminary concept for the main segment, called a pillar page, Doug puts together a template. This template aids in keeping topic cluster formatting consistent throughout your website and creates a general outline for SEO content creation. Step 2: Content Planning and Creation for Topic Clusters According to Doug, the most effective content is ‘brand agnostic’. Such content is not promotional, but instead provides readers with unbiased information. Doug suggests a chat with the sales department in order to uncover what type of information consumers are seeking. Listen to the types of questions consumers are asking your sales team prior when making their purchasing decisions, then write content that offers in-depth answers to those questions. Step 3: Internal Linking within Topic Clusters With educational pillar page content in place, Doug continues his work by linking back to supporting content from elsewhere on the site, a process called internal linking. Topic clusters benefit from robust internal linking, and Doug suggests including approximately five internal links to related content. Internal linking is an important SEO tactic for your own website. If you're not familiar or want to build up your own internal links, check out Sure Oak's

How to reach out to Virginia Phillips: What is your business marketing message? According to Virginia Phillips, a business breakthrough strategist, a good marketing message showcases how company products and services can add value to customers’ lives. Though the concept of marketing to the wants and needs of potential customers is nothing new, a surprisingly large proportion of businesses today still fail to put out an effective marketing message. With years of experience behind her, Virginia has learned what works best for brand messaging. She shares the basics of marketing messaging strategy with Tom, stressing the importance of empathizing with potential customers. Marketing Messaging Pitfalls To Avoid Too many businesses prioritize sharing their brand story over providing the valuable content potential customers are searching for. Virginia explains that when businesses feature their mission statements or company history on their homepage, consumers lose interest. While having a publicized mission statement may serve you in other ways, using company highlights and milestones as a focal point is probably not enough to convince consumers to become loyal customers. Virginia feels that brands relying on such corporate marketing messages “... have not taken that next leap to get into their client’s head. Why is their client stopping at the website, what is happening with their client--get into their head.” Consumers need to be convinced that your company’s products or services will add value to their lives before they are willing to make a purchase, so brands ought to shift their marketing messages to address this. Virginia suggests structuring content to think about what your customer or client is looking for, to help speak to their pains and their goals, and to focus maybe 90% of what you’re talking about geared towards them. Marketing Messaging Tips According to Virginia, company marketing messages should exemplify what makes your brand unique from other industry leaders, as well as how the products or services you provide are superior to those offered by similar competitors. Consumers often look into their full range of purchasing options before committing to a brand, so it is recommended that companies accentuate the uniqueness of their products and services. Virginia reminds Tom that brands can still publish a variety of content, but that all brand messaging needs to align under a common umbrella. When Virginia helps businesses identify the marketing message they want to put out, she tells them to consider what questions they would ask if they were in the position of the consumer. If you already know what questions consumers need to have answered before making a purchasing decision, you can adjust your marketing message to address these concerns. How To Evaluate Your Marketing Message As a business owner, it can be difficult to look at your marketing message objectively. Virginia recommends calling in outside opinions to gauge how well a marketing message is landing. Listen to the feedback and adjust your tone and substance as necessary. Another way businesses can improve their brand messaging strategy is by looking at how competitors approach their messaging. Competitors in the same industry will often have similar talking points. Try looking at competitor websites to identify a niche that makes your business stand apart from other industry leaders and modify your marketing message to underscore this. The Advantages of Niche Marketing Messaging “Would you rather hire a specialist or would you rather hire a generalist fo...

How to reach out to Virginia Phillips: What is your business marketing message? According to Virginia Phillips, a business breakthrough strategist, a good marketing message showcases how company products and services can add value to customers’ lives. Though the concept of marketing to the wants and needs of potential customers is nothing new, a surprisingly large proportion of businesses today still fail to put out an effective marketing message. With years of experience behind her, Virginia has learned what works best for brand messaging. She shares the basics of marketing messaging strategy with Tom, stressing the importance of empathizing with potential customers. Marketing Messaging Pitfalls To Avoid Too many businesses prioritize sharing their brand story over providing the valuable content potential customers are searching for. Virginia explains that when businesses feature their mission statements or company history on their homepage, consumers lose interest. While having a publicized mission statement may serve you in other ways, using company highlights and milestones as a focal point is probably not enough to convince consumers to become loyal customers. Virginia feels that brands relying on such corporate marketing messages “... have not taken that next leap to get into their client’s head. Why is their client stopping at the website, what is happening with their client--get into their head.” Consumers need to be convinced that your company’s products or services will add value to their lives before they are willing to make a purchase, so brands ought to shift their marketing messages to address this. Virginia suggests structuring content to think about what your customer or client is looking for, to help speak to their pains and their goals, and to focus maybe 90% of what you’re talking about geared towards them. Marketing Messaging Tips According to Virginia, company marketing messages should exemplify what makes your brand unique from other industry leaders, as well as how the products or services you provide are superior to those offered by similar competitors. Consumers often look into their full range of purchasing options before committing to a brand, so it is recommended that companies accentuate the uniqueness of their products and services. Virginia reminds Tom that brands can still publish a variety of content, but that all brand messaging needs to align under a common umbrella. When Virginia helps businesses identify the marketing message they want to put out, she tells them to consider what questions they would ask if they were in the position of the consumer. If you already know what questions consumers need to have answered before making a purchasing decision, you can adjust your marketing message to address these concerns. How To Evaluate Your Marketing Message As a business owner, it can be difficult to look at your marketing message objectively. Virginia recommends calling in outside opinions to gauge how well a marketing message is landing. Listen to the feedback and adjust your tone and substance as necessary. Another way businesses can improve their brand messaging strategy is by looking at how competitors approach their messaging. Competitors in the same industry will often have similar talking points. Try looking at competitor websites to identify a niche that makes your business stand apart from other industry leaders and modify your marketing message to underscore this. The Advantages of Niche Marketing Messaging “Would you rather hire a specialist or would you rather hire a generalist fo...

How to reach out to Jon Cooper: Link building isn’t for the weak-minded. Regardless of service or product niche, successfully arranging for your link to be included on an industry-authoritative website is highly competitive. For this reason, achieving measurable results from any link building campaign requires diligence, patience, and striking the delicate balance of personalization and automated efficiency. Like many things, link building is a skill that can be improved over time with practice, and with experience, it is possible to determine which strategies and tactics are the most effective. Link building expert, Jon Cooper, presents what he’s learned from his years building links and explains what companies can do to achieve better results. With a smile, Jon remembers an article featuring over 200 link building strategies. “The ironic part about that,” Jon explains, “is that you can get so caught up in all these new things that you sort of forget to figure out what you can do best, what can scale for you.” He’s right. As companies strive to learn and implement the most cutting-edge link building strategies or diversify their efforts too broadly, they often fail to learn the nuances and intricacies of the process that would allow them to master it. Rather than focusing on keeping up with the latest and greatest link building strategies, companies ought to stick with the tactics that already work for them. Finding Your Best Link Building Strategy For link builders like Jon, nothing is more exciting than stumbling on a source looking to add links to their site. So, how do you convince the webmaster to include a backlink to your company’s site? Today, authoritative sites in every niche post the links they receive in guest posts and email outreach. These two traditional link building tactics may not be flashy or even new, but by now they have been proven effective. Jon admits his disappointment in learning that link building strategies and tactics haven’t changed significantly over the years, but also recognizes the importance of adopting and refining the strategies that are already known to work. To note, Sure Oak integrates the latest and long-standing strategies - discover our link building services here. Guest Posting Tips Guest posting is a link building tactic in which you incorporate the link you wish to have referenced within a piece of content, such as a blog post or an infographic, and request to have the content featured on an authoritative website. Jon and his team try to avoid doing too much guest posting because it can be time-consuming and difficult to execute effectively. Websites are unlikely to feature your content if it is not in alignment with their brand message, and so creating an acceptable piece of content and gaining a backlink requires extensive research and careful consideration. It can be difficult to produce enough content to achieve a meaningful number of backlinks. In fact, according to Jon, there are even entire agencies that specialize in creating and stacking up content to be pitched on different authoritative sites. Jon shares his personal experience with a client who had worked as an author. Because his writing was already an integral part of his brand, the client could easily create blog posts and written content as guest posts. Still, guest posting is more time intensive than writing outreach emails and may not be scalable. Email Outreach Tips If creating an endless supply of guest posting content sounds challenging to you, you may consider using another link building tactic, email outreach.

Companies looking to establish authority within their industry and gain greater exposure ought to consider link building strategies. According to link building expert, Jon Cooper, successful link building is about finding what works for you personally.

How to reach out to Jonathan Cronstedt: Which business metrics does your company track? Many businesses pay detailed attention to the performance statistics surrounding individual marketing campaigns but fail to consider the broad measures indicative of overall success. By minimizing efforts to analyze and understand key metrics not directly linked to marketing efforts, such as customer ascension and retention, companies limit their potential for success. This week we interviewed Jonathan Cronstedt, president of Kajabi.  Kajabi is a platform for building, marketing, and selling your own online knowledge products. According to Jonathan Cronstedt, companies can break free from their reliance on specific but not necessarily generalizable metrics and experience greater business success by shifting to a more comprehensive business model, known as SaaS. Jonathan describes SaaS as a unique language connecting companies to their customers. The Pirate Metrics Your business may not be using all of the right metrics, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t already on the right track. There is some overlap between traditional business strategy and the SaaS business model, but when following SaaS, your company may need to consider a greater volume and variety of metrics. In SaaS business strategy, there are four primary metrics: * Acquisition * Activation * Ascension * Retention These factors have been humorously nicknamed the “pirate metrics” because their acronym (AAAR) spells out a common pirate expression. Despite an amusing title, the pirate metrics are a serious tool that allows businesses to better evaluate company performance at various levels. They can even reveal intricate patterns in customer behavior. Jonathan breaks down each of these factors, demonstrating how much information businesses can gain by studying SaaS metrics. Acquisition Most businesses are fairly preoccupied with customer acquisition. Many companies monitor data to learn which sources are the most successful in providing traffic to their company site and which digital marketing campaigns receive the highest engagement levels. SaaS acquisition metrics can be used to better understand how and from where people are channeled to your site. These metrics can guide business decisions regarding how and where to advertise, as well as provide some information about target audiences. Customer acquisition can come from a variety of sources, including organic content marketing, posting in online community platforms, paid traffic, and more. In Jonathan’s experience with SaaS marketing, there is no single superior acquisition method. But, in his years of SaaS strategy work, Jonathan has noticed the pattern that, on average, warm outreach efforts are more successful than cold outreach. This shows the clear benefit of relationship-building in business strategy. Activation Getting site views might not make you rich, but convincing visitors to become paying customers might. The activation phase of the SaaS strategy is all about encouraging your site visitors to embark on a journey with your company. SaaS metrics may clarify what factors are most influential in pushing consumers to opt-in to services or agree to buy a product. At Kajabi, Jonathan and the team offer site visitors a free 14-day trial. This period allows users to get familiar with the platform and reach out to customer service with any questions before commit...

How to reach out to Jonathan Cronstedt: Which business metrics does your company track? Many businesses pay detailed attention to the performance statistics surrounding individual marketing campaigns but fail to consider the broad measures indicative of overall success. By minimizing efforts to analyze and understand key metrics not directly linked to marketing efforts, such as customer ascension and retention, companies limit their potential for success. This week we interviewed Jonathan Cronstedt, president of Kajabi.  Kajabi is a platform for building, marketing, and selling your own online knowledge products. According to Jonathan Cronstedt, companies can break free from their reliance on specific but not necessarily generalizable metrics and experience greater business success by shifting to a more comprehensive business model, known as SaaS. Jonathan describes SaaS as a unique language connecting companies to their customers. The Pirate Metrics Your business may not be using all of the right metrics, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t already on the right track. There is some overlap between traditional business strategy and the SaaS business model, but when following SaaS, your company may need to consider a greater volume and variety of metrics. In SaaS business strategy, there are four primary metrics: * Acquisition * Activation * Ascension * Retention These factors have been humorously nicknamed the “pirate metrics” because their acronym (AAAR) spells out a common pirate expression. Despite an amusing title, the pirate metrics are a serious tool that allows businesses to better evaluate company performance at various levels. They can even reveal intricate patterns in customer behavior. Jonathan breaks down each of these factors, demonstrating how much information businesses can gain by studying SaaS metrics. Acquisition Most businesses are fairly preoccupied with customer acquisition. Many companies monitor data to learn which sources are the most successful in providing traffic to their company site and which digital marketing campaigns receive the highest engagement levels. SaaS acquisition metrics can be used to better understand how and from where people are channeled to your site. These metrics can guide business decisions regarding how and where to advertise, as well as provide some information about target audiences. Customer acquisition can come from a variety of sources, including organic content marketing, posting in online community platforms, paid traffic, and more. In Jonathan’s experience with SaaS marketing, there is no single superior acquisition method. But, in his years of SaaS strategy work, Jonathan has noticed the pattern that, on average, warm outreach efforts are more successful than cold outreach. This shows the clear benefit of relationship-building in business strategy. Activation Getting site views might not make you rich, but convincing visitors to become paying customers might. The activation phase of the SaaS strategy is all about encouraging your site visitors to embark on a journey with your company. SaaS metrics may clarify what factors are most influential in pushing consumers to opt-in to services or agree to buy a product. At Kajabi, Jonathan and the team offer site visitors a free 14-day trial. This period allows users to get familiar with the platform and reach out to customer service with any questions before commit...

How to reach out to Michaela Alexis: When Michaela Alexis changed her approach to sharing content on LinkedIn, her following grew from around 500 to over 120,000 connections. Today, her articles receive between 100,000 and 1 million views on average, and she can expect to network with at least 2 or 3 new leads each day. The LinkedIn Article Breakthrough It all began when Michaela wrote and shared a LinkedIn article detailing her personal experience as a job-seeker. In her search, recruiters had advised Michaela to distribute her resume broadly and wait in hopes of an interview. Suspicious that the recruiters’ apply-and-wait method might not be the most efficient way to land a job, Michaela conducted a controlled experiment. Using HubSpot email tracking, Michaela sent her resume to 10 companies. If the recruiters were right about applying indiscriminately and hoping, Michaela would expect to see that most of her emails were opened and her resume considered for the open position. Frustratingly, Michaela’s tracking codes revealed that only one of these job-seeking emails was opened and that none of her contacts were willing to respond to her application. With the data to back up her original hunch, Michaela officially recognized the apply-and-wait method as a total waste of time. Hoping to help others struggling with their own job searches, Michaela wrote up her findings to share with the LinkedIn job seeker community. Viral On Accident Michaela hoped she was posting something useful to other LinkedIn job seekers, but she did not expect for her article go viral. The piece was viewed over 150,000 times and shared by thousands more. Michaela was happily taken by surprise at her post’s popularity. To her, the article was nothing special, having been completed in less than an hour. Hoping to replicate her success in future LinkedIn articles, Michaela began dissecting the viral post to understand what about her article had resonated with so many LinkedIn users. Michaela identified three key aspects she believes contributed to her article’s success: * The article is written conversationally * The content was helpful to readers * The experiences described were relatable Regardless of industry or position, LinkedIn readers want to consume content that is easily digestible, that is purposeful, and that resonates. This led Michaela to experiment with her LinkedIn article topics. She would publish personal stories about real experiences that readers could learn from. Michaela had found the key to promoting herself through LinkedIn: share stories and experiences others are too hesitant to write about. LinkedIn for Businesses With over half a billion users, LinkedIn has become the ideal platform for content marketers like Michaela who are seeking to gain exposure and establish a following. Of course, merely creating a LinkedIn profile is not enough to drive engagement. To make conversions and achieve meaningful results, businesses need to focus on providing audiences with content that resonates. Since uncovering the core elements driving her LinkedIn followers to engage with her content, Michaela has certainly profited from her use of LinkedIn. “LinkedIn profiles have so much potential to convert directly through the platform. It happens to me on a daily basis.” She now uses her LinkedIn skills to help others become LinkedIn influencers.

How to reach out to Michaela Alexis: When Michaela Alexis changed her approach to sharing content on LinkedIn, her following grew from around 500 to over 120,000 connections. Today, her articles receive between 100,000 and 1 million views on average, and she can expect to network with at least 2 or 3 new leads each day. The LinkedIn Article Breakthrough It all began when Michaela wrote and shared a LinkedIn article detailing her personal experience as a job-seeker. In her search, recruiters had advised Michaela to distribute her resume broadly and wait in hopes of an interview. Suspicious that the recruiters’ apply-and-wait method might not be the most efficient way to land a job, Michaela conducted a controlled experiment. Using HubSpot email tracking, Michaela sent her resume to 10 companies. If the recruiters were right about applying indiscriminately and hoping, Michaela would expect to see that most of her emails were opened and her resume considered for the open position. Frustratingly, Michaela’s tracking codes revealed that only one of these job-seeking emails was opened and that none of her contacts were willing to respond to her application. With the data to back up her original hunch, Michaela officially recognized the apply-and-wait method as a total waste of time. Hoping to help others struggling with their own job searches, Michaela wrote up her findings to share with the LinkedIn job seeker community. Viral On Accident Michaela hoped she was posting something useful to other LinkedIn job seekers, but she did not expect for her article go viral. The piece was viewed over 150,000 times and shared by thousands more. Michaela was happily taken by surprise at her post’s popularity. To her, the article was nothing special, having been completed in less than an hour. Hoping to replicate her success in future LinkedIn articles, Michaela began dissecting the viral post to understand what about her article had resonated with so many LinkedIn users. Michaela identified three key aspects she believes contributed to her article’s success: * The article is written conversationally * The content was helpful to readers * The experiences described were relatable Regardless of industry or position, LinkedIn readers want to consume content that is easily digestible, that is purposeful, and that resonates. This led Michaela to experiment with her LinkedIn article topics. She would publish personal stories about real experiences that readers could learn from. Michaela had found the key to promoting herself through LinkedIn: share stories and experiences others are too hesitant to write about. LinkedIn for Businesses With over half a billion users, LinkedIn has become the ideal platform for content marketers like Michaela who are seeking to gain exposure and establish a following. Of course, merely creating a LinkedIn profile is not enough to drive engagement. To make conversions and achieve meaningful results, businesses need to focus on providing audiences with content that resonates. Since uncovering the core elements driving her LinkedIn followers to engage with her content, Michaela has certainly profited from her use of LinkedIn. “LinkedIn profiles have so much potential to convert directly through the platform. It happens to me on a daily basis.” She now uses her LinkedIn skills to help others become LinkedIn influencers.

How to reach out to Rand Fishkin: Throughout his career, Rand Fishkin has always aimed to help businesses improve their marketing campaigns. Most widely recognized as the founder of Moz, Rand continues to expand his impact with the creation of a new software company, SparkToro. With a rich understanding of the challenges digital marketers face and a keen eye for opportunity, Rand honed in on the absence of a marketing tool that provides useful insights about specific target audiences, most notably data showing which sites are most commonly visited by those audiences. To fill this void, Rand and partner, Casey Henry, founded SparkToro with a vision of aiding marketing efforts by “making the publications, people, and sources that influence any audience more transparent.” SparkToro remains a work in progress, but early successes have shifted attention to Rand’s underrated business philosophy and non-traditional business structure. On this episode, Rand explains what Zebras are and why they are consistently more successful than Unicorns, how he and his partner designed the SparkToro business structure, and when marketers can expect to start benefiting from Sparktoro. What Is SparkToro? Over his career, Rand has noticed that digital marketing budgets are often wasted because marketers are unable to predict how to reach their target audiences directly. Budgets are often squandered as marketers purchase ad space on broad-audience platforms, such as Google and Facebook, where brand messages often go overlooked among the heavy competition. Rand and his small team are still developing SparkToro, but once completed, the software will help brands improve outreach efforts, get better amplification from sources relevant to target audiences, and ultimately achieve better returns on marketing efforts by providing marketers with easy access to all the data they need about the audiences they want to reach. Results will display data like what podcasts and blogs audience members subscribe to, which social media influencers they follow, and what websites they frequently visit. How Does SparkToro Work? Rand and his team have not settled on a final design for SparkToro, but the data aggregation necessary to build their software is well underway. Similar to political pollsters, the SparkToro team began their data conquest by conducting surveys. These survey results reveal how niche groups of people behave online. Rand points out that, while these SparkToro surveys are unlikely to pick up data from every single target audience member online, SparkToro’s data will be accurate in showing statistically significant patterns representative of missing data from the same group. The SparkToro team is also gathering data from other key sources, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, and any website where an email is registered with a user profile. With data aggregated from various internet sources, each profile held in the SparkToro database is more likely to be accurate and complete. Profiles found through SparkToro are intended only for market research to learn about an individual's interactions with a particular industry. For this reason, Rand has designed all search results to hide any irrelevant or private information. Even the most complete profile displayed through SparkToro will omit personal details like address or phone number. SparkToro: Unicorn or Zebra? Even with an intricate and effective product,