Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:16.679 Conversations from the front lines and marketing. This is be tob growth coming to 2 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:21.000 you from just outside Austin, Texas. I'm your host, Benjie Block, 3 00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:25.879 and again today I'm joined by REX, our VP of revenue at sweet fish, 4 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:32.200 and emily, our creative content lead. Were stopping here to chat marketing 5 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:36.880 before we jump into a featured conversation and excited for what rex is going to 6 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.679 bring today. I want to let you know our feature conversation today is with 7 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:44.200 Gianna Barrett and we're talking about link building, which is actually something I haven't 8 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:49.880 talked about in the months since I joined the sweetfish team and have been hosting 9 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:53.240 be to be growth, and I found some of what they're doing around link 10 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:59.320 building in their strategy to be very intriguing and it's not maybe typically what you 11 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:03.000 would imagine. So we'll get there in a few minutes, but today REX, 12 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:06.480 I'm going to turn it over to you. Tell us something you're paying 13 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:10.480 attention to in the world of marketing and something you saw that's intriguing to you. 14 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:14.719 Yeah, if you're if you're doing marketing, you're paying attention to anything 15 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:17.959 on Linkedin in the last couple of weeks you probably saw a huge rush of 16 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.680 activity around the I don't know if we can call them the emmy awards, 17 00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:26.200 but the experimental marketer of the year awards. That was it was run by 18 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:30.400 Metadata, Linkedin, marketing solutions and mutiny, three of the to you think 19 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:32.680 of when you think of great marketing. So it makes total sense that they 20 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:34.040 were able to give out the awards, that they had the authority to say, 21 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:37.680 well, you know who was the best? I thought it was a 22 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:42.799 fantastic event, a great concept. They called out just some amazing brands and 23 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:46.439 one of my favorite things was that there were brands I hadn't really been paying 24 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:49.480 close attention to. There was there's a couple in there is like, Whoa, 25 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.040 I need go follow those, which is great. Anytime we can draw 26 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:55.319 out brands that are not getting the spotlight that should be, I think that's 27 00:01:55.319 --> 00:01:57.359 wonderful because then we have new examples to pull from. We can learn from 28 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:00.760 other who are doing great work that maybe we're not always seeing in kind of 29 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:05.439 the linkedin biosphere. So it was an awesome event. They did a really 30 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:08.080 nice job just pulling out the best in the brightest. But there were some 31 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:12.960 there were some things that I was thinking about as it relates to these events. 32 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.159 And you know, one of the things that I was thinking about is 33 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:17.800 this this concept of let's a war, let's give an award out to those, 34 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:21.960 you know, those who performed the best or maybe the most creative work 35 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:28.319 that also performed well. But I think it's possible that we could learn a 36 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.960 lot from the ones that we don't talk about, the ones that don't perform 37 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:34.000 well. So I used to have a show that I ran where I interviewed 38 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.680 marketers and we were we were always talking about like, Hey, what performed 39 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:38.919 well? What was the campaign that really hit it out of the park for 40 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.240 you? We're always have to celebrate those, but Dang, I've learned so 41 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:46.599 much from my failures, from a total miss and like spending hours or months 42 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:51.960 creating this wonderful piece of content and then just it just dies right or even 43 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:53.840 and no one shows up. I feel like we've learned a lot from that. 44 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:58.199 So, as you all think about what we can learn from events like, 45 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.719 you know, the experimental market of the year, should we be highlighting 46 00:03:00.759 --> 00:03:04.800 more of those losses? And is anybody incentivized to do that? I'm just 47 00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:07.960 not really sure. Emily, you want to go first? Yeah, sure, 48 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:12.360 I mean, I think that this, this campaign was brilliant for several 49 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.400 reasons. One, because of the affinity it builts for those who hosted it 50 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:20.560 and then how they celebrated the people who entered into it, and then also 51 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:23.560 just the value that it gives to all of those audiences, kind of like 52 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:27.280 what you're saying, rex, like there's so much to be learned from these 53 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:30.319 campaigns that we might not have known about if they didn't have this competition. 54 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:35.039 Like I didn't know about any of these. Actually I had to go and 55 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:38.360 look them up and and they're all really, really cool, and so I'm 56 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.879 not sure how I haven't heard of them, but kind of like what you're 57 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:45.000 saying, like I think some of them get buried in the you know, 58 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:50.639 the big hitters, and they're definitely worth recognition. So I'm a big fan 59 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:53.960 of them putting together an event like this, and it's one that, like, 60 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:57.000 people had to enter too. They didn't go and find them, and 61 00:03:57.039 --> 00:03:59.479 so it gave everyone a chance to say, you know what, I am 62 00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:01.520 doing something cool, like I'm going to enter this competition and share what I've 63 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:05.680 been doing, and gave them that platform. So I I think this is 64 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:10.159 really, really cool yeah, I like it and I like rex all. 65 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:13.840 Like what you say because I think there is this like second side to it. 66 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:15.839 Words like man, could we also create an environment where we talked about 67 00:04:15.920 --> 00:04:21.879 like something that flopped in just like this marketing experiment we tried that we thought 68 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:27.199 was going to be awesome, like totally didn't go how we anticipated right, 69 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:31.959 and actually we do serve phase of our guests after they've recorded with us. 70 00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:35.439 For be to be gross and a recurring thing I hear is like, could 71 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:42.800 you have a podcast where the marketer is maybe anonymous or you even have to 72 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:46.079 change their voice, but they walk through a campaign that failed or flopped? 73 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:51.000 That's to me, like I didn't say it would have to be anonymous. 74 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:55.519 Everyone I interview when it comes up, they say it almost feels like you'd 75 00:04:55.560 --> 00:04:59.360 have to have it be anonymous, because being on a podcast, putting something 76 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:01.399 on Linkedin, it's like kind of supposed to be the highlights of your career 77 00:05:01.399 --> 00:05:05.800 and we're all sort of accepting that. And when people share posts about something 78 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:10.600 that failed, like it does get some good interaction because it humanizes them. 79 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:14.519 But to me it's like you want both right, like I want to know 80 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:16.680 your best successes. To See if there's things from your successes that we could 81 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:20.319 apply, not to see the same results, but maybe something similar, or 82 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:25.360 maybe we can take parts of your idea and put them into what we're doing. 83 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:27.720 And then I want to hear your failures, because I also want it 84 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.120 to I want marketing to remain human and know that it is something where experimentation 85 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:34.920 is always heavy and even though it looks shiny, it's not always that way. 86 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:39.040 So I would love both. It would be kind of fun if you 87 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:42.959 already have this as an awards for people to be able to like somehow submit 88 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.120 a flop of the year, and I don't know what that would look like, 89 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:48.279 but that could be really cool. I love the idea of awards, 90 00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:53.720 though. I think this is a really smart idea. I think the judges 91 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:59.399 that they had were fantastic, and if you can really amp up an event 92 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.560 like this, when you have multiple players, multiple organizations, coming together to 93 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:08.000 put this on like it seems like it's literally just a win across the board 94 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:14.040 and you're celebrating marketing, which is like cool for everybody in marketing. Yeah, 95 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:17.120 I enjoyed seeing all the different brands from those that were sponsoring it and, 96 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:20.120 like an interacting with it in those who were kind of finalist for the 97 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:25.120 event. I'd love seen all their different takes out. It wasn't just link 98 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:28.560 dropping and weren't just like posting about, Hey, this is an upcoming event. 99 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:30.399 They were having a conversation online and I really enjoyed to see the different 100 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:34.120 perspectives, different conversations were happening from all those different bands and I never thought 101 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:38.240 about it as like, Hey, this is just a metadata event, or 102 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:40.879 this is this is just a mutant event, or is just linkedin solutions, 103 00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:44.759 like I thought of. I thought of these brands kind of in conjunction together. 104 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:46.920 I definitely saw sends a lot. I mean, I know they did 105 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:50.560 really well, but it was just fun to see how collaborative and positive we 106 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:56.000 can be instead of like competitive focus, like sure, it's somewhat a contest 107 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:59.879 and what a competition, but at the same time as like everybody got positive 108 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:01.800 traction from it. So there was really there was no harm in being a 109 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:04.040 part of this thing, which is cool to see. HMM. Yeah, 110 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:10.000 and it just shows like the diversity of ideas here and that they were able 111 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:14.439 to start so many conversations around so many different strategies. So one of them 112 00:07:14.519 --> 00:07:17.519 was meming our way to success from catalyst software, CLIPUPS, first super bowl 113 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:21.959 commercial, a big win from a small team game offying brand building from starburst 114 00:07:23.480 --> 00:07:29.040 SASS goes pop. This is how you do it. For this is how 115 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:31.560 you do it. Marketer by day, Children's author by night, from Domino 116 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:35.319 data lap and that's just a few of them, and they're all like they're 117 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:43.319 all approaching a campaign from a different strategy and they're they're even approaching like different, 118 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.839 different topics. Like brand building even was in there, and I was 119 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:48.879 surprised to see that, but I thought that was so cool, just how 120 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:54.600 diverse it was. Right. So I think that's a big part of the 121 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.160 success of not only like you can have awards and no one really pays attention 122 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:03.040 to them, but if you're starting conversations through this competition, that's huge. 123 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:07.480 That's awesome. HMM. I like the different stages, two of like where 124 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:09.560 you could pull ideas from because like click up, okay, awesome, you 125 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:13.639 you ran a super bowl commercial and the commercial was funny, but like, 126 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:18.800 most of us are not running super bowl commercial so we just kind of applaud 127 00:08:18.839 --> 00:08:20.839 from the sidelines on that one. But like meaning your way to success. 128 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:26.519 Okay, very like barrier entry very low. Something we could all learn from. 129 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:28.240 You know what I mean? Like there's just different ways of going about 130 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.120 this for the stage of company that you're in where you're looking at this and 131 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.639 you're going on. It's really creative and also maybe this is something we try 132 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.240 in the future. Rex, you got final thoughts? WRAP US up here 133 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:43.120 before we jump into the featured conversation. My funny thoughts. I want to 134 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:46.879 see more of this. I do want to see. You know, it's 135 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:48.639 been a long time since I've paid attention to things from like maybe the the 136 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:52.440 content marketing institute is a great place where you're going to see different people celebrated 137 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:54.279 and what u. But I've love to see more of these events. I 138 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:56.679 definitely want to see this one on an annual basis. I think this will 139 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:01.759 be fantastic, but I want to see maybe more industry focused ones talking about 140 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:05.480 marketing within your industry, your vertical, your segment. I think there could 141 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.200 be some really cool things from us, you know, for us all to 142 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:11.840 learn from different brands, folks who are doing different things, and I definitely 143 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:16.879 applaud the team's at Metadata linkedin marketing solutions mutiny for putting this together for the 144 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:22.360 benefit of all of us who were who are in the audience, for sure. 145 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:26.559 Well, thanks for bringing that and feel like we all can learn something 146 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:30.000 from these companies. So if you haven't checked it out, go and be 147 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:35.320 sure to take a look. And today we are talking with Jiana Barrett. 148 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:41.240 She's the founder and chief remote officer of First Page Strategy, and today we're 149 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:46.159 talking about not overlooking link building. You know enjoy this conversation, so let's 150 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:50.360 dive in. Welcome back to be to be growth. I'm your host, 151 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:54.200 Benjie Block, and today I am joined by Jana Barrett. She is the 152 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:58.600 founder and chief remote officer at first page strategy. Gianna, welcome into the 153 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:03.399 show. Hello, thanks for having me. Okay, so you are all 154 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:09.559 in on helping digital first companies grow and specifically grow exponentially, and we're going 155 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:13.200 to talk about that in a bit, and a strategy that you've used to 156 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:18.960 see some of that growth. But tell me a bit about what you're focused 157 00:10:18.039 --> 00:10:22.600 on and what you guys do at first page strategy. Yeah, so we're 158 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:30.080 focused on growth marketing and really we do our best work when we work with 159 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:35.799 brands that really are looking for significant results with traffic and revenue. We're focused 160 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.240 a lot on the numbers. What are we doing for you and tying those 161 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:43.120 back to how much we're spending. And we work best when we can be 162 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:48.360 fully integrated. You know, start from the start with a strategy, customer 163 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:52.879 journey, persona, the website x and then every single channel to get distribution 164 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:56.919 out, and the big ones for us are paid. So sure paid which 165 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:01.159 will bring in people in the short term that are going to come in and 166 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:05.080 traffick and convert while we work on the long term strategy with us. COO, 167 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:09.639 getting your brand on the first page of Google. Nice. Okay, 168 00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:13.440 so the reason we connected, or one of the reasons, is because of 169 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:18.559 a recent campaign that you guys did around link building, and I was trying 170 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:22.559 to think on my end, since taking over the podcast and doing be to 171 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:26.840 be growth since November, I don't think we've really gone down that road and 172 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:31.759 talked a lot about link building and you had some interesting things you guys have 173 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:35.519 recently done that I thought our audience would want to tap into and learn from. 174 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:39.399 Highlight for me some of the work that you've done around around link building 175 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:46.720 and specifically this kind of fun recent campaign you've done. Yeah, so can 176 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:50.000 I? Can I start first way saying like why people should still be doing 177 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.399 link building, because a lot of people don't think about a lot of first 178 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:56.759 yes, okay, cool, because a lot of people, you know, 179 00:11:56.840 --> 00:11:58.559 like you said, you probably haven't talked about it because some people just don't 180 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:03.679 think about how important it is. But we'd do link building still, and 181 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:07.279 a lot of it, because it's such a core focus to Google's algorithm. 182 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:11.519 It's one of the major things that helps with authority. Like, if you 183 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:15.600 think about it, makes sense right. Like Google thinks about how many people 184 00:12:15.639 --> 00:12:18.600 are linking to a website, how many different brands and how many different locations 185 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:24.039 are linking back to a website. That makes the website look really authoritative. 186 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:28.000 The more authority a website has, the more Google is going to serve up 187 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:33.480 your business and website in their search results. So they want really authoritative websites. 188 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:35.960 When someone's searching for a toy, wanted to one oritative, but they 189 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.600 also don't want you to pay for them, so they don't really want to 190 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:41.759 promote it. So it becomes a whole thing, right. Yeah, exactly. 191 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:46.879 Yeah, the black magic behind it, I guess. But yeah, 192 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:50.639 so you know, Google spent a lot of time telling everybody that link building 193 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:54.919 doesn't really matter anymore. You need to be focusing on content, and we 194 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:58.240 got ourselves in trouble a little bit because we followed that. You know, 195 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:03.279 we were doing light link building and heavy content creation. And then we have 196 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.000 one of our biggest clients came in and we've been working with them on for 197 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:13.320 six years on Seo and their big competitor came in with in one year and 198 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:18.840 built higher authority and was like winning search results in one year because they focused 199 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:20.759 on link building. So that wasn't just lesson for us. We're like, 200 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:24.559 okay, this is actually more important than Google tells you it is. They 201 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:30.919 still use it a lot in their algorithm and it's super important it that brands 202 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:33.600 are doing that in their in their seo strategies. So that's kind of why 203 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:37.080 I'm here to talk a little bit about why link building matters. I like 204 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:41.679 rehighlighting it and I like that you've also done this in a couple different ways. 205 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:48.000 So the first one is really around this idea of a small business grant. 206 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:52.360 I wonder what put that idea on the map for you and the genesis 207 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:56.759 of that project. Yeah, so we you know, regardless of what we 208 00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:03.960 did personally for our clients, like link building is all about creating things that 209 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:07.840 your customers and your persona really need and then they're going to link to it. 210 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:15.240 Right. So for us that was creating a grant for a scholarship grant 211 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:18.960 for young entrepreneurs and then a fresh start business grant, because business owners they 212 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.080 really need to help getting off the ground. They really need, you know, 213 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:28.559 cash flow. They maybe just left their job. So understanding what entrepreneurs 214 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:33.600 want was why we went there. But it's really important to just the emphasis 215 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:39.039 there is like you want to build something that is highly linkable and really of 216 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:43.720 interest to your persona and community. HMM. And so, yeah, that's 217 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:48.320 the tactic. Well, in many communities I think you put a dollar amount 218 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:50.399 on it and that's a good first start, right, like hey, you 219 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.039 could get this, there's money. But then there's obviously a practical side that. 220 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:58.320 So you say a front for the small business grants can be like a 221 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:05.240 one month cost, essentially five thousand dollars. I wonder what return are you 222 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:09.919 expecting, because was this the first sort of sweepstakes type link building campaign you 223 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:16.279 had done? HMM, Yep, it is Yep. So we did to 224 00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:20.440 actually two separate twenty five hundred dollar grants. We're kind of testing the format 225 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:22.159 rights and that right now. What's going to work better. But, like 226 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:26.799 in our marketing budget, the line item was five thousand dollars for a grant, 227 00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:30.519 right, and the way that we think about that, the return on 228 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:33.759 that is there's a price to every link because there's a lot of different ways 229 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:37.919 to build links. But essentially, like if you're working to create content or 230 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:43.279 by links with people, different links with different domain authorities have certain prices associated 231 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:46.320 to them. Right. So if you're getting a link on a website of 232 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.039 a domain authority of like eighty to a hundred, which is super high. 233 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:52.759 That's going to be the facebooks and the fast companies of the world. Those 234 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:56.679 are asn like a thousand to twenty five hundred dollars at link, all the 235 00:15:56.679 --> 00:16:00.720 way down to about three to four to five hundred dollars per links. So 236 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:04.399 when we're buying links, you know a five thousand dollar budget isn't going to 237 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:08.519 get us very far. Might get US five to ten links, right. 238 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:12.960 So we are testing can we build links a lot faster within this five thousand 239 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:18.039 dollar budget by getting people to organically link back to these things from many different 240 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:22.159 websites in many different domain authorities. Yeah, okay, so you have this 241 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:26.919 hypothesis that you probably can write, because if it's highly shareable, then you 242 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.759 can build links that way. But you have to, you know, you 243 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:33.679 probably have to advertise it in a number of ways. You can't just say 244 00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:36.679 okay, we have this money we're going to give away and then, like 245 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:40.279 fingers cross, people find out that we're giving this money away. What's the 246 00:16:40.360 --> 00:16:44.360 advertising strategy to make sure people know about the small business grant and like where 247 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:48.879 to apply? Yeah, so we did the standard outreach that we do with 248 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:53.679 all link building. We have an outreach team that, whether it's this grant 249 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:57.600 or any other content were creating with someone, we're reaching out and like talking, 250 00:16:57.639 --> 00:17:02.639 you know, emailing, calling, asking if they're interested in cocreating content 251 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:04.759 together, a kind of stuff. So we did the standard outreach campaign and 252 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:08.440 then, along with that, kind of a standard promotional campaign. So anybody 253 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:14.279 in marketing has like the standard marketing toolbox of when you launch a new campaign, 254 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:18.519 you're going to do paid social ads, you're going to do organic social 255 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:22.400 post, you're going to do it, write a blog about it. We 256 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:26.799 went through kind of all those standards and then, together with our outreach, 257 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:29.599 is how we got the word out. So, for something like this, 258 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:33.759 did you see one of those channels be most effective? Yeah, I mean, 259 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:37.359 well, the custom outreach, right. We did custom outreach to like 260 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:45.240 certain schools and business websites that would be interested in offering this scholarship. So 261 00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:49.119 pokinking, custom outreach works really well, but that's very time consuming, and 262 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:55.160 so we have like three outreach people that work on our team. That, 263 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:59.240 yea, just that's circle ten job, just outreach. But then, you 264 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:03.160 know, paid social always works really well for and that's no secret, right, 265 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:07.200 like that's gonna get out like the most bang for your butt quickly and 266 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:11.039 fast. I mean we, I think we were able to drive tenzero visits 267 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:15.200 to the landing page of the campaign within one week. So pretty quickly we 268 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:22.200 got the word out with mostly with paid social. Okay, so tenzero views 269 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:26.519 essentially. Think that's that's great, but that's not really what you want as 270 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:30.079 the result of this campaign. So give me some of what you saw as 271 00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:33.839 far as how many back links and and yeah, yeah, what did you 272 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:40.799 generate from this? Yeah, so we had about four hundred applicants. And 273 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:45.079 then the big thing is is that we got about a hundred backlinks to date. 274 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.839 Those are still kind of rolling in, right, because the commands still 275 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:52.240 lie. People still link into it. Of those a hundred back links, 276 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:56.039 like thirty so a third of them where of the domain authority. Of over 277 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:00.920 fifty so, and eight of those were dot edu links, which are really 278 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:04.000 hard to get. Like, if you think about kind of in link building, 279 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:07.720 the weight that Google gives dot eedu and dot Gov links is really high, 280 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:11.000 because I know that's an official website, right, like yeah, and 281 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:15.200 Almos has that stamp of approval from from Google. So you really want dot 282 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:18.720 ETU and dot Gov links to it. To get we were to get eight 283 00:19:18.759 --> 00:19:22.640 of those. So really, and in all in all we're the results of 284 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:29.599 this campaign was about forty to Fiftyzero dollars in link building costs for us to 285 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:33.759 for all these links. So yeah, like totally great return, right. 286 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:37.359 So we spent five thousand and we got about forty to Fiftyzero back okay, 287 00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:42.279 so the the DOT eedu link. A most of that is it like a 288 00:19:42.359 --> 00:19:47.799 blog post highlighting or something that they're aware of this and you should apply go 289 00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:52.519 there. Like is that kind of how you're generating it. Yeah, I 290 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:56.599 mean that varies per website right, like a lot of these, maybe a 291 00:19:56.680 --> 00:20:00.400 dot eedu website has a scholarship landing page that they're driving their students to. 292 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:04.480 That might be where they're listing it, or it might be an individual blog 293 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:07.000 post like we kind of that's where the outreach comes in, and that's why 294 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:12.839 it's so time consuming, because it's really like per website and how they're willing 295 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:15.680 to work with you and what you can do for them. And we can 296 00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:19.640 create content and send it or if they already have content, they can just 297 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:22.279 link back to us. But that's kind of all decided by the web the 298 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:29.440 people that own the website. Hey be to be gross listeners. We want 299 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:32.160 to hear from you. In fact, we will pay you for it. 300 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:37.559 Just head over to be tob growth podcom and complete a short survey about the 301 00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:41.079 show to enter for a chance to win two hundred and fifty dollars plus. 302 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:45.680 The first fifty participants will receive twenty five dollars as our way of saying thank 303 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:49.319 you so much one more time. That's be tob growth podcom, letter B 304 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:57.680 number two. Letter be growth podcom one entry per person must be an active 305 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:02.559 listener of the show too, and or I look forward to hearing from you. 306 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:08.960 Okay, so there's another strategy that we'll talk about in a second. 307 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.440 Before I get there, I want to just say, like I think most 308 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:15.720 of us, as markers, would know, there's a lot of value in 309 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:21.319 something like a sweepstakes, a give away whatever. I wonder when you think 310 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:25.000 of ways that you can get it wrong right, like are there ways that 311 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:27.880 you feel like you maximize the amount of links you guys got and that others 312 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:33.160 might get this wrong or like, what are your thoughts there? Yeah, 313 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:36.839 so I think whether it's a sweepstakes or like a piece of content right, 314 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:38.759 like, that has to be really authentic and it has to be really good 315 00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:44.880 content. Like this was an authentic scholarship grant, like we're like, you 316 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:48.759 know, Hey, students, apply to this, give us your business plan, 317 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:52.079 send us a two minute video, and we're spending a lot of time 318 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.759 reviewing those and selecting a win at right. So this was like an authentic, 319 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:00.319 time consuming scholarship that we created and also the content was really great around 320 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.200 it. We have a beautiful landing page. It was built by our product 321 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:07.279 team and our design team and all of that in we have a lot of 322 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:10.839 supporting content that goes with it, and so I think it's just quality and 323 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:14.359 like content that you're creating that people want to link to. It's always like 324 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:18.799 how good is this thing? Is it authentic? Do People really find this 325 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:21.680 useful? Did you go to do a good job creating the content, because 326 00:22:21.720 --> 00:22:25.839 if you skip any of those pieces, then people are not going to link 327 00:22:25.880 --> 00:22:30.759 to it or even find it like worth their time. Right. Yeah, 328 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:34.960 and I think that's what I liked about this campaign specifically, is that front 329 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:41.599 facing it's very like it's actually helpful to the people that are applying. Well, 330 00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:44.720 at the same time, on the back end, like there is business 331 00:22:44.759 --> 00:22:48.000 that you're driving and bit links that are being built, but it's almost seems 332 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:52.839 to be done like a more effective way across the board, right, like 333 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:57.079 you're actually helping other entrepreneurs, which it's pretty cool to do in the process. 334 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:00.359 Okay, really quickly, I'll say yeah, I'm you know, I've 335 00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:03.359 been around a marketing for a while and like the sweet stakes thing, I 336 00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:07.000 haven't touched at the ten Po Pole in so long because we tested that a 337 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:10.880 lot a long time ago in social media. Like Oh, let's you know, 338 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:15.559 there used to be all these sweepstakes apps and you'd give away like pastor 339 00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:18.279 is or whatever it is, but it's like what does that gift for you? 340 00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:21.200 You know, there was no like tying it back, and so we 341 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:23.720 really are not. This was not just a sweepstake express like this wasn't very 342 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:30.400 calculated, like we know why we're doing this and these are the exact results 343 00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:32.839 that we're going to expect back from it, which was kind of the missing 344 00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:37.279 piece to all those social campaigns and sweepstakes like ten years ago. How many 345 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:41.240 links did you think you would be able to get from this, like did 346 00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:42.880 you have a general number, like if we go over this, that's a 347 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:48.359 success in our mind. Well, I think always just like two times is 348 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:51.000 going to be best, right, like if we spend five thousand and we 349 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:52.960 get tenzero back, that's a success. We did it. This was the 350 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:56.680 first time. So this was our benchmark campaign, right, and they will 351 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:00.200 spend all this year. We're doing it every quarter. We're spending all this 352 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:03.680 year refining this process. So, like, can we get more than a 353 00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:07.400 hundred links on our next one? Like what didn't you know? What didn't 354 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:10.400 work so well, like we're always kind of looking at the results and how 355 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:14.440 can we drive even more traffic? How can we do even more outreach? 356 00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:17.279 Do we need more, you know, manpower behind this? Do we need 357 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:21.119 more AD dollars? Like? So we'll be spending that year kind of refining 358 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:22.880 and building out what this looks like. But from the get go, if 359 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:26.279 you're if you're loo getting like a three to five times eight, you know 360 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:32.720 return, then what like this was eight times, then that's like far surpasses 361 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:34.880 what you would want as a marketer. We generally go to three to five 362 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:40.079 times. Okay, so that's one side. The other side is to go 363 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:45.559 with like a highly data driven kind of content approach, and I know I 364 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:49.000 was looking at some of your content before this recording. What is that strategy 365 00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:55.519 look like on the back end? How does it differ? Yeah, so 366 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:00.200 that's the the other thing we do with link building content creation is we're building 367 00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:03.519 content that we call it data driven content. Basically it's using data that we 368 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:07.880 own that is interesting and relevant to other people that they want to link to 369 00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:11.759 a new in their content and their articles. They want to reference it. 370 00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:15.319 There's a couple different ways that we go about that. One, you know, 371 00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:19.160 tech companies have a lot of their internal data based on what they're asking 372 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:22.799 their customers. You can get a data analyst kind of mind that data, 373 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:27.359 poll stories out, blah, Blah Blah. You can also survey your customers, 374 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:33.680 and so we build custom surveys. We ask ten questions and we create 375 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:37.839 content and round that and really beautiful infographics and then we pull it all together 376 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:40.880 into a report at the end of the year. That's kind of like the 377 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:42.960 two thousand and twenty one or two thousand and twenty two trend report, because 378 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:48.400 we've surveyed people all year round. You can also use tools like Amazon Mechanical 379 00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:51.240 Turk, which is going to, you know, ask people questions and surveys 380 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:55.720 at a high volume to get return on that. But you just you just 381 00:25:55.880 --> 00:26:00.440 write the content using your survey data. This works really well because people want 382 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:03.440 to that that data isn't coming from anywhere else, right, and so a 383 00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:10.079 lot of people press other people writing content will use that data and link back 384 00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:14.440 to your report. Yeah, they're just quoting you and you kind of become 385 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:17.359 the authority on it. So it's good from the sense that they're linking back 386 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:21.480 to you, but it's also good because of it's like recognition for the fact 387 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:25.519 that you've gone above and beyond and actually done like this research on your own. 388 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:30.039 Yeah, and you'll see lots of brands do this, like they're releasing 389 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:33.799 like dropbox will release their like, you know, cloud two thousand and twenty 390 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:37.480 two state of the cloud report or whatever it is, like based on their 391 00:26:38.039 --> 00:26:44.799 industry. And so that's kind of the method behind that madness. All right. 392 00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:49.039 So with these two strategies, I wonder if someone's gonna walk away from 393 00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:52.920 this episode of be to be growth and they're going to try to follow this 394 00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:56.799 advice. What where would you tell someone to start? What would you tell 395 00:26:56.839 --> 00:27:03.160 someone to be thinking about as they're deciding to go this route and wanting to 396 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:07.279 get more heavily involved in link building? Yeah, so my best advice to 397 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:11.839 is not go out and create a sweepstakes or an entrepreneur grant. My best 398 00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:18.400 advice is to make sure you understand who your audience is, what their needs 399 00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:22.279 are, their problems, what they would find relevant to share and link to, 400 00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:26.359 and then you need to create that content. And that might not be 401 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:30.799 a sweepstakes or a grant or entrepreneur grant. It's going to be something based 402 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:33.960 on what your industry and your people are. But yeah, so it's all 403 00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:40.119 about just creating highly linkable content. I like that too, because we say 404 00:27:40.119 --> 00:27:42.599 a lot around sweet fish and around be tob growth that we want to get 405 00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:48.599 rid of commodity content, and my fear in some link building campaigns is almost 406 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:55.000 like we only care about Google and not the people. Yeah, so you've 407 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:57.519 used words that will resonate, and they do resonate with me, but I 408 00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:02.720 know the resonate with our audience when you talk about authenticity, to actually focus 409 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:04.759 on the quality of the content, to be thinking on the audience. You 410 00:28:04.920 --> 00:28:10.799 can do all of that and be link building at the same time, and 411 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:15.839 it's good to be aware that you're generating both. Right, Yep, absolutely 412 00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:18.680 exactly. I like it. I like these two as. I just ideas 413 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:25.160 that can help drive home like the need for both, and I'm impressed by 414 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:27.160 the way you guys are doing this. I think it's easier than we think 415 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:30.799 it is, but sometimes we like to over complicate it in marketing, or 416 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:36.559 at least I'm guilty of that. So it's right spending time and sharing that 417 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:38.559 for those that want to stay connected to you and the work you guys are 418 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:41.480 doing. Tell us a little bit more about about how we can do that. 419 00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:47.720 Yeah, so we are first page strategycom and then all of our social 420 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:52.319 accounts are matching that, because we are marketers, right. So our instagram 421 00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:57.160 is first page strategy and are linkedin. Those are probably the two best places 422 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:00.039 to find us these days. Well, do you want to thank you so 423 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:03.799 much for stopping by B to be growth today? Yeah, thanks, Benji. 424 00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:08.400 Appreciate it. To all of our listeners who listened to this episode, 425 00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:11.920 thanks so much. We're always having insightful conversations like this one. We want 426 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:17.160 to help fuel your growth and your continued innovation. Never miss an episode. 427 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:21.440 You can follow be to be growth on your favorite podcast platform and connect with 428 00:29:21.559 --> 00:29:25.160 me over on Linkedin, where I'm talking about marketing and business and life. 429 00:29:25.640 --> 00:29:29.400 Keep doing work that matters. Will be back real soon with another episode. 430 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:45.240 If you enjoyed a day show, hit subscribe for more marketing goodness, and 431 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:48.559 if you really enjoyed the day show, take a second to rate and review 432 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:52.400 the podcast on the platform you're listening to it on right now. If you 433 00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:56.599 really really enjoyed this episode, share the love by texting it to a friend 434 00:29:56.640 --> 00:29:59.880 who would find it insightful thanks for listening and thanks for sharing
