This episode is all about marketing automation and operations. So we talked to the best of the best: Darrell Alfonso, who runs the show at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Show Notes: 1:10 - Darrell shares what marketing looks like in his role at Amazon Web Services (AWS). 3:52 - Honing a skill set in marketing automation. 9:50 - How marketing operations is different across businesses. 15:42 - Automation tools at AWS and other large companies, and how smaller companies can get the most out of...

It all started in a pub. Last summer, Christina Pashialis organized a casual meetup for UK-based content marketers. She mobilized the group on Twitter and LinkedIn, and as followup, she set up a Slack community for everyone to stay in touch. That group evolved into the ContentUK community, which Christina now manages full time. Today, she talks with us about community engagement and retention, and how content and community can and should feed into each other to create a virtuous cycle. ...

Sometimes we see immediate results with our clients. For a direct-to-consumer beverage company, we started ranking for keywords right away. By Month 3, we grew organic traffic to 8,000 monthly visitors — up 4x from 2,000. And we’re able to attribute over $1,000 per month from a single blog post. In this 8-minute audio version of our case study, “How a D2C Beverage Company Grew 4x in Search Traffic in 3 Months,” Amanda Natividad, Head of Marketing for Growth Machine, gives you the full...

What does it mean to be a more prolific marketer? It means creating a marketing flywheel for yourself — so you can work smarter, not harder. When Corey Haines took on the Head of Growth role at Baremetrics, he spent the first two months digging into customer research. Gaining a deep understanding of his customers meant he didn’t have to guess what they wanted. Customer research as the foundation of his marketing flywheel. In today’s episode, Corey also talks about creating Swipe Files, the...

In this 11-minute audio version of our blog post, “How to Attract Customers, Not Just Readers,” Amanda Natividad, Head of Marketing for Growth Machine, explains how to create content that drives your readers to purchase — in a way that isn’t spammy or salesy. Show Notes: 1:39 - First, uncover the true needs of your customer 5:58 - Try these 4 frameworks for conversion-focused content 9:44 - 3 ways to get started today Links: Blog post: How to Attract Customers, Not Just Readers 300%...

It typically makes sense to create a content strategy based on high volume keywords. But for Doopoll, an online survey company, publishing content based on low volume, high intent keywords was the silver bullet. One of their articles converts 20% of website visitors. Marc Thomas, co-founder & CEO of Doopoll, and curator of B2B SaaS newsletter Positive Hüman, used our Wiki strategy to level up his content. He explained all this and more in this episode. Show Notes: 0:37 - What is...

Public relations is an art. And incorporating a PR strategy into your blog can be tough to do. You want to make sure your news & announcement-related blog posts are still adding value to your readers.  In this 9-minute audio version of our blog post, “How to Use Your Company Blog for PR & News (the Right Way),” Amanda Natividad, Head of Marketing for Growth Machine, shows you how. Show Notes: 1:35 - How to know: press release or blog post? 4:23 - How company news should fit within...

If there’s one thing you take away from this episode, it’s the importance of following attribution all the way to the end of the funnel. Katie Mitchell, Head of Marketing at UserLeap, is a seasoned marketer with nearly a decade of experience at brands like Campbell Soup, PBS, EVERFI, and more. She joined the podcast to discuss: Creating on LinkedIn: It's a platform that's trying to get people to create more content — and so it rewards content, not people with followers.  Early stage...

If you want to listen to only one podcast about brand marketing, this is the one. Amanda Goetz spent more than five years at The Knot, helping to grow the wedding juggernaut into the household name it is today.  She’s now the Chief Marketing Officer for Teal, and she’s starting up her own luxury CBD company for women, House of Wise. In this episode we cover… Building a community on Twitter  A hot take on net promoter scores The beauty of building viral loops into your product A sneak peek...

This is a must-listen for every in-house content marketer or marketing leader who’s thinking about investing in content. In this 10-minute audio version of our blog post, “How to Get Executive Buy-in for Content Marketing,” Amanda Natividad, Head of Marketing for Growth Machine, helps you make the case. Show Notes 1:14 Show the Missed Opportunity 3:01 Make a Case for PR Announcements and Owning the Traffic 4:43 Enhance the Customer Experience 6:23 Create Value With Business Partners ...

If you’re looking for a masterclass in direct-to-consumer marketing, start here. Ecommerce coach Austin Brawner has helped over 200 ecommerce brands — like Ancient Nutrition, Kettle & Fire, and MVMT Watches — grow to eight-figure businesses.  In this episode, we discuss: Special offers: Why gift cards to your own store are better than discount codes KPIs: How to use KPIs to foster your long-term marketing strategy Effective social media ads: Creative that fits in natively with the...

Few would disagree that link building helps build your site’s authority. In this 12-minute audio version of our blog post, “4 Signs You're Ready for Link Building,” Amanda Natividad, Head of Marketing for Growth Machine, breaks down how to know you need it.  Show Notes: 2:39 - When you have something worth linking to 3:43 - When you’ve optimized content production 5:02 - When you change your URL or rebrand 6:18 - When you’re in a competitive niche or need faster results 9:02 - Different...

Whether you’re a business owner, retailer, freelancer, or copywriter —  Ecommerce Expert and Writer Kaleigh Moore has advice for you. There are lots lessons to unpack, such as: How to ask for (and get!) a seat at the table Building a personal brand by being authentic and curious Improving your writing skills by being open to fierce questions from an editor Hot takes and trends in the e-commerce space — especially in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Show Notes 1:01 - How to adapt...

In this 9-minute audio version of our blog post, “How to Succeed at SEO Without Tools,” Amanda Natividad, Head of Marketing for Growth Machine, explores the idea of creating successful content by using Google Search and focusing on the reader experience. Show Notes 0:54 - Use these tricks to figure out if there’s an SEO opportunity 2:10 - Generate keyword ideas 2:50 - Learn how to create good content 6:18 - Focus on creating valuable link-worthy content 7:37 - Share, don’t promote 8:56...

How are you being proactive about your content strategy? Growth Machine’s Nora Schlesinger (Chief Operating Office) and Amanda Natividad (Head of Marketing) talk about the importance of banking your content ahead of the holiday season. We cover: Which topics should expect higher traffic during the holidays How to plan out your content The balance of maximizing the holiday season and setting up your content for success Show Notes: 0:58 - Planning content in advance and the potential for...

In this 14-minute mini episode, Amanda Natividad, Head of Marketing for Growth Machine, does an audio version of our blog post, “6 Red Flags to Look for When Hiring a Content or Marketing Agency.” Consider this a list of all the things she wishes someone told her in her eight years of managing marketing agencies. Show Notes 1:24 - Red Flag #1: Saying they can do it all 3:05 - Red Flag #2: Referring to proprietary key performance indicators 5:31 - Red Flag #3: Hesitating to give you...

Steph Smith doesn’t want you to read her book from beginning to end. And if there’s a chapter that doesn’t apply to you? Skip it. In her new ebook, “Standing Out in 2020: Doing Content Right,” Steph takes her learnings of content creation and distribution — from her years of leading content at Toptal and now leading Trends at The Hustle — and distills them into actionable advice.  Aside from her book, we discussed: The myth about successful content creators Figuring out your true...

In this 9-minute mini episode, Amanda does an audio version of our blog post, “How We Hire Great Writers at Growth Machine.” She explains our unique approach to hiring and training writers, and how we match them up with our clients.

You’ve probably heard that a goal with content marketing is building trust. Today, we question that goal. Tommy Walker, who previously led global content marketing at Quickbooks and was the first marketing hire at Shopify Plus, makes the case that you can’t measure “building trust” — and therefore, it’s not a goal. We also discussed: Leveraging the same topic across an entire year Shareable content as a goal How to extract meaningful insights from your metrics Show Notes: 1:40 - How do...

Sometimes the best way to break into a new career or industry is to do the work for free. Adam Rogers did this when he decided to pivot his teaching career into marketing. All he asked for in return was a testimonial or a reference for his resume. Over a year, he built up his portfolio and he landed a full-time content marketing role at Kayako. Today, Adam does content marketing for Shopify. We caught up with him recently to discuss his journey. Show Notes: 0:40 - How Adam got started in...

If you’re starting a new business or launching your marketing career, start with this episode. Amanda talks with Tim Stoddart, a writer & editor (at Copyblogger), a community leader (of Sober Nation), a healthcare marketer (for Stodzy Internet Marketing), and a podcast host (of the Tim Stodz Podcast).  Tim opens up about his sobriety, his idea of a perfect business, and the importance of specificity when starting a company or progressing in your career. Topics: 0:45 - Discovering...

This episode is about all things ecommerce and content marketing. Amanda talks with Corinne Watson, Senior Content Marketing Manager for Postscript.io, about: where the path has been, which trends need to die, and why content needs to take a big step forward. Topics: 0:37 - Professional networking and how connection with others has changed since jobs have gone remote due to COVID.  3:45 - The importance of creating solid content with strong SEO, while also making it educational. Corinne...

One of our Directors of Client Strategy, Gedaly Guberek, talks SEO and content metrics. Gedaly has 10+ years of experience in building websites and designing successful SEO strategies. He offers advice on which key performance indicators (KPIs) to look out for — and which two you should approach with caution.

In this episode of the Growth Machine Podcast, Chief Operating Officer Nora Schlesinger talks candidly about a client case study. Amanda asks Nora about how the Growth Machine team helped launch this client’s website about the gig economy, how they tracked KPIs, the importance of evergreen content (especially in the time of COVID), and how they got to an impressive 19,000 monthly visitors in less than two months. Then to 100,000+ monthly visitors within six months. Listen to get the scoop....

We’re back with the Growth Machine Podcast! In this episode, Nat Eliason introduces our new Head of Marketing, Amanda Natividad. Then they dive into mail bag questions — one to help content creators get started, and one for those further along with their website: If you had no SEO tools, how would you advise someone to approach their content strategy? What is the impact of adding semantic keywords to existing blog posts or other pages as part of a content refresh?  Listen for quick advice...