Your Digital Marketing Coach with Neal Schaffer

Every year we come out saying that this is the year of video. Seems that way doesn't it? Even if you know you SHOULD be doing more video as part of your marketing, it can be challenging if you don't know exactly what you SHOULD do. I also face this challenge, which is why I'm excited to present to you this interview I had with Scott Miller, content marketing expert and Founder and C...

Content creators are able to generate engagement and influence because they are not always using their content to promote a product or service, but they are using their content to connect with their community and provide value. Just as businesses are at a disadvantage in social media, with the growth of the creator economy, I would argue that the tables are turning against businesses in all of dig...

Today I have a special guest who is also an influencer marketing expert discussing the past and future trends of influencer marketing. P.J. Leimgruber is the founder of one of the leading influencer marketing platforms, NeoReach, and he most recently founded the Clash App. He developed this new app because he feels that the existing brand deal system that is prominent in influencer marketing is br...

With all of the changes that society, technology, and social media undergoes at a frenzied pace, have you taken a step back to analyze your results from the previous year and use that insight to pivot your digital marketing strategy? This podcast provides you a living example of how I balance my own digital marketing channels, what I learn from the data, and how I plan on applying it to all of my...

One of the benefits of content marketing is in generating thought leadership, but how exactly does it work? This episode will go deep into content marketing, content syndication, traditional media, and how all of it can be leveraged to yield thought leadership. Specifically we will focus in on these 3 points: 1. Thought leadership requires a deliberate strategy Associations and nonprofits are auth...

As we enter 2022,  are you looking for some new inspiration for your digital marketing? If so, this is the episode for you! Join me as I give you my suggestions on which 10 channels you should consider launching, or if you are already active but not getting the results you need, relaunching in 2022. Specifically, these 10 things that I discuss in detail on this podcast are: TikTok ShortForm Video...

Welcome to 2022! After reading all of those blog posts about social media and digital marketing trends for 2022, how are you going to invest your marketing budget this year? This episode is focused on helping you find ROI from under-invested but important aspects of digital marketing in 2022, especially in consideration of recent trends. Specifically, these 10 things that I discuss in detail on th...

In The Age of Influence , I talk about how leveraging influencers is the best way to incite word of mouth in social media if you don't have a large fanbase. What Mike Baddeley did for his brand Passchier is a case study that you can learn from as to how to go about doing this. We're not talking about randomly paying random influencers with large followings to talk about you. We're t...

While many still cringe at the term "influencer marketing," something that has surpassed that buzzword of late is the "creator economy." So what exactly is the creator economy, its relationship to influencer marketing, and how it can be leveraged by both business and, of course, creators? Listen in to understand the historical perspective of the creator economy, and how the pen...

Paid Social is a mainstream form of social media marketing, and while many focus on fine-tuning targeting, have you thought about the impact that different ad formats can have on your cost and ultimate ROI? This episode features an interview with Lauren Schwartz, founder of the Creative Marketing Agency The Loft 325.  Lauren is a design professional with over 15 years of experience, including 8 ye...

The other day I was helping my high schooler daughter apply to a summer program, where in addition to her transcript and essays, they asked for her LinkedIn profile URL. Yes, her LinkedIn profile!!! For those avid listeners of my podcast, I also covered a similar topic 2 1/2 years ago in 139: LinkedIn for Students: What Do I Put in My LinkedIn Profile if I am a College Student? If an overwhelming...

I have always thought that businesses can learn a lot from successful nonprofit marketing. The idea is that if a nonprofit that is strapped for resources can connect with their community, you should be able to connect with your own. This episode is all about nonprofit digital marketing, but in a similar vein, the advice here is applicable for all. It is an honor to have my Digital First Mastermind...

If you were to look at my LinkedIn profile headline or the main menu on my website, you might see a title that you don't recognize: Fractional CMO A lot of people ask me exactly what a Fractional CMO is and what I do as one, while others, after learning about it, want to follow in my footsteps. So what exactly is a Fractional CMO? And why might you want to hire one to help you with your digit...

A lot of us in digital marketing tend to treat content marketing like a digital machine. Create this content and expect these results. Unfortunately, this leads to creating a lot of very average content that everyone else is publishing on the Internet, adding to the noise and not driving any impactful outcome for your business. Georgios Chasiotis, Managing Director of the B2B SaaS content marketin...

Leap frogging (pun intended as you will see shortly) off of my previous episode #234 speaking about the virtues of being a marketing generalist, here is a case in point: If you want to become a marketing leader, you need to have all of your digital marketing bases covered. What bases need to be covered? And what does a comprehensive digital marketing program look like? I am honored to have my frie...

"The riches are in the niches." "You gotta niche down." You've heard these over the years, including on this podcast. And I don't disagree with the advice if you want to gain visibility in a noisy market. However, if you are a marketer or a marketing entrepreneur, just owning one niche might not be the ideal solution to your strategy and most likely not for your custo...

What does the term "affiliate marketing" conjure up in your mind? For those of you who have read The Age of Influence , you should remember that I believe that affiliate marketing is one of the earliest forms of influencer marketing. Not only does affiliate marketing provide many of the benefits that you can receive from influencer marketing, but it can also directly impact your sales, S...

A lot has been said about blogging, both good and bad. Is it dying? Isn't social media more important? All of these arguments miss the point: In a Digital First world, being visible in search engines should be of utmost importance to every business, and, when done right, blogging holds the keys to success. Learn from my own success in blogging and why I continue to double - triple - quadruple...

Influence marketing will continue to be a critical part of digital marketing and only increase in importance as brands' organic social media reach continues to decline while newer form of short-form video that are the staple of many social media sites make it challenging for businesses to create and compete with the creativity of the global social media user base. That's why I'm esp...

We are all using digital marketing to grow our business, and in doing so we are creating brand equity along the way. Brand equity is a powerful concept that doesn't appear in your income statement but indirectly helps you grow your business in tandem with your digital and social media marketing. When it comes to brand equity, there are some legal aspects that are important to understand so th...

If you're doing your social media for business or yourself the same as you have for the last few years, your time is up. All of the trends in social media show us that we truly need to think visual first in so many ways in order to gain visibility within social media news feeds. In this episode I analyze all of the changes that have occurred in social media over the years, putting even niche...

In all of the social media platforms that exists and the various marketing tools that businesses can use to support your presence there, there is one social network for which there is one tool that rules them all. That social network is Pinterest, and the dominating tool is Tailwind. Learn from Senior Community Manager of Tailwind, Melissa Megginson all about their tool and comprehensive best prac...

Digital and social media are the field of dreams for every business. The problem is that you first need a roadmap to get started, but even with that roadmap you will have your successes and failures, new discoveries, and learn a lot both about your target audience as well as your product and branding. This is why a mindset of never-ending experimentation is critical for success in digital and soci...

The world of advertisement has truly changed. Consumers are now savvy and smart – they know if the advertiser is genuine or not. In addition, the channels in which you can connect to your customers are continuously expanding. As a product-based business owner, you may wonder, how can I make my business a success? Well, worry no more because, in this episode, we have the experts and the combined fo...

SEO ranking is critical for most business because it is the key to increase the brand’s visibility and attract potential customers where people search for information – especially now that we truly living Digital First.  When we think of SEO, the first word that quickly comes to our mind is keyword. But if we dig deep into it, you’ll realize that SEO is not only about using relevant keywords. Come...