Smart Marketing 2.0 - Latest Digital Marketing Tactics and Strategies

Your next episode of Smart Marketing 2.0 is here! Join hosts, Justin Lester and Ebert Grobler, as they delve into the 10 essential components of a thriving collaboration between marketers and agencies. From setting clear objectives to providing comprehensive background information and communicating brand values and identity, you’ll be sure to gain valuable insights from this episode in order to set the stage for a winning marketing strategy. Don’t forgot to like, share and subscribe if you like what you hear!

We're excited to share our next insightful episode of Smart Marketing 2.0! In this episode, hosts Justin Lester and Ebert Grobler unpack the critical topic of "Understanding Your Agency’s Credentials" and why it's a pivotal factor in making informed decisions in your marketing journey. They'll help you explore how these credentials significantly influence your expectations and the perceived value you associate with your chosen agency. By tuning in, you’ll discover the essential trust cues that potential clients rely on and gain valuable insights into how agencies strategically utilise these indicators to build trust. Learn the art of interpreting these cues effectively to establish precise expectations from your service provider and equip yourself with the knowledge to avoid the common pitfalls of misaligned expectations.

Welcome to another intriguing episode of Smart Marketing 2.0! Join hosts Justin Lester and Ebert Grobler in uncovering the art of: "How to get the Most Value from your Agency." This episode navigates the delicate balance between sales and marketing responsibilities while uncovering the key to a successful agency-client relationship as they navigate the dynamic landscape of expectations, communication, and collaboration. Learn how to conduct due diligence before teaming up with an agency, allowing you to embark on this journey with confidence and cultivating a partnership built on trust, ensuring a solid foundation from the very beginning.

Welcome to Smart Marketing 2.0! In this episode, hosts Justin Lester and Ebert Grobler explore the essential question: "What kind of advertising do you need?" Discover the differences between intent marketing and interest marketing, and how they relate to push versus pull messaging. We'll weigh the pros and cons of each approach, arming you with the knowledge to enhance your advertising game. Tune in to unlock the full potential of your marketing efforts and pave the way for advertising excellence. Don't miss this highly informative episode as we help you make informed decisions to elevate your business!

Welcome to the highly anticipated third episode of Smart Marketing 2.0! In this engaging installment our hosts, Justin Lester and Ebert Grobler, delve into the thought-provoking question: "Are you ready for advertising?" Prepare for an informative exploration as they shed light on the crucial relationship between marketing and advertising, emphasising the vital role of the age-old classics: Product, Price, Place and Promotion, also known as the 4 Ps of marketing. Discover the fundamental principles and essential groundwork needed to establish a solid foundation for successful advertising campaigns. Join us on this educational podcast that equips you with the knowledge to unlock the full potential of your marketing efforts and pave the way for advertising excellence. Don't miss out on this informative episode!

Welcome to the next episode of Smart Marketing 2.0! In this podcast, the dynamic duo of Justin and Ebert delve deep into the timeless battle between traditional powerhouses and cutting-edge digital agencies. Get ready for an exciting journey as they unravel the diverse landscape and delve into the different worlds of digital agencies, including brand, creative, ad, and marketing agencies. Justin addresses the pros and cons of each, equipping you with the invaluable knowledge to make informed decisions, while Ebert reveals the essential questions to ask that will lead you to the perfect agency—one that not only showcases a remarkable return on investment but also becomes your trusted compass, guiding your business towards resounding success.

Welcome to the very first episode of Smart Marketing 2.0! In this podcast, we're here to help you up your digital marketing game. We know that the world of digital marketing is constantly evolving, and it can be tough to keep up with the latest trends and tactics. In this episode, we cover the who, what, where, when, why and how of Smart Marketing 2.0. We can't wait to share more with you in the coming episodes. Thanks for tuning in to Smart Marketing 2.0!

In this episode, we look to the year ahead and cover the dos and don'ts of Marketing in a Recession and Marketing Budgets in 2023. It's not about how much to spend or when to spend, but more importantly where to spend. We look at SEO and Paid Media, both Google and Social, and which you should invest in and when. We unpack how to be consistent with your budgets, even when markets are strained. Marketing is an investment that can be scaled up or down and should be evaluated based on your position both financially but also in the market considering the current climate. Finally, an important tip; we share our insight on not being tone deaf by making sure you stay connected with your audience and being considerate to unique situations but also ensuring that you still add value.

In this episode we unpack the benefits and challenges of Google Ads in the iGaming industry with specific consideration to the restrictions applied by Google in this space. We discuss the different licensing applied to the different types of iGaming as well as the types of casinos; land-based vs. online, free play vs. real play, regional restrictions and the licensing required in each of these regions and how to go about getting fully registered in the locations that you want to operate in. Lastly we look at the best ways to avoid delays in getting these applications considered and the benefits of using specialist iGaming attorneys that carry more weight and have an intimate knowledge around the inner workings to expedite these often lengthly and costly set backs.

This week we introduce a new team member, Ebert Grobler, who will be hosting Smart Marketing alongside Justin Lester. As experts in the iGaming industry, we go through the different marketing options available to Online Casinos and specifically unpack where the best return on investment is and the profit margins related to each. We specifically address Affiliate Marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and Paid Media (Google and Social) and the pros and cons of each when executing for the iGaming industry.

There is no doubt there are some interesting and useful tools out there, but these are our 2021 favourites. The silver bullet. Having said that, it is not about the tools. First up is BombBomb which allows you to send video emails which is preferable in a number of ways. Some being that it creates that personal connection as well as allowing emotions to be portrayed in an easier way. It all presents well and wraps up in a presentable manner making the receiver wanting to see what this is all about. https://bombbomb.com/ Next up in no particular order is kimp.io. Kimp.io is a very useful tool to have to help with everything from content images to blog banners, info graphics to landing pages. By using Trello they make communication easy and their turn around time is even more impressive. https://www.kimp.io/ Gathercontent.com is another of the team's favourites. It helps you and your team work on projects together and shows you exactly what stages each phase is at. It makes tracking team work completely transparent. https://gathercontent.com/ When it comes to customer service, you need and want to be on top of every aspect. TimeToReply is exactly the tool to help you. It improves customer management communication by giving them an indication as to how long it takes them to respond to customers. You will find it plugs into all inboxes and as client communication is vital to any business, it is definitely something worth trying. https://timetoreply.com/ Asana is another tool to have a look at. Having been created by one of Facebook's originals, it comes with good credibility. It's functionality as well as it's integration is what makes Asana so worth while. You will find very few programs it does not integrate with. https://asana.com/ Meetalfred.com or Alfred as it's referred to in app stores is a very useful LinkedIn Automation tool. Most of us have LinkedIn running in the background and the fact that it has a Mac and Windows app makes it a top performer. Alfred allows you to view profiles, connect with people with or without a connection message as well as allows you to endorse connection's skills. https://meetalfred.com/ Last on our list for today is gong.io. Gong.io is essentially a sales analytics tool. It allows you to track conversations between clients and salesmen/women. You are able to compare different deals with each sales person. It breaks down and analyses the conversation and finds that sweet spot around the length of conversations and which were most successful, as well as how much of the communication is small talk which plays a vital role when it comes to sales. https://www.gong.io/

This week the team discuss how different media platforms bring in different amounts of traffic. If you notice one channel is bring in more leads than another, focus on what works best for you then. Remember that algorithms are continuously changing, so just be aware and flexible to be able change strategies if and when it is needed. When you find which channel brings in the biggest percentage of traffic, focus on it, squeeze every drop of juice out of the orange as possible. That opportunity won't always be there. Things can change in a flash.

Some exciting news which we hadn't shared on the podcast up until now. Jason's business, Firing Squad has been acquired! The acquisition happened fairly quickly after a few conversations to agree on the terms. A Facebook post lead to Jason and Drew meeting, remotely of course, and hit it off straight away. Thanks to Entrepreneurs Organization, with who both Jason and Drew are members, the inherent trust and openness made the acquisition pretty easy and took just over a month to happen.

This week, The Smart Marketing team talks about how to reach your desired target audience. It's all good and well having the perfect content, but if it is not reaching the people it needs to, you are not going to achieve your set goals. How much do you know about the people you are providing to? It needs to be enough to know exactly how to reach them, to be visible in their pool of influence. Knowing the smallest detail, whether it is age, location, interests, or favourite websites, will make the biggest difference in your reach.

Old school or new school. In this episode, the team discusses which form of marketing is more cost-efficient. Content marketing or traditional marketing? Spending more doesn't always bring better results. What goals are you wanting to achieve? Which type of marketing will get you the result you are looking for?

The Smart Marketing Team are discussing the sixth and final pillar of SEO in our 6 part series - User Experience. In the past 5 episodes the team have discussed Readability, Relevancy, Popularity, Authority, and Trust. All of these add up to your sites User Experience rating. User Experience begins on the search engine page, creating strong meta titles will ensure customers come into your site. The importance of site speed and mobile capabilities are huge, and growing every year! The depth of Use Experience is vast, there are several majorly detailed measurements and tools to increase it, but starting with the 6 pillars of SEO in their simplest form will guarantee you rank and succeed.

The team are discussing part 5 of our 6 part SEO series - Trustworthiness! The Smart Marketing team are breaking down how to run a successful SEO campaign into 6 simple parts, creating a trustworthy domain is a huge part of your SEO strategy. Justin discusses the meaning of a Trustworthy domain, and how to create one in two parts. First finding sites to link to your domain that are truly Trustworthy, such as education or government sites; and second putting your domain through the test of time. A site that has been around for a while is automictically more Trusted than new sites.

In this episode the team are discussing the fourth pillar of SEO in our six part series - Authority! Our last episode discussed Popularity in link building, and the importance of ranking via your backlinks. The next step is to make sure those links are authoritative, and by association your site becomes trustworthy in Google's rank. Find out who is linking to your site using domain tools, check their ranking and remove those that do not increase your sites authority. Low quality sites can be detrimental to your ranking.

In this episode the team is discussing Popularity, the third pillar of SEO in our series about the six pillars of SEO. Popularity, Authority and Trust can all be achieved through link building. Justin takes us through what it means to have websites linking to your site, and how to find them using a few key tools such as backlink explorers. This can also help you identify spam and malicious links connected to your site. Surprisingly your popularity is not measured by how many people visit your website, but rather by how many people link to it. Backlinks is one of the key metrics that google uses to rate your SEO.

The team are discussing the 6 Pillars of SEO, a 6 part series designed to help you master your SEO. Part 1 discussed the accessibility of websites, this week the Smart Marketing team takes us through the topic of relevancy, the second most important pillar of SEO. Justin talks us through keywords, targeted keyword searches and the relevant apps and programs designed to pick up the best suggestions. Make sure your website is ranking for the right words and increase your traffic.