We live in a world where there is a template, hack, or blueprint for every facet of life and business: whether it’s a “high-converting” landing page or how to organize your closet. But in order to go beyond your competition, it has never been a more important time to think outside of the box when it comes to expanding on your greatest ideas. Grant Perry got to catch up with Marcus Ho from Stansberry Churchouse and Hung Ngo of 123personality.com to discuss how they were able to build a list to 1.5 million people over 1 ½ years by using quizzes. With incredible growth and over 20% open rates, they’ve definitely found a way to getting solid engagement from their customers. As marketers, we are constantly trying to get the right balance between acquisition and lifetime value. Unfortunately, there’s no “magic formula,” or hack to get there because every business is different. If you want to learn more on the right tactics to mix up your strategy and how to test ensure there’s opportunity for scale on your product, you can’t miss this episode.

We live in a world where there is a template, hack, or blueprint for every facet of life and business: whether it’s a “high-converting” landing page or how to organize your closet. But in order to go beyond your competition, it has never been a more important time to think outside of the box when it comes to expanding on your greatest ideas. Grant Perry got to catch up with Marcus Ho from Stansberry Churchouse and Hung Ngo of 123personality.com to discuss how they were able to build a list to 1.5 million people over 1 ½ years by using quizzes. With incredible growth and over 20% open rates, they’ve definitely found a way to getting solid engagement from their customers. As marketers, we are constantly trying to get the right balance between acquisition and lifetime value. Unfortunately, there’s no “magic formula,” or hack to get there because every business is different. If you want to learn more on the right tactics to mix up your strategy and how to test ensure there’s opportunity for scale on your product, you can’t miss this episode.

The Big Idea

Finding an unconventional path to success

As a marketer, it doesn’t happen often that you share a room with people from every industry, vertical, and corner of the globe who have been in your shoes, who have faced the same problems you have, and who have overcome the same obstacles. If you are invested and interested in digital marketing, then there is one event that will give you the opportunity to do exactly that. Traffic and Conversion Summit in San Diego is the single largest event for marketers in the US. With 5,500+ attendees every year, it is the place to be for learning, sharing, networking, and recruiting. In fact, next year the event promises to be even bigger with nearly 8,000 people attending, which is also why the Agora companies have decided to sign on as a major partner for Traffic and Conversion Summit 2019. To get the lowdown on why this is an event that cannot be missed, tune into this month’s The Big Idea podcast, where Brian York and Grant Perry highlight the benefits of attending Traffic and Conversion Summit 2019.

As a marketer, it doesn’t happen often that you share a room with people from every industry, vertical, and corner of the globe who have been in your shoes, who have faced the same problems you have, and who have overcome the same obstacles. If you are invested and interested in digital marketing, then there is one event that will give you the opportunity to do exactly that. Traffic and Conversion Summit in San Diego is the single largest event for marketers in the US. With 5,500+ attendees every year, it is the place to be for learning, sharing, networking, and recruiting. In fact, next year the event promises to be even bigger with nearly 8,000 people attending, which is also why the Agora companies have decided to sign on as a major partner for Traffic and Conversion Summit 2019. To get the lowdown on why this is an event that cannot be missed, tune into this month’s The Big Idea podcast, where Brian York and Grant Perry highlight the benefits of attending Traffic and Conversion Summit 2019.

Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019: The place to be for learning, sharing, networking and recruiting

The world of publishing has changed drastically since The Agora started as a direct mailing company, nearly 40 years ago, in a small office in Baltimore. Today, what began as a simple idea driven by a small group of passionate people has grown into a publishing powerhouse with a global footprint covering all corners of the world — Australia, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry speaks with The Agora’s International CEO, Erika Nolan and International Publisher Catherine Flannery about their vision for further global expansion and positioning The Agora as a group of international premiere media companies. Some of the new territories that Erika and Catherine are looking to break into in the next 24 months include Japan, Poland, Mexico, and Italy… to name a few. Establishing a new business in a foreign country will always be unchartered territory, even when following a clear (albeit unique) business model. However, if there is one thing that Erika and Catherine know, then it is that the success of this global vision depends on finding the right candidates — individuals with a certain caliber of talent and skill, and who can fold fluidly into a team of highly competitive people and begin contributing immediately. To find out more about what we do at The Agora companies, why we are so successful and whether there is a place for you to be part of our global vision, tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast.

The world of publishing has changed drastically since The Agora started as a direct mailing company, nearly 40 years ago, in a small office in Baltimore. Today, what began as a simple idea driven by a small group of passionate people has grown into a publishing powerhouse with a global footprint covering all corners of the world — Australia, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry speaks with The Agora’s International CEO, Erika Nolan and International Publisher Catherine Flannery about their vision for further global expansion and positioning The Agora as a group of international premiere media companies. Some of the new territories that Erika and Catherine are looking to break into in the next 24 months include Japan, Poland, Mexico, and Italy… to name a few. Establishing a new business in a foreign country will always be unchartered territory, even when following a clear (albeit unique) business model. However, if there is one thing that Erika and Catherine know, then it is that the success of this global vision depends on finding the right candidates — individuals with a certain caliber of talent and skill, and who can fold fluidly into a team of highly competitive people and begin contributing immediately. To find out more about what we do at The Agora companies, why we are so successful and whether there is a place for you to be part of our global vision, tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast. 

Be Part of a Global Publishing Powerhouse

Living and working in multi-cultural environments means that a lot can gets “lost in translation.” This could lead to confusion, embarrassment, misunderstandings, offense and a breakdown in communication. The same applies to businesses, especially when you are working with multiple stakeholders across various continents. Thanks to technological advances making it possible for anyone to be reached at almost any time no matter where they are, many businesses now face the question: how do you lead and collaborate with teams that span over various continents and nationalities, and who have very different ethnical and cultural values? Tricky question, right? Erin Myer skilfully answers this question in her book The Culture Map. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Francois Lubbe and Christina Clapp discuss The Culture Map and how the framework provided in this book can help businesses to better understand and manage the growing challenge of navigating cultural differences in the workplace.

Living and working in multi-cultural environments means that a lot can gets “lost in translation.” This could lead to confusion, embarrassment, misunderstandings, offense and a breakdown in communication. The same applies to businesses, especially when you are working with multiple stakeholders across various continents. Thanks to technological advances making it possible for anyone to be reached at almost any time no matter where they are, many businesses now face the question: how do you lead and collaborate with teams that span over various continents and nationalities, and who have very different ethnical and cultural values? Tricky question, right? Erin Myer skilfully answers this question in her book The Culture Map. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Francois Lubbe and Christina Clapp discuss The Culture Map and how the framework provided in this book can help businesses to better understand and manage the growing challenge of navigating cultural differences in the workplace.

Managing and Leading Teams Across Continents

In late 2017, Southbank Investment Research, an Agora company based in London, ran a Copywriter’s Bootcamp as part of a recruitment drive. For the bootcamp, publisher Nick O’Connor invited aspiring copywriters to join two weeks of intensive copy training from some of the leading copywriters in the industry. At the end of the two weeks, based on their performance, the most promising attendees were invited to work for one of the Agora companies in London. Out of the 20 attendees, only 7 were selected of which 2 were female, Ellie Daghlian and Sally O’Sullivan. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Francois Lubbe speaks with both Ellie and Sally about working in a traditionally male environment, how they approach copywriting, and the qualities they believe set them apart from their male counterparts.

In late 2017, Southbank Investment Research, an Agora company based in London, ran a Copywriter’s Bootcamp as part of a recruitment drive. For the bootcamp, publisher Nick O’Connor invited aspiring copywriters to join two weeks of intensive copy training from some of the leading copywriters in the industry. At the end of the two weeks, based on their performance, the most promising attendees were invited to work for one of the Agora companies in London. Out of the 20 attendees, only 7 were selected of which 2 were female, Ellie Daghlian and Sally O’Sullivan. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Francois Lubbe speaks with both Ellie and Sally about working in a traditionally male environment, how they approach copywriting, and the qualities they believe set them apart from their male counterparts.

Closing the gender divide in copywriting

Good old Facebook… The media super-power has very much turned into Marmite — you either love the social media platform or you hate it. The latest controversy surrounding Facebook is its plunging share prices. Last week, the social media giant announced disappointing earnings, which wiped out about $120 billion of shareholder wealth. As a result, shareholder James Kacouris filed a lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Wehner, on Friday, July 27. Kacouris is accusing Zuckerberg and Wehner of misleading shareholders by failing to disclose slowing revenue growth, falling operating margins and a decline in active users. The lawsuit seeks class-action status and unspecified damages. It’s thought to be the first lawsuit of many to follow. 2018 is most definitely not a good year for Facebook, and while these latest developments may not have a direct and immediate impact on marketers, the future is very uncertain for the social media giant. Is it time to think about a ‘world without Facebook’? Or is it still too early to jump ship? In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry share their thoughts on the latest Facebook debacle as they discuss alternative marketing opportunities and strategies waiting to be explored.

Good old Facebook… The media super-power has very much turned into Marmite — you either love the social media platform or you hate it. The latest controversy surrounding Facebook is its plunging share prices. Last week, the social media giant announced disappointing earnings, which wiped out about $120 billion of shareholder wealth. As a result, shareholder James Kacouris filed a lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Wehner, on Friday, July 27. Kacouris is accusing Zuckerberg and Wehner of misleading shareholders by failing to disclose slowing revenue growth, falling operating margins and a decline in active users. The lawsuit seeks class-action status and unspecified damages. It’s thought to be the first lawsuit of many to follow. 2018 is most definitely not a good year for Facebook, and while these latest developments may not have a direct and immediate impact on marketers, the future is very uncertain for the social media giant. Is it time to think about a ‘world without Facebook’? Or is it still too early to jump ship? In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry share their thoughts on the latest Facebook debacle as they discuss alternative marketing opportunities and strategies waiting to be explored. 

Will Facebook Drag Marketers Down With It?

In the past year, Google has made quite a few changes to advance its Ad Platform. We’ve already seen Standard Text Ads being replaced with the much meatier Expanded Text Ads and now, the latest addition is Responsive Search Ads. Responsive Search Ads display up to three headlines consisting of 30 characters each, simultaneously. They also display up to two lines of description, consisting of 90 characters each – giving your ads over 80% more real estate on the SERP. In addition, with these multiple ad elements, Google employs its machine-learning skills to identify which elements of your ads are most effective over time. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Francois Lubbe speaks Christina Clapp about the benefits of using Responsive Search Ads as an additional tool for multivariate testing, as well as highlighting some its potential drawbacks.

In the past year, Google has made quite a few changes to advance its Ad Platform. We’ve already seen Standard Text Ads being replaced with the much meatier Expanded Text Ads and now, the latest addition is Responsive Search Ads. Responsive Search Ads display up to three headlines consisting of 30 characters each, simultaneously. They also display up to two lines of description, consisting of 90 characters each – giving your ads over 80% more real estate on the SERP. In addition, with these multiple ad elements, Google employs its machine-learning skills to identify which elements of your ads are most effective over time. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Francois Lubbe speaks Christina Clapp about the benefits of using Responsive Search Ads as an additional tool for multivariate testing, as well as highlighting some its potential drawbacks.

The latest addition to Adwords offers new advances in Multivariate Testing

The world is getting smaller by the day and it comes down to the fact that the Internet has completely infiltrated our daily existence. As much as consumers rely on the Internet for their every need, businesses now too depend on it for their existence. With online reviews now playing a major role in how consumers consider purchases, we no longer control this relationship as we did in the old days. The consumer controls the relationship now. As a result, one of your most valuable and fragile assets is your online reputation. The old adage of “any publicity is good publicity” simply does not apply to bad or negative online reviews. If you don’t own your online reputation, then somebody else will. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with Darius Fisher, CEO and co-Founder of Status Labs, about why it’s important that your business looks its best in search results.

The world is getting smaller by the day and it comes down to the fact that the Internet has completely infiltrated our daily existence. As much as consumers rely on the Internet for their every need, businesses now too depend on it for their existence. With online reviews now playing a major role in how consumers consider purchases, we no longer control this relationship as we did in the old days. The consumer controls the relationship now. As a result, one of your most valuable and fragile assets is your online reputation. The old adage of “any publicity is good publicity” simply does not apply to bad or negative online reviews. If you don’t own your online reputation, then somebody else will. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with Darius Fisher, CEO and co-Founder of Status Labs, about why it’s important that your business looks its best in search results.

Own your online reputation or somebody else will

How often do you conduct a website audit? In other words, how often do you test SEO performance, analyse content and find gaps and opportunities that could potentially generate and improve organic traffic to your website? In a recent audit of 54 different websites, Technical SEO Specialist Colm O’Sullivan found three critical issues that affected their visibility in Search and ultimately their bottom line. Chances are, your website’s performance could fall victim to the same issues… especially if you don’t audit your site on a regular basis. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with Colm about why it is important to conduct regular site audits and how to specifically fix the critical issues that he identified in his recent site audits.

How often do you conduct a website audit? In other words, how often do you test SEO performance, analyse content and find gaps and opportunities that could potentially generate and improve organic traffic to your website? In a recent audit of 54 different websites, Technical SEO Specialist Colm O’Sullivan found three critical issues that affected their visibility in Search and ultimately their bottom line. Chances are, your website’s performance could fall victim to the same issues… especially if you don’t audit your site on a regular basis. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with Colm about why it is important to conduct regular site audits and how to specifically fix the critical issues that he identified in his recent site audits.

Here’s Why Your Website is Underperforming

Talk to anyone who has been working at one of the Agora companies for some time, and you will almost certainly hear that it takes a certain kind of hustle to carve out your very own unique career path. One thing is clear, there are plenty of opportunities available for you to succeed in whatever direction you choose to take – whether it is in copywriting, editorial, digital marketing, creative and design, or information technology. Another thing you’ll also find, is that during your time with The Agora, you will very likely wear a few different hats. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with Francois Lubbe – the latest addition to the AIM team. Francois has been with the Agora companies for nearly 15 years, during which he has worked in customer service, SEO, web design and digital marketing, until he finally ended up in editorial. Listen to today’s The Big Idea podcast to get Francois’ perspective on what it means to work for The Agora.

Talk to anyone who has been working at one of the Agora companies for some time, and you will almost certainly hear that it takes a certain kind of hustle to carve out your very own unique career path. One thing is clear, there are plenty of opportunities available for you to succeed in whatever direction you choose to take – whether it is in copywriting, editorial, digital marketing, creative and design, or information technology. Another thing you’ll also find, is that during your time with The Agora, you will very likely wear a few different hats. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with Francois Lubbe – the latest addition to the AIM team. Francois has been with the Agora companies for nearly 15 years, during which he has worked in customer service, SEO, web design and digital marketing, until he finally ended up in editorial. Listen to today’s The Big Idea podcast to get Francois’ perspective on what it means to work for The Agora.

The Hustle — Carving Out a Unique Career Path with The Agora Companies

Google is rolling out with important security updates on Chrome in the next few months. These updates will not only affect the credibility of your website, but they could also cost you your customers. When it comes to the web browsing market, Google Chrome holds the lion’s share. So, chances are that these upcoming security updates will inevitably affect your website, especially if you collect email addresses and credit card information on your website. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with SEO specialist Colm O’Sullivan about how to identify any potential security issues on your website. To avoid a negative impact on your site’s bounce rates, advertising impressions, affiliate clicks, and e-commerce sales in the future, tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast to find out how to ensure that your website is secure and ready by July 2018.

Google is rolling out with important security updates on Chrome in the next few months. These updates will not only affect the credibility of your website, but they could also cost you your customers. When it comes to the web browsing market, Google Chrome holds the lion’s share. So, chances are that these upcoming security updates will inevitably affect your website, especially if you collect email addresses and credit card information on your website. In today’s The Big Idea podcast, Brian York and Grant Perry speak with SEO specialist Colm O’Sullivan about how to identify any potential security issues on your website. To avoid a negative impact on your site’s bounce rates, advertising impressions, affiliate clicks, and e-commerce sales in the future, tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast to find out how to ensure that your website is secure and ready by July 2018.

Will Your Site be Deemed ‘Trustworthy’ After July 2018?

Pinterest is synonymous with DIY weddings, home decorating tips, vintage furniture, fat-burning workouts, and cupcakes. Unless you are focusing on a very specific demographic, none of these are ideal sources for leads. So, when it comes to using Pinterest as a potential ad platform, many marketers scoff at it... But don’t be too quick to roll your eyes. Even though it may seem like an unlikely lead generation candidate, with 37 million wealthy customers, this visual search engine definitely has some hidden and untapped potential... and then we’re not even talking about specialized audience targeting options such as “act alike audiences” (similar to lookalike audiences) and a robust keyword targeting mechanism, which could be a goldmine for low-cost leads. In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Christina Clapp and David Jackman share their thoughts and observations with Grant Perry about using Pinterest as part of diversified marketing strategy.Correction: It was previously mentioned that Christina’s team hit CPCs that were around $1.50; however, while the bids were $1.50, actual CPCs of $.60-.70 were achieved for Actalike targeting, and $.95 for keyword targeting.

Pinterest is synonymous with DIY weddings, home decorating tips, vintage furniture, fat-burning workouts, and cupcakes. Unless you are focusing on a very specific demographic, none of these are ideal sources for leads. So, when it comes to using Pinterest as a potential ad platform, many marketers scoff at it...But don’t be too quick to roll your eyes.Even though it may seem like an unlikely lead generation candidate, with 37 million wealthy customers, this visual search engine definitely has some hidden and untapped potential... and then we’re not even talking about specialized audience targeting options such as “act alike audiences” (similar to lookalike audiences) and a robust keyword targeting mechanism, which could be a goldmine for low-cost leads.In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Christina Clapp and David Jackman share their thoughts and observations with Grant Perry about using Pinterest as part of diversified marketing strategy.Correction: It was previously mentioned that Christina’s team hit CPCs that were around $1.50; however, while the bids were $1.50, actual CPCs of $.60-.70 were achieved for Actalike targeting, and $.95 for keyword targeting.

Pinterest - A Potential Lead Generation Goldmine?

In our <a href="https://readyfireaim.eu/podcast/episode-1/" target="_blank">very first episode</a> of The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry, Brian York and Natalie Eagling spoke about the challenges of finding the right marketing talent. For marketers, of course, there is an equal challenge in finding the right company to work with and convincing them you are the best person for the job. So, what’s the solution? How do you side-step the restrictions of impersonal interviews that offer limited opportunities to find out what talent and skills candidates can bring to the table? Here at The Agora companies, we’ve run bootcamp-style recruitment initiatives for a few years now, which have proven to be very effective in bringing in the right talent. In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry speaks with the two newest additions to the AIM team, Will Palmer and David Jackman, about their experience at the marketing bootcamp held in Ireland earlier this year, and what attracted them to work for The Agora companies in the first place.

In our very first episode of The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry, Brian York and Natalie Eagling spoke about the challenges of finding the right marketing talent. For marketers, of course, there is an equal challenge in finding the right company to work with and convincing them you are the best person for the job. So, what’s the solution? How do you side-step the restrictions of impersonal interviews that offer limited opportunities to find out what talent and skills candidates can bring to the table? Here at The Agora companies, we’ve run bootcamp-style recruitment initiatives for a few years now, which have proven to be very effective in bringing in the right talent. In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry speaks with the two newest additions to the AIM team, Will Palmer and David Jackman, about their experience at the marketing bootcamp held in Ireland earlier this year, and what attracted them to work for The Agora companies in the first place.

Marketing Bootcamp Recruits Reflect on Working for The Agora

Where do you begin if you are looking to start an ad campaign? What copy do you use? What images do you to select? And if it’s a lead generation campaign, what lead magnet do you use? These are all important questions, but finding the right answer can often be a massive hurdle. In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry is flying solo as he discusses a simple strategy that can help you translate the core ideas of a promotion into a congruent ad campaign.

Where do you begin if you are looking to start an ad campaign? What copy do you use? What images do you to select? And if it’s a lead generation campaign, what lead magnet do you use? These are all important questions, but finding the right answer can often be a massive hurdle. In this week’s The Big Idea podcast, Grant Perry is flying solo as he discusses a simple strategy that can help you translate the core ideas of a promotion into a congruent ad campaign. 

A Quick, Easy and Effective Strategy to Launch Ad Campaigns Fast

For some of us, virtual assistants (like Siri, Alexa and Google Home) have slowly permeated our lives to the point that we almost can’t live without them. Then for others, despite its tremendous potential, Artificial Intelligence (AI) — Voice Search in particular — has not been met with a great deal of enthusiasm. That’s the topic of discussion in today’s The Big Idea podcast with Brian York, Grant Perry, and Colm O’Sullivan as they talk about the future of AI, Smart Homes and Voice Search. Whether you are ready to embrace AI or if it is something that you don’t have a need for (yet), the fact is by 2020, 50% of all search queries will be image or voice searches and by 2021, 8 billion devices will have digital assistants built-in. The robots are coming! Tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast to find out where all of this heading…

For some of us, virtual assistants (like Siri, Alexa and Google Home) have slowly permeated our lives to the point that we almost can’t live without them. Then for others, despite its tremendous potential, Artificial Intelligence (AI) — Voice Search in particular — has not been met with a great deal of enthusiasm.That’s the topic of discussion in today’s The Big Idea podcast with Brian York, Grant Perry, and Colm O’Sullivan as they talk about the future of AI, Smart Homes and Voice Search.Whether you are ready to embrace AI or if it is something that you don’t have a need for (yet), the fact is by 2020, 50% of all search queries will be image or voice searches and by 2021, 8 billion devices will have digital assistants built-in. The robots are coming! Tune into today’s The Big Idea podcast to find out where all of this heading… 

Alexa, does Siri know I’m “dating” you too?

by Agora Integrated Marketing

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The Big Idea

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