Growth Machine Marketing Podcast Amanda Natividad

In the season finale of the Growth Machine Marketing podcast, CEO Nora Schlesinger and Head of Marketing Amanda Natividad debrief on SEO and content.
They discuss:
How SEO knowledge can make you a better writer Why SEOs and writers also need empathy to be effective What we wish clients and marketers knew about SEO When it’s time for you to focus on SEO When it’s not time for you to focus on SEO And so much more. 
Show Notes
1:16 - Nora shares what she wishes more website owners knew about SEO.
3:14 - The content you invest in early on can set you up for SEO success in the long-run. 
7:44 - SEO knowledge can improve the quality of your written content.
11:38 - Managing client expectations.
15:29 - Different issues that may impact a site’s ability to rank.
21:10 - If your site speed isn’t up to par, there are a few factors that could be causing it. 
23:43 - How Growth Machine has been impactful for a variety of clients, including Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. 
29:20 - When is it time for a company to focus on their content and SEO? (And when is a company not ready yet?)
34:29 - Unpopular opinion: You can’t do it all. Hire as much help that you can afford to. 
40:04 - Amanda shares a special announcement as we wrap up this season of the Growth Machine Marketing Podcast.
Links: How We Hire Great Writers at Growth Machine (9:52)
The Critical Authority Threshold: Why Patience Pays in SEO (13:30)
PageSpeed Insights (20:12)
How a Gig Economy Website Hit 100,000 Monthly Visitors in 6 Months (23:52)
How a D2C Beverage Company Grew 4x in Search Traffic in 3 Months (23:56)
How a Recruiting Website Tripled Organic Traffic in 6 Months (24:01)
Gong (32:18)
Connect with Amanda Natividad: https://amandanat.com/
https://twitter.com/amandanat
Connect with Growth Machine: https://growthmachine.com/
https://twitter.com/growthmachine__

Here’s a milestone for the Growth Machine team: our first unblinded case study!
Ben Siegel, CEO and co-founder of Scholars, joined us in a webinar where he talks about Scholars’s content and marketing strategy.
We edited this webinar into this week’s 25-minute episode.
Enjoy!
Show Notes 1:21 - Ben Siegel, CEO and Co-Founder of Scholars, talks about their decision to include content from the very start of their marketing strategy. 
4:01 - How Scholars first began working with Growth Machine. 
5:08 - The original content plan pivoted to support the direction Scholars was heading in, and from there, traffic saw an increase. 
9:11 - The increase in traffic helped Scholars grow an email list of over 20,000 subscribers. 
12:00 - Why Scholars decided to start their podcast The Internship Show, and how their podcast ties in with their overall marketing strategy.
15:44 - Ben discusses a few of Scholars’ customers and how they initially entered the sales funnel.
19:00 - What’s next for Scholars? 
20:02 - Audience Q&A
Links: How a Recruiting Website Tripled Organic Traffic in 6 Months
Scholars (1:18)
Demand Curve (4:18)
The Writer Finder (4:48)
The Internship Show (12:00)
Growth Machine: https://growthmachine.com/
https://twitter.com/growthmachine__

Impulse purchases are just a story we tell ourselves.
Stewart Hillhouse, Head of Growth at Customer Camp, joins the show to tell us why. He explains: it’s actually a series of experiences that ultimately trigger customers to purchase. And in the end, “impulse purchase” is the excuse given in the event a purchase doesn’t work out.
Stew and I also discuss:
Measuring success of his podcast What to know about Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) customer interviews How content fits into Customer Camps’ marketing strategy And some little-known facts about trees. Yes, trees. Show Notes
0:54 - Stew shares how he made his switch from a career in forestry to a career in marketing. 
4:17 - Podcasting as a form of networking. 
5:01 - How Stew came to the decision to study forestry in college (and some bonus fun facts!). 
9:20 - Stew talks about his role as Head of Audience Growth at Customer Camp, and the way that job title came to be.
14:33 - Customer Camp gives their clients concrete and actionable steps to improve their marketing campaigns. 
18:29 - Conducting customer interviews. Why the buyer’s full journey is important in learning new insights on your product or service. 
24:41 - Is there such a thing as an impulse buy? (See Stew’s Twitter thread)
29:42 - Stew takes us through his thought process behind his last major purchase. 
33:04 - What Stew has learned from his last major purchase and whether his original need for the purchase was met.
35:03 - How content fits into the overall marketing strategy at Customer Camp.
39:41 - Measuring podcast success - why it’s essentially different depending on the type of podcast you’re creating.
43:38 - The future of marketing; with everything today being so screen-focused, what evolutions will we see in the upcoming years?
Links: Customer Camp (0:30)
OLIPOP (0:42)
Venture for Canada Program (2:39)
Charboys (16:31)
Stewart’s Twitter thread (24:41)
Peloton (25:53)
Stew’s takeaways from interview with Amanda (26:47)
WHOOP (32:19)
Imperfect Foods (38:34)
Top of Mind with Stewart Hillhouse (39:44)
Customer Show (39:46)
Connect with Stewart Hillhouse: https://stewarthillhouse.com/
https://customercamp.co/
https://twitter.com/stew_hillhouse
Growth Machine & Amanda Natividad: https://growthmachine.com/
https://twitter.com/growthmachine__
https://twitter.com/amandanat

If you work in content marketing, you know John Bonini. He’s the Director of Marketing at Databox, and he also owns the widely popular Some Good Content Patreon, where he distills expert yet tactical advice for content marketers at ever level.
He joined us on the show to discuss:
How journalism informs good marketing Brand content that has a point of view (and why it matters) How content fuels marketing at Databox John’s strategy for the Metrics and Chill podcast And more!
Show Notes 0:57 - John talks about how his learned lessons in journalism have carried over to his work in content marketing. 
4:59 - Why point of view matters in the content you produce.
8:18 - How Google’s Penguin update (~2012) played a role in the evolution of content marketing. 
12:36 - Growing your career in content marketing and the importance of finding a company that sees the value in your marketing efforts. 
19:55 - Databox has been strategic in how they have scaled their outputs while ensuring they are all cohesive.
25:23 -  John shares the strategy behind the Metrics and Chill podcast, and how they structure their episodes to align with the value of their product. 
30:20 - A lot of the general content advice is overplayed. John ensures he delivers more usable information to his Patreon community.
34:17 - What excites John the most about content?
Links Databox (1:19)
Litmus (13:30)
Metrics and Chill (20:10)
John’s Patreon (30:24)
Clubhouse (35:40)
Connect with John Bonini: https://www.patreon.com/somegoodcontent
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbonini/
https://twitter.com/Bonini84
Growth Machine & Amanda Natividad: https://growthmachine.com/
https://twitter.com/growthmachine__
https://twitter.com/amandanat

One of the questions we hear most is: How do you hire and manage content services when you yourself are not a content marketer or an editor?
Our very own VP of Content, Heather Leith, joins us today to answer that question. Heather manages our team of editors who publish over 100 articles per month for Growth Machine’s clients.
We chat about:
A scalable way to properly learn brands’ various styles and voices Managing client expectations Advice for freelance writers And much more!
Show Notes: 0:54 -  VP of Content, Heather Leith, describes how the editorial team and processes at Growth Machine have evolved.
7:12 - SEO-informed writing and editing: What makes it different?
9:03 - How Growth Machine finds great writers for client projects. 
11:27 - The process of discovering each client’s style and brand voice. 
19:00 - How do our in-house editors work with our freelance writers to ensure each piece of content captures the style of the client?
20:54 - Client management and the importance of working through initial concerns from the client. 
25:45 - Heather describes a common concern from new clients and how we typically address it.
28:39 - Price per word vs. price per article. 
30:54 - Setting your prices as a freelance writer starts with being mindful of both your ideal rate and what the market is paying. 
34:16 - In speed round style, Heather talks about red flags in a writer, how to prepare for hiring a content marketing agency, and what content managers need to be mindful of. 
46:25 - Heather leaves her advice for business owners who are looking to outsource their SEO and content marketing efforts. 
Links: The Writer Finder (9:23)
How We Hire Great Writers at Growth Machine (9:28)
How to Make a Content Style Guide (20:45)
Connect with Heather Leith: https://twitter.com/heatherleithal
Growth Machine & Amanda Natividad: https://growthmachine.com/
https://twitter.com/growthmachine__
https://twitter.com/amandanat

As soon as I began following SEO expert Kameron Jenkins’ work, it was clear to me how friendly and accessible she makes SEO to everyone at all levels.
So I was super excited to have her on the show. Kameron is now a content lead at Shopify and we got to talk about:
Communicating the value of SEO to the c-suite Balancing a content strategy across short and long tail keywords Knowing when it’s time to refresh content And lots more!
Show Notes 0:53 - Kameron talks about how she got into SEO and what Google’s changes in algorithm have taught her along the way. 
4:51 - How Kameron’s experiences working on the agency side of things helped develop her expertise in SEO.
6:46 - Why invest in SEO, and how do you communicate that to your C-level officers?
9:19 - SEO can be just as attributable as paid ads.
10:30 - Kameron shares more about her current role as a Content Lead at Shopify.
13:15 - Short and long tail keywords. Investing in content that supports your brand.
17:49 - Setting traffic goals: It’s not always about more eyeballs to your offer, it’s about getting the right eyeballs to your offer.
20:28 - Should you date your content, and when is it time to refresh an existing post?
26:19 - Using link building to build your site’s authority and trust with Google.
29:56 - Kameron gives her recommendation on where you can host and manage your new site when starting out.
33:38 - The future of SEO.
Links Marketo (9:07)
Shopify (12:57)
Conde Nast (22:21)
Aleyda Solis’ Template (24:38)
HARO (27:33)
Wordpress (30:32)
Squarespace (30:55)
Wix (30:56)
Podia (31:50)
Substack (31:51)
Connect with Kameron Jenkins: https://twitter.com/Kammie_Jenkins
Growth Machine & Amanda Natividad: https://growthmachine.com/
https://twitter.com/growthmachine__
https://twitter.com/amandanat