February 15, 2025 • 33 mins
This 400th episode of this podcast revolves around insights into 7 pivotal digital marketing themes that have emerged from the top 25 episodes of my recent 100 over the last 2 years.
You will learn how to integrate essential aspects like artificial intelligence, content creation, branding, and influencer partnerships to thrive in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
• Embracing AI for enhanced marketing efficiency
• Importance of authentic content in social media
• Developing strategic influencer partnerships for brand credibility
• Psychological principles shaping effective branding
• Maximizing customer experience through marketing automation
• Fostering business growth through leadership and collaboration
• Ensuring visibility and discoverability in the digital age
Feel free to reach out to me at neal@nealschaffer.com to provide feedback or suggest themes for future episodes!
Learn More:
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- All My Podcast Show Notes: https://podcast.nealschaffer.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
AI, content creation, influencer partnerships, brand
love and more.
In this special episode, number400 of the your Digital
Marketing Coach podcast.
Together, we're celebrating amilestone by distilling insights
from my top 25 episodes over mylast 100, which is over the
(00:21):
last two years into seven coredigital marketing themes that I
want to give you my own personalupdates on and make sure you're
focused on for the future,because these can really
supercharge your business.
So if you're ready to level upyour marketing game, get set for
this special episode of theyour Digital Marketing Coach
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Digital social media content influencer, marketing,
blogging, podcasting, vlogging,podcast, professional
entrepreneur or business owner,you need someone you can rely on
for expert advice.
Good thing you've got Neil onyour side, because Neil Schaefer
(01:11):
is your digital marketing coach, helping you grow your business
with digital first marketing,one episode at a time.
This is your digital marketingcoach and this is Neil Schafer.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Hey everybody, welcome to episode number 400.
We did it of the your DigitalMarketing Coach podcast.
I am your digital marketingcoach, neil Schafer, and today
is extra special.
Not only are we celebrating 400episodes, but I want to
highlight the best insights frommy top 25 episodes over the
(01:50):
last 100.
As I am publishingapproximately 50 episodes per
year, episode number 300 waspublished way back on January 10
, 2023, just a little less thantwo months after the emergence
of ChatGPT and we were justgetting out of the coronavirus
pandemic man.
(02:10):
A lot has changed and I rememberwhen I published that 300th
episode, one of my VAs said Neil, this is a huge milestone,
number 300.
And I didn't really do anythingspecial.
So I said 100 episodes.
Later, I'm going to dosomething a little special.
And here we are today.
So these top 25 episodes I meanmaybe some of you have listened
(02:31):
to all of them, maybe you'veonly listened to some of them,
but they've sparkedconversations, inspired action
and hopefully transformed theway you think about digital
marketing.
So, from the cutting edge worldof AI to the art of authentic
content or I should say platformauthentic content for those
that have read digital threads,influencer partnerships and
(02:51):
beyond, I'm going to break downwhat I believe are the seven
most important themes shapingour industry today, and these
are themes that are proven to beimportant because you, with
your downloads, actually votedindirectly to make them my top
25 episodes over the last 100.
So grab your notepad and let'sget started.
(03:14):
Theme number one Well, obviously, batting first, it has to be AI
and, in general, marketingtechnology, so let's kick things
off with that Now.
This theme is built on episodeswhere I pull back the curtain
on the tech that's driving ourdigital strategies, from episode
number 302, where I talkedabout my 42 tools marketing
(03:37):
technology stack for 2023, andthat is still relevant for 2025,
but I gave you a comprehensivelook at my own technology stack,
reminding you to audit yourtech annually.
We then go to episode number320, the 10 AI tools for
marketing that I am using today,showing how AI tools, from
content creation to SEO, aregame changers, and I'm still
(03:58):
using some of those tools today.
I'm going to get to my updatein a moment.
Going to get to my update in amoment.
Episode number 352, 11 takeawaysabout AI and podcasting from
PodFest.
And episode number 364, it'stime to make the AI shift, which
hopefully challenge you to movebeyond buzzwords and fully
embrace AI.
And on top of that, episodenumber 366, 21 ways I use
(04:22):
ChatGPT demonstrated howintegrating AI into your
workflow can boost productivitywhile still keeping that human
touch when done right.
The key takeaway from all thisis well, the future is AI, but
the future is now.
Ai is not here to replace us.
It is here to empower us.
It is here to amplify us.
Take a hard look at your techstack, take a look at your
(04:45):
operations, at your contentcreation process, at your
marketing processes, and askyourself am I leveraging AI to
work smarter, faster and morecreatively?
I will challenge you to becomean AI-first business in 2025.
That is the direction I amgoing, and it's funny because I
just came back from Japan.
Hopefully you follow me onsocial media.
(05:06):
You saw my report about TechGala, which was the Japan's
largest startup event in Nagoya,japan, and I was asked by one
of my friends, who also is aclient of mine, about this video
.
That I did, and the video isactually the video of episode
number 320, the 10 AI tools formarketing that I'm using today,
and back then I was into usingreally specific tools for
(05:29):
specific purposes, but now I amreally focusing on chat GPT.
I am making custom GPTs andchat GPT central to everything I
do.
If you want to use cloud or ifyou want to use part cloud, part
chat GPT, go for it, but I amreally honing in on that and
there are some external toolsthat I use together with it,
like otterai is a tool that Iuse for transcripts from live
(05:53):
streams and podcasts that allowsme to easily repurpose that
content using my own voice andmy own information.
I still use SocialBee as mymain social media scheduler, but
for those of you that know, I'mactually not using and this is
another episode whichunfortunately wasn't a top 25
episode about ditching yoursocial media scheduler but I
tend to use it less and less anduse really publishing directly
(06:17):
in, natively in platforms orusing their native scheduling
features, and you'll have tolisten to that episode if you
want to get the full details.
But really I'm trying to becomemore efficient and part of
becoming more efficient is lessis more is using fewer tools and
trying to get the most bang formy buck for the current tools
that I am using and the numberone tool that I use on a daily
(06:39):
basis, that I use for thelongest time in terms of like
minutes or hours, is definitelyChatGPT.
So if you're not spending, ifyou're not on ChatGPT every day,
or Claude, or Google Gemini,pick your poison you really need
to ask yourself why.
Because if you're in digitalmarketing in 2025, I think all
of your counterparts are alreadythere.
(06:59):
So it's time to make the AIshift.
Listen again to episode number364.
And, in fact, listen to episodenumber 320, the top 10 AI tools
for marketing that I'm usingtoday and you'll see how a lot
of these can now be replicatedin ChatGPT, because it has
become more fully functional.
(07:20):
All right, so theme number twoand it's interesting that these
two are combined together intoone theme, but I think it makes
a lot of sense, and I'll tellyou why.
Theme number two that we shouldall be focusing on is content
marketing and social media.
Why are they together?
It's funny because I'm going tobe teaching a class in Ho Chi
Minh City, vietnam.
(07:40):
It's actually being sponsoredby a Belgian university that has
a collaborative program inVietnam, and the name of the
module is basically contentmarketing and social media.
The content part is puttogether with the social part,
and I'm going to be speakingnext month in Napa Valley for a
multifamily housing industryevent for lack of a better word
(08:02):
and although the event is calledSocial Media Summit, they also
say this is a summit for socialmedia and content marketing,
because you need to have contentin social media.
Now, social media is about waymore than content, but in terms
of the way that this theme islooking, we're really focusing
on the content, including thecontent for social media.
(08:22):
So this theme is really aboutharnessing authenticity and
creativity in your content, andthis is the problem, because AI
beckons us to create AIgenerated content, but that
often will lack the authenticityand often the creativity, in
all honesty, that you can createon your own, although the
(08:43):
creativity part is more valuablewith AI, or I should say, you
can't duplicate the authenticitywith AI, but you might be able
to get some ideation or somecreativity with AI than without
it.
But, that being said, therewere five episodes here, five of
the top 10 of the last twoyears of episodes, number 300 to
(09:06):
399 actually came from thistheme.
In fact, five of the sixepisodes that I'll be talking
about are part of those top 10.
So clearly, this is a themethat you agreed was important.
Going back to the AI andmarketing technology theme.
Two of the top 10 came fromthat theme.
So by far your interest, asindicated by your, as I said,
(09:29):
harnessing authenticity andcreativity in your content.
And the first episode isactually an episode that I
created to help flesh outcontent for a chapter that I
have on what I call platformauthentic social content in
digital thread.
So this is episode number 306,exponentially improve your
social media throughauthentically social content.
(09:51):
And really what I am asking forhere is a return to social
media's original purpose realengaging interactions.
But it's also about creatingcontent that the algorithms want
, that keep people on theplatform, that help you become
friends with the algorithm.
So that's really what that isabout.
And talking about the otherepisodes about content, episode
(10:15):
number 353 was about fromselfies to sales, and this
actually is another episode thatI developed.
This is an interview withKatrin McCauley that is all
about UGC and that I use that asa way to flesh out content from
my chapter on UGC in digitalthreads.
But also episode number 388, 10things marketers can learn from
(10:39):
authors, and really both ofthese episodes whether it's user
generated content or, you know,talking about the way that
authors are marketing themselvesreveal how authenticity and
even literary techniques canrevolutionize your content
strategy.
The other episodes that arereally popular really talk about
different ways of creatingcontent for SEO, for social
(11:04):
media, for the web, right.
So episode number 311, this waswith the godfather of content
marketing, joe Polizzi fiveunconventional content marketing
approaches and hopefully, ifyou listened to that episode and
if you haven't, you should openyour eyes to new ways of
thinking about content.
Episode number 327, masteringContent Creation with Melanie
(11:27):
Diesel, explore the art ofstorytelling and creative
frameworks, and she is theauthor of the Content Fuel
Framework.
Definitely, you know,recommended reading, joe Polizzi
, obviously the author of manybooks on content marketing.
And then I welcome anotherauthor, I should say pair of
authors Martin Hunkback andLindsay Cambridge, and we talked
(11:47):
about building a contentfortress, of really using
content to attract the rightcustomers while filtering out
the noise.
So, on many levels in contentmarketing and social media,
hopefully I had your backcovered and really, in today's
digital age, content isn't justabout frequency.
Hopefully you understand this.
(12:08):
It is about authenticity,strategic storytelling and, I
believe, most importantly,creating genuine connections
with your audience.
This is only going to continueto be important going forward.
Ai does help us craft bettercontent when we use it in the
right way.
So another way that I wouldlean on ChatGPT is see where you
can use it in your contentcreation processes, and really
(12:31):
the idea here is amplify yourknowledge, amplify your IP,
amplify your content creationprocesses, and really the idea
here is amplify your knowledge,amplify your IP, amplify your
content.
Through ChatGPT and by creatingbetter content and freeing up
your time, you can engage morecreatively and more deeply with
people and social media usersthat matter to your company and
that, I think, is really whatthe AI gold rush, or I should
(12:54):
say the benefits that we reapfrom AI, should be all about
that freeing up time so that wecan use that time to engage with
others and develop morerelationships of value in social
media.
All right, theme number threeWell, this podcast, before it
was called your DigitalMarketing Coach, was called
Maximize your Social Influence,because I published a book
(13:14):
called the Age of Influence.
That was my fifth actually myfourth book I'm losing count.
That was published in March of2020 and it was all about
influencer marketing.
So, theme number threeinfluencer and partnership
marketing.
So this is where buildingrelationships and strategic
alliances take center stage, andI believe this is really
(13:35):
important for any business,whether you're a B2B or a B2C.
So three top performingepisodes here that you should
focus on.
If you want to go deeper onthis, episode number 313.
So we have some really goodcoverage here of the three main
topics of influencer andpartnership marketing.
So episode number 313, how todevelop a B2B influencer
(13:56):
marketing program, with TimWilliams, the founder and former
CEO of the definitive, reallydefinitive B2B influencer
marketing company calledAnalytica, out of London in the
UK.
He showed that influencermarketing isn't just for B2C In
fact, it just might be moreimportant, but at least it is a
very, very powerful tool for B2Bbrands as well.
(14:18):
Then we shifted to affiliatemarketing, which you can also
call creator partnerships.
Episode number 361, unlockingthe power of creator
partnerships, with David Yovano,who is the CEO of Impact, who
are one of the leading companiesin affiliate marketing today,
and he highlighted how workingwith the right creators can
actually amplify your brand'sauthenticity.
(14:39):
This is throughinfluencer-generated content
right, which not only getsengagement, builds word of mouth
, but when affiliate marketingis mixed together with it, you
get the best of both worlds andit's really a win-win-win.
Together with it, you get thebest of both worlds and it's
really a win-win-win.
Then we switch to pure B2C.
(15:02):
Episode number 377, the newrules of TikTok influencer
marketing.
And this is with my friend,david Moffitt from Kumo Space,
where he broke down innovative,performance-based approaches
that are reshaping theinfluencer landscape, especially
on platforms like TikTok.
Really really fascinatinginterview if you haven't heard
that one.
So the key takeaway here is,when you choose your influencer
partners wisely, you're not justbuying reach, you're building
(15:24):
long-term, authenticrelationships that can
significantly boost your brand'scredibility and engagement.
Today, influencer marketing aswe know it is mainstream.
Leveraging UGC and this reallygoes into theme number two or
having a brand ambassadorprogram, isn't as mainstream as
it could be, and that is where Iwould be focusing my efforts
(15:46):
around this theme in 2025.
Pick up a copy of DigitalThreads, because I have
dedicated chapters for UGC andbrand ambassadorships and
another one for externalinfluencers.
But these are all sort ofinterconnected.
The threads weave through themand I think really being
successful in social media, inaddition to the platform
authentic content, really comesdown to how you master these
(16:08):
concepts in your marketing.
So theme number four is goingto be a little bit broader.
I think, going forward, thesethemes are a little bit broader.
They cover a lot of differentthings, but four is about
branding and marketing strategy.
In fact, defining it evenfurther.
We really dive into branding,messaging and behavioral science
(16:30):
.
So here we blend creativelywith psychology to build brands
that resonate.
These brands aren't justcorporate brands, they're
personal brands as well.
So episode number 323, usingbehavioral science and marketing
, with Nancy Harhut, the authorof the book of the same name,
taught us how psychologicalprinciples can inform smarter
(16:53):
marketing strategies.
A fantastic episode.
If you haven't listened to it.
Episode number 330, finding yourmarketing purpose with Ikigai,
a Japanese concept whichhopefully inspired you to align
your work with your personalmission finding joy and purpose
in what you do.
I actually recorded that rightafter coming back from my final
(17:15):
meeting with my developmentaleditor for Digital Threads in
Berlin, germany, and I found thebook at the Berlin airport.
It was a bestseller, so Ipicked it up.
It's actually an old book aboutIkigai, but it really struck a
deep chord with me and it isreally the reason why I create
content.
Right, I hope it's useful foryou, but I'm not going for the
(17:35):
number of downloads, the numberof likes, the number of contents
, the number of website visits.
It really is my ikigai to serveright through this content and
I hope it is serving you and Ihope if it sounds interesting
what I'm talking about that youwill go listen to that episode
as well, because the concept isreally a fantastic concept that
is not just for business butactually for your entire
personal life as well.
(17:56):
Then episode number 32, 15Elements of a Successful
Personal Brand and this is outof a module that I teach at UCLA
Extension, which is also sortof a preview of this upcoming
book that I'm working on aboutpersonal branding, and I really
in that episode, broke down thecomponents of a standout
personal brand.
So that is, over the last 100episodes, my most definitive
(18:18):
episode on personal branding.
If that is of interest to you,definitely check that out.
We then had episode number 347,the Secret to Brand Love with
Dr Aaron Ahuvia, professor overat University of Michigan, also
the author of the definitivebook on brand love, and he
explored how emotional bonds canturn customers into lifelong
(18:39):
advocates Really fascinatingconversation.
Then episode number 387, alittle bit more recently, we had
the power of clearcommunication in digital
marketing with author andprofessor Ben Gutmann.
In digital marketing with authorand professor Ben Gutmann,
which reinforced that clarityand simplicity in messaging are
essential for connecting withyour audience.
The key takeaway here is that apowerful brand is built on
(19:03):
clear, authentic messaging andan understanding of human
behavior.
Your brand should speak withpurpose, resonate emotionally
and ultimately build trust, andyou do this through everything
you do online through yourcontent, through your branding,
through if you have messaging inDMs, whatever it is right it
(19:23):
really should permeateeverything you do as part of
your DNA.
Now, compared to the otherthings we talk about, this theme
of branding and messagingmarketing strategy, behavioral
science really is an evergreentopic that I think the more we
study, the better we get at it.
If there's anything new herefor me and the theme that I want
(19:44):
you to focus on, it really isthe personal branding, and if
you are a small business ownerand entrepreneur, it's your
personal branding on socialmedia that's actually going to
help your business.
Is digital marketing, yeah, andthat's a really important
concept that I'm working onfleshing out for my next book.
You're going to have to staytuned, but I'm really excited to
cover that, but that is reallya core concept that I don't
(20:06):
think is talked about enoughthat I want you to focus on in
2025 and beyond.
All right, theme number five.
This was a clear-cut winnerMarketing automation and sales,
and really specificallymarketing automation.
So this is the fifth theme andit's all about making your
processes work for you.
Two episodes really stood outhere.
In fact, I only think I did twoepisodes on marketing
(20:29):
automation over the last 100,which is a hint that maybe I
should do more.
But episode number 338, how toincrease sales through creative
marketing automation and this isa chapter that I recorded to
help me flesh out content for mychapter on marketing automation
, or the different things youcan automate in digital threads.
Definitely, if you haven't readdigital threads, obviously you
(20:51):
should be picking up a copy, buteven if you have, I think
you'll enjoy that episode.
Episode number 359 was with myfriend, amanda Northcutt, and it
was called Marketing AutomationSimplified how to Level Up your
Digital Business, and sheillustrated how automation can
free you up to focus on growthwhile still delivering
(21:11):
exceptional customer experiences.
There's a little bit of aparallel between leveraging AI
more and doing more marketingautomation, because marketing
automation is not AI, it's noteven machine learning, really,
it's more dumbed down than that.
But the idea is that if we doit well enough, it can replace
us to a certain extent marketingautomation I think to a bigger
(21:32):
extent and free up our time,increase our efficiency so that
we can do more strategic andhigher value-added things.
So obviously, the marketingautomation is not going away.
Even the cheapest of emailmarketing software tools are
adding various types ofmarketing automation.
The key here is are youleveraging everything that you
can do with it?
And that's my question for you.
(21:53):
So one of the key takeaway hereis embracing automation as a
vital component of your digitalmarketing strategy.
This goes above and beyond justcollecting an email list right.
It's not about losing the humantouch.
It's about freeing up your timeto focus on strategy,
creativity and buildingrelationships.
And when marketing automationis done right, the person
(22:13):
receiving the message literallydoes not know that it was
automated.
And I am sure you and me haveboth received messages coming
from sophisticated marketingautomation funnels that we would
have never guessed weredeveloped through marketing
automation.
All right.
Theme number six this is a.
I think the last two themes aregoing to be very general, but
(22:33):
business growth and leadership.
So growth is a blend ofstrategy, collaboration and
smart leadership, and there weretwo, and this goes sort of
above and beyond just digitalmarketing.
I like to mix up the interviewsometimes to have a broader
topic as well, and obviouslybecause these episodes were
(22:54):
popular, they resonated with you.
Episode number 371, unlockingBusiness Potential with
Ecosystem-Led Growth with BobMoore from Crossbeam showed us
the power of collaborative dataand partnerships.
Think of sharing Facebookpixels between partner companies
to expand your reach but whatBob talked about was way more
(23:14):
than that.
So if that is of interest,definitely give that a listen.
And then episode number 373,master delegation and
outsourcing for marketing andbusiness growth, with one of my
fave peeps, who's also a author,dave Kirpin, better known for
likable books that he's writtenand likable social.
Emphasize that as you scale,and especially if you're a
(23:35):
solopreneur like myself,mastering delegation and
outsourcing is critical tosustaining growth.
It is why I have a chapter onoutsourcing in digital threads.
It is that important.
So the key takeaway here isbusiness growth isn't just about
new tools or tactics.
It's about smart leadership,effective delegation and
building an ecosystem thatempowers everyone whether they
(23:57):
work inside your company, theywork at a partner company or
they are a contractor tocontribute to your success.
And then we have and this issomething where I think we can
lean in more in 2025, right,lean in more to outsourcing, to
delegation, to ecosystems, topartnerships, and there's a lot
(24:18):
of different ways we can do that.
Maybe I'll have to cover thatin future episodes.
If you don't know how to dothat, please contact me,
neilneilschafercom.
I'll give you some advice.
But even when I use AI, I amfinding that a combination of AI
and outsourcing is giving methe results I want.
So I'll give you an example.
I was trying out a tool and Iprobably mentioned this tool in
(24:39):
one of those top AI toolepisodes called Opus Pro, and
Opus Pro for those that haven'theard of it, I assume a lot of
you have you can feed an hour or30 minute interview, you know
YouTube interview or Zoominterview, and it will, just,
you know, pump out like 30different 30 to 60 second videos
that you can use as short formvideos and social media.
(24:59):
It sounds great and it offers alot of automated video editing
features, which makes it abreeze.
But the problem is the outputisn't always that good in terms
of the clips that it selects andalso it allows you to do some
things like add captions prettyeasily and center the person
speaking and add some B-roll,but there's some other things
(25:20):
that it doesn't allow you to doso.
I have basically used otterai tocreate transcription scripts or
actually transcripts.
Why am I trying toovercomplicate the concept and
then feed those in the chat GPT,create a custom GPT to try to
use chat GPT to try to find themost interesting, engaging,
(25:41):
educational moments that I canrepurpose, then with timestamps
and then leveraging a guy that Iuse on Fiverr very effectively,
with high quality andinexpensively be able to create
those videos.
Is it more expensive than usingOpenScript?
Absolutely Is the quality a lotbetter, absolutely expensive
(26:03):
than using Opus Clip?
Absolutely, is the quality alot better, absolutely.
So that is a way where I use AIto help me find really quickly
those areas that I then reviewand then approve, and then I
have someone manually create thevideo or edit the video, which
is going to be better and giveme more diverse editing options
than just an AI tool like OpusPro can provide me.
So hopefully that gives yousome insight into ways you can
(26:23):
leverage AI to get you 90% ofthe way there.
It doesn't have to get you 100%of the way there and then use
outsourcing to get you theremaining 10% of the way there.
All right.
Theme number seven visibilityand discoverability.
No matter how great yourcontent or brand is, you need to
be found.
This theme becomes reallyimportant with the emergence of
(26:46):
generative search AI.
Now, this is something that Imentioned in episode number 392.
I talk at length of this thekey to becoming more
discoverable in 2025, which laidout what I believe are
forward-thinking strategies toensure you remain visible as the
digital landscape evolves.
And then episode number 383, myfriend, dennis Yu, provided
(27:09):
practical tips on optimizingyour digital presence in a
similar vein, but he reallyfocused on boosting your online
visibility with Google knowledgepanels and social media signals
, with Google knowledge panelsand social media signals.
Now I recorded episode number392 because I've seen over time
that traffic from ChatGPT isgoing up and if I look at my
(27:31):
traffic for the last 90 days,I'm currently getting more
traffic from Bing than Google,and this is clearly a sign that,
with the Google helpful contentupdate, for some reason, google
is just ranking my site lowermanually is really the only
conclusion I can come up with.
We then have, if I'm going to gothrough and I'm not going to
like, put direct and not set in,but if I keep going down we
(27:53):
have duck duck go as numberthree, interestingly enough,
convert kit, which is my emailservice provider, so I do tend
to send emails with links thatgenerates traffic there.
And then there's ChatGPT,number five, right, getting more
traffic than any social mediasite, and it's also getting way
more leads, and I consider alead anyone who downloads a lead
(28:14):
magnet.
I mean, I'm getting 11 timesmore leads from ChatGPT than I
do from DuckDuckGo, which hasmaybe 20% 25% more traffic.
Yahoo, interestingly enough, itwill be right below ChatGPT and
I'm not getting any of thesefrom them.
The leads I get from ChatGPTare equivalent to the number
(28:34):
that I'm getting from Pinterest,which will be the next source,
right below Yahoo.
So that's why it's becomingreally important to understand
that going forward, in order tobe discoverable, we really need
to understand the way, and infact, I see that there's another
entry for ChatGPT, which ismaybe number 11.
So I didn't combine thesenumbers, but two of my top 12 or
(28:57):
13 are ChatG TPT related, sothat should give you an idea.
So you know, the key takeawayhere is it's not enough to
create amazing content.
You must also ensure that youraudience can find you.
It's about investing in SEO,refining your online presence
and keeping up with platformupdates to stay discoverable and
, I think, most importantly in2025, understanding that large
(29:20):
language models are looking foryour mentions everywhere.
Right?
So we really have come backinto the era of digital PR, and
it's funny because right now andI mentioned this on episode
number 392 as well, but I'llgive you an update so I only
interview 25 people a year forthis podcast, but until well, I
(29:45):
should say from January 1st toFebruary 12th, I have already
had 39 people in five weeks well, six weeks reach out to want to
be interviewed on my podcast.
That is literally like one aday, and it actually doesn't
include Podmatch people pitchingme there, and that is the main
platform right now where I amfocusing my podcast efforts.
(30:06):
So, yeah, podcasting is hot,and I think it's hot because
people are realizing that with apodcast interview comes a
YouTube live stream, comes aLinkedIn live stream, comes
Facebook live.
The content gets archived.
It is then obviously picked upby LLMs.
It goes into Apple Podcasts,there's short-form videos
created, there's a LinkedInnewsletter created.
(30:26):
Now there's a backlink onpodcastneilschafercom.
In terms of digital PRpodcasting, especially because
so many podcasts like my own atleast 50% of my episodes are
based on interviews, you can seehow that can help in your
digital discoverability.
Hint, hint.
So there you have it.
These are the seven mostimportant digital marketing
(30:49):
themes, distilled from my top 25episodes of my last 100
episodes, from episode number300 all the way to 399.
So today I think, and hopefullyyou agree, that we journeyed
through this transformativeworld of AI and technology,
hopefully uncovering the powerof authentic content and
(31:10):
influencer partnerships andexploring how strong branding,
automation, leadership andvisibility are the cornerstones
of success in our digital firstworld.
Visibility are the cornerstonesof success in our digital first
world.
Episode number 400 to me is atestament to our shared journey
of learning, experimenting andgrowing together.
I hope you're leaving withactionable insights, not just
(31:34):
from this episode, but fromevery episode, that you can
apply right away to elevate yourbusiness.
If you enjoyed this episode, Iwould love to hear from you If
you would like me to hear, or Ishould from you.
If you would like me to hear,or I should say if you'd like me
to record more episodes oncertain of these seven themes,
I'd like to hear from you aswell.
Obviously, my email address isneil at neilschafercom the real
neil, please any al, not any il,and you can find me anywhere on
(31:56):
social with neil schafer and,in fact, you can go to my
website, neilschafercom.
But, hey, please subscribe,leave a review, share your
thoughts on which theme hasimpacted you the most.
As always, I love hearing fromyou.
Tag me on social, drop me amessage on my website.
However you want to reach outto me.
So until next time, here is to100 more episodes when hopefully
(32:18):
, when I get to episode number500, it'll be the year 2027.
Wow, what will AI look likethen?
I can't wait.
I hope you can't wait, butuntil then, it's not about
looking inside the crystal balland becoming a fortune teller
and trying to figure out whatthe future is going to look like
.
It's really about keeping itreal, authentic and always
(32:40):
forward thinking.
Until next time, this is NeilSchaefer, your digital marketing
coach.
Thank you for listening andlet's continue together to push
the boundaries of what'spossible in digital marketing.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
You've been listening to your digital marketing coach
.
Questions, comments, requests,links go to
podcastneilschafercom.
Get the show notes to this and200 plus podcast episodes at
neilschafercom to tap into the400 plus blog posts that Neil
has published to support yourbusiness.
(33:14):
While you're there, check outNeil's digital first group
coaching membership community ifyou or your business needs a
little helping hand.
See you next time on yourdigital marketing coach.
AI, content creation, influencer partnerships, brand
love and more.
In this special episode, number400 of the your Digital
Marketing Coach podcast.
Together, we're celebrating amilestone by distilling insights
from my top 25 episodes over mylast 100, which is over the
(00:21):
last two years into seven coredigital marketing themes that I
want to give you my own personalupdates on and make sure you're
focused on for the future,because these can really
supercharge your business.
So if you're ready to level upyour marketing game, get set for
this special episode of theyour Digital Marketing Coach
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Digital social media content influencer, marketing,
blogging, podcasting, vlogging,podcast, professional
entrepreneur or business owner,you need someone you can rely on
for expert advice.
Good thing you've got Neil onyour side, because Neil Schaefer
(01:11):
is your digital marketing coach, helping you grow your business
with digital first marketing,one episode at a time.
This is your digital marketingcoach and this is Neil Schafer.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Hey everybody, welcome to episode number 400.
We did it of the your DigitalMarketing Coach podcast.
I am your digital marketingcoach, neil Schafer, and today
is extra special.
Not only are we celebrating 400episodes, but I want to
highlight the best insights frommy top 25 episodes over the
(01:50):
last 100.
As I am publishingapproximately 50 episodes per
year, episode number 300 waspublished way back on January 10
, 2023, just a little less thantwo months after the emergence
of ChatGPT and we were justgetting out of the coronavirus
pandemic man.
(02:10):
A lot has changed and I rememberwhen I published that 300th
episode, one of my VAs said Neil, this is a huge milestone,
number 300.
And I didn't really do anythingspecial.
So I said 100 episodes.
Later, I'm going to dosomething a little special.
And here we are today.
So these top 25 episodes I meanmaybe some of you have listened
(02:31):
to all of them, maybe you'veonly listened to some of them,
but they've sparkedconversations, inspired action
and hopefully transformed theway you think about digital
marketing.
So, from the cutting edge worldof AI to the art of authentic
content or I should say platformauthentic content for those
that have read digital threads,influencer partnerships and
(02:51):
beyond, I'm going to break downwhat I believe are the seven
most important themes shapingour industry today, and these
are themes that are proven to beimportant because you, with
your downloads, actually votedindirectly to make them my top
25 episodes over the last 100.
So grab your notepad and let'sget started.
(03:14):
Theme number one Well, obviously, batting first, it has to be AI
and, in general, marketingtechnology, so let's kick things
off with that Now.
This theme is built on episodeswhere I pull back the curtain
on the tech that's driving ourdigital strategies, from episode
number 302, where I talkedabout my 42 tools marketing
(03:37):
technology stack for 2023, andthat is still relevant for 2025,
but I gave you a comprehensivelook at my own technology stack,
reminding you to audit yourtech annually.
We then go to episode number320, the 10 AI tools for
marketing that I am using today,showing how AI tools, from
content creation to SEO, aregame changers, and I'm still
(03:58):
using some of those tools today.
I'm going to get to my updatein a moment.
Going to get to my update in amoment.
Episode number 352, 11 takeawaysabout AI and podcasting from
PodFest.
And episode number 364, it'stime to make the AI shift, which
hopefully challenge you to movebeyond buzzwords and fully
embrace AI.
And on top of that, episodenumber 366, 21 ways I use
(04:22):
ChatGPT demonstrated howintegrating AI into your
workflow can boost productivitywhile still keeping that human
touch when done right.
The key takeaway from all thisis well, the future is AI, but
the future is now.
Ai is not here to replace us.
It is here to empower us.
It is here to amplify us.
Take a hard look at your techstack, take a look at your
(04:45):
operations, at your contentcreation process, at your
marketing processes, and askyourself am I leveraging AI to
work smarter, faster and morecreatively?
I will challenge you to becomean AI-first business in 2025.
That is the direction I amgoing, and it's funny because I
just came back from Japan.
Hopefully you follow me onsocial media.
(05:06):
You saw my report about TechGala, which was the Japan's
largest startup event in Nagoya,japan, and I was asked by one
of my friends, who also is aclient of mine, about this video
.
That I did, and the video isactually the video of episode
number 320, the 10 AI tools formarketing that I'm using today,
and back then I was into usingreally specific tools for
(05:29):
specific purposes, but now I amreally focusing on chat GPT.
I am making custom GPTs andchat GPT central to everything I
do.
If you want to use cloud or ifyou want to use part cloud, part
chat GPT, go for it, but I amreally honing in on that and
there are some external toolsthat I use together with it,
like otterai is a tool that Iuse for transcripts from live
(05:53):
streams and podcasts that allowsme to easily repurpose that
content using my own voice andmy own information.
I still use SocialBee as mymain social media scheduler, but
for those of you that know, I'mactually not using and this is
another episode whichunfortunately wasn't a top 25
episode about ditching yoursocial media scheduler but I
tend to use it less and less anduse really publishing directly
(06:17):
in, natively in platforms orusing their native scheduling
features, and you'll have tolisten to that episode if you
want to get the full details.
But really I'm trying to becomemore efficient and part of
becoming more efficient is lessis more is using fewer tools and
trying to get the most bang formy buck for the current tools
that I am using and the numberone tool that I use on a daily
(06:39):
basis, that I use for thelongest time in terms of like
minutes or hours, is definitelyChatGPT.
So if you're not spending, ifyou're not on ChatGPT every day,
or Claude, or Google Gemini,pick your poison you really need
to ask yourself why.
Because if you're in digitalmarketing in 2025, I think all
of your counterparts are alreadythere.
(06:59):
So it's time to make the AIshift.
Listen again to episode number364.
And, in fact, listen to episodenumber 320, the top 10 AI tools
for marketing that I'm usingtoday and you'll see how a lot
of these can now be replicatedin ChatGPT, because it has
become more fully functional.
(07:20):
All right, so theme number twoand it's interesting that these
two are combined together intoone theme, but I think it makes
a lot of sense, and I'll tellyou why.
Theme number two that we shouldall be focusing on is content
marketing and social media.
Why are they together?
It's funny because I'm going tobe teaching a class in Ho Chi
Minh City, vietnam.
(07:40):
It's actually being sponsoredby a Belgian university that has
a collaborative program inVietnam, and the name of the
module is basically contentmarketing and social media.
The content part is puttogether with the social part,
and I'm going to be speakingnext month in Napa Valley for a
multifamily housing industryevent for lack of a better word
(08:02):
and although the event is calledSocial Media Summit, they also
say this is a summit for socialmedia and content marketing,
because you need to have contentin social media.
Now, social media is about waymore than content, but in terms
of the way that this theme islooking, we're really focusing
on the content, including thecontent for social media.
(08:22):
So this theme is really aboutharnessing authenticity and
creativity in your content, andthis is the problem, because AI
beckons us to create AIgenerated content, but that
often will lack the authenticityand often the creativity, in
all honesty, that you can createon your own, although the
(08:43):
creativity part is more valuablewith AI, or I should say, you
can't duplicate the authenticitywith AI, but you might be able
to get some ideation or somecreativity with AI than without
it.
But, that being said, therewere five episodes here, five of
the top 10 of the last twoyears of episodes, number 300 to
(09:06):
399 actually came from thistheme.
In fact, five of the sixepisodes that I'll be talking
about are part of those top 10.
So clearly, this is a themethat you agreed was important.
Going back to the AI andmarketing technology theme.
Two of the top 10 came fromthat theme.
So by far your interest, asindicated by your, as I said,
(09:29):
harnessing authenticity andcreativity in your content.
And the first episode isactually an episode that I
created to help flesh outcontent for a chapter that I
have on what I call platformauthentic social content in
digital thread.
So this is episode number 306,exponentially improve your
social media throughauthentically social content.
(09:51):
And really what I am asking forhere is a return to social
media's original purpose realengaging interactions.
But it's also about creatingcontent that the algorithms want
, that keep people on theplatform, that help you become
friends with the algorithm.
So that's really what that isabout.
And talking about the otherepisodes about content, episode
(10:15):
number 353 was about fromselfies to sales, and this
actually is another episode thatI developed.
This is an interview withKatrin McCauley that is all
about UGC and that I use that asa way to flesh out content from
my chapter on UGC in digitalthreads.
But also episode number 388, 10things marketers can learn from
(10:39):
authors, and really both ofthese episodes whether it's user
generated content or, you know,talking about the way that
authors are marketing themselvesreveal how authenticity and
even literary techniques canrevolutionize your content
strategy.
The other episodes that arereally popular really talk about
different ways of creatingcontent for SEO, for social
(11:04):
media, for the web, right.
So episode number 311, this waswith the godfather of content
marketing, joe Polizzi fiveunconventional content marketing
approaches and hopefully, ifyou listened to that episode and
if you haven't, you should openyour eyes to new ways of
thinking about content.
Episode number 327, masteringContent Creation with Melanie
(11:27):
Diesel, explore the art ofstorytelling and creative
frameworks, and she is theauthor of the Content Fuel
Framework.
Definitely, you know,recommended reading, joe Polizzi
, obviously the author of manybooks on content marketing.
And then I welcome anotherauthor, I should say pair of
authors Martin Hunkback andLindsay Cambridge, and we talked
(11:47):
about building a contentfortress, of really using
content to attract the rightcustomers while filtering out
the noise.
So, on many levels in contentmarketing and social media,
hopefully I had your backcovered and really, in today's
digital age, content isn't justabout frequency.
Hopefully you understand this.
(12:08):
It is about authenticity,strategic storytelling and, I
believe, most importantly,creating genuine connections
with your audience.
This is only going to continueto be important going forward.
Ai does help us craft bettercontent when we use it in the
right way.
So another way that I wouldlean on ChatGPT is see where you
can use it in your contentcreation processes, and really
(12:31):
the idea here is amplify yourknowledge, amplify your IP,
amplify your content creationprocesses, and really the idea
here is amplify your knowledge,amplify your IP, amplify your
content.
Through ChatGPT and by creatingbetter content and freeing up
your time, you can engage morecreatively and more deeply with
people and social media usersthat matter to your company and
that, I think, is really whatthe AI gold rush, or I should
(12:54):
say the benefits that we reapfrom AI, should be all about
that freeing up time so that wecan use that time to engage with
others and develop morerelationships of value in social
media.
All right, theme number threeWell, this podcast, before it
was called your DigitalMarketing Coach, was called
Maximize your Social Influence,because I published a book
(13:14):
called the Age of Influence.
That was my fifth actually myfourth book I'm losing count.
That was published in March of2020 and it was all about
influencer marketing.
So, theme number threeinfluencer and partnership
marketing.
So this is where buildingrelationships and strategic
alliances take center stage, andI believe this is really
(13:35):
important for any business,whether you're a B2B or a B2C.
So three top performingepisodes here that you should
focus on.
If you want to go deeper onthis, episode number 313.
So we have some really goodcoverage here of the three main
topics of influencer andpartnership marketing.
So episode number 313, how todevelop a B2B influencer
(13:56):
marketing program, with TimWilliams, the founder and former
CEO of the definitive, reallydefinitive B2B influencer
marketing company calledAnalytica, out of London in the
UK.
He showed that influencermarketing isn't just for B2C In
fact, it just might be moreimportant, but at least it is a
very, very powerful tool for B2Bbrands as well.
(14:18):
Then we shifted to affiliatemarketing, which you can also
call creator partnerships.
Episode number 361, unlockingthe power of creator
partnerships, with David Yovano,who is the CEO of Impact, who
are one of the leading companiesin affiliate marketing today,
and he highlighted how workingwith the right creators can
actually amplify your brand'sauthenticity.
(14:39):
This is throughinfluencer-generated content
right, which not only getsengagement, builds word of mouth
, but when affiliate marketingis mixed together with it, you
get the best of both worlds andit's really a win-win-win.
Together with it, you get thebest of both worlds and it's
really a win-win-win.
Then we switch to pure B2C.
(15:02):
Episode number 377, the newrules of TikTok influencer
marketing.
And this is with my friend,david Moffitt from Kumo Space,
where he broke down innovative,performance-based approaches
that are reshaping theinfluencer landscape, especially
on platforms like TikTok.
Really really fascinatinginterview if you haven't heard
that one.
So the key takeaway here is,when you choose your influencer
partners wisely, you're not justbuying reach, you're building
(15:24):
long-term, authenticrelationships that can
significantly boost your brand'scredibility and engagement.
Today, influencer marketing aswe know it is mainstream.
Leveraging UGC and this reallygoes into theme number two or
having a brand ambassadorprogram, isn't as mainstream as
it could be, and that is where Iwould be focusing my efforts
(15:46):
around this theme in 2025.
Pick up a copy of DigitalThreads, because I have
dedicated chapters for UGC andbrand ambassadorships and
another one for externalinfluencers.
But these are all sort ofinterconnected.
The threads weave through themand I think really being
successful in social media, inaddition to the platform
authentic content, really comesdown to how you master these
(16:08):
concepts in your marketing.
So theme number four is goingto be a little bit broader.
I think, going forward, thesethemes are a little bit broader.
They cover a lot of differentthings, but four is about
branding and marketing strategy.
In fact, defining it evenfurther.
We really dive into branding,messaging and behavioral science
(16:30):
.
So here we blend creativelywith psychology to build brands
that resonate.
These brands aren't justcorporate brands, they're
personal brands as well.
So episode number 323, usingbehavioral science and marketing
, with Nancy Harhut, the authorof the book of the same name,
taught us how psychologicalprinciples can inform smarter
(16:53):
marketing strategies.
A fantastic episode.
If you haven't listened to it.
Episode number 330, finding yourmarketing purpose with Ikigai,
a Japanese concept whichhopefully inspired you to align
your work with your personalmission finding joy and purpose
in what you do.
I actually recorded that rightafter coming back from my final
(17:15):
meeting with my developmentaleditor for Digital Threads in
Berlin, germany, and I found thebook at the Berlin airport.
It was a bestseller, so Ipicked it up.
It's actually an old book aboutIkigai, but it really struck a
deep chord with me and it isreally the reason why I create
content.
Right, I hope it's useful foryou, but I'm not going for the
(17:35):
number of downloads, the numberof likes, the number of contents
, the number of website visits.
It really is my ikigai to serveright through this content and
I hope it is serving you and Ihope if it sounds interesting
what I'm talking about that youwill go listen to that episode
as well, because the concept isreally a fantastic concept that
is not just for business butactually for your entire
personal life as well.
(17:56):
Then episode number 32, 15Elements of a Successful
Personal Brand and this is outof a module that I teach at UCLA
Extension, which is also sortof a preview of this upcoming
book that I'm working on aboutpersonal branding, and I really
in that episode, broke down thecomponents of a standout
personal brand.
So that is, over the last 100episodes, my most definitive
(18:18):
episode on personal branding.
If that is of interest to you,definitely check that out.
We then had episode number 347,the Secret to Brand Love with
Dr Aaron Ahuvia, professor overat University of Michigan, also
the author of the definitivebook on brand love, and he
explored how emotional bonds canturn customers into lifelong
(18:39):
advocates Really fascinatingconversation.
Then episode number 387, alittle bit more recently, we had
the power of clearcommunication in digital
marketing with author andprofessor Ben Gutmann.
In digital marketing with authorand professor Ben Gutmann,
which reinforced that clarityand simplicity in messaging are
essential for connecting withyour audience.
The key takeaway here is that apowerful brand is built on
(19:03):
clear, authentic messaging andan understanding of human
behavior.
Your brand should speak withpurpose, resonate emotionally
and ultimately build trust, andyou do this through everything
you do online through yourcontent, through your branding,
through if you have messaging inDMs, whatever it is right it
(19:23):
really should permeateeverything you do as part of
your DNA.
Now, compared to the otherthings we talk about, this theme
of branding and messagingmarketing strategy, behavioral
science really is an evergreentopic that I think the more we
study, the better we get at it.
If there's anything new herefor me and the theme that I want
(19:44):
you to focus on, it really isthe personal branding, and if
you are a small business ownerand entrepreneur, it's your
personal branding on socialmedia that's actually going to
help your business.
Is digital marketing, yeah, andthat's a really important
concept that I'm working onfleshing out for my next book.
You're going to have to staytuned, but I'm really excited to
cover that, but that is reallya core concept that I don't
(20:06):
think is talked about enoughthat I want you to focus on in
2025 and beyond.
All right, theme number five.
This was a clear-cut winnerMarketing automation and sales,
and really specificallymarketing automation.
So this is the fifth theme andit's all about making your
processes work for you.
Two episodes really stood outhere.
In fact, I only think I did twoepisodes on marketing
(20:29):
automation over the last 100,which is a hint that maybe I
should do more.
But episode number 338, how toincrease sales through creative
marketing automation and this isa chapter that I recorded to
help me flesh out content for mychapter on marketing automation
, or the different things youcan automate in digital threads.
Definitely, if you haven't readdigital threads, obviously you
(20:51):
should be picking up a copy, buteven if you have, I think
you'll enjoy that episode.
Episode number 359 was with myfriend, amanda Northcutt, and it
was called Marketing AutomationSimplified how to Level Up your
Digital Business, and sheillustrated how automation can
free you up to focus on growthwhile still delivering
(21:11):
exceptional customer experiences.
There's a little bit of aparallel between leveraging AI
more and doing more marketingautomation, because marketing
automation is not AI, it's noteven machine learning, really,
it's more dumbed down than that.
But the idea is that if we doit well enough, it can replace
us to a certain extent marketingautomation I think to a bigger
(21:32):
extent and free up our time,increase our efficiency so that
we can do more strategic andhigher value-added things.
So obviously, the marketingautomation is not going away.
Even the cheapest of emailmarketing software tools are
adding various types ofmarketing automation.
The key here is are youleveraging everything that you
can do with it?
And that's my question for you.
(21:53):
So one of the key takeaway hereis embracing automation as a
vital component of your digitalmarketing strategy.
This goes above and beyond justcollecting an email list right.
It's not about losing the humantouch.
It's about freeing up your timeto focus on strategy,
creativity and buildingrelationships.
And when marketing automationis done right, the person
(22:13):
receiving the message literallydoes not know that it was
automated.
And I am sure you and me haveboth received messages coming
from sophisticated marketingautomation funnels that we would
have never guessed weredeveloped through marketing
automation.
All right.
Theme number six this is a.
I think the last two themes aregoing to be very general, but
(22:33):
business growth and leadership.
So growth is a blend ofstrategy, collaboration and
smart leadership, and there weretwo, and this goes sort of
above and beyond just digitalmarketing.
I like to mix up the interviewsometimes to have a broader
topic as well, and obviouslybecause these episodes were
(22:54):
popular, they resonated with you.
Episode number 371, unlockingBusiness Potential with
Ecosystem-Led Growth with BobMoore from Crossbeam showed us
the power of collaborative dataand partnerships.
Think of sharing Facebookpixels between partner companies
to expand your reach but whatBob talked about was way more
(23:14):
than that.
So if that is of interest,definitely give that a listen.
And then episode number 373,master delegation and
outsourcing for marketing andbusiness growth, with one of my
fave peeps, who's also a author,dave Kirpin, better known for
likable books that he's writtenand likable social.
Emphasize that as you scale,and especially if you're a
(23:35):
solopreneur like myself,mastering delegation and
outsourcing is critical tosustaining growth.
It is why I have a chapter onoutsourcing in digital threads.
It is that important.
So the key takeaway here isbusiness growth isn't just about
new tools or tactics.
It's about smart leadership,effective delegation and
building an ecosystem thatempowers everyone whether they
(23:57):
work inside your company, theywork at a partner company or
they are a contractor tocontribute to your success.
And then we have and this issomething where I think we can
lean in more in 2025, right,lean in more to outsourcing, to
delegation, to ecosystems, topartnerships, and there's a lot
(24:18):
of different ways we can do that.
Maybe I'll have to cover thatin future episodes.
If you don't know how to dothat, please contact me,
neilneilschafercom.
I'll give you some advice.
But even when I use AI, I amfinding that a combination of AI
and outsourcing is giving methe results I want.
So I'll give you an example.
I was trying out a tool and Iprobably mentioned this tool in
(24:39):
one of those top AI toolepisodes called Opus Pro, and
Opus Pro for those that haven'theard of it, I assume a lot of
you have you can feed an hour or30 minute interview, you know
YouTube interview or Zoominterview, and it will, just,
you know, pump out like 30different 30 to 60 second videos
that you can use as short formvideos and social media.
(24:59):
It sounds great and it offers alot of automated video editing
features, which makes it abreeze.
But the problem is the outputisn't always that good in terms
of the clips that it selects andalso it allows you to do some
things like add captions prettyeasily and center the person
speaking and add some B-roll,but there's some other things
(25:20):
that it doesn't allow you to doso.
I have basically used otterai tocreate transcription scripts or
actually transcripts.
Why am I trying toovercomplicate the concept and
then feed those in the chat GPT,create a custom GPT to try to
use chat GPT to try to find themost interesting, engaging,
(25:41):
educational moments that I canrepurpose, then with timestamps
and then leveraging a guy that Iuse on Fiverr very effectively,
with high quality andinexpensively be able to create
those videos.
Is it more expensive than usingOpenScript?
Absolutely Is the quality a lotbetter, absolutely expensive
(26:03):
than using Opus Clip?
Absolutely, is the quality alot better, absolutely.
So that is a way where I use AIto help me find really quickly
those areas that I then reviewand then approve, and then I
have someone manually create thevideo or edit the video, which
is going to be better and giveme more diverse editing options
than just an AI tool like OpusPro can provide me.
So hopefully that gives yousome insight into ways you can
(26:23):
leverage AI to get you 90% ofthe way there.
It doesn't have to get you 100%of the way there and then use
outsourcing to get you theremaining 10% of the way there.
All right.
Theme number seven visibilityand discoverability.
No matter how great yourcontent or brand is, you need to
be found.
This theme becomes reallyimportant with the emergence of
(26:46):
generative search AI.
Now, this is something that Imentioned in episode number 392.
I talk at length of this thekey to becoming more
discoverable in 2025, which laidout what I believe are
forward-thinking strategies toensure you remain visible as the
digital landscape evolves.
And then episode number 383, myfriend, dennis Yu, provided
(27:09):
practical tips on optimizingyour digital presence in a
similar vein, but he reallyfocused on boosting your online
visibility with Google knowledgepanels and social media signals
, with Google knowledge panelsand social media signals.
Now I recorded episode number392 because I've seen over time
that traffic from ChatGPT isgoing up and if I look at my
(27:31):
traffic for the last 90 days,I'm currently getting more
traffic from Bing than Google,and this is clearly a sign that,
with the Google helpful contentupdate, for some reason, google
is just ranking my site lowermanually is really the only
conclusion I can come up with.
We then have, if I'm going to gothrough and I'm not going to
like, put direct and not set in,but if I keep going down we
(27:53):
have duck duck go as numberthree, interestingly enough,
convert kit, which is my emailservice provider, so I do tend
to send emails with links thatgenerates traffic there.
And then there's ChatGPT,number five, right, getting more
traffic than any social mediasite, and it's also getting way
more leads, and I consider alead anyone who downloads a lead
(28:14):
magnet.
I mean, I'm getting 11 timesmore leads from ChatGPT than I
do from DuckDuckGo, which hasmaybe 20% 25% more traffic.
Yahoo, interestingly enough, itwill be right below ChatGPT and
I'm not getting any of thesefrom them.
The leads I get from ChatGPTare equivalent to the number
(28:34):
that I'm getting from Pinterest,which will be the next source,
right below Yahoo.
So that's why it's becomingreally important to understand
that going forward, in order tobe discoverable, we really need
to understand the way, and infact, I see that there's another
entry for ChatGPT, which ismaybe number 11.
So I didn't combine thesenumbers, but two of my top 12 or
(28:57):
13 are ChatG TPT related, sothat should give you an idea.
So you know, the key takeawayhere is it's not enough to
create amazing content.
You must also ensure that youraudience can find you.
It's about investing in SEO,refining your online presence
and keeping up with platformupdates to stay discoverable and
, I think, most importantly in2025, understanding that large
(29:20):
language models are looking foryour mentions everywhere.
Right?
So we really have come backinto the era of digital PR, and
it's funny because right now andI mentioned this on episode
number 392 as well, but I'llgive you an update so I only
interview 25 people a year forthis podcast, but until well, I
(29:45):
should say from January 1st toFebruary 12th, I have already
had 39 people in five weeks well, six weeks reach out to want to
be interviewed on my podcast.
That is literally like one aday, and it actually doesn't
include Podmatch people pitchingme there, and that is the main
platform right now where I amfocusing my podcast efforts.
(30:06):
So, yeah, podcasting is hot,and I think it's hot because
people are realizing that with apodcast interview comes a
YouTube live stream, comes aLinkedIn live stream, comes
Facebook live.
The content gets archived.
It is then obviously picked upby LLMs.
It goes into Apple Podcasts,there's short-form videos
created, there's a LinkedInnewsletter created.
(30:26):
Now there's a backlink onpodcastneilschafercom.
In terms of digital PRpodcasting, especially because
so many podcasts like my own atleast 50% of my episodes are
based on interviews, you can seehow that can help in your
digital discoverability.
Hint, hint.
So there you have it.
These are the seven mostimportant digital marketing
(30:49):
themes, distilled from my top 25episodes of my last 100
episodes, from episode number300 all the way to 399.
So today I think, and hopefullyyou agree, that we journeyed
through this transformativeworld of AI and technology,
hopefully uncovering the powerof authentic content and
(31:10):
influencer partnerships andexploring how strong branding,
automation, leadership andvisibility are the cornerstones
of success in our digital firstworld.
Visibility are the cornerstonesof success in our digital first
world.
Episode number 400 to me is atestament to our shared journey
of learning, experimenting andgrowing together.
I hope you're leaving withactionable insights, not just
(31:34):
from this episode, but fromevery episode, that you can
apply right away to elevate yourbusiness.
If you enjoyed this episode, Iwould love to hear from you If
you would like me to hear, or Ishould from you.
If you would like me to hear,or I should say if you'd like me
to record more episodes oncertain of these seven themes,
I'd like to hear from you aswell.
Obviously, my email address isneil at neilschafercom the real
neil, please any al, not any il,and you can find me anywhere on
(31:56):
social with neil schafer and,in fact, you can go to my
website, neilschafercom.
But, hey, please subscribe,leave a review, share your
thoughts on which theme hasimpacted you the most.
As always, I love hearing fromyou.
Tag me on social, drop me amessage on my website.
However you want to reach outto me.
So until next time, here is to100 more episodes when hopefully
(32:18):
, when I get to episode number500, it'll be the year 2027.
Wow, what will AI look likethen?
I can't wait.
I hope you can't wait, butuntil then, it's not about
looking inside the crystal balland becoming a fortune teller
and trying to figure out whatthe future is going to look like
.
It's really about keeping itreal, authentic and always
(32:40):
forward thinking.
Until next time, this is NeilSchaefer, your digital marketing
coach.
Thank you for listening andlet's continue together to push
the boundaries of what'spossible in digital marketing.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
You've been listening to your digital marketing coach
.
Questions, comments, requests,links go to
podcastneilschafercom.
Get the show notes to this and200 plus podcast episodes at
neilschafercom to tap into the400 plus blog posts that Neil
has published to support yourbusiness.
(33:14):
While you're there, check outNeil's digital first group
coaching membership community ifyou or your business needs a
little helping hand.
See you next time on yourdigital marketing coach.
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