Marketing Guru Neil Patel: "Blogs Are Taking Over" (and btw Use Kajabi)
May 02, 2019
Neil Patel Says You MUST Blog. He asked what do we think has helped him the most in building his brand? Answer: Blogging
Top-of-the-line speakers dishing out so many "a-ha!" moments! Did you hear about the Kajabi "Impact Summit"? It was an amazing event held in Irvine, CA from April 5-7, 2019. It included the top authors, speakers, and entrepreneurs all on one stage teaching how to grow your online business.
As a Kajabi Ambassador, it was a no-brainer that I'd attend and, boy, am I glad I did. It was an amazing experience I'll never forget!! Now that I'm back, I'm writing all about it - to share the information I gleaned and to encourage you to attend next year!
Without further adieu, here are my notes from Neil's talk at the Kajabi Impact Summit ...
"7 Shortcuts to Becoming a Global Brand" by Neil Patel
Introduction to Neil Patel
Jonathan "JCron" Cronstedt, Kajabi President, did the honors of introducing Neil Patel, saying that he is known as “a top influencer on the web” (Wall Street Journal) and has built a global brand, yet he’s the most affable person ever. JCron told a funny story about his father-in-law Joe, who loves online marketing, and always wants to talk about it. So JCron was worried about Joe when going out to dinner with Neil.
They came up with a story that Neil was a florist, in Vegas for a floral convention, and that JCron helps him with his marketing and Neil completely played along during the dinner. The next day, they told Joe to Google "Neil Patel" and JCron’s father-in-law still hasn’t forgiven him :D. (Neil confirmed, "True story." He eventually had dinner at Joe's house and answered his marketing questions).
How to Build a Global Brand - With Shortcuts
Over 17 years, Neil built a brand by accident. He has learned what works and doesn't, and he'll tell us how to do it more quickly.
He gets million-dollar offers from other companies about once a year but he just wants to "Netflix and chill" - NOT the common meaning! He and his wife are on opposite ends of the couch, she's watching TV, he's on his laptop. No one's talking. It's great.
Your brand is your moat so invest in it - keeps others from being able to storm your castle and take it down.
A personal brand allows you to do better than your competition. People choose him over other great agencies because of his well-established brand. Clients know he’s not personally doing the work but they hire the agency because of his name and he's known for marketing.
Neil Patel Says You MUST Blog
Neil asked what do we think has helped him the most in building his brand? Answer: Blogging
He asked for a show of hands. "In Kajabi, you guys can blog. How many of you are blogging in Kajabi?" (It looked like only about 10% raised their hands). "That's a big mistake that I don't see all of your hands being raised."
"Kajabi has everything that you need. They even do emails for you."
Neil was using another e-mail marketing system but was able to save $1,000/month by moving his email to Kajabi.
7 Facts About Building a Brand
Fact 1: You need a blog and here’s why
Paid advertising is good and can be profitable.
Google Ads - have more spend than Facebook ads and higher conversion because of intent; people are in Google because they're looking to do something whereas on Facebook they're not looking to buy; you have to sell them.
Return on marketing spend - the highest is SEO; content marketing is cheap or "free".
The #1 channel to discover your business, product, or course is Google - it prefers to rank "blogs" - then Facebook is #2.
"Blogs are taking over. You guys can all do this. It's fully built in to Kajabi. There's no excuse and it doesn't cost you a dollar more."
Blog at least once a week. Blogging builds brands, drives traffic, and drives sales.
How to Get Started Blogging
Blog 1x/week
It's all about the headline - 8 of 10 read them, 2 of 10 click them; make them “pick up the magazine”; educate first
Keep paragraphs short, 5 to 6 lines
Fact 2: You have to take an omni-channel approach
Neil gave the example of Expedia testing advertising on every channel simultaneously and their acquisition cost actually went down by double-digit percentiles.
What channels should you go after?
43% of his revenue comes from his blog (has 8 total channels he regularly publishes to including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, podcast)
Fact 3: Be yourself
He's not Gary Vee or Tony Robbins
3 things about Neil:
- He's very private, doesn't share photos of his family or discuss them much (Gary Vee doesn't either)
- He's techie and nerdy
- He's quirky
His Instagram is not super-personal; "It looks like someone else is creating it, right? .... That is true." (This got a huge laugh; his comedic timing is impeccable). His team posts quote images that they pull from his videos.
What are you good at? What are your quirks? You gotta' be you. You'll do better and your brand will build faster.
Fact 4: Video is one of the best ways to build a brand
He loads videos to YouTube > LinkedIn > Facebook > IGTV = more views
He ranks #1 on YouTube for term "SEO" after only about a year of uploading videos; gets more views for searches on his name than even SEO > that’s branding.
A video on Facebook - seen once
A video on YouTube - seen again and again because someone is searching (vs. it just maybe coming across their feed)
YouTube tips
Catchy headline
Use keywords
Use push notifications
Longer videos; 5-minute videos are too short, don't work; YouTube wants to keep people on their site
Use social media
Fact 5: Get personal to build a personal brand
Neil asked, “What’s the best way to build a personal connection with someone?”
Conferences, whether you speak or attend; speak at 4 conferences/year
Live video; go live 3x/week; engage people during and answer their questions
Fact 6: Repurposing gets you more mileage
Take quotes from your videos, posts, etc. and make a graphic to share
Include your face, your quote, your URL
Post repeatedly
Fact 7: You have to put in the time
Once you have it, you can keep going well from it for a long time. If you stop building, people will slowly forget about you.
People are more likely to resonate with you once they see you 7x - the rule of 7 - so post across all channels.
Neil shared this relevant quote: "There are 3 types of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who are wondering what happened."
Q&A
During the Q&A portion at the end of his presentation, Neil responded to 5 audience members about things like how to grow or re-grow your authority in your niche, etc.
As a huge advocate of blogging on Kajabi, this was my favorite quote:
"Oh, my blog! I need all these plugins and all that." You don't need that. That stuff just slows down your blog. You need an amazing blog. Kajabi has more than the basics. It has all the necessities you need. The key is the outreach. It's not about, "Oh, what about my blog design? How does it look?" That doesn't matter as much as sending out emails, getting people to share your content.”
Listen to Neil and Start Using Your Kajabi Blog
So there you have it! Those are from my notes on Neil Patel's presentation at the Kajabi Impact Summit (April 2019). I did condense them down for readability; there were a lot more tips, information, and funny stories. If you ever get the chance to hear Neil speak, or the chance to attend the Kajabi Impact Summit, I highly recommend both!
Neil's message was one of my favorites at the Summit because I completely agree with his wholehearted belief in the power of blogging. Over the years, you might have heard "blogging is dead" or "blogging is a waste of time; just do video or Facebook Lives." I've never fallen for that because I've seen what the power of blogging has helped me achieve in several of my businesses over the years and those of countless others.
But if you won't listen to me, maybe you'll listen to world-renowned marketer Neil Patel: Start using your Kajabi blog! 😂
xo,
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