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charly-ra · 4 years

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B2B Content Marketing for SaaS Companies: 4 Keys to Success

SaaS companies face unique challenges when it comes to content marketing strategy. Though customer retention is critical across industries, SaaS depends on the recurring revenue of active users. For that reason, the buyer’s journey looks a little different than others, and there’s a greater focus placed on turning your active users into loyal advocates for the brand.

In this post, I’ll cover tips for creating content for SaaS brands and how to maximize the value of the content you produce:

1. Establish Clear Buyer Personas

For SaaS companies, the retention of existing users is even more important than acquiring new customers. Once a customer signs on, businesses need to showcase the value of their software ongoing – not just with the use case that got them in the door, but with the sort of value it brings months or even years down the line.

Understanding the pain points along the various stages of the buyer’s journey, from awareness to advocacy, is the first stage of the content creation process, and something every company that wants to be profitable should be aware of:

What are the issues that lead someone to start researching technology in the first place?

What challenges will they face once they start to evaluate different vendors?

What about months down the line: Does your tech bring enough value to make it through the reevaluation phase one year after signing on?

Your content strategy needs to address these specific challenges and deliver it to relevant audiences at the right time, through the right channels. Which leads me to my next point:

2. Create Content for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

From blog posts and infographics to eBooks and case studies, be sure to create content that supports the buyer’s journey through each phase. Let’s use information security as an industry example to explore keyword research and content ideas:

Awareness/Consideration

Potential users in the awareness phase are just starting out their research. They’ll likely be looking for answers to questions as broad as:

Why is cybersecurity important?

What are the benefits of having a dedicated infosec vendor?

What are the risks associated with not having an infosec vendor?

What level of security do I need?

This is where blog content and infographics great; they allow you to address more general concerns and challenges associated with your product suite without being overly sales-y or getting too into the weeds.

Take advantage of keyword tools like Keyword Planner or SEMRush to find queries related to your industry, or just take a look at Google search results. The “People also ask” and “Searches related to…” sections provide great topic ideas to reach those just starting out on their journey.

For users coming into the awareness phase with a little more knowledge about the industry and vendors in the space, case studies are key to show how your product contributes to revenue, efficiency and more.

Actionable gated content is also important to this phase of the journey. Higher value assets like eBooks and webinars allow you to start the lead nurturing process that will ideally lead to a sale. Consider crafting industry-specific guides (i.e., how to choose the right infosec vendor for healthcare) or hosting webinars with a trusted industry leader.

Decision

During the decision phase, potential users transition from general information gathering to figuring out the nuts and bolts: vendor comparisons, product data sheets, and pricing information.

What makes your technology stand out among the competition; what are your specific value props? Not all of this information should be gated, but make sure there’s visibility into how users are navigating through the site so sales reps can follow up accordingly with more specific information.

Retention/Advocacy

For SaaS companies, customer retention is critical. How do you prove your value months or even years down the line from the initial sign-up? Though many may focus their strategy on content that gets people through the door or helps support the sale process, don’t forget about your existing customers.

Consider a specific section of your resource section meant for existing customers. Moz has the perfect example of this with a “help” section where you can troubleshoot common issues, find specific features, and manage account details like invoicing. Create content that encourages your users to truly become masters and advocates for your product.

Interview long-standing customers and turn that into a blog series or a case study about how to maximize the value of your product in the long term.

Keep a record of all software updates & documentation, including benefits and new features that have rolled out over time.

Create a training section for your website where users can further their knowledge of your software’s capabilities.

Consider a reward program for users that refer your software to other companies.

Another consideration for the retention and advocacy phase is content distribution. You don’t need to rely on search engines to serve the perfect content up to prospects – you already know how to contact them.

Use a monthly newsletter to explain recent software updates, share content that explores how to use your product in new ways, and encourage two-way communication between the company and users. Your existing users likely have feedback and/or ideas about how to make the technology better – take advantage of this!

3. Repurpose Content Across Channels

Just because you spent time interviewing a subject matter expert and decided to write a blog post with it doesn’t mean you can’t turn it into an eBook down the line – in fact, it might extend the value you’ve seen. Quality content is key to success, and chances are your team is putting in a lot of effort into the creation process. Take advantage of the various distribution channels and content types at your disposal:

Use an email newsletter to share the latest blog content; include a transcription for users on the go who would prefer to listen vs. read

Turn that in-depth blog post into an eBook and a slide share

Transcribe a webinar and post it on the blog

Share content on social media and tag influencers who may be interested in reposting

4. Revisit and Optimize Existing Content

SaaS companies should be agile; technology is continuously evolving and improving. However, this opens the potential that content can become outdated, even fairly quickly. With all companies, it’s smart to audit legacy content to determine if anything needs to be removed or refreshed based on new functionalities or features – but it’s especially true for SaaS.

Not only does this process have the potential to improve organic visibility, but it also ensures your brand messaging is consistent and accurate. In a recent post, I highlighted the steps of reviewing and refreshing content.

Review content performance first, identify anything that’s underperforming and determine whether the content is still valuable. If, for instance, the post has good meat but is talking about an outdated version of the software it’s worth revisiting, adding in new features and functionality, and updating the date of publishing.

Final Thoughts

What other tips do you have for creating a successful SaaS content marketing strategy? We’d love to hear your ideas – Connect with us on Twitter!

from http://bit.ly/2HN3Skt

#Digital Marketing

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samuelpboswell · 5 years

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How to Promote Your B2B Podcast

Over 1/4th of the entire population of the United States listens to podcasts at least monthly. That's over 81 million people. What's more, the most avid listeners log six and a half hours a week of listening time. Eighty percent finish every episode in its entirety. There's enormous potential here for engaging an audience. Think about how long someone might stick with a 1,000 word blog post (like this one). Five minutes? Ten? But they might listen to a 25-30 minute podcast on the same topic. Podcasting holds a lot of promise for marketers, especially in the B2B space. Our agency has helped multiple B2B Fortune 500 companies produce and find an audience for their podcasts. It takes strategy and coordination, but the barrier to entry is relatively low. Of course, "making" the podcast is the easy part. As with any content, the challenge is successfully getting it to your target audience. Here are a few things we've learned about B2B podcasting promotion through our production and amplification work.

How to Promote Your B2B Podcast

Some of the tactics you will use to amplify your podcast are familiar, but the channel does have unique properties that require new approaches. We’ll start with adapting traditional tactics, then we’ll finish with the podcast-specific ones.

Adapting Traditional Promotional Tactics for B2B Podcasts

#1: Start with Audience Demand As with any content, your podcast should begin with research. See what questions your audience has, what they need to know, and what they want to hear. Aim to generate a topic list that highlights your brand’s expertise and your subject matter experts’ insights to create something of value to your audience. Once your research is complete, it's also well-worth documenting your findings, goals, and promotional plans in a creative brief. This will serve as a guide as you go forth and create. For Podcasts: Stay closer to top-of-funnel with your podcast ideas. It’s far better to educate, inspire, and entertain your audience than to try and sell them something. A 25-minute-long advertisement for your solution is likely to drive people away. #2: Add Influencers for Amplification We’re big believers in influencer marketing, and we have plenty of results to back that up. When you co-create content with influencers you get higher-quality, dynamic content that has built-in amplification. Here's an example from 3M's* Science Champions podcast, featuring the brand's own amplification of a recent episode as well as the influencer interviewee's amplification. For Podcasts: We've often found that many industry influencers and experts would rather do an audio interview than a written one. So it should be easy to get experts whom you have a solid relationship with to commit to a 30-minute interview, which can be recorded and processed into a podcast. If you're looking to work with new folks in the field, we recommend taking the time to nurture the relationship (e.g. like and share their social content, engage them in conversation on social or their blogs, or reach out via email to introduce yourself and let them know you're a fan of their work) before reaching out cold. Another way to incorporate an influential voice and extend the potential reach of your podcast is to tap industry influencers to host or co-host the podcast. The Dell Luminaries* podcast is a great example of this, featuring two thought leaders as hosts: Seasoned marketer and author Mark Schaefer and marketing and technology strategist Douglas Karr. When it comes to conducting the interview, use a tool like Zencastr to make sure you get high-quality audio. Unsurprisingly, audio quality is absolutely critical for a podcast endeavor. #3: Use Internal Promotion to Boost Awareness If you’re at an enterprise-level organization, you have a built-in audience. Encourage your employees to listen to each episode and share it with their social networks. For Podcasts: The first 2-3 weeks after publication are a crucial time to get your podcast seen. In addition to listening and sharing, encourage employees to write a review on iTunes and other podcast platforms. Reviews, especially on iTunes, play a big part in determining which podcasts the platform recommends to its existing users. #4: Optimize for Search As with written content, you’ll want to make sure you’re including keywords, a compelling visual, and a descriptive title on each episode. Use keyword research tools, existing analytics data, and other appropriate tools and resources to determine a list of target words. Then, test them out on podcast platform search engines to make sure you’re hitting the right intent. For Podcasts: Since search engines can’t crawl your audio, it’s doubly important to make every word count on your podcast description and title, episode descriptions and titles, and what categories you choose in podcast directories.

Podcast-Specific Promotion Tactics

#1: Publish Transcripts as Blog Posts As I said above, search engines can’t crawl audio. And competition is fierce for visibility on podcast platforms like iTunes and Google Play. You can use your blog to help drive subscriptions, which will help your podcast gain traction. Make a post for each episode with a summary, key takeaways, and full transcription. Embed the podcast stream on the post, and make the CTA to subscribe to the podcast. #2: Commit to a Cadence Podcast promotion is all about building a habit for your audience. You want them to subscribe, stay subscribed, and listen to every episode. To make that happen, you need to publish consistently. It’s better to post an episode every two weeks for a year than to publish weekly and take a 6-month hiatus at the end. It’s best to start with at least three episodes available for download (required to make Apple’s New and Notable list) and several more to act as a buffer. Then you can determine the cadence that will enable you to publish without pausing. #3: Submit to Podcast Directories Much of your initial subscriber base will likely come from your existing audience, through your blog posts. But the goal is to build a subscriber base wherever people listen to podcasts, so you can capture a net new audience. To that end, it’s important to register your podcast with Apple Podcasts, Google Play Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher, and Podbean. These platforms together account for the vast majority of podcast listeners. Registration on each of these services is free, and it makes finding your podcast a seamless experience for every user. #4: Look for Cross-Promotional Opportunities The majority of people who listen to podcasts don’t just listen to one. In fact, it seems the more podcasts someone listens to, the more likely they are to try out a new one. So you’re not trying to lure people away from someone else’s podcast to listen to yours — it’s not a zero sum game. Podcasting is therefore less competitive than other media might be. It’s worth checking with established podcasts to see if there are opportunities for cross-promotion. Subject matter experts in your company could appear on their podcast, or you could interview another host in a relevant industry for yours. Either way, both of your podcasts gain exposure to a new audience.

Rise of the Pod People

Podcasting is one of the biggest marketing opportunities for B2B businesses right now. Even as saturated as the B2C market is, there’s still room for new breakout stars. By comparison, the B2B space has even more room to grow. It’s a channel that has yet to suffer from fatigue or content shock. As a content marketer, much of what you already know about content applies to promoting podcasts: Be relevant, be valuable, work with influencers, promote on social media, etc. With a few new tactics combined with the old standbys, you can make sure your podcast has everything it needs to find a long-term sustainable audience. Want to find out more about B2B podcasting and whether it's a fit for your B2B brand? Learn the what, why, and how of B2B podcasting by checking out my post on the subject. *Disclosure: Dell and 3M are TopRank Marketing clients.

The post How to Promote Your B2B Podcast appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OnlineMarketingSEOBlog/~3/sMAGOvqmufs/

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leadvalets · 5 years

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St Louis SEO and Web Marketing - LeadValets 314-561-7101 www.leadvalets.com

One Of Googles Own Product Managers basically says what we have been trying to say for years! Here is the video above and the transcript is below:

hi I'm Maile Ohye and I work with Google search I like to share advice to help you hire a useful SEO and prevent hiring a bad SEO. One who you might pay a lot of money without positive results or even worse one who implements shady practices on your website that result in a reduction in search rankings. SEO stands for search engine optimization – some SEO seems like black magic having worked with Google search for over a decade what I've learned is that first it's not black magic and second if you want long-term success there aren't any quick magical tricks that an SEO will provide so that your site ranks number one. it's important to note that an SEO potential is only as high as the quality of your business or website so successful SEO helps your website put your best foot forward so that it ranks appropriately in the spot where an unbiased potential customer would expect your site to be seen a successful SEO also looks to improve the entire searcher experience from search results to clicking on your website and potentially converting a good SEO will recommend best practices for a search friendly site from basic things like descriptive page titles for a blog or small business to more complex things like language markup for a multilingual global site SEO is ensure that you're serving your online customers a good experience especially those coming from a search engine and that your site is helpful whether they're using a desktop computer or mobile phone in most cases the SEO will need four months to a year to help your business first implement improvements and then see potential benefit my strongest advice when working with an SEO is to request if they corroborate their recommendation with a documented statement from Google either in a Help Center article video or Google a response in a forum that supports both one the SEO description of the issue that needs to be improved to help with ranking and to the approach they prescribed to accomplishing this tasks requesting these two bits of information will help prevent hiring a poor SEO who might otherwise convince you to do useless things like add more words to the keyword meta tag or by links because if you search for google advice on this topic you'd see blog posts and videos from us that clearly explain that adding keywords to the meta tag wouldn't help furthermore while google uses links for page rank our documentation highlights that we strongly advise against the approach of buying links for the purpose of increasing page rank one basic rule is that in a majority of cases doing what's good for SEO is also doing what's good for your online customers things like having a mobile-friendly website good navigation and building a great brand additionally if you're a more established brand with complicated legacy systems then good search friendly best practices likely involved paying off some of your site's technical debt such as updating your infrastructure so that your website is agile and able to implement features faster in the long term if you own a small local business

you can probably do the initial work yourself check out our 30-minute video series on how to build an online presence for your local business now if you still believe you want to hire an SEO here's a general process one conduct a two way interview with your potential SEO check that they seem generally interested in you and your business to check their references three act four and you'll probably have to pay for a technical and search audit 4 decide if you want to hire let's break this down and start with step 1 conduct a two-way interview in the interview here are some things to look for a good SEO doesn't focus only on search engine ranking but how they can help your business so they should ask questions like what makes your business content and/or service unique and therefore valuable to customers they want to know this information to make sure it's highlighted on your website for your current and potential new audience - what does your common customer look like and how do they currently find your website 3 how does your business make money and how can search help for what other channels are you using offline advertising social networks 5 who are your competitors what do they do well online and potentially offline if the SEO doesn't seem interested in learning about your business from a holistic standpoint look elsewhere it's difficult to do good SEO without knowing about a business's goals their customers and other existing marketing efforts SEO should complement your existing work the second step in hiring an SEO is to check references if your potential SEO provides prior clients be sure to check their references you want to hear from past clients that the SEO was able to provide useful guidance and worked effectively with their developers designers UX researchers and our marketers a good SEO should feel like someone you can work with learn from experiment with and who generally cares about you and your business not just getting your site the highest rank as ultimately those techniques rarely last long if they work at all they'll want to educate you and your staff on how search engines work so that SEO becomes part of your general business operations step 3 is to request a technical and search audit if you trust your SEO candidate give them restricted view not full or right access to your Google search console data and even your analytics data before they actually modify anything on your website have them conduct a technical and search audit to

give you a prioritized list of what they think should be improved for SEO if you're a larger business you can hire multiple SEO to run audits and prioritize improvements see what each has to say and then determine who you could work with the best in the audit the SEO should prioritize improvements with a structure like one the issue to the suggested improvement 3 an estimate on the overall investment in other words the time energy or money it would take for your developers to implement the improvement and for Google search as well as searchers and customers to recognize the improvement the SEO will need to talk with your developers to better understand what technical constraints may exist for the estimated positive business impact the impact might be a ranking improvement that will lead to more visitors and conversions or perhaps the positive impact comes from a back-end change that cleans up your site and helps your brand be more agile in the future five a plan of how to iterate and improve on the implementation or perhaps how to experiment and fail fast should the results not meet expectations that covers the structure of the technical and search audit now let's talk about each of these audits individually in the technical audit your SEO should be able to review your site for issues related to internal linking crawl ability URL parameters server connectivity and response codes to name some if they mention that your site has duplicate content problems that need to be corrected make sure they show you the specific URLs that are competing for the same query or that they explained it should be cleaned up for long term site health not initial growth I mention this because lots of duplicate content exists on web sites and often it's not a pressing problem in this search audit your potential SEO will likely break down your search queries into categories like branded and unbranded terms branded terms are those with your business or website's name like a search for Gmail is a branded term while the search for email is an unbranded or general keyword an SEO should make sure that for branded queries such as Gmail your website is providing a great experience that allows customers who know your brand or website to easily find exactly what they need and potentially convert they might recommend improvements that help the entire searcher experience from what the searcher sees in search results to when they click on a result and use your website for unbranded queries an SEO can help you better make sense of the online competitive landscape they can tell you things like here are the types of queries it would make sense for your business to rank but here's what your competition is done and why I think they rank where they do for instance perhaps your competition has great reviews really shareable content or they run a highly reputable site an SEO will provide recommendations for how to improve rankings for these queries and the entire searcher experience they'll introduce ideas like update obsolete content they might say your site is suffering because some of your well ranking content is obsolete has poor navigation a useless page title or isn't mobile-friendly let's improve these pages and see if more website visitors convert and purchase or if they can micro convert meaning that perhaps they subscribe or share content improve internal linking your SEO might say your site is suffering because some of your best articles are too far from the homepage and users would have a hard time finding it we can better internally link to your content to feature it more prominently generate buzz the SEO might say you have great content but not enough people know we can try to get more user interaction and generate buzz perhaps through social media or business relationships this will help us attract more potential customers and perhaps garner natural links to your site learn from the competition your SEO might explain here's what your competitors do well can you reach parity with this and potentially surpass them in utilities or can you better show customers your business's unique value again a good SEO will try to prioritize what ideas can bring your business the most improvement for the least investment and what improvements may take more time but help growth in the long term once they talk with you and other members of your team such as developers or marketers they'll help your business forge a path ahead the last thing I want to mention is that when I talk with SEO s one of the biggest holdups to improving away site isn't there recommendation but it's the business making time to implement their ideas if you're not ready to commit to making SEO improvements while getting an SEO audit may be helpful make sure that your entire organization is on board else your SEO improvements may be non-existent regardless of who you hire.

Our comments: Please select an SEO company that cares about you and wants your success.

best seo company in st louis, How to hire an SEO, How to hire an SEOcompany, internet marketing St Louis, seo, st louis leads, st louis seo, st louis seo and web marketing

#Blogger #beststlouisseo

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racheltgibsau · 7 years

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Mitch Joel on Why Agencies Should Care About Conversion Rate Optimization [INTERVIEW]

Move over Don Draper, the modern day agency marketer needs to be more of a Renaissance (wo)man.

Sure, they need to be creative enough to craft a compelling pitch.

But they also need to be data-driven. They need to be well versed in analytics and the latest MarTech trends. And when budgets get tight, agency marketers need to be able to convince their clients to not cut out conversion rate optimization.

Few people know this better than Mitch Joel, president of Mirum, a global digital marketing agency operating in 20 different countries. Mitch is a best-selling business author, international speaker and agency thought leader. But he’s also a full-stack marketer who has been doing display advertising for longer than Google itself.

Mitch Joel, president of global digital agency Mirum and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.Image source.

Since Mitch entered the digital marketing world, a helluvalot has changed — and not just in agencyland. As technology evolves, so too are consumers and the way they interact with our brands. At the Call to Action Conference in June, Mitch’s keynote, Algorhythm: How Technology Connects Consumers To Brands Like Never Before, will dive into how to future-proof your brand and embrace disruption to become a digital leader.

PSST. Hey blog reader, we like the cut of your jib. Get 15% off Call to Action Conference tickets by using discount code “blogsentme” at checkout. Offer expires May 12th.

Ugh, why can’t it be June already?

To tide you over, here’s a fascinating interview with Mitch from the Call to Action Podcast. Unbounce Director of Content Dan Levy sat down with Mitch to discuss:

How the agency world has evolved over the past 15 years.

Mitch’s experience selling his independent agency to the largest holding company in the world.

How everything from search results to PPC and even the talent you hire for your agency are all extensions of your brand.

Check out some highlights from the interview below. (This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.)

Dan Levy: You’re known as a bestselling business author, speaker and agency thought leader, but you got your start in the online marketing trenches doing ad sales and even PPC marketing for a site called Mamma.com. Can you take us back to that time? What did the online marketing landscape look like and what did you learn from that experience?

Mitch Joel: Actually, yes, I did do that. But my start in digital came much earlier when I was publishing music magazines in the late 80s and early 90s. I actually was tangentially at the same time very engaged in digital media: first web browser, BBSs, stuff like that. And I actually put those magazines on the “internet” — like air quote internet — because back then, there wasn’t even really an internet.

I remember one of the cover stories for my alternative, cool, fun publication was called, “The Net.” The innovation at that time was hyperlinks. I literally was posting things on the internet from the magazine that couldn’t have hyperlinks. You couldn’t link from one page to the other. That really kept me on the trajectory where eventually I helped launch the sales channel of what at the time was one of the largest meta search engines on the internet. And again, it’s hard to imagine a world before Google. But this was pre-Google. And so the meta search engine would basically grab search results from engines like Yahoo, AOL, Lycos, and create a meta — or a better — search result that we could actually aggregate faster.

My role back then was selling sponsorships on the homepage, it was selling banner advertising. And it was also very early days of selling — literally the first time of being able to take a search result and having a banner that’s related to the search show up in the search result. And to tell you how early and nascent it was, I had to physically go into the code of the search engine to code the banner in. I don’t recommend that in this day in age. Like I don’t think anyone at Google is going into the master code to embed a search result. But that’s how early the times were back then.

DL: Wow. What did you learn from that experience that you brought forth?

MJ: Well I learned to take chances. I can tell you that when they approached me about the opportunity, my first question was, “What’s online advertising?” I mean, we are talking about a time when that first banner ad on HotWired — which became Wired — had just run.

The first banner ad, ever. Image source: Wired.

I didn’t even know what it looked like, what it felt like, what it could be. I think my pedigree in selling traditional print ads and having a construct of what it means to run a media company is what pushed me there. So it was — to this day, it was a great move. And I’m so grateful, I still have a lot of friends in my life now who came from there. A lot of people who’ve become — who’ve ascended in this industry to run major, major web initiatives are people that I hired. People that I brought into the industry. So I have a lot of pride in that.

And I also learned that — again, when I think about it, I don’t know why I took the job. All logic would dictate that at the time, I should not have taken that job. But I took the job and it wound up being great for me because it brought together what I was doing professionally on one side. And on the other side, it brought together my passion for digital. I often say that I was very early into many things. And when we started Mirum, which back then was Twist Image in 2000 (I joined in 2002). At that point in my career I said, even though I might be a little early in this space, I’m going to ride it out.

DL: Performance marketing and brand marketing are often seen as being on different sides of the digital marketing spectrum. Do you think that’s true? Do you see those two disciplines as coming closer together in an age where Facebook has gone from a social media network to just another performance marketing channel?

MJ: I think you’re right. The evolution — and by the way, Google structured themselves — for a long while, and they may still — around brand and performance. And that’s common. Where I think the confusion comes from is that within real behavioral performance-based marketing, there are heavy and hefty living around brand and experience that we often dismiss because we think that performance is still about getting the right search word, getting them to the right page.

But actually if you step back from that, the meta message is that it has to be a very relevant and cohesive brand experience. And I was somebody who wasn’t just buying generic brand keywords back in the day, to just keep that going. I actually believe that — a saying I’ve used since the early 2000s is that the first page of search results is a brand experience.

You can’t separate PPC & brand marketing. The 1st page of search is part of your brand experience. Click To Tweet

So there’s that. That sort of dismisses the idea that performance is not about branding. And you’re right — fast forwarding to today, a lot of my clients and a lot of people I meet when I do speaking events will say that social media is primarily a paid channel, because of what Facebook has done to throttle the content and have you pay against reach. Which I think by the way is a great model and clearly the market would agree with that idea.

But you can’t have any results — whether you’re paying for it or it’s organic — unless it’s a really good experience.

Whether or not that’s through a search result, an email marketing initiative, a great landing page *hint hint wink wink* to you guys, or a good old piece of content. I really don’t care. I’m actually agnostic to that.

DL: Where do performance channels like PPC and landing page optimization and conversion rate optimization come into the picture with the kinds of big brands that you work with? Are those things part of your offer? Do you factor them into how you pitch and bill clients?

MJ: Well it depends on whether someone’s going full bore with us or not. Like any other agency, we work on specific campaigns, specific projects, longer initiatives and then full-on mandates. And even the full-on mandates have sort of splits and fits and starts.

The way we started our company, we only wanted to work with large national and multinational brands and we’ve stuck to that model for what’s coming up onto 17 years. Because of that, being of startup size back in the early 2000s, most brands already had large media companies at play. And those media companies even back then were feeling very threatened by digital and would make those offerings.

So we would come in and grab pieces and parts of it and really focus on the behavioral side. Let us handle the drive to optimization, landing page, unique spaces, unique experience while the media companies were really checking boxes around “online video,” “search,” affiliate marketing” and stuff like that. So from my pedigree, I stand very firmly and aligned with what performance can do in terms of optimizations and moving things forward. I feel like I’m banging against the wall when everyone says, “Well we do that.” I think people do do that, but they don’t really do it.

I still really believe that a lot of the work we see is what I call “rearview mirror.” You know, we did it, we’re running these keywords to a landing page, and let’s see how it did. Post. I believe, and I know that Mirum as an agency believes it, all of that optimization, all of that data, all of that opportunity is now in the passenger seat. When you do it well and you actually are optimizing and driving and creating unique experiences on landing pages and stuff like that, you’ve moved it from the rearview mirror to the passenger’s seat and you can fix it and go so that there always is a positive result, not a result that says, “Oh, that campaign just didn’t work.” I can’t believe we still use that language in business today!

DL: Right, as if a campaign or an experience is a success or a failure — only if it meets your hypothesis. And the learnings aren’t a factor or don’t have anything to do with it at all.

MJ: Right and it’s frustrating for me because I feel like we often lose business or can’t grab the business because there’s a sentiment that we already have someone doing that work. But when you dig into what that work is, you see that there actually isn’t a lot of that stuff that we’re really talking about. They say they do that, it’s on their decks, and it’s on their site. But — and I don’t know if it’s a failure of the brand or a failure of the agency. I’m not sure where it happens. But there is a vast majority of very powerful brands really not doing enough.

DL: Do you think the problem is that optimization is seen as a discipline or a branch of marketing instead of just a mindset?

MJ: Yeah. One of my close friends is Bryan Eisenberg, who I really believe is one of the forefathers of this optimization space. He’s written books about it, “Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?” and intent and scent and all that.

My relationship with Bryan is going on for close to 20 years at this point. And he would often say things like, “You know, here we are talking about all this stuff. And the first thing a brand will cut on a budget is the optimization. Hands down.”

And it’s mind-numbing and it’s mind-blowing to both of us — and years later it still remains the same — because that’s actually where you make money. And I don’t know why brands, agencies don’t get it. I don’t get how they don’t get it.

DL: Can you talk about the role content played in getting Twist on the map? I imagine that your book and your blog and your podcast were all part of ultimately attracting the attention of WPP and making that acquisition happen.

MJ: It’s a yes and no story.

It’s a yes story in the sense that it’s very interesting when they’re doing financial and product assessments to see an agency that has been so consistent for a decade. Creating the blog, the podcast, Six Pixels of Separation, that lead to 50-60 paid speaking events a year. That lead to two best selling books — and I’m not trying to toot my own horn, but represented by a major New York literary agent, onto a major — largest book publisher in the world, onto the global deal. And other things that come from media appearances and stuff like that.

DL: Yeah, I think that from my perspective, Twist Image and Mitch Joel were kind of one and the same.

MJ: Totally. And we built it that way. We always saw from day one, back in 2003ish, when we started the blog, that Twist Image (at the time — now Mirum) would be managing three brands:

that Mirum brand,

Six Pixels of Separation (which we sort of considered the sort of “content engine” — so blog, podcast, articles, speaking, books)

and then Mitch Joel, this media face. This warm, hopefully friendly and personable face to an agency, which again, now seems very obvious.

But if you go back 10+ years, nobody was really doing that. They didn’t really have that. So the fact that we were sharing content, having conversations with people who just didn’t have a voice before — you know, we were having hour-long conversations with business or marketing thought leaders. That you didn’t get an hour with. You’d be lucky if you had one famous enough to get 10 minutes on Charlie Rose. Suddenly, someone is spending an hour with them, having a conversation like they would over a coffee, and publishing it to the world.

There were these assets there that were built over time, and again, I do know that when it came to the opportunity for us to be acquired, one of the metrics was the fact that there is revenue generation that comes out of the content engine. That doesn’t just create media attention and a level of fame, whatever that might be. But that there actually was revenue behind this thing. And that was very surprising and shocking to them.

DL: Meaning what? It gets clients in the door?

MJ: I mean, yeah, think about it. You pitch for business development, you spend weeks, months pitching. And business development is a cost center. It costs every agency a lot of money to business develop. You don’t win every pitch. It’s a very small percentage. And you hope that the ones you win make up for all the money you spent. When you’re offsetting that cost with speaking gigs, book deals, article writing and stuff like that, it’s really interesting that you’re creating this voice and building a platform and it actually is driving business, it’s driving revenue — both in terms of client and raw revenue. We get dollars to speak and write books. It’s not vanity.

It was always about creating equity in the brand, that would have one of two roles. That one day, we would be acquired. Or if we’re never acquired, we’re running this business in a way where all of the top players would want to acquire it. And there would be extreme value in the brand.

I like building businesses that build equity as they grow. And this channel of speaking, writing, etc — it wasn’t a core component of what we were acquired for, but it was definitely on the list.

DL: It reminds me of the Rolling Stones model, where you’re the front man, but ultimately, you share those profits evenly. I know they’ve credited that as their longevity for them as a band. It sounds like the same thing for the longevity of Twist, and now Mirum.

MJ: Yeah, and I try to not have it be ego-driven. I look at it like — my job, as a media entity, is to be extremely personable. And to know that I’m managing Mirum, Six Pixels and Mitch Joel. And I conduct myself accordingly. If you look me up on Facebook, there isn’t a ton of personal stuff. There’s a ton of personable stuff.

DL: If you had to give agencies who are looking to set themselves apart from the crowd and spur growth for both their clients and their own business one piece of advice, what would it be?

MJ: I really think it is much like a great book. A great book works not because the topic is unique. I feel like more often than not you’re reading a topic that somebody else covered in one shape or form.

It’s the voice. I don’t see that much in terms of agencies having that unique voice. Do I think we achieved it? Partially. And I think it’s because it’s a journey — you’re constantly changing it, moving it along. But if I were to go across — and we did this exercise when we were trying to figure out the branding for Mirum, Twist Image — I would jokingly tell people, “You could take the website of all our biggest competitors, take off the logos, throw them in the air, and whatever website they fall on, you’d still be pretty much right.” The services, types of case studies, type of work we do. And still to this day, I think that story rings true.

The ones that stand out, though, are the ones that have a unique voice. It could be a unique individual — I’m thinking of people like Bob Greenberg at R/GA. It could just be a unique story to tell. So if you look at an agency like WK, the fact that they’ve been large and independent, the type of work that they’ve done it’s like the voice of the agency is the work that they do. That type of thing is the only component of your business that you can have that is the defendable against a competitor. It’s how you express yourself, tell your stories, the type of team members you bring in, the type of work that you do, the stories you tell in the marketplace, where you network, what you attend. That’s the big one.

The secondary one is get involved in your industry. What drove this business at Mirum was the fact that we got involved in places like Shop.org, the National Retail Federation, Canadian Marketing Association, Interactive Advertising — I could go on and on. And we didn’t just join and become members. We got involved. In fact, we just had a conversation at lunch about an association that I’m super interested in. And the answer we all came to was: “Not unless we can get deeply involved.” So, what you find out is that by giving (because you love this industry and you want it to be better), you do wind up in some way receiving. We don’t get involved to get results. By getting involved and being active, it just happens.

DL: Well Mitch, it’s always a real treat to talk shop with you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

MJ: My pleasure! Thanks for having me.

This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8217493 http://unbounce.com/call-to-action/mitch-joel-interview/

0 notes

littlemarketingproject · 7 years

Text

Mitch Joel on Why Agencies Should Care About Conversion Rate Optimization [INTERVIEW]

Move over Don Draper, the modern day agency marketer needs to be more of a Renaissance (wo)man.

Sure, they need to be creative enough to craft a compelling pitch.

Mitch Joel, president of global digital agency Mirum and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.Image source.

PSST. Hey blog reader, we like the cut of your jib. Get 15% off Call to Action Conference tickets by using discount code “blogsentme” at checkout. Offer expires May 12th.

Ugh, why can’t it be June already?

To tide you over, here’s a fascinating interview with Mitch from the Call to Action Podcast. Unbounce Director of Content Dan Levy sat down with Mitch to discuss:

How the agency world has evolved over the past 15 years.

Mitch’s experience selling his independent agency to the largest holding company in the world.

How everything from search results to PPC and even the talent you hire for your agency are all extensions of your brand.

Check out some highlights from the interview below. (This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.)

DL: Wow. What did you learn from that experience that you brought forth?

The first banner ad, ever. Image source: Wired.

You can’t separate PPC & brand marketing. The 1st page of search is part of your brand experience. Click To Tweet

But you can’t have any results — whether you’re paying for it or it’s organic — unless it’s a really good experience.

DL: Right, as if a campaign or an experience is a success or a failure — only if it meets your hypothesis. And the learnings aren’t a factor or don’t have anything to do with it at all.

DL: Do you think the problem is that optimization is seen as a discipline or a branch of marketing instead of just a mindset?

MJ: It’s a yes and no story.

DL: Yeah, I think that from my perspective, Twist Image and Mitch Joel were kind of one and the same.

MJ: Totally. And we built it that way. We always saw from day one, back in 2003ish, when we started the blog, that Twist Image (at the time — now Mirum) would be managing three brands:

that Mirum brand,

Six Pixels of Separation (which we sort of considered the sort of “content engine” — so blog, podcast, articles, speaking, books)

and then Mitch Joel, this media face. This warm, hopefully friendly and personable face to an agency, which again, now seems very obvious.

DL: Meaning what? It gets clients in the door?

I like building businesses that build equity as they grow. And this channel of speaking, writing, etc — it wasn’t a core component of what we were acquired for, but it was definitely on the list.

DL: If you had to give agencies who are looking to set themselves apart from the crowd and spur growth for both their clients and their own business one piece of advice, what would it be?

DL: Well Mitch, it’s always a real treat to talk shop with you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

MJ: My pleasure! Thanks for having me.

This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.

Mitch Joel on Why Agencies Should Care About Conversion Rate Optimization [INTERVIEW] syndicated from https://unbounce.com

0 notes

maxslogic25 · 7 years

Text

Mitch Joel on Why Agencies Should Care About Conversion Rate Optimization [INTERVIEW]

Move over Don Draper, the modern day agency marketer needs to be more of a Renaissance (wo)man.

Sure, they need to be creative enough to craft a compelling pitch.

Mitch Joel, president of global digital agency Mirum and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.Image source.

PSST. Hey blog reader, we like the cut of your jib. Get 15% off Call to Action Conference tickets by using discount code “blogsentme” at checkout. Offer expires May 12th.

Ugh, why can’t it be June already?

To tide you over, here’s a fascinating interview with Mitch from the Call to Action Podcast. Unbounce Director of Content Dan Levy sat down with Mitch to discuss:

How the agency world has evolved over the past 15 years.

Mitch’s experience selling his independent agency to the largest holding company in the world.

How everything from search results to PPC and even the talent you hire for your agency are all extensions of your brand.

Check out some highlights from the interview below. (This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.)

DL: Wow. What did you learn from that experience that you brought forth?

The first banner ad, ever. Image source: Wired.

You can’t separate PPC & brand marketing. The 1st page of search is part of your brand experience. Click To Tweet

But you can’t have any results — whether you’re paying for it or it’s organic — unless it’s a really good experience.

DL: Right, as if a campaign or an experience is a success or a failure — only if it meets your hypothesis. And the learnings aren’t a factor or don’t have anything to do with it at all.

DL: Do you think the problem is that optimization is seen as a discipline or a branch of marketing instead of just a mindset?

MJ: It’s a yes and no story.

DL: Yeah, I think that from my perspective, Twist Image and Mitch Joel were kind of one and the same.

MJ: Totally. And we built it that way. We always saw from day one, back in 2003ish, when we started the blog, that Twist Image (at the time — now Mirum) would be managing three brands:

that Mirum brand,

Six Pixels of Separation (which we sort of considered the sort of “content engine” — so blog, podcast, articles, speaking, books)

and then Mitch Joel, this media face. This warm, hopefully friendly and personable face to an agency, which again, now seems very obvious.

DL: Meaning what? It gets clients in the door?

I like building businesses that build equity as they grow. And this channel of speaking, writing, etc — it wasn’t a core component of what we were acquired for, but it was definitely on the list.

DL: If you had to give agencies who are looking to set themselves apart from the crowd and spur growth for both their clients and their own business one piece of advice, what would it be?

DL: Well Mitch, it’s always a real treat to talk shop with you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

MJ: My pleasure! Thanks for having me.

This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8217493 http://unbounce.com/call-to-action/mitch-joel-interview/

0 notes

archiebwoollard · 7 years

Text

Mitch Joel on Why Agencies Should Care About Conversion Rate Optimization [INTERVIEW]

Move over Don Draper, the modern day agency marketer needs to be more of a Renaissance (wo)man.

Sure, they need to be creative enough to craft a compelling pitch.

Mitch Joel, president of global digital agency Mirum and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.Image source.

PSST. Hey blog reader, we like the cut of your jib. Get 15% off Call to Action Conference tickets by using discount code “blogsentme” at checkout. Offer expires May 12th.

Ugh, why can’t it be June already?

To tide you over, here’s a fascinating interview with Mitch from the Call to Action Podcast. Unbounce Director of Content Dan Levy sat down with Mitch to discuss:

How the agency world has evolved over the past 15 years.

Mitch’s experience selling his independent agency to the largest holding company in the world.

How everything from search results to PPC and even the talent you hire for your agency are all extensions of your brand.

Check out some highlights from the interview below. (This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.)

DL: Wow. What did you learn from that experience that you brought forth?

The first banner ad, ever. Image source: Wired.

You can’t separate PPC & brand marketing. The 1st page of search is part of your brand experience. Click To Tweet

But you can’t have any results — whether you’re paying for it or it’s organic — unless it’s a really good experience.

DL: Right, as if a campaign or an experience is a success or a failure — only if it meets your hypothesis. And the learnings aren’t a factor or don’t have anything to do with it at all.

DL: Do you think the problem is that optimization is seen as a discipline or a branch of marketing instead of just a mindset?

MJ: It’s a yes and no story.

DL: Yeah, I think that from my perspective, Twist Image and Mitch Joel were kind of one and the same.

MJ: Totally. And we built it that way. We always saw from day one, back in 2003ish, when we started the blog, that Twist Image (at the time — now Mirum) would be managing three brands:

that Mirum brand,

Six Pixels of Separation (which we sort of considered the sort of “content engine” — so blog, podcast, articles, speaking, books)

and then Mitch Joel, this media face. This warm, hopefully friendly and personable face to an agency, which again, now seems very obvious.

DL: Meaning what? It gets clients in the door?

I like building businesses that build equity as they grow. And this channel of speaking, writing, etc — it wasn’t a core component of what we were acquired for, but it was definitely on the list.

DL: If you had to give agencies who are looking to set themselves apart from the crowd and spur growth for both their clients and their own business one piece of advice, what would it be?

DL: Well Mitch, it’s always a real treat to talk shop with you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

MJ: My pleasure! Thanks for having me.

This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8217493 http://unbounce.com/call-to-action/mitch-joel-interview/

0 notes

zacdhaenkeau · 7 years

Text

Mitch Joel on Why Agencies Should Care About Conversion Rate Optimization [INTERVIEW]

Move over Don Draper, the modern day agency marketer needs to be more of a Renaissance (wo)man.

Sure, they need to be creative enough to craft a compelling pitch.

Mitch Joel, president of global digital agency Mirum and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.Image source.

PSST. Hey blog reader, we like the cut of your jib. Get 15% off Call to Action Conference tickets by using discount code “blogsentme” at checkout. Offer expires May 12th.

Ugh, why can’t it be June already?

To tide you over, here’s a fascinating interview with Mitch from the Call to Action Podcast. Unbounce Director of Content Dan Levy sat down with Mitch to discuss:

How the agency world has evolved over the past 15 years.

Mitch’s experience selling his independent agency to the largest holding company in the world.

How everything from search results to PPC and even the talent you hire for your agency are all extensions of your brand.

Check out some highlights from the interview below. (This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.)

DL: Wow. What did you learn from that experience that you brought forth?

The first banner ad, ever. Image source: Wired.

You can’t separate PPC & brand marketing. The 1st page of search is part of your brand experience. Click To Tweet

But you can’t have any results — whether you’re paying for it or it’s organic — unless it’s a really good experience.

DL: Right, as if a campaign or an experience is a success or a failure — only if it meets your hypothesis. And the learnings aren’t a factor or don’t have anything to do with it at all.

DL: Do you think the problem is that optimization is seen as a discipline or a branch of marketing instead of just a mindset?

MJ: It’s a yes and no story.

DL: Yeah, I think that from my perspective, Twist Image and Mitch Joel were kind of one and the same.

MJ: Totally. And we built it that way. We always saw from day one, back in 2003ish, when we started the blog, that Twist Image (at the time — now Mirum) would be managing three brands:

that Mirum brand,

Six Pixels of Separation (which we sort of considered the sort of “content engine” — so blog, podcast, articles, speaking, books)

and then Mitch Joel, this media face. This warm, hopefully friendly and personable face to an agency, which again, now seems very obvious.

DL: Meaning what? It gets clients in the door?

I like building businesses that build equity as they grow. And this channel of speaking, writing, etc — it wasn’t a core component of what we were acquired for, but it was definitely on the list.

DL: If you had to give agencies who are looking to set themselves apart from the crowd and spur growth for both their clients and their own business one piece of advice, what would it be?

DL: Well Mitch, it’s always a real treat to talk shop with you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

MJ: My pleasure! Thanks for having me.

This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8217493 http://unbounce.com/call-to-action/mitch-joel-interview/

0 notes

berthastover · 7 years

Text

Mitch Joel on Why Agencies Should Care About Conversion Rate Optimization [INTERVIEW]

Move over Don Draper, the modern day agency marketer needs to be more of a Renaissance (wo)man.

Sure, they need to be creative enough to craft a compelling pitch.

Mitch Joel, president of global digital agency Mirum and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.Image source.

PSST. Hey blog reader, we like the cut of your jib. Get 15% off Call to Action Conference tickets by using discount code “blogsentme” at checkout. Offer expires May 12th.

Ugh, why can’t it be June already?

To tide you over, here’s a fascinating interview with Mitch from the Call to Action Podcast. Unbounce Director of Content Dan Levy sat down with Mitch to discuss:

How the agency world has evolved over the past 15 years.

Mitch’s experience selling his independent agency to the largest holding company in the world.

How everything from search results to PPC and even the talent you hire for your agency are all extensions of your brand.

Check out some highlights from the interview below. (This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.)

DL: Wow. What did you learn from that experience that you brought forth?

The first banner ad, ever. Image source: Wired.

You can’t separate PPC & brand marketing. The 1st page of search is part of your brand experience. Click To Tweet

But you can’t have any results — whether you’re paying for it or it’s organic — unless it’s a really good experience.

DL: Right, as if a campaign or an experience is a success or a failure — only if it meets your hypothesis. And the learnings aren’t a factor or don’t have anything to do with it at all.

DL: Do you think the problem is that optimization is seen as a discipline or a branch of marketing instead of just a mindset?

MJ: It’s a yes and no story.

DL: Yeah, I think that from my perspective, Twist Image and Mitch Joel were kind of one and the same.

MJ: Totally. And we built it that way. We always saw from day one, back in 2003ish, when we started the blog, that Twist Image (at the time — now Mirum) would be managing three brands:

that Mirum brand,

Six Pixels of Separation (which we sort of considered the sort of “content engine” — so blog, podcast, articles, speaking, books)

and then Mitch Joel, this media face. This warm, hopefully friendly and personable face to an agency, which again, now seems very obvious.

DL: Meaning what? It gets clients in the door?

I like building businesses that build equity as they grow. And this channel of speaking, writing, etc — it wasn’t a core component of what we were acquired for, but it was definitely on the list.

DL: If you had to give agencies who are looking to set themselves apart from the crowd and spur growth for both their clients and their own business one piece of advice, what would it be?

DL: Well Mitch, it’s always a real treat to talk shop with you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

MJ: My pleasure! Thanks for having me.

This transcript has been edited for length. Listen to the full episode on iTunes.

Original Source: Mitch Joel on Why Agencies Should Care About Conversion Rate Optimization [INTERVIEW]

0 notes

viralhottopics · 7 years

Text

Snapchat’s 10 biggest blunders

Image: Christopher Mineses/Mashable

Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., had its big day last week. It filed the paperwork for its long-awaited IPO.

The ephemerally friendly social media app is going public in hopes of raising $3 billion. While a valuation for the whole company has yet to be mentioned, Snap’s IPO is expected to be one of the biggest in tech history.

SEE ALSO: Our first look at Snapchat’s biggest risks and most powerful enemies

Snap’s road to success didn’t come without a few potholes. During this blindingly bright spot in Snapchat’s history, we thought it was just the time to take a look back at the moments Snapchat wishes would disappear.

Here are Snapchat’s 10 most embarrassing stumbles:

1. The frat boy emails

The most famous of all Snapchat blunders was when co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel’s raunchy, sexist emails from his undergraduate career at Stanford were leaked and subsequently published by Gawker in 2014.

Their contents painted Spiegel as a reckless frat boy with a penchant for joking about peeing on women. He also REALLY didn’t want anyone to touch the stripper pole.

Image: Screenshot/Gawker

Spiegel later apologized for the emails, saying that they “in no way reflect who I am today or my views towards women.”

2. When Snapchat released “black face” and “yellow face” lenses

Snapchat debuted lenses those beloved digital masks that transform your face in 2015. Since then, it has rolled out not one, but two options that were perceived as racist.

Last year, Snapchat thought it had found a clever way to celebrate April 20, an internationally recognized weed smoking holiday, by giving its users the opportunity to transform into Bob Marley.

Can @Snapchat explain to me why there’s a Bob Marley filter on 4/20? You realize he did more than smoke weed, right? http://pic.twitter.com/xPCOU5uQko

Jack Qu’emi (@jackquemi) April 20, 2016

The lens added dreadlocks, a knit hat in Rastafarian colors, changed the shape of the eyes and noses of users and darkened their skin color.

Snapchat said the filter was built in partnership with the Bob Marley estate, but it still offended because it felt too reminiscent of blackface. It also implied that Bob Marley’s career was solely about weed and failed to highlight his musical contributions.

The second lens, released several months later in August, gave users slanted eyes, exaggerated teeth and puffy cheeks a come-to-life version of racist Asian stereotypes.

Snapchat disabled the filter and offered an explanation: It was meant to be a tribute to anime characters. But for Snapchat users who had experienced racism, the filter instead represented a hurtful stereotype taken to an extreme.

This quite the racist snapchat filter in my opinion http://pic.twitter.com/r9AfqhgZyc

felix (@LiamMGallivan) August 9, 2016

The decision to build the two filters led to speculations that Snapchat might have a larger problem with diversity.

The company hasn’t released demographic data on its employees, breaking custom with other major tech firms like Facebook and Google that regularly release stats on their workforce.

3. That time Spiegel lied to Forbes

In a splashy 2014 cover story for Forbes, Spiegel alleged that he had confidentially brushed off Mark Zuckerberg when the Facebook founder emailed him asking for a meeting.

Spiegel said he told Zuckerberg to come meet him in Los Angeles, where Snapchat is based. In reality, Zuckerberg politely offered to head there himself.

After Business Insider aggregated the back and forth and labeled Spiegel as “arrogant,” the Snapchat co-founder tweeted a screenshot of the correspondence with Zuckerberg (the tweet has since between deleted) to try and derail the arrogant narrative.

The screenshot showed that Spiegel’s actual conversation with the Facebook founder was filled with more smiley faces than you would have expected, given what he said to Forbes.

The magazine was was not happy, and published the transcript of exactly what Spiegel told their reporter J.J. Colao on tape.

In effect, Spiegel caught himself in his own lie. The app boy wonder played himself.

4. Reggie Brown’s grueling court battle

In 2013, Snapchat’s third founder, Reggie Brown sued the company’s other two other co-founders, Spiegel and Bobby Murphy.

Brown said they had taken his original idea, refused to give him credit or compensate him for his contributions, and ultimately pushed him out of the company unfairly.

The lawsuit alleged that Brown was part of the founding team and helped put together Snapchat’s first patent applications. Most crucially, it argued that Murphy came up with the idea that the messages should disappear.

You know, the whole novel part of Snapchat.

When a settlement was first announced in 2014, the financial details of the suit weren’t made public, but the press release from Snapchat did admit that Brown was indeed a cofounder and that the original idea was his.

In Snapchat’s IPO filing last week, we learned the juicy details of the dispute: Spiegel and Murphy paid Brown a whopping $157.5 million to settle the case.

Disappearing pictures is a multi-million dollar idea indeed.

5. When Snapchat lost its high-profile COO

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 16: (L-R) Chief operating officer of Instagram Emily White, CEO of the Home Shopping Network Mindy Grossman and Co-Chair of Disney Media Anne Sweeney speak at “How to create a community in a digital world” session onstage at the FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit on October 16, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for FORTUNE)

Image: Getty Images for FORTUNE

In 2015 Snapchat lost its COO and former Instagram executive Emily White.

Sources told Recode at the time that Spiegel let White go because he wanted more control over the company.

That makes senseSnapchat’s IPO paperwork shows that even when the company is officially public, he and co-founder Bobby Murphy will still retain full control.

White was the third top executive to leave the company in the span of two months.

6. That time Evan Spiegel said diversity is “not the best use of time”

In 2015 Spiegel backed himself into making a series of cringe-worthy statements about diversity at Recode’s second-annual Code Conference.

When Recode’s Walt Mossburg asked Spiegel why he thought diversity was a problem in tech, the billionaire founder deflected, answering that “diversity is a challenge everywhere.” Mossburg pushed on, but Spiegel refused to budge. “I think I’m saying that diversity is a challenge everywhere, including tech. And that’s kind of that.”

The audience grew uncomfortably hushed, and then Spiegel dropped an odd answer that caused them to become dead silent.

Mossburg asked again if Spiegel thought there was a problem specifically with diversity in tech (spoiler: there is) and the former frat boy blurted “There are so many things that feed into diversity and equality that unpacking them on the stage is probably not the best use of time.” Awk.

7. When the stars of early Snapchat sued

Image: Snapchat

Elizabeth and Sarah Turner filed a lawsuit against the disappearing messages app in 2014, alleging that Snapchat had taken advantage of them by failing to provide compensation for a modeling gig.

The suit said that Spiegel misused the images he had taken of the Turner sisters, effectively turning them into the “face” of Snapchat without their permission.

Spiegel had apparently told the Turners that the images were for a “class project,” instead of, you know, what would become a multibillion dollar company.

The worst part is that the Turner sisters claim one of the photos was cropped and edited by Spiegel or someone else at Snapchat to look like Elizabeth was pulling Sarah’s bathing suit top off.

Snapchat’s IPO paperwork shows that the case is still currently ongoing.

The matter is currently in active discovery. We believe that the lawsuit is without merit and intend to continue to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter. Based on the preliminary nature of the proceedings in this case, the outcome of this legal proceeding remains uncertain, Snapchat writes.

8. That time millions of accounts were leaked

Over New Year’s in 2014, hackers stole and published the user names and private phone numbers belonging to over 4 million Snapchat profiles.

The worst part? It looked like Snapchat blatantly ignored the security vulnerability that allowed for the hack to happen in the first pace.

A week before the hack took place, Gibson Security published exactly how to exploit the security flaw because they were “sick of” Snapchat ignoring their warnings for months.

The icing on the cake was Spiegel’s decision to refrain from apologizing for the hack.

In an interview with NBC’s Carson Daly, Spiegel said “I believe at the time we thought we had done enough. But I think in a business like this and a business that is moving so quickly, if you spend your time looking backwards, you’re just going to kill yourself.”

Snapchat the company but not Spiegel personally eventually issued a very short apology.

Oops.

9. The Sony hack emails

Image: Flickr/Techcrunch

Leaked emails from the 2014 Sony Pictures hack included correspondence between Spiegel and Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton, who now sits on Snapchat’s board of directors.

The emailed painted a picture of Spiegel’s ambitions for then less than 3-year-old company.

The Snapchat CEO was reportedly mortified that the info had gone public, and wrote that he felt like he was “going to cry” in a memo distributed to Snapchat employees and later posted on Twitter (the tweet has since been deleted).

While there wasn’t anything particularly scandalous in the exchanges, they made Snapchat’s overall business strategy uncomfortably public. Yikes.

10. When Snapchat admitted it gave snaps to the police

In a 2013 blog post, Snapchat admitted it had handed over unopened snaps to law enforcement at least a handful of times.

Until a snap is opened, it’s stored on Google’s cloud computing service, which Snapchat uses. When the intended recipient opens it, it’s deleted.

But if the snap is never read, law enforcement can request to see it via search warrant. When that happens, Snapchat revealed, they’re happy to comply.

To be fair, at the time over 350 million snaps were sent on the platform daily, so an incredibly small amount were ever requested and subsequently viewed by law enforcement.

Still, the incident showed that Snapchat, like other big tech players like Facebook and Google, share data with government authorities semi-regularly.

BONUS: Someone decided to make Lego-inspired square burgers