An Interview with Single Grain Chairman

Digital advertising company Single Grain drives purchasers’ gross sales by way of channels like Fb promoting, Google AdWords, YouTube promoting, search engine marketing, and extra, all beneath the management of its chairman Eric Siu. Along with his work with the company, Eric is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and host of two podcasts: Advertising College with Neil Patel and Leveling Up, the place he shares ideas and methods to ace the internet online affiliate marketing world.

The all-rounder is right here to share his insights with us!

Cloudways: Nice to have you ever in our Cloudways Interview Sequence, Eric! So how did you start your Serial Entrepreneur journey? 

Eric: Hello, I began my entrepreneurial journey once I was 24 years previous. I used to be working at an organization, then I purchased an eCommerce firm to promote magic merchandise. That enterprise failed however failure made me extra resilient whereas giving me an understanding of the enterprise world.

I stored going and initiated an IT coaching web site however that additionally didn’t work out. I used to be attempting to determine each new alternative or initiative that popped in beneath the solar however the failures gave me a greater publicity to the loopholes of the techniques I adopted. Then, on the age of 25, I launched a advertising company and devoted myself to making a full-blown consultancy.

Sadly, I obtained fired from my job once they obtained to know that I’m beginning one thing alone as a aspect hustle. From that time on, I by no means turned again and paved my approach in direction of studying search engine marketing paid media, e mail, and each facet of on-line advertising. I dived into the pool of digital advertising with an intent to return again with a profitable fully-grown income mannequin. I obtained some gigs that paid me 30 grand a month, which was the primary stepping stone in my entrepreneurial profession. Finally, I obtained the chance to guide advertising in an academic startup.

You Could Additionally Like: 30+ Unimaginable Affiliate Advertising Instruments to Increase Your Recreation

Cloudways: What’s the story behind Singlegrain and ClickFlow? How did they arrive into emergence? 

Eric: Eight months into the journey of heading a startup, I had a chance to return and assist to avoid wasting an search engine marketing company which was a sinking ship again then. I recognized the explanation behind the failure as the usage of out of date techniques and advertising methods that failed to offer optimum outcomes. By understanding the setback, I began revamping the general imaginative and prescient of that company with aligned directional gross sales, advertising, and operations to generate income most effectively. That firm is now known as Single Grain and I had the chance of taking it over. I purchased it out of pocket at $2 and began self-financing the remaining.

Initially, I just about made the corporate go from unhealthy to worst, with the worst turnover. We have been left with just one worker. With the setbacks and unhealthy experiences, I noticed an organization’s success will depend on its tradition and folks. Regardless of how a lot you excel as a marketer, it actually doesn’t in case you are unable to make it people-centric. Group-building gives essentially the most environment friendly outcomes on the finish of the day and will be thought of a constructing block to success. Finally, my entire wager with the corporate was to show it round, take the money flows, and spend money on others as a enterprise capitalist, extra in direction of an exponential income. That has all the time been the thesis.

ClickFlow, the content material intelligence software program that enhances your search engine marketing site visitors, got here into place as I got here from the SAAS trade. I consider SAAS is the doorway to revenue technology as a result of it’s a supply of exponential revenue. ClickFlow was the concept I despatched to the e-mail listing we had. Most of them have been desirous about ClickFlow. Let me share a number of particulars with you concerning the startup globe. Within the trade of startups, it takes 3 to 4 years to construct a startup that might present a break-even, after which it’s bought out relying upon its potential. The identical phenomenon occurred with ClickFlow because it took 3 years to show round and now we’ve a whole group, LevelingUp, that helps gamify your life for fulfillment. By means of that, we purchase different companies which have the potential to try and thrive.

Cloudways: How did the concept of stepping into internet online affiliate marketing and associates program administration come to you? Additionally, are you able to inform us about your podcast Advertising College with Neil Patel? Our associates would like to understand how they will profit from its insights!

Eric: Internet affiliate marketing has vital significance. A number of the main businesses I do know are categorically centered on internet online affiliate marketing solely. Certainly one of my buddy’s internet online affiliate marketing businesses generates $500 million in income on an annual foundation with over 330+ staff.

Internet affiliate marketing is essentially the most environment friendly enterprise as they’re working on efficiency. The associates have to face out out there whereas bringing out-of-the-box concepts that might seize consideration and convey one of the best outcomes. As an affiliate, you might be related along with your accomplice firm for selling their merchandise. Our ClickFlow additionally has its associates program

Internet affiliate marketing is essentially the most environment friendly enterprise as they’re working on efficiency. The associates have to face out out there whereas bringing out-of-the-box concepts that might seize consideration and convey one of the best outcomes.

Cloudways: In episode #652 of your Advertising College Podcast with Neil, you mentioned the rules of being a profitable affiliate and efficiency marketer. Might you share some highlights of it with our associates?

Eric: Advertising College is my every day podcast with Neil Patel with roughly 50 million downloads. It’s a every day podcast by which we talk about traits and adjustments for 5 to 10 minutes. That’s how Neil and I get to speak about totally different concepts and we catch as much as discover the unexplored and unidentified areas or blue oceans that we might take a step ahead in. So, it’s a mechanism for us to study and to articulate our ideas.

If you’re an affiliate marketer, you concentrate on constructing an viewers. So, with Advertising College, we will do internet online affiliate marketing all day however as an alternative, we promote our personal merchandise, in the end, we get higher margins that approach.

Cloudways: What are the dos and don’ts of being an affiliate? What errors impression the credibility of an affiliate that they need to chorus from doing?

I all the time inform associates that in case you don’t have your personal product otherwise you don’t know find out how to model or promotional techniques for it, you’ll be able to take a step ahead and grow to be an affiliate of any firm, after which you’ll be able to finally create your personal product.  So, Cloudways can be a very good instance to advertise managed internet hosting, as you get to study promotional techniques by way of their affiliate managers which helps you keep up to date concerning the digital advertising world

To grow to be a profitable affiliate efficiency marketer, you could know your buyer (KYC) and the platform you utilize for promotion. Have a way of humility and have a way of long-term imaginative and prescient for a specified services or products.

Cloudways: Contemplating the market competitors, how can an aspiring affiliate marketer get began on this trade “earlier than” having a big viewers? What’s the go-to Affiliate Advertising Mannequin for 10x success?

Eric: Entrepreneurs who don’t have any viewers can simply get began serious about how they will leverage the partnerships and associations. Let’s say you don’t have any cash, you’ll accomplice up with them and say, “Hey in case you promote this factor, I’ll give 10 {dollars} for it.” Since you’ll be incomes 30 {dollars}, you can be giving 33% revenue to the man who is aware of find out how to get the sale and additionally, you will perceive the techniques by observing him.

It’s all about relationship constructing along with your stakeholders and when you earn cash, you can begin utilizing paid channels like PPC, AdSense, and AdWords.

Let me share the step-by-step process:

Step 1: You begin partnerships and have agreements.

Step 2: You study from them and purchase cash.

Step 3: You employ techniques and a/b check by way of paid channels to get one of the best outcomes.

Step 4: You begin constructing your viewers and maintain looping the method till you get the success you need.

Associated Content material: 7 Content material Advertising Tricks to Enhance Your Affiliate Earnings

Cloudways: You mentioned in certainly one of your podcasts that it’s actually necessary to have an affiliate supervisor to speed up your income stream. Might you share why you mentioned that and why affiliate managers are necessary for aspiring associates?

Eric: Affiliate managers know the lay of the land. They know find out how to handle the associates and find out how to get one of the best outcomes out of them with the newest traits and insights. They know find out how to present the suitable assets primarily based on the gross sales funnel the affiliate is on, and so they know which assets are used on your viewers.

A directional strategy is just about wanted to maneuver ahead as an affiliate and Cloudways affiliate managers are a professional at it. For instance, if we don’t give your gross sales staff the eye they deserve, or your dev-ops or design staff doesn’t get the property they require, then the entire mechanism would simply collapse. The identical goes for the associates in the event that they assume that the affiliate supervisor’s help isn’t required to get one of the best consequence. So, you’ll be able to’t simply say, “it’s promoting to get issues”. Signing up for an associates program doesn’t imply you might be achieved; it means you simply began and stepped into this trade.

Affiliate Advertising Errors to Keep away from in 2021 (What Consultants Say)

Cloudways: So, we’d be asking some rapid-fire questions from you to grasp your perspective of life, happiness, and success

Right here we go!

• Your Motto in Life: Simply maintain leveling up. Getting $1 higher each single day is what it’s all about. That’s your complete recreation and I benefit from the recreation because it goes
• Your Favourite E book: The Onerous Factor About The Onerous Issues by Ben Horowitz
• Supply of Motivation: Studying and studying. So long as I get concepts from anyplace, it may very well be a e-book or documentary or an off-the-cuff dialog. Studying is my supply of motivation. Actually talking, Twitter offers me a window into loads of good individuals’s minds
• Splendid trip spot: Anyplace there may be water. I sometimes get pleasure from spending time at  4 Seasons, Miami.

Cloudways: What do you get pleasure from doing if you’re away from work?

Eric: Work is a recreation for me. The sensation of waking up daily and doing one thing totally different that I have to work on makes me excited each time. For instance, I can work on shopping for an organization. I get pleasure from engaged on content material creation however other than that, I get pleasure from touring. Assembly with superb individuals and having an ideal dialog about what sort of impression all of us can have on one another, with our concepts, plans, and improvements cheers me up.

Cloudways: Eric, thanks for taking the outing for us. Earlier than we go, who would you suggest that we must always interview subsequent?
Eric: Neil Patel

The social hyperlinks of Eric Siu are given under:

Fb: Eric Siu, Twitter: @ericosiu. Linkedin: @Eric

Faiza Ismail

Faiza Ismail is a Digital Marketer and handles affiliate partnerships at Cloudways – A Managed Cloud Internet hosting Platform. She has an in depth historical past of working in numerous aspects of Digital Advertising, Neighborhood Administration, and Company Communication. She likes to play chess. Get in contact along with her at [email protected]

Thankyou for Subscribing Us!