The Digital Marketing Podcast – Episode: "Tips & Tools"
Release Date: April 6, 2017
Hosts: Daniel Rowles & Ciaran Rogers
Overview
In this episode of "The Digital Marketing Podcast," Daniel and Ciaran deliver a lively, practical tour of digital marketing tips and tools. Their focus is on new and recently discovered resources – mostly free or low-cost – that help marketers and businesses get more from their online activities. The episode follows their trademark rapid-fire style, offering clear descriptions, hands-on advice, and witty observations around each tool's usefulness (and potential gimmickry). Along the way, they sprinkle in personal experiences and encourage experimentation, with plenty of real-world examples.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
[00:14] Listener Giveaway Update
- Daniel opens with a thank-you to listeners who left podcast reviews. Originally promising a prize draw for his book Building Digital Culture, Daniel announces that everyone who left a review will receive a copy.
- Quote:
"You will receive an email from us shortly... and we will then mail out the book to you. So congratulations everyone for getting a copy of the book."
— Daniel, 00:51 - Encourages listeners to participate in future competitions.
- Quote:
[01:40] Leadberry – Reverse IP Lookup for Lead Generation
- Leadberry (currently free, in beta) lets you see which companies visit your website by performing reverse IP lookups. Especially useful for B2B marketers seeking to understand and connect with potential leads.
- Main features and workflow:
- Identifies companies (not individuals) visiting your site.
- Suggests potential contacts at those companies (but warns against spamming).
- Best used for research and warm introductions (e.g., via LinkedIn).
- Quote:
"It's phenomenal and it's all the more phenomenal because it's free... It may not be free for very long because it is surprisingly good value."
— Daniel, 01:45 - Caution:
- Don’t use provided emails indiscriminately; they may not be the person who visited.
- Use insights responsibly to avoid spammy outreach.
[04:10] MakeAGif.com – YouTube-to-GIF Converter
- MakeAGif.com (YouTube-to-GIF feature):
- Quickly converts part of a YouTube video into an animated GIF.
- Ideal for creating short, looped visuals for social media.
- Free for GIFs under 10 seconds; requires a (free) account for longer GIFs.
- Daniel's take:
"It's one of the few tools that I found actually does a good job of this."
— Daniel, 04:51
[06:02] AnswerThePublic – Content Idea and Keyword Research Tool
- AnswerThePublic.com harvests Google & Bing autocomplete data to suggest relevant queries, questions, and phrases around any keyword.
- How it works:
- Enter a keyword; get popular search questions (“what is…”, “where can I…”, etc.)
- Visualizes results (e.g., wheels of grouped queries, alphabetically, by preposition).
- A fun feature: the site's mascot gets bored while you type!
- Use case:
- Great for content ideation and titling articles.
- Combine phrases from AnswerThePublic with Google Keyword Planner to quantify search volumes.
- Quote:
"It gives you the idea of what's popular around that topic... the first thing it will do is give you all the questions."
— Daniel, 07:14 "When you go through to the page you'll see, first of all, there's a guy standing there waiting for you to do a search and he gets increasingly bored..."
— Daniel, 08:50
[09:32] UpsideDownText.com – Eye-catching Text for Subject Lines
- UpsideDownText.com:
- Converts plain text to an upside-down format via Unicode characters.
- Can increase open-rates for email subject lines or attract attention on social feeds.
- Use with caution:
- Novelty may quickly wear off if overused.
- Other gimmicks (e.g., names in subject lines, emojis) also became stale after mass adoption.
- Quote:
"If everyone starts doing this in email subject lines, it will very quickly stop being amusing or clever... but hardly anyone does it, so you could try it out."
— Daniel, 10:23 - Fun fact: Annoys and intrigues Daniel when used in emails from Kiaran.
[11:40] FullStory – Website Session Playback
- Fullstory.com:
- Records visitor sessions on your website for playback as videos.
- Easy setup: add tracking code (or use Google Tag Manager).
- Useful for understanding real user behavior and identifying UX bottlenecks.
- Daniel’s testimonial:
- Improved conversion after identifying a problematic section on a landing page through session replays.
- Other features:
- Analyze by conversion, referral, time, channel, etc.
- Quote:
"Within 10 minutes of sitting down and watching these videos, I realized there was a particular bit of the page that people just didn't like and they weren't scrolling past it... and actually the conversion rate of that page has gone up phenomenally."
— Daniel, 13:04 - Bonus:
- Enables remote usability studies without in-person testing.
[14:42] NomadList – Plan Remote-Work Adventures
- NomadList.com:
- Tool to discover the best cities to live and work remotely, filtered by cost, weather, safety, internet speed, lifestyle, etc.
- Inspired by the remote work/digital nomad trend made popular in The 4-Hour Workweek.
- Practical applications:
- Used by distributed teams like Target Internet for meetups and brainstorming sessions.
- Fun for travel planning or daydreaming; encourages thinking about flexibility and alternative work arrangements.
- Quote:
"Kind of half the pleasure in travelling and in even purchasing sometimes is the anticipation. It's the kind of planning that goes into it. So I think Nomad List is quite nice for that as well."
— Daniel, 17:02
[17:40] Bonus Mention: Target Internet’s Digital Skills Benchmark
- Free tool on Target Internet’s website to assess your digital marketing skills and get personalized learning recommendations.
Memorable Moments & Quotes
-
On email marketing gimmicks:
"Put your text in, write it upside down, put it into an email subject line. ... Actually, something like this is a bit of a gimmick and it might actually grab my attention."
— Daniel, 10:41 -
On using data tools responsibly:
"You shouldn’t necessarily email those people because they weren’t necessarily the people that actually visited your site. It was just someone at that company."
— Daniel, 02:52
Handy Timestamps
- [00:14] – Book giveaway update
- [01:40] – Leadberry (reverse IP lookup)
- [04:10] – MakeAGif.com (YouTube to GIF)
- [06:02] – AnswerThePublic (content ideas)
- [09:32] – UpsideDownText.com (novelty text)
- [11:40] – FullStory (session replays)
- [14:42] – NomadList (digital nomad/travel planning)
- [17:40] – Target Internet skills benchmarking tool
Tone & Style
Daniel and Ciaran maintain their accessible, conversational, and slightly cheeky tone throughout. Practical advice is mixed with anecdotes and gentle warnings about “gimmicky” tactics or overhyped trends, keeping the episode lively yet directly actionable for digital marketers at any level.
Summary
This "Tips & Tools" episode is a rich sampler of practical digital marketing tools, blending new discoveries with seasoned favorites. Whether you’re seeking leads, making content, optimizing your website, experimenting with creative subject lines, or plotting your next remote work adventure, Daniel and Ciaran provide sharp descriptions, smart use cases, and even a few cautionary tales. Every tool mentioned comes with encouragement to test, enjoy, and – most importantly – tailor to your needs.