Benji Hyam Profile Banner
Benji Hyam Profile
Benji Hyam

@benjihyam

10,945
Followers
759
Following
2,276
Media
23,821
Statuses

I say things how I see them. Sharing observations on mktg, startups & stock/crypto markets. Co-Founder @growandconvert

San Diego, CA
Joined October 2010
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Pinned Tweet
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
3 years
In our experience, most blog posts have a .1% - .5% conversion rate. The average conversion rate from organic session to trial signup from our blog posts is 1.67%. Here's how we scaled SEO traffic while also scaling signups for @CircuitApp :
15
16
140
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
2 years
ChatGPT is the next clubhouse. In 12 months, people will forget it existed.
1K
294
5K
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Work is changing. Used to be cool: Big offices, perks, working hard, big teams, VC backing, "changing the world." Is cool now: Remote work, working normal hours, working smart, lean teams, getting to profitability quickly, making a meaningful difference in your industry. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ
25
450
2K
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Probably the most underrated perk of remote work: The ability to go to the grocery store at non peak hours.
39
63
899
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Yeti took an extremely boring category and made it cool. What are other examples of brands that have done something similar?
171
21
540
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
When a LinkedIn automated message spammer actually has to respond a message ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚
Tweet media one
24
11
405
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
3 years
@JoeBiden @ToddGloria @GavinNewsom He sure is leading by example
16
35
357
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
Wow. Props to @zoom_us for this email. What other SaaS product would send an email like this? I've never seen one. You can do this when your product is far superior than anyone else and you actually care about your customers.
Tweet media one
14
39
320
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Founders who are not marketers have the most unrealistic expectations around marketing goals. โ€œI need 1000 new demo requests per month, to become the top brand and I want to spend $2500โ€ โ€œWe get almost none now and want this all in 6 monthsโ€ ๐Ÿค” Welp, Good luck to you ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธ
23
22
220
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
PSA: copywriting and content writing arenโ€™t the same.
18
16
222
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
[New post] We often get asked how long it takes for content marketing to start working... Instead of sharing some random answer, we thought we'd answer this with data from 3 clients. We also share the strategy, promotion tactics and show conversions:
10
24
205
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
I'm not a writer. I'm a marketer who can write. How many other people identify with that statement?
41
10
208
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
7 years
For jobs, @AngelList is my goto. For business intelligence, @Mattermark . For communication, email over LinkedIn. Linkedin used to own all
8
25
190
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Marketing isnโ€™t about getting someone to purchase. Marketing is about figuring out your customers wants and needs and aligning the value of your product or service to meet them. Same outcome, different mindset. The former is shortsighted, the latter leads to long term success.
5
34
194
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
2 years
If your business goes up against big brand name competitors that own the search results for keywords you want, you should read this. We're trying to help the underdogs gain a competitive advantage in SEO:
5
26
158
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
We just published a new article on B2C content marketing. We share: - The differences between b2b & b2c content marketing - Our detailed strategy of how we grew this company to 70k+ pageviews in 14 mos ๐Ÿ“ˆ - A full view into the conversions we drove
5
17
147
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Prediction: I think LinkedIn will slowly die off and the rise of more niche jobs/networking platforms will arise -- marketing, sales, engineering, remote, etc. There's too much noise on LinkedIn and it's lost its usefulness. The trend is already starting
14
11
146
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Don't compete with competitors. Compete with yourself and continually ask yourself "what would make my business better for our customers?" Then focus on improving that. You'll beat competitors by asking yourself that question over and over again.
8
36
139
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
1 year ago, we booked our first $6k/month in revenue for our agency. That gave me enough confidence to move from my mom's couch into a sublet. Last month, we booked $45k/month in revenue. A lot can change in a year if you stay focused and don't give up. Startup life isn't easy
7
6
133
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
2 years
@digicritics The reason it failed wasnโ€™t bc it had other copies, itโ€™s because it didnโ€™t have a use case, the product wasnโ€™t great and the hype got ahead of the product. ChatGPT is the same thing
86
3
124
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
When joining a co as the first marketer or hiring your first marketer, many ppl make the mistake on focusing on acquisition channels immediately. Step 1 should be to do customer research, make sure the positioning is correct, & improve the product/service till there's PM/fit.
8
21
123
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
A mistake that I keep seeing companies make: They try to position themselves based on what want to be instead of what they are now. If you position yourself based on something youโ€™re not, it confuses ppl and hurts trust. Positioning should evolve alongside your product/service.
11
29
122
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Towards the end of last year, I was burned out. Even a 3 week vacation didn't help. So instead of pushing through it, I worked a lot less. I dropped off of social media & spent more time doing hobbies. Now I'm feeling super motivated again. Sometimes you just need a break.
8
5
123
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
2 years
@elilondon100 @justhugh_t Haha same guys were there when I was there last winter
2
1
115
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
When I ran marketing for other companies and tried to hire a content marketing agency, most I talked to were glorified writing services. None were willing to be held accountable to leads and traffic. When we started our agency, we wanted to change that.
5
3
119
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
11 months
BREAKING: Guy who has never operated a marketing agency promises he can make you $300k next month by sending the same bad cold email you just deleted.
Tweet media one
16
10
116
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
The time we invested in writing blog content over the first 3-4 years of our business has allowed us to not spend any money on mktg/sales beyond promoting those articles. A majority of sales calls close after one conversation bc people come in educated. Play the long game.
4
15
113
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
I think when this recession is over, we'll see more entrepreneurs because working for others was perceived as stable and less risky, and it's now proving to be more risky than having control over your own outcome. People getting laid off will make them question the system.
14
15
109
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Every stage of growing a biz is figured out through trial and error. P/M fit, hiring, the right org structure, etc. I feel like most ppl don't realize that when they start - they're looking for a playbook or a process that works, but it's all built through a series of failures
9
12
107
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Donโ€™t build a process around something you have yet to prove works. Sounds simple but youโ€™d be surprised how many times Iโ€™ve seen this happen
3
21
105
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
The #1 thing I'd do differently if I started a business again: Try to sell a product before spending any time working on it. After 3 failed products & 18 months of no revenue, we launched our agency with this Google doc and got our first 2 customers in 2 weeks. Thread:
Tweet media one
8
10
107
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Even better than remote work is the opportunity to create your own work schedule.
11
9
105
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
I've noticed that those "building in public" tend to share their revenue numbers after they've made it past all the hard parts of growing their business. And that kind of defeats the entire purpose behind the concept ๐Ÿ‘€
21
2
104
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
I used to overcomplicate SEO thinking that I needed to build a ton of links to get content to rank and that I needed to have perfect technical SEO. The most important thing: create the best resource on a topic and answer searches questions. Most ppl don't spend enough time there
8
8
96
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
We finally published a new post (it's been nearly 3 months ๐Ÿ˜ณ). It took us months to write & should become one of the foundational pieces on our site. It's about positioning (unsexy but important). If your positioning is wrong, your marketing will fail.
7
29
96
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
Finally! A great cold email! This is what it takes to stand out in a crowded inbox. If you follow this formula, you'll likely get a response. Making it personal + showing that you've implemented advice from someone almost always works. ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘
Tweet media one
4
15
96
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
7 years
@SatoshiLite The best way to market litecoin is to simplify cryptocurriences so that the average person can understand it. Most ppl are scared of what they donโ€™t understand. Then, you need to explain why litecoin is a better technology and outline your vision for how it gets adopted.
7
6
89
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
Letโ€™s stop talking about tactics & hacks and letโ€™s start talking more about mktg fundamentals & strategy. Having success doing something once is easy. Learning how to think about solving challenges repeatedly is hard. Marketing is a moving target & hacks will get left behind
8
22
90
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
@andrecarothers @DavidSacks You do realize that SF tax revenue last year was $12.2B (a dozen billions) and that we pay govt officials to solve those problems, right? Why is it a private citizens responsibility to pay and spend time on this when thatโ€™s what we pay the govt for?
4
2
84
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Wow. That mightโ€™ve been the worst decision @RobinhoodApp could make. Remove the ability to buy $amc, $gme, $nok and all the others? Now you just lost the trust of all of your users and you proved the market is rigged against retail. This is the start of something much bigger.
7
7
85
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Personas are a waste of time. Better to focus on listening to customer phone calls, talking to customers, answering support questions, etc. Those will give you a better idea who your customer is and what they care about. Stop trying to fit your customers into boxes.
@TheSalesLion
Marcus Sheridan
5 years
Spending hours, days, or even weeks identifying your "marketing personas" has never: -Generated a single lead -Proven marketing ROI -Gotten a marketing professional a raise Although useful, "doing personas" should never be considered a "win." It's a start. But not a win.
5
5
73
10
12
84
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
There will come a time in the near future where startups will hire content and media roles as first hires instead of just having a heavy focus on product and engineering in the beginning. Reason: Those that build owned channels will have an advantage over other startups.
11
5
84
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
Former boss micromanaged me and told me I didnt know what I was doing. Started a blog that teaches marketing, started and sold a SaaS product and built a marketing agency in the last 3 years since quitting.
@jesslynnrose
Jessica Rose
6 years
Tech Twitter: Tell me about a time someone underestimated or dismissed you and what amazing things youโ€™ve gone on to do since then? RT for reach if yโ€™all want a bunch of victory stories ๐Ÿ˜Œ๐Ÿ’–
1K
1K
4K
5
0
84
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
3 years
The more and more I talk to other founders, the more I'm convinced that operations is the bigger challenge to scaling than "growth" or marketing is. And for some reason, you don't see a ton of books, blog posts or people talking about it Maybe bc it's the unsexy part of biz ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ
21
2
83
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Our take: Don't focus on top of funnel content ideas until you've exhausted bottom of funnel and mid funnel content ideas. There's a lot more ROI in the latter, and more vanity metrics in the former. People think you need top of funnel to get ppl to the bottom but you don't.
7
14
81
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Iโ€™ve seen at least 3 people ask about switching from Evernote to @NotionHQ this week. If I were notion, Iโ€™d be writing the blog post: โ€œEvernote vs. notion: a comprehensive comparisonโ€ and owning the conversation along with taking branded search traffic from Evernote.
10
4
80
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
A lesson I learned early in my career: Help others without expecting anything in return. Iโ€™ve found that the positive karma comes back to you when you need it most.
3
10
78
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
Listened to @LewisHowes podcast with @ramit and was impressed by all of financial wisdom for business owners. Wanted to learn more so I bought this ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธexcited to dig in
Tweet media one
6
7
73
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
If you have a product or service people want and you clearly message the value to them, you will get signups and leads. I don't really understand the obsession with creating and optimizing "funnels" to convert people. When customers are ready, they'll buy.
13
12
77
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
7 years
Linkedin is ripe for disruption. High prices, less value, less engagement, & more spam. Groups are worthless & there's better data elsewhere
9
21
72
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
And just like that, we're booked through the end of the year. We started 2019 with 5 clients. We scaled back clients at the end of last year to get back to basics rethink our operations. Starting 2020, we'll have 14. Excited for what 2020 will bring ๐Ÿš€ @deveshkhanal
Tweet media one
13
2
74
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
7 years
I can't login to LinkedIn. Without... Seeing really annoying. Inspirational updates. With BS advice and lessons.
8
13
70
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Well that whole "billionaires are evil" narrative died quickly. Look who actually steps up in times of need.
15
11
71
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Micromanaging means that you donโ€™t trust your team to do their job. So you either: A. Hired the wrong people B. Have a problem giving up control Both are detrimental to your team and business.
4
11
70
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
@Kevin_Faulconer @sliccardo Thank you. Certain politicians like @LorenaSGonzalez and @GavinNewsom donโ€™t seem to understand that there are trade offs. Their payroll tax revenue in exchange for more drunk drivers on the road, less jobs in a recession and less delivery options in the midst of a pandemic
4
6
63
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
10 months
@SenWarren @FTC @SUBWAY @jimmyjohns @McAlistersDeli Thanks Senator. No one eats sandwiches from any other sandwich shops. Glad youโ€™re always focused on the important issues.
3
0
65
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
When I ran marketing for other companies and tried to hire a content marketing agency, most I talked to were glorified writing services. None were willing to be held accountable to leads and traffic. When we started our agency, we wanted to change that.
Tweet media one
1
1
68
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Companies that ask how many golf balls fit inside a 747 as an interview question and also complain that they canโ€™t find qualified candidates for their marketing job
12
4
67
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
. @realvision has been the best investment I've made on myself in the last year. I knew almost nothing about the world of investing, finance and large trend changes that are happening in the world. I watch it everyday and I've learned more from it than any book, class, etc.
6
5
65
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Why donโ€™t more people care to learn about investing / personal finance? People work their whole life to make money. Why wouldnโ€™t they want to learn how to protect that money over trusting others to do it for them? Yes, itโ€™s another skill to learn but a valuable one.
6
6
62
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
3 years
When I ran marketing for other companies & tried to hire a content marketing agency, most I talked to were glorified writing services. None were willing to measure success by conversions from content. When we started our agency, we wanted to change that
1
5
64
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
"The chart shows the signups from content alone. I started with the content barely bringing in any conversions in May to bringing in over 700% in signups a month. If you look past September, it is still growing exponentially." - @bleuangpaseuth
4
8
63
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Want to get better at marketing? Read more about psychology
9
7
64
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
2 years
Marketers are funny. Once theyโ€™ve found something that works, instead of doubling down on it, theyโ€™ll test unproven tactic after tactic to try to find something even better. Many marketers suffer from shiny object syndromeโ€” Focusing on what sounds cool over what works.
16
5
65
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
If a site doesn't have an about page with a founding story and images of the team/founders, I typically trust it less. It's easier to build trust when you know who you're buying from.
7
9
63
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
We launched our new course today. In it, you can learn our system for generating traffic and leads/signups for B2B and B2C businesses. We share it all - the same strategy that companies pay us $10k/month for in our agency. This week buy it for $499:
Tweet media one
5
8
63
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
I knew absolutely nothing about investing 2 years ago so I decided to try to learn. The more I learned, the more I found I loved it. I've dedicated nights and weekends to learning investing/trading & am pretty happy with this years performance. 2020 goal = continue to improve
Tweet media one
13
0
62
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
One of my flaws when it comes to writing-- I edit as I go. I can't write the next section of an article until I feel like the previous one is as close to final draft form as possible. Does anyone else do this?
30
0
62
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Just got off a 3.5 hour call with @coreyhainesco . I think I mightโ€™ve lost my voice but had a fascinating discussion about all things marketing. Thereโ€™s a 2+ hour podcast coming to you soon - we chatted about getting into marketing, content marketing, ops, biz and a ton more
5
0
61
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
10 years
One of the best stories i've read. From Dot-Com Zero to Hero: One Manโ€™s Story http://t.co/23dezItuiE @tferriss @alexisohanian #reddit
0
9
57
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Content strategy if you want ROI: Start with bottom of the funnel topics/keywords and work your way up. Buying intent > traffic Will be writing a post on this that shows data to prove this strategy works.
2
5
61
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
It only took 2 years of running an agency to realize that we're not just a service biz, we're a training biz. If we find great people with lots of potential, and train them to be even better at what they do, that enables us to provide a great service (and unlocks growth).
2
1
60
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Old me = "I have so many ideas for new products and new services to add that can grow our business" Me (now) = "Let's double down on what's working and make them so good that no one can compete with us" Scaling what has proven to work > shiny object syndrome
5
7
58
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
7 years
Haha I love this story. @IntrovertdAlpha hired a SEO firm who tanked her traffic. She got fed up, fired them & taught herself SEO by binge watching @randfish 's whiteboard friday videos. SEO traffic grew from 8k-30k in 4 months ๐Ÿ“ˆ. Full story: cc: @Moz
1
13
56
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
@ToddGloria Politician:"Businesses are struggling" Politician: "Let's create laws that have nothing to do with the problem and say we're helping" ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘ *Pats yourself on the back* The real problem: Businesses are struggling because you're saying they can't open. Why don't you fix that?
1
2
56
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
Do not sign up for @scottsflights because there are too many good deals and it will be hard not to book every flight sent to you. I already have 3 trips booked next year ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธ
9
1
57
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
If you've ever taken a course on content marketing, you likely know that most don't teach how to actually do content marketing. They teach high-level theory. We took some of the top courses and shared our thoughts on which ones are most effective.
0
4
55
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
3 years
@micsolana Do one on the before and after of Uber and Lyft. Both services are horrible now with her legislation. Costs skyrocketed, less vehicles driving, etc.
5
0
53
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
@tonetheman @jamiequint @BernieSanders Imagine taking the risk of starting your own business, spending 5 years building that company, then going to sell it and only getting to keep 30% of the value of what you built. The government takes 70% for taking 0 risk. Seems fair right?
3
0
55
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Airline CEOs blaming layoffs on no new stimulus when they spent their cash on stock buybacks instead of having cash on hand for a rainy day. If anything, the govt should give money directly to employees and not to leaders that have proven they canโ€™t manage their company or ppl.
9
4
53
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
One interesting learning we've had this year on the hiring front: Instead of hiring marketers, we've been hiring writers and training them how to become marketers/strategists. 1/
3
6
53
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
For those that requested more about the business side of G&C. Wrote a 2500 word article walking through the how we identified the gap in content mktg agencies, how we came up with the positioning, our service offering, etc. Will be published soon (after Devesh rips it apart)
Tweet media one
11
1
54
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
Our first guest post in years. @nateliason and I talk for an hour each month to share learnings from each others' agencies. Collaboration > competition. I've learned a ton from him. Happy to see pain-point SEO work for him like this. โ€ฆ @cupandleaftea
6
12
54
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Reminder: Tools don't solve strategy problems. In other words, don't buy tools to solve problems. Focus on building the right strategy and using a tool to optimize the process.
2
8
53
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Prediction: going forward we will see companies hire fewer โ€œemployeesโ€ and hire more freelancers and agencies. Reason: Companies realizing they can do more with less, that employees arenโ€™t as invested in the co as they thought, and bc of need for more specialized knowledge.
10
10
53
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
In this new post we cover how we: - Identified a gap in the market - Identified pain points to solve - Formulated our service offering - Came up with pricing - Positioned ourselves in a way that stands out Hopefully it helps you w/ your positioning:
0
13
54
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
This account gave me lots of sleepless nights. For what felt like forever, we couldn't get articles to rank. Then in June, we felt like the issue was the blog being on a subdomain. It got moved to /blog/. 3 months later... we finally have liftoff. Trust the process.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
8
1
53
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
3 years
After tax loss harvesting this morning, my total realized trading gain for crypto 2021 is 222%- my best year yet. Looking forward to continuing to learn and improve over the coming year. Shout out to @CryptoSays whose course really helped me improve my skills and emotions
Tweet media one
8
3
44
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
Make your personal brand so strong that you bring credibility to a company just by joining it. ๐Ÿ‘€ ๐Ÿ‘€ @davegerhardt Hadn't even heard of Privy until you joined...
3
4
51
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
After leaving the corporate world, I realized how much time is wasted in pointless meetings. Empowering people to make decisions on their own instead of discussing things amongst 5-10 ppl is a much better approach
6
7
52
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
5 years
"Content marketing" at its finest
Tweet media one
10
3
52
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Talent hack: find freelancers who donโ€™t actually want to run the business side of things, provide them consistency in work, autonomy and incentivize them monetarily... Get amazing results
5
2
51
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
3 years
Pretty crazy what Tim Ferris parlayed his success from 4 hour work week into. I now barely think of him as an author
8
2
51
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
9 years
An introduction to growth hacking, based largely on advice from @morganb . @GrowthHackers #growthhacking #marketing
1
10
41
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
This is a new one on LinkedIn. "I've never met you, but it seems like you have great experience. Want to be my roommate and live in my mansion??" ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜’
Tweet media one
15
1
51
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
New post: Everything you need to know about hiring a content marketer - Most companies hire writers instead of marketers (big mistake) - Oftentimes hiring a content marketer is like searching for a unicorn (I share why) My approach and lessons here:
Tweet media one
1
15
49
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
4 years
Here's the messaging we ended up going with. V1 of new site: Still have some design tweaks to make, but overall I think this better represents the business.
Tweet media one
11
0
50
@benjihyam
Benji Hyam
6 years
For the first 5 years of my career, I worked in-house growing 3 different companies w/ content marketing. I thought I knew a lot then. In the last ~18 months, as an agency, we've worked with 10+ companies to help them grow via content. Talk about an accelerated learning curve.
0
0
49