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Our monthly newsletter on technical marketing and how it impacts your growth strategy.
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Read by the world's savviest growth marketing teams:
“Signals by Flywheel is a newsletter by digital marketing leaders for digital marketers. Michael and Co. never pander to their readers, instead providing detailed thought and practical insights on the most cutting-edge industry topics. I create space for it every time it lands in my inbox, as I know I’ll learn something meaningful.”
Jeremy Bradley
Business Owner, Brand Builder, & Digital Strategist
What's Inside
Each issue offers industry updates, client strategies, and insights from our leadership team.
[ Top of Mind ]
A rundown of the impactful tactics, strategies, and trends influencing our team.
[ 90-Second Galaxy Brain ]
One highly actionable video walkthrough to make you a more savvy marketer.
[ The Take ]
A deep dive into a digital marketing trend or strategy that you must be aware of.
Sample Insights
[ Top of Mind ]
Google’s mid-April update removes 4 key ranking factors: Page speed, page experience, site security, and mobile-friendliness. Sounds big, right? Â
It is. But not for the reasons you think.
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Why this matters: Google’s ranking factors used to function like a weighted points system where your site got “points” for loading fast, security, etc. This update effectively got rid of those points systems and replaced them with a holistic assessment of ‘helpfulness.’  For example, a fast-loading web page will help your site feel helpful, but it’s no longer an end unto itself. This is a perspective shift in how we think about auditing sites.
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What you can do: Rethink your SEO performance benchmarks. Speed matters less, UX matters more. Your score on Google’s PageSpeed test isn’t that important anymore. If your site loads fast on your phone’s 3G network, you probably don’t need to prioritize speed. Instead, focus on individual page experience—including your blog content. And reference Google’s helpfulness framework for specifics.Â
My friends at Shopify use a term I like: “spellcasting”. This refers to the art of properly telling someone how to do it instead of doing it yourself. At Flywheel, for example, writing a great article brief is “spellcasting.” It’s an incredibly high-leverage skill.
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I believe ChatGPT (and generative AI as a whole) is entering its spellcasting stage. The tech is incredibly powerful, but it’s only as good as its inputs. We’ve now seen the first good example of a product to help you create inputs: AIRPM. We’re already experimenting with it for several growth-related tasks. Google also just announced it will release its own chat product, Bard, in the coming weeks. Bard will focus on the most practical use cases, such as brainstorming and simplifying complex topics.
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Why this matters: I often ask myself about the AI hype: “is this Peak of Inflated Expectations or Slope of Enlightenment?” Productization is an indication it’s the latter and these models are here to stay.
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What you can do: Download AIPRM (it’s free) and review their top-voted prompts. This gives you a great sense of what makes good spellcasting. My favourite is the “TL;DR” summary spell – try putting a video or podcast transcript into it.
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Then, get ready to apply those spells to Bard when it’s released. My feeling is it’ll be even stronger than ChatGPT.
[ 90-Second Galaxy Brain ]
Screen recordings are the most underutilized tool in marketing. If you’re serious about improving your conversion rate, then you need to invest time in watching how users interact with your website:
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Should you be advertising on TIkTok? Here’s your answer in 90 seconds. Their new Creative Center can tell you whether your product will resonate and what kind of ad will hit (if you know how to look at the data):
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As a Software Engineer who recently entered the world of growth operations, I needed to learn about marketing quickly. Signals by Flywheel has been the most helpful resource for me.
Jack Donkers
Software Engineer, Klaviyo
Signals provides expert insights on current events and trends. It has helped me make informed decisions that benefit my business and customers, particularly in light of the constantly evolving AI landscape.
Behdad Jamshidi
Founder, CJAM Marketing
I have found Signals to be an excellent tool for providing insight into the changing digital world and how it will impact my business. From tips to predictions, Flywheel shares great knowledge!
Alex Lowe
Marketing & Communications VP, Paladin Security
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