Mike Kamo's Recent LinkedIn Posts

I've been in sales calls all week. SEO is popular again. For years, we sold tons of SEO at NP Digital. Businesses knew they had to do it. But they didn't really care about it. It was a checkbox item. "Okay, we need SEO as a business." Then ChatGPT and Gemini exploded. Now the same buyers are panicking: "Oh my God, I'm not being mentioned when people search this on Gemini. How do I get my brand to show up on ChatGPT?" Suddenly they care. Like, really care. We're getting more pitches. Bigger budgets. It's already showing up in our pipeline. The shift isn't that SEO matters more. It's that buyers finally understand what they're buying. They want to show up when their customers ask AI a question. That's tangible. That's something they can visualize. If you're selling SEO right now, stop positioning it as "rank better on Google." Start positioning it as "show up when your customers search anywhere online.

I just told a founder to stop trying to monetize his community. Here's why... He's building a SaaS for a local service business (think scheduling, routing, customer management). He asked me: Should I charge for a Skool community or keep it free? My answer: Keep it free. Don't even think about monetizing it. Here's the thing most founders miss: You can't just compare the LTV of a community member vs. the LTV of a SaaS customer. Because the SaaS customer translates into enterprise value at exit. The community subscription does not. Look at his competitor: $6M in revenue. Sold for $100M. That's a massive multiple. If you hit $6M in revenue from a paid Skool community? You're not getting anywhere close to $100M at exit. The math is simple: SaaS companies sell for 10-20x revenue (sometimes more). Community subscriptions sell for 2-3x revenue (if at all). So what should you do? Use the community and education as a funnel. Give it away for free. Get people in. Build trust. Move them to the software. That's where the real enterprise value is built. Don't chase the $50/month community revenue when you're building a $100M exit. What's your take? Ever faced this decision?

I told a founder yesterday: If you're 50% cheaper than your competitor, stop trying to be clever. Just tell their customers they can save money. Here's the exact play we walked through: 1. Build a list of companies in your industry Use tools like Instantly AI to find potential customers. If you already have a database of prospects, even better. 2. Set up a cold email campaign with a simple message "Our average customer saves 50% compared to [Competitor Name]." That's it. People love savings. 3. Protect your domain (this is critical) NEVER use your primary domain for cold email. If too many people mark you as spam, your main domain gets destroyed. Use a spin-off instead: - Main domain: yourcompany.com - Cold email: yourcompany.co or yourcompanyinc.com This protects your core email reputation. 4. Run a 5-email sequence over 2 weeks Send one email every 4 days. Warm up your accounts first. Keep it focused on the savings angle. 5. Have someone ready to take calls When people respond, you need to convert them. No point in getting replies if no one can close the deal. This is how you steal market share from incumbents without burning your domain or your budget. Price advantage + direct outreach = predictable pipeline. What's stopping you from going after your competitor's customers?

We've hired hundreds of top performers building NP Digital to 1,000+ employees. First I start with our core values Think Big, Own it, Have fun. Filter all candidates through those values. For us it looks like: 1. Think Big (For Clients) Most agencies say: do your SEO, run paid ads, here's the checklist. Top performers ask: what can I do OUTSIDE my scope to help this client win? They think beyond the contract. That's how you stand out. 2. Think Big (For Themselves) I don't want people who are fine staying in the same role for 10 years. The best hires are constantly asking: • How do I get to the next level? • What do I need to learn to go from manager to director? • Where's my career path? Stagnant people build stagnant companies. 3. Own It We're marketers. We experiment. Not everything works. When something fails, top performers are the FIRST to say: "This is what I tried. It didn't work. Here's what I learned." They never pass the buck. They look in the mirror and ask: what could I have done better? That's how you grow. 4. Persist Through Rejection My VP of Sales has a 25% close rate on enterprise deals. That means when we put 100+ hours into a pitch... We still lose 3 out of 4 times. That's brutal. But he doesn't care. He knows 1 out of 4 will say yes. That's enough to keep going. 5. Constant Learning The best people I've hired are always learning. Always consuming content about their weak spots or where the industry is headed. They train their brain to learn all the time. That ROI compounds fast. 6. Delusional Optimism I give them a target that seems almost unattainable. They say: "Yeah, I'll figure it out." Even if they hit 80% of that crazy goal? That's way better than setting a mediocre target and hitting it 100%. Self-confidence is a cheat code. — Here's what I've learned building teams: Your core values should filter for these traits. Every hire gets measured against them. That's how you build a team that scales to $100M+.

I gave some free advice to a $10M+ company here in Vegas. The owner called me back two days later: "We're just going to pay you guys." Here's what happened: The owner asked me to review what his marketing team was doing. Just a favor, no pitch. We jumped on a call. Went through their setup. AI SEO gaps. Missing opportunities. I told them exactly what they were doing wrong and what they needed to focus on. Two days later, the owner called back: "This is way too hard for us. We'll just pay you." Now they're on an annual retainer. The lesson? When you demonstrate deep expertise, you're not confusing people. You're making them realize the task is harder than they thought. They stop thinking "maybe we can do this ourselves." They start thinking "we need someone who actually knows what they're doing." Show your expertise early. Make the complexity clear. The buy-vs-build decision becomes obvious.

My team wanted to do webinars for every new feature launch. I said no. Here's what we do instead: Neil films content regularly anyway. So when we launch a feature worth talking about, we give him a quick script. He picks the format—video, LinkedIn post, Twitter—whatever fits. No event. No production overhead. Just adds it to his regular content flow. Same promotion. Way less friction. The key: Only promote features big enough to matter. And make it stupid-easy for the founder to plug it in. Webinars sound productive. But speed + consistency beats production every time.

How I plan my year (and actually execute): Most people overcomplicate this. 1. Find the ONE thing Not ten priorities. One. The thing that drives the biggest impact. I combine two inputs: Current data from the business. Where the market is heading. 2. Make it specific For Ubersuggest this year, users would run reports, get insights, then leave for weeks. They'd implement elsewhere. So our ONE thing became: implementation. Keep users in the product by helping them implement, not just analyze. 3. Prioritize everything around it We added all features to the roadmap for the year. Categorized them by Priority: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3. Implementation features? All Level 1. (highest priority) Put dev teams into pods. Each pod owns their set of Level 1 features. Built a Gantt chart for launch dates. 4. Track what matters Watch the metrics that tell you if the bet is working: • User session recordings • Time on app • Return frequency • Average revenue per user • Lifetime value Most plans fail because people try to do everything. Pick one thing. Structure everything around it. Track if it's working.

I've watched too many founders struggle to explain what their product does. They write long posts. Complex landing pages. Try to explain everything at once. Here's what works better: A 60-second video showing ONE feature. Not your whole product. Not every capability. Just one thing it does really well. Example: "I built a tool that replicates viral content patterns." Then show it. Screen record it. Walk through one example. People need to SEE it work. One clear demo > 1,000 words of explanation. Perfect for YouTube and social. Easy to consume. Easy to share. Attracts qualified buyers. If you're building something, show it. Pick your best feature. Record a demo. Post it everywhere.

I told a founder his biggest problem wasn't the product. It was his customers. Here's what I mean: He built an AI tool to help entrepreneurs create LinkedIn content. Good product. Smart positioning. Reasonable price. But users kept dropping off. He thought it was about results. "Maybe they're not seeing ROI fast enough." I told him: That's step two. They're not even finishing step one. Step one = creating content consistently. Step two = seeing results from that content. You can't get to step two if no one's doing step one. Here's the thing: He's targeting entrepreneurs. That's a double-edged sword. The good side? They can easily afford the tool. The bad side? They won't spend an hour every week using it. I'm the perfect example. I signed up. I stopped using it. Not because the product is bad. Because I have too much going on. I make money from other things. I don't depend on my LinkedIn following to drive business. So I don't prioritize it. That's the entrepreneur problem: They have budget but no time. They have options so the ROI bar is higher. They won't commit unless it's nearly effortless. The lesson? If you're building for busy people with existing income streams, you need to eliminate time friction completely. Or pick a different customer. Someone who has the time and the need to show up consistently. Because a great product with the wrong audience behavior looks like a product problem. But it's not. It's an audience problem. What do you think? Have you seen this in your business?

I analyzed why users cancel Ubersuggest. Top reason? "Price." But we're the cheapest in the market. So it's not price... it's perceived value. The real problem: Users grab data → leave → don't need us for months. We gave them every reason to cancel. The fix? Stop being a data tool. Start producing outcomes. New flow: Enter URL → we automate keyword research → content creation → site audit → site fixes. The product keeps working for you. Plus: we're tying rankings directly to work done in-app. You create content for a keyword → you see it move your rankings → you come back to check. Feedback loop = retention. For any SaaS founder: If users can extract value once and leave, they will. Build continuous value INTO your product. Connect actions to outcomes. Turn your data tool into something indispensable.

"Won't they just do it themselves if I teach them all the marketing tactics?" I get this question constantly. I have a friend running a $10M remodeling company in Vegas. Hired a marketing person. Still came to NP Digital: "We don't know what we're doing. Just do it for us." Service business owners don't want to learn marketing. They want to pay experts who know their shit. So teach everything. Show exactly what you do. Make the complexity obvious. They'll hire you for your expertise and to save themselves time. Not run away and DIY it.

We've closed millions in SEO deals at NP Digital. The biggest advantage we have is simple. We actually do SEO on our own website. Most agencies pitch organic growth without proving it themselves. They promise millions of visitors when their own site barely ranks. We get millions of visitors to our website every month. When we pitch, we show our numbers. That proof kills skepticism and makes closing easier. Lesson: Show your method works on your own business not just clients. It's the fastest way to build trust.

We've scaled NP Digital across multiple countries. The best markets nail inbound conversion first. We get leads everywhere consistently. Top teams use our proven US pitch and put a likable closer in the room. Sales is likability. Same pitch, different closer = different conversion rate. Once inbound converts well, you have revenue. Revenue lets you hire A-players, fund brand-building, move upmarket. Sequence: optimize inbound first, then expand upmarket. Don't chase big brands with no foundation.

I've heard "we already have an internal team" hundreds of times. Early on, I'd back down. Felt like a dead end. Now? It's an opening. Here's what I say: "That's great that you have a team. But I'm looking at your rankings... and you're not showing up. You have the resources but the results aren't there. Why don't we team up? We'll handle the areas where you need help. Your team keeps doing what they do well. We fill the gaps." The shift: Stop positioning as a replacement. Start positioning yourself as a partner. Enterprise clients with internal teams aren't looking to fire people. They're looking to finally get results without the internal politics of admitting the current approach isn't working. You acknowledge their team. You point to the performance gap (the data doesn't lie). You create a path forward that doesn't require them to blow everything up. Does it work every time? No. But when you reframe from "us vs. them" to "us + them," you preserve the relationship and create a real path to a blended engagement. The results speak louder than the org chart.

The most important people on my team are the self-educators. I promote them faster than anyone else. Here's why 👇 We ran an AI contest at NP Digital. The rules were simple: Build a tool using AI that's valuable for your work or the company. Top 3 winners got cash prizes. Here's what happened: People built custom workflows, automation tools, GPTs for client work. And we're still using some of those tools today. That contest showed me something. The people who are adapting aren't waiting to be told what to learn. They're testing new tools regularly. They're in online communities learning how others use the same tools. They're coming to me saying, "Check this out. Look at this workflow I built." My VP of Sales reads a new book every week. 52 books a year! It's given him a wide perspective on sales, on dealing with different personalities, on handling situations in the sales process. He's got tools in his toolshed that most people don't. When I look at promotions, this behavior carries heavy weight. The self-educators are already at the top of the company. And when I see newer employees showing that same behavior, it tells me they're ready to move up. Here's my own story: When I started NP Digital, I made some really bad hires. Wrong fit. Cost us time, money, stress, headache. I realized I didn't have the recruiting skills I needed to build a big agency. So I taught myself. Read books on recruiting. Talked to recruiters. Interviewed them. Asked questions. Did hundreds of interviews. That self-education process made me into a pretty good recruiter. The pattern is clear: The people who keep learning are the ones who keep winning. Always bet on the self-educators.

I've seen managers hire people just because they had "5 years at Company X." Tenure doesn't always mean they're good. It just means the company didn't fire them. Some companies keep mediocre people for years because they don't manage talent hard enough. Here's what tenure CAN tell you: Culture. If everyone's leaving after 6 months? That's a culture problem. If people stick around for years? The environment is probably good. But individual tenure? That's not your signal for capability. The real key is tenure + promotions. Not just long they stayed somewhere.

We have a retention problem at Ubersuggest. And I think I know why. We give users SEO recommendations. They consume them. Then they cancel. They don't feel like they're getting enough value after that initial hit of insights. So here's what we're testing: Letting them create quality content directly in the software in a few minutes. Not just telling them what to do. Helping them DO it. Will this double our revenue? I honestly don't know. But I do think people will stay longer. And that matters. We'll also provide features to manage their content easier - scheduling content, connecting your socials, publishing, all from within our tool. But here's the bigger lesson: Recommendations get people excited. Execution keeps them around. If your product only tells people what to do, you're giving them a reason to leave once they've heard it. If your product helps them execute, you become part of their workflow. That's the difference between a one-time insight and a daily tool. What's your product? Are you giving recommendations or helping with execution?

I caught something in our weekly meeting that was hiding the truth. My team showed me our ROAS: 2.3 Looked good on the surface. But I couldn't tell if we were actually improving or just lying to ourselves. Here's what was happening: They were blending Facebook, Google branded search, and Google non-branded search into one number. The problem? Branded search captures existing demand. People already know Ubersuggest and are searching for it. That ROAS is naturally high. When you blend it with Facebook and non-branded Google campaigns, it inflates the whole number. So that 2.3 ROAS told me nothing: - Is Facebook actually improving? No idea. - Is our non-branded Google strategy working? Can't tell. - Are we wasting budget somewhere? Impossible to know. I asked for three separate lines: 1. Meta ROAS 2. Google non-branded ROAS 3. Google branded ROAS Now I can see where we're actually winning and where we're bleeding money. I can hold each channel owner accountable for real improvements. And I can allocate budget based on actual performance, not a blended number that hides the truth. If you're running paid ads at scale, don't rely on blended ROAS. Separate by channel. Split branded vs. non-branded. Otherwise you're flying blind with a dashboard that says everything is fine.

We give away way more content for free than our competitors. And it's the reason we have millions of visitors every month. Here's the math that makes it work: Our blog at NP Digital gives away content that other agencies charge for. We get millions of visitors to our site each month. Only a tiny percent of those people actually get on a consulting call with us. But here's what makes it worth it: Those deals close for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sometimes over a million. Sometimes multi-millions. 97% of the free users will never pay us a dime. But that 3-5% who do? They make it all worthwhile. This approach matters even more when you're starting out. You don't have the brand authority yet. Coming in and asking for money right away is harder. But when you give away massive value for free, you build audience fast. The more you give away, the faster you grow. That top-of-funnel compounds. The pipeline fills. And the minority who convert pay for all of it with outsized deals. So if you're debating whether to gate your content or give it away... Give it away.

I've seen sales teams lose SMB deals by flexing enterprise logos. Here's what happens: You're pitching a small business. You show them Stripe, Google, and other massive brands you've worked with. You think it builds credibility. But the prospect is thinking: "These guys don't work with companies my size. This isn't relevant to me." Deal dies. Here's the fix: Show BOTH. Show an SMB case study that mirrors their situation. THEN show the enterprise logo. But reframe it: "We're even able to do this for the biggest brands in the world. And it's a lot more difficult for them. You're a small brand. It's not as competitive for you. You're competing with other smaller companies." Now the enterprise logo works FOR you, not against you. It says: "We can handle the hardest challenges. Yours will be easier." Same logos. Different framing. Better close rates. What's working in your sales pitch right now?

Words can't fully capture how proud I am of our team right now. 🏆 NP Digital being named Performance Marketing Agency of the Year by AdAge is not a small thing. The A-List is one of the most prestigious recognitions in our industry and winning it is a direct reflection of the talent, grit, and creativity of every single person across our 30 country team. Agencies win awards. But the best agencies win them because of their people. People who show up every day and do exceptional work for their clients. That's what we have at NPD. I'm so grateful to work alongside this team.

I just talked a founder out of spending $10k/month on content. Here's why. He wanted to hire a full-service team. Script, film, edit, the whole thing. I get it. It sounds ideal. But here's the problem: He doesn't have a personal brand yet. Going from zero to $10k/month in content spend? That's not irresponsible. It's just unnecessary. You can get it done cheaper. Way cheaper. My advice: Learn the system first. Talk to someone who runs a great content process. Get ideas flowing. Understand how it all works. Then build your own version for less. I offered to intro him to the guy who's helped our company with content production. Not to hire him. Just to learn from him. That conversation alone could spark the ideas he needs to execute this scrappy. Early-stage founders need to protect cash and stay lean. You can scale content spend later when you have traction. But in the beginning? Learn the model. Stay scrappy. Preserve your capital. What's your take? Am I being too conservative here?

I've closed deals for 20+ years. Many salespeople talk themselves OUT of the sale. Here's how to fix it: 1. Stop talking so much Salespeople want to prove value, so they info-dump. Prospect checks out. Deal dies. Be concise. Write your pitch, then cut words. Read it again, cut more. Read it again, cut more. Like a copywriter editing sales copy. 2. Understand the root cause I see founders selling solutions that don't match the prospect's actual problem. That mismatch kills deals. Ask better questions. Have a real discovery conversation. Their goals, what's happening in their business, what they've tried, what worked, what didn't. Dig deep. 3. Be likeable People choose who they feel comfortable with. Even at a higher price. Find common ground. Be relatable. Especially if you're working together long-term. 4. Always ask for the close This tells you their buying temperature. Where they're at. What to do next. Skipping this step is a mistake. 5. Handle objections without being pushy You asked for the close. They didn't close. Now find out what's really stopping them. Not the fake objections like "let me think about it." The real ones. Then give them time. Don't push too hard in that moment. — I've used these principles to close hundreds of deals personally and thousands indirectly via sales teams. They work. What's your biggest challenge with sales right now?

If you own a Saas business this Steve Jobs quote is a great one. He said: You don't win by just building great tech. You start with the customer experience. Jobs admitted he made this mistake many times. Built really good technology... and nobody used it. Doesn't matter how good your tech is if people don't use it. We are now hyper focused on customer experience. Here's what we're changing: Old way: Drop users into our tool with 50 features. Let them figure it out. New way: Guide them step-by-step the second they land. → Enter your website → Do this now → Create content → Promote it → Track performance → Done 10 minutes later, they've set everything up and content is being created. They actually FEEL the value. Most people using our tool don't know what they're doing. And that's fine. Our job isn't to build more features. It's to walk them through getting results fast. More features ≠ better product. Clear path to value = better product. If you're building a product, ask yourself: Are you starting with the technology or the customer experience?

I noticed Semrush does something smart with their product. If you're logged in and someone else tries to use your account, it kicks you out. One seat = one user. But here's what happens after 2-3 times: They lock your account completely. You get a message: "Looks like you have more users than seats. Your account is temporarily locked. Schedule a call with our team to resolve this and we'll help you get the right plan." Now you're talking to their sales team. This isn't passive support. It's product-triggered selling. They built the system to surface expansion opportunities based on actual usage behavior. If you have a product, ask yourself: What user behaviors signal they need more than they're paying for? Then build triggers around those moments. That's how you create predictable pipeline from your product.