Content was once a rare thing, but now it has become a commodity.
You can’t just post any-old, average content anymore and expect to see results.
But that DOESN’T mean that content marketing and content creation are a waste of time.
The good news is that even though content is now a commodity, unique content is in demand more than ever.
I’d say that if you’re going to create content, then it has to be original.
It has to stand out.
Otherwise, it’s a waste of time.
But IF your content is engaging and original, you will stand out from the pack and build a valuable audience made up of prospects and customers.
You’ll go from chasing prospects to attracting them to you, your business, or your organization.
How do you create engaging and original content?
That’s what my “31 Types of Content We Crave” training is all about.
If you’ve enjoyed my Christmas content marketing lessons and want to know how to create more unique and engaging content, then don’t miss the special offer to attend my “31 Types of Content We Crave” webinar at a special price.
I’ll not only allow you attend for a special price, I’ll also:
Give you a free PDF copy of my book 51 Content Marketing Hacks
Send you the recording after the webinar
Allow you to invite any of your staff to attend with you (or in your place)
If you’re interested in being a part of the webinar, or just want more details on the date, time, etc., then DM me on LinkedIn.
This is the type of content that has been Santa’s secret for a long time.
Santa’s Secret 3-Step Content Marketing Strategy
Here are three steps he’s used to spread his fame around the world using the power of user-generated content:
1. Determine to do something so bold and amazing that people will want to share your story (content) with everyone.
The way Santa does this is to do something so bold that people can’t stop talking about it. He gives presents to strangers.
Giving gifts to people you know or have heard about is kind. But giving them to strangers around the world? That’s pretty bold and amazing.
Example of How Others Have Done This
Seven years ago the folks at WestJetdecided to borrow Santa’s method.
Watch what happened when they did….
Amazing isn’t it?
When this video first came out, people shared it like crazy!
That’s why doing something so bold that everyone can’t help but tell your story is a powerful strategy. But this is only his first step.
Let’s look at Santa’s next step…
2. Bring on an amazing team and let the story of who they are (content focused on their unique talents, qualities, and gifts) be told for all to see/hear.
Santa does this in many ways: he hires elves, uses flying reindeer, and even uses a reindeer with a shiny nose to lead them.
Example of How Others Have Done This
A woman named Tia Torres has done something similar. She has hired a team of people that most others have overlooked: parolees.
Why would she do this?
Because after her husband was sent to prison, she knew how much getting a second chance meant to someone who has a criminal record.
That’s why Tia decided to hire parolees to help her rescue pit bulls, animals who also know what it’s like to need a second chance.
Now Tia redeems the lives of parolees and pit bull’s through Villalobos.
Her team is so amazing and memorable that Animal Planet decided to do a show about her and Villalobos (create content about them).
Watch her celebrate the ending of parole for the first parolee she ever hired whose name is Earl…
Powerful, isn’t it?
But having a memorable team doesn’t just help you to have something worth creating content about.
It’s the thing that actually enables you to change people’s lives!
Now let’s look at Santa’s last content marketing strategy…
3. Allow and encourage others to freely share your story in many content forms.
Santa has never focused very much on creating his own content.
He’s always focused on doing and being someone worth creating content about.
Then he just lets others tell stories, create tv shows, movies, and even music about him.
I think that Airbnb is a good example of this. I’ve never seen many commercials or ads about Airbnb.
The only reason I originally heard about it is because other people created content about it.
This video from SoniasTravels is an example of content that others have created FOR Airbnb…
Takeaways For You & Your Business:
This post is obviously just meant for fun.
But the more I think about it, the more I realize there are three overlooked content marketing ideas we really need to consider:
Who you are
Who your staff, employees & associates are
What you do
…are ALL a rarely tapped source of powerful content.
With these in mind, here are some questions for you to think about as we enter into 2023:
What bold, different, and amazing things can you do in 2023? Focus on things to make your life and business more exciting. Think of things that will make your story worth sharing.
Are there amazing or interesting things you or your business has done in 2022 that you can share in 2023?
What interesting facts, hobbies, and stories about you and your staff have you neglected to share? (Obviously, your staff needs to give you permission.)
If you sat down as a team and brainstormed/dreamed together, I bet you could come up with some pretty interesting answers to these questions!
BONUS IDEAS:
Don’t focus on doing these things just so people will create content about you.
Focus on them because they would be fun, exciting, and meaningful to do.
Do things that help to change your industry.
Do things that change/improve people’s’ lives (the best reason to do this).
The accidental side-benefit will be that you will have a story worth sharing and content worth creating/spreading – whether it is created by you and others.
How to Create Engaging Content in 2024
Content was once a rare thing, but now it has become a commodity.
You can’t just post any-old, average content anymore and expect to see results.
But that DOESN’T mean that content marketing and content creation are a waste of time.
The good news is that even though content is now a commodity, unique content is in demand more than ever.
I’d say that if you’re going to create content, then it has to be original.
It has to stand out.
Otherwise, it’s a waste of time.
But IF your content is engaging and original, you will stand out from the pack and build a valuable audience made up of prospects and customers.
You’ll go from chasing prospects to attracting them to you, your business, or your organization.
How do you create engaging and original content?
That’s what my “31 Types of Content We Crave” training is all about.
If you’ve enjoyed my Christmas content marketing lessons and want to know how to create more unique and engaging content, then don’t miss the special offer to attend my “31 Types of Content We Crave” webinar at a special price.
I’ll not only allow you attend for a special price, I’ll also:
Give you a free PDF copy of my book 51 Content Marketing Hacks
Send you the recording after the webinar
Allow you to invite any of your staff to attend with you (or in your place)
If you’re interested in being a part of the webinar, or just want more details on the date, time, etc., then DM me on LinkedIn.
Yes, that’s the only way to get more information.
Make sure to subscribe so you’ll be notified when my next article goes live.
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As you probably know, content marketing isn’t just text-based content.
Content marketing can be images, video, audio, and much more. Keep that in mind as I reveal another interesting Christmas content marketing lesson.
Thomas Nast – The Man Who Created the Modern Image of Santa
Thomas Nast was a staff illustrator for Harper’s Weekly, which at the time was one of the most popular magazines around.
Santa first appeared in the January 2, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly. His outfit was an American flag. And, get this, he had a puppet with the name “Jeff” written on it.
Who was Jeff? Jeff was short for Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States.
Santa dress in an American flag with a doll named “Jeff.”
Yes, it was Nast who came up with the idea of a white-bearded old man with rosy cheeks. But that’s not all, Nast is the one who showed Santa passing out gifts.
But guess who he was passing out presents to? Union soldiers. And when Nast showed Santa climbing into a chimney, it was the chimney of a Union soldier’s house that he visited as the soldier’s wife prayed.
Are you noticing a common theme yet? Yep. Santa was pro-Union Army.
But there’s more. Take a look at his picture.
Look at How Much of Santa’s Story Came from Nast
The center window says, “Santa and his works.”
The top-left circle says, “On the look out for good children.”
The image on the left of the center window shows his workshop.
The top-right circle says, “Account work, record of behavior.”
The image on the right of the center window says, “Holiday week.”
The image at the bottom below the center window shows him riding in a sleigh and says, “Christmas Eve.”
The bottom-left circle shows a pine tree and says, “Christmas tree.”
The image on the bottom-left of the center window says, “Dollie’s tea party.”
The image on the bottom-right of the center window says, “Which Dollie will you have?“
The bottom-right circle shows Santa sewing with a needle and thread and says, “Making Dollie’s clothes.”
Along the top of this illustration, it says, “Santa Claus stable.”
At the bottom of this illustration, it says, “Dollie’s kitchen” and “Dollie’s parlor.”
And the one you won’t believe… along the top-right it says, “Santa Clausville, N.P.” (N.P. = North Pole)
Isn’t it crazy how many of the things we associate with Christmas are in this one image?
But remember that Union theme? It wasn’t just in that first image. Check out this image and I’ll show you what I mean…
The Hidden Pro-Union Message in Nast’s Images
This was a picture he illustrated in 1881 that appeared in Harper’s Weekly. It looks just like a normal Santa picture, right? Nope.
If you knew what some of the things in the picture actually were, you’d realize it’s actually more propaganda.
Believe it or not, the image is actually representing the government’s indecision to pay members of the military a higher wage.
“‘On his back isn’t a sack full of toys—it’s actually an army backpack from enlisted men.’ He’s holding a dress sword and belt buckle to represent the Army, whereas the toy horse is a callback to the Trojan horse, symbolizing the treachery of the government. A pocket watch showing a time of ten ’til midnight indicates the United States Senate has little time left to give fair wages to the men of the Army and Navy.”
That shows that whenever Nast was creating images of Santa, he was subtly, and not so subtly, promoting the pro-Union message.
In other words, his content was always promoting the message he was “selling.”
3 Simple and Quick Content Marketing Lessons You Can Learn from Thomas Nast
Before you go, let me leave you with a few content marketing lessons that still apply today (and apply all year long):
Never forget the value of images to capture attention and share your message. Images capture attention and are memorable.
The power of a story tied to a well-designed image is a powerful combination. Images that don’t say anything aren’t very powerful. Always figure out how to tie them to the message you want to convey.
Never overlook the astonishing power of repetition. If you really want to get your message across, you need to consistently share it. Sharing it only once will probably not have much impact. (Want to learn more about repetition? The previous bolded sentence is a link.)
If you want to see more of these articles, then make sure to come back for tomorrow’s final article.
By the way, if you’re enjoying these, why not just subscribe below?
How to Create Engaging Content in 2024
Content was once a rare thing, but now it has become a commodity.
You can’t just post any-old, average content anymore and expect to see results.
But that DOESN’T mean that content marketing and content creation are a waste of time.
The good news is that even though content is now a commodity, unique content is in demand more than ever.
I’d say that if you’re going to create content, then it has to be original.
It has to stand out.
Otherwise, it’s a waste of time.
But IF your content is engaging and original, you will stand out from the pack and build a valuable audience made up of prospects and customers.
You’ll go from chasing prospects to attracting them to you, your business, or your organization.
How do you create engaging and original content?
That’s what my “31 Types of Content We Crave” training is all about.
If you’ve enjoyed my Christmas content marketing lessons and want to know how to create more unique and engaging content, then don’t miss the special offer to attend my “31 Types of Content We Crave” webinar at a special price.
I’ll not only allow you attend for a special price, I’ll also:
Give you a free PDF copy of my book 51 Content Marketing Hacks
Send you the recording after the webinar
Allow you to invite any of your staff to attend with you (or in your place)
If you’re interested in being a part of the webinar, or just want more details on the date, time, etc., then DM me on LinkedIn.
Yes, that’s the only way to get more information.
In You Enjoyed This, Can You Help Someone Else Discover It?
If you enjoy this article, can you also share this article on social media and with someone that you think will like it?
You’ll be helping your friends, followers, and associates out by pointing them to valuable content marketing ideas.
And you’ll also be helping me out by helping to spread the word about this site.
(If you want to help others that you don’t know find this site, then reference and link to this article in one of your next articles.)
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“The next day, Coke sent Schulz and Mendelson the following telegram: ‘CONFIRM SALE OF CHARLIE BROWN FOR CHRISTMAS TO COCA-COLA FOR DECEMBER BROADCAST AT YOUR TERMS WITH OPTION ON SECOND SHOW FOR NEXT SPRING. GOOD GRIEF!‘”
The Show Almost Didn’t Air
As popular as the show is these days, this might be hard to believe, but the show almost didn’t make it on air.
“The network hated the idea of a religious message in a Christmas TV special. They hated that the special wasn’t non-stop action interrupted with gales of fake laughter (as if cartoons would actually have a live studio audience).
“They didn’t like the soundtrack, thought the kid voiceover actors sounded too much like children, and would rather have played a needle scratch than jazz music. Things got so bad that even the special’s producers and Charlie Schulz (not known for having a cheery outlook to begin with) thought the cartoon would be a critical and commercial bomb.
“In fact, everyone was thinking of simply scrapping the show altogether…except for Cocoa-Cola, who was the special’s main sponsor and was not about to let a half-hour of advertising not make it to air.“
Where Are the Coke Ads in the Show?
The ads for Coca-Cola have been removed from the special over the years, so you won’t see them when you watch it today.
So where were they in the original?
Ted Ryan says that the only Coca-Cola messages were “title slides telling viewers that the production was made possible by the support of the local bottlers around the country.”
Here is a video clip of the title slides mentioning Coca-Cola…
“Create content that your prospects and customers want — especially if it isn’t focused on your business: You must not only create great content, but you must also create content that your desired target group is craving and searching for. And this might seem counterintuitive, but the most powerful kind of content for you to create might actually be content that doesn’t directly focus on your business or industry at all.”
Do you want proof that it was content that marketed Coca-Cola effectively?
You might have thought you couldn’t use content marketing because you’re not a content creator of any kind.
Well, now you know that you can harness the power of content marketing without actually creating it.
You can hire content creators to create content for your business.
It doesn’t have to be someone at the level of Charles Schulz. There are many content creators out there who would gladly create content for you.
Or maybe you thought, “No one really cares about content related to my business.”
Well,now you know that the content doesn’t have to directly focus on your business or industry.
It just needs to be content that resonates with your audience. That’s the key. That’s what Coca-Cola did.
And the result is content that was so popular that it still resonates with people 57 years later.
How to Create Engaging Content in 2024
Content was once a rare thing, but now it has become a commodity.
You can’t just post any-old, average content anymore and expect to see results.
But that DOESN’T mean that content marketing and content creation are a waste of time.
The good news is that even though content is now a commodity, unique content is in demand more than ever.
I’d say that if you’re going to create content, then it has to be original.
It has to stand out.
Otherwise, it’s a waste of time.
But IF your content is engaging and original, you will stand out from the pack and build a valuable audience made up of prospects and customers.
You’ll go from chasing prospects to attracting them to you, your business, or your organization.
How do you create engaging and original content?
That’s what my “31 Types of Content We Crave” training is all about.
If you’ve enjoyed my Christmas content marketing lessons and want to know how to create more unique and engaging content, then don’t miss the special offer to attend my “31 Types of Content We Crave” webinar at a special price.
I’ll not only allow you attend for a special price, I’ll also:
Give you a free PDF copy of my book 51 Content Marketing Hacks
Send you the recording after the webinar
Allow you to invite any of your staff to attend with you (or in your place)
If you’re interested in being a part of the webinar, or just want more details on the date, time, etc., then DM me on LinkedIn.
IMPORTANT: Do you know the Christmas TV specials that used to only come on once a year?
Well, you can think of my Christmas content marketing video below as one of those.
How Content Marketing Gave Birth to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The video you’re about to see contains the little-known story of how a content marketing assignment led to the most famous reindeer of all.
In other words, you’re about to discover a Christmas content marketing lesson. In the video, you’ll discover:
Montgomery Ward’s use of content marketing at Christmas
How the story of Rudolph came to be
The tragedy that almost ended it all
The surprising success of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The offer he had to refuse
The big risk and the big payoff
The rejected song that became a hit
Learn How to Create Engaging Content in 2023
Content was once a rare thing, but now it has become a commodity.
You can’t just post any-old, average content anymore and expect to see results.
But that DOESN’T mean that content marketing and content creation are a waste of time.
In fact, I would say it’s needed more than ever.
The good news is that even though content is now a commodity, unique content is in demand more than ever.
I’d say that if you’re going to create content, then it has to be original.
It has to stand out.
Otherwise, it’s a waste of time. But IF your content is engaging and original, then you will stand out from the pack and you will build a valuable audience made up of prospects and customers.
You’ll go from chasing prospects to attracting them to you, your business, or your organization.
How do I create engaging and original content?
That’s what my “31 Types of Content We Crave” training is all about.
If you’ve enjoyed my Christmas content marketing lessons and want to know how to create more unique and engaging content, then don’t miss the special offer to access to my “31 Types of Content We Crave” training at a special price.
Click the button below to learn more.
In You Enjoyed This, Can You Do Two Things?
If you enjoy this video, then please subscribe to this channel.
You’ll not only learn other Christmas content marketing lessons, but you’ll also learn lessons on how to create engaging content through my behind-the-scenes videos.
Can you also share this article on social media and with someone that you think will like it?
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You might not believe this, but I’m about to show you a lesson you can learn from Hallmark movies that can help you to easily create powerful content in 2023.
And it all comes down to knowing the importance and value of patterns. I’ll explain more of what I mean in a minute.
But first, let’s look at the thing that most people think is the flaw of Hallmark movies because it’s actually the genius of them.
When a Bot Writes a Hallmark Movie
Humorist Keaton Patti forced a bot to digest massive amounts of human media to produce these absurdly funny, totally real, “bot-generated” scripts, essays, advertisements, and more. (Check out his book here.)
One of the scripts the bot wrote was one to a Hallmark movie. In this tweet, pictured below, he reveals the hilarious results….
They Laughed When Hallmark Starting Creating Movies – Until the Ratings Came In
Popular meme showing how similar Hallmark movies are
People like to make fun of how formulaic Hallmark movies are – so formulaic that even a bot could write them. But there’s one thing that can’t be denied.
Hallmark movies and the Hallmark Channel itself are both very popular. How popular are they? You might not believe it, but check out these stats:
As of October 2020, the Hallmark Channel is the 7th most popular cable channel. (Source)
Countdown to Christmas has made Hallmark Channel the #1 entertainment cable network during Total Day in Fourth Quarter-to-date among Households, Women 18+, Women 25-54, and Total Viewers, and during Primetime among Households, Women 18+, and Total Viewers (Source)
17 of the 21 original holiday movie premieres on Hallmark Channel were the most-watched entertainment programs of the week among Women 18+ (Source)
To date, the annual holiday programming event has reached nearly 45 million unduplicated Total Viewers (Source)
From @basicallyhallmark
Why is Hallmark Channel so popular? And why are Hallmark movies so popular?
One of the reasons is the fact that people need an escape from this crazy pandemic world we live in.
“That’s a polite way of saying more and more Americans are turning to the Hallmark Channel for relief from the daily news cycle.”
But I think it’s more than that. I think it comes down to people’s deep need for familiar patterns.
One of the things kids are taught in kindergarten is how to recognize patterns. They have to be able to recognize and name the basic types of patterns.
They have to be able to notice “AB” patterns (like the one in the image above that is yellow, red, yellow, red, etc.). They have to recognize “ABC” patterns such as: blue, green, red, blue, green, red, etc.
They also have to be able to recognize other types of patterns. Why do they have to learn these things?
Because being able to recognize patterns in life is an important life skill.
But do you realize that the ability to recognize and form patterns is a powerful tool in content creation and content marketing?
You see, people crave familiar things – especially in a world with so much turmoil and upheaval.
Patterns create a familiar framework that enables people to more easily consume your content.
Extended Preview – Open Hearts – When Calls the Heart
Patterns Do Two Things That Are Important In Content Marketing:
1. They help people to follow along.
2. They create anticipation.
Now, obviously, when I am talking about creating content based on patterns I am NOT suggesting that you create predictable content.
I am just saying that it should have an underlying pattern.
If you start paying attention, you’ll notice that every type of content that you like (TV shows, Youtube channels/stars/shows, websites, authors, etc.) all use patterns.
Whether you realize it or not, what you really like about your favorite content is the patterns that they use.
Two Different Ways You Can Utilize Patterns To Create Effective Content
I want to share with you two ways you can utilize patterns to help you to more easily create effective content.
External Patterns
One way is to utilize external patterns to help you create more effective content. Here’s how:
1. Notice the patterns that other effective content creators and content marketers use.
2. Try out their patterns with your own content.
3. Study the results.
4. Use the patterns that you are the most comfortable with and the ones that produce the best results.
Internal Patterns
The other way is to utilize internal patterns to help you create more effective content:
1. Notice the patterns you tend to already use when creating content.
2. Study which patterns seem to get the best response and are well received.
3. Purposely use the patterns which you determine get you the best response.
4 Benefits Of Using Patterns When Creating Content
1. It gives you a framework to start with, which helps you overcome “the blank page” syndrome that often causes writer’s block.
2. It allows you to begin to create a style of content your reader can get used to and associate with you.
3. People who resonate with your pattern(s) begin to regularly come back because they like the format and know what to expect.
4. It gives you structure and freedom. Structure for the flow of your blog post, or other types of content you use, but freedom to be creative within that framework.
A humorous (but misguided) meme about the simplicity of Hallmark Christmas Movie plots
One Way I Do This
I don’t know if you noticed it before, but I have a pattern I use on a micro-level on this site. Each article generally has a regular pattern I follow.
On a basic level the pattern looks like this:
1. I use something to grab your attention.
2. I present my main thoughts, ideas, or lessons.
3. I challenge you to take action.
Let Others Laugh at Hallmark Channel, While You Learn from Them
Let me be clear one last time. I’m not suggesting that you create cheesy, simple patterns with the content you create..
I am suggesting that you find subtle and powerful patterns that your audience loves and can’t get enough of.
When you do that, you will discover the secret to effortlessly creating powerful content in 2023 and beyond.
How to Create Engaging Content in 2024
Content was once a rare thing, but now it has become a commodity.
You can’t just post any-old, average content anymore and expect to see results.
But that DOESN’T mean that content marketing and content creation are a waste of time.
The good news is that even though content is now a commodity, unique content is in demand more than ever.
I’d say that if you’re going to create content, then it has to be original.
It has to stand out.
Otherwise, it’s a waste of time.
But IF your content is engaging and original, you will stand out from the pack and build a valuable audience made up of prospects and customers.
You’ll go from chasing prospects to attracting them to you, your business, or your organization.
How do you create engaging and original content?
That’s what my “31 Types of Content We Crave” training is all about.
If you’ve enjoyed my Christmas content marketing lessons and want to know how to create more unique and engaging content, then don’t miss the special offer to attend my “31 Types of Content We Crave” webinar at a special price.
I’ll not only allow you attend for a special price, I’ll also:
Give you a free PDF copy of my book 51 Content Marketing Hacks
Send you the recording after the webinar
Allow you to invite any of your staff to attend with you (or in your place)
If you’re interested in being a part of the webinar, or just want more details on the date, time, etc., then DM me on LinkedIn.
Yes, that’s the only way to get more information.
Who Do You Know Who Needs to Read This?
Did you like this article? If so, can you share it on social media and with someone that you think will like it?
Your friends, followers, and associates will appreciate you pointing them to valuable content marketing ideas.
And I’ll appreciate you helping me to spread the word about this site.
(If you want to help others that you don’t know find this site, then reference and link to this article in one of your next articles.)
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In vain, they search for some trick to create them out of thin air. Or they wait around for them to magically appear.
But how many companies and businesses ever consider doing something to cultivate raving fans out of the current customers they already have?
Because, whether you realize it or not, if you don’t cultivate the current and potential raving fans that exist within your own customer base, they’re not going to just magically appear.
In fact, worst case scenario, you might turn around one day only to realize that you lost them.
That reminds me of a story I came across about a man who mishandled something he treasured…
The Lost Treasure and the Desperate Search
Back in 2006, a woman named Betty Goldstein of Staten Island, New York was briefly hospitalized.
Worried about his wife, and not thinking clearly, her husband, Ron, decided to wrap her 3.5-carat diamond ring in a napkin for safekeeping.
But with all of the stress of his wife being in the hospital, in an unthinking moment of forgetfulness, 63-year-old Ron threw the napkin in the trash.
As soon as he realized what he did, he ran outside. But to his horror, it was too late. The garbage truck was already way down the street.
In a panic, Ron called the local sanitation department.
They immediately contacted the driver and instructed Ron to head to the transfer station in Elizabeth, N.J.
When he got to the transfer station, he told the truck driver, Carlo Tanutco, what happened. And he also told Carlo that he thought the diamond was in a yellow kitchen trash bag that he had put inside of a larger black collection bag.
Armed with that information, Carlo and the other garbage workers joined Ron as they searched through mounds of nasty and stinking garbage hoping to find the lost treasure.
Believe it or not, after an hour of digging and looking into strangers’ trash bags – in sweltering heat, Ron’s garbage was somehow found.
And guess what? The ring was somehow still inside the napkin.
Goldstein later told a reporter, “It was meant to be found. It was like God giving me another shot.”
SIDE NOTE: Ron and his wife were so thankful for Carlo’s help in searching for the ring they invited him to their home to say thank you.
Moral of the Story: If you don’t want to end up feeling the same regret that Ron did, you need to determine, right now, that you and your team will stop mishandling the current and potential raving fans that are already under your care.
The 2 Steps Needed to Uncover Your Raving Fansand Increase Your Customer Loyalty
To find the raving fans within your current customer base and increase customer loyalty, you need to do two things:
Determine who/where the raving fans are in the midst of your customer base.
Then you need to learn how to cultivate similar customers who, with some encouragement, might become raving fans.
Keep reading and I’ll explain how you and your team can do this.
How to Unearth the Raving Fans Buried in Your Customer Base
Do remember how Ron and Carlo found his lost treasure?
They started with a description and clues that they had. (It was inside a yellow bag inside of a larger black bag.)
If you start with the clues that raving customers leave behind, you’ll have a much easier time finding them.
So what are the clues that raving fans leave behind? There are two main clues that they leave behind:
Frequency Clues – Raving fans don’t just buy once. They buy over and over again.
Monetary Clues – Raving fans not only buy repeatedly, but some of them also spend a lot with your company or business.
Armed with those two clues, you need to look through your customer base and see where (or to who) these clues lead you.
Once you discover them, you will have a list of raving fans and/or potential raving fans.
But it’s what you do next that will make all the difference in whether you keep or lose these treasured customers, or whether you leverage them or they remain a lost treasure.
3 Ways to Cultivate and Empower Your Raving Fans
So what can you do to keep them and leverage these treasured customers? Let me give you three simple ways you can do this…
1. Thank Them
We all loved to be appreciated and thanked for the things we do for others, right? Well, your current raving fans and your potential raving fans love it too.
So thank them individually, one-on-one, for purchasing regularly from you and/or for spending large amounts with your company or business. Tell them you’ve noticed and tell them how valuable they are to you.
But don’t just thank them individually. Shine the spotlight on them and acknowledge them in front of the rest of your customers. (It would probably be best to get their permission first.)
By doing this you’re doing three powerful things:
Making these valuable customers feel truly appreciated and encouraging them to continue to be (or become) raving fans
Encouraging the same action in your other customers
Giving your raving fans a reason to rave about you to others
If you stop there, you’ll already be doing more than most companies and businesses do. And you’ll be seeing results like you never have before.
But there are two more things that you can do.
2. Ask Them
The second thing you can do is ask your raving fans and potential raving fans to leave reviews and/or share about their experience with others.
You can do this in a P.S. in your message thanking them. Or you can do this whenever someone contacts your company or business to tell you how happy they are with their purchase.
But you don’t have to just focus on raving and potential raving fans. You can also send a message to all of your customers.
Simply ask them, if they love your product or service, to please leave a review on review sites and/or tell others about your company or business.
When or if they actually give you reviews, or share about your company or business with others, don’t forget the first thing I just showed you: thank them for doing this!
If you do these things, you’ll be surprised at what a difference they make.
(*When you do, can you do me a favor? Come back and let me know how this helped your business. And please tell others about this article and this site.)
But there’s still one last thing you can do to cultivate and empower your raving fans.
3. Reward Them
Not only does thanking people and asking them for help actually encourage them to take action, but so does rewarding them.
That means that the final thing you should do is to start rewarding your top customers. How?
Reward customers who purchase regularly from you.
Reward customers who spend the most with you.
Reward customers who bring the most customers to your company or business
Be creative with the rewards and make sure that the rewards you give are legally allowed in your industry, but make sure to do it and do it generously.
Because these customers are worth investing in. And when you invest in them, you’ll reap dividends.
Well, there you go.
I’ve revealed two clues to uncover who your current raving fans are, and I’ve revealed to you three ways to cultivate new raving fans and empower your current customers to become fans.
If you will just implement these things in your business, you’ll begin experiencing the benefits of having raving fans and customer evangelists.
The best part? You’ll do this while your competitors are still sitting around waiting and hoping for them to magically appear.
Stay tuned for my next tip on how to get the most out of the 12th marketing fundamental.
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In my last article, I talked about the importance of your product or service being “worthy” if you ever hope to have raving fans or excited customer evangelists.
One of the ways you can ensure that your product or service is worthy is by making sure that your product or service (or your company or business) stands out from what your competitors offer.
But what do you do if your product or service doesn’t naturally stand out?
Stick with me, because you’re about to learn nine things you do to can make your product or service stand out from the competition.
Are you ready? Here you go…
9 Ways to Create a USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
1. Personality or Brand – One way you can stand out from your competitors is based on who the founder/CEO of the company is or the person/identity that represents the company.
If your founder, CEO, or company are unique, then make sure to emphasize them in all your marketing and ads.
Examples: Steve Jobs & Wendy’s
2. Backstory – How the company (or founder) got into this particular business is another way you can stand out from your competitors.
If you have a unique backstory, then make sure to tell it. And tell it over and over again.
Examples: TOMs Shoes – According to the website, founder Blake Mycoskie “witnessed the hardships faced by children growing up without shoes” while traveling in Argentina in 2006.
“Wanting to help, he created Toms Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a new pair of shoes for a child in need.”
Clif Bar – Clif Bar is a family and employee-owned company that believes happy, healthy people create the best food. Their culture, pay, benefits, holistic wellness programs, and dedication to employees’ career growth create a unique and meaningful workplace. Where we take ourselves lightly and our work seriously.
3. Experience – The experience people have from buying or using your product or service to get the result they want.
If the experience you currently provide isn’t that unique, then think about what you can do to make it unique, fun, and different.
Examples: Disneyland and any high-end restaurant
4. Process – How the company does what it does, creates the product, performs its service, or brings about the promised results.
Example: Aquafina claims their water goes through a seven-step HydRO-7 filtration process that supposedly takes out more solids than other filtration methods, which makes it the purest bottled water you can buy.
5. Product or Service – The product or service itself is unique.
This is a rare way to stand out. But if this is true, then make sure to point it out to your prospects.
Example: iPhone (when it first came out)
6. Price – Lowest price. This is the least effective way for MOST businesses to stand out. But if this is true, then make sure to let your prospects know.
Example: Walmart
7. Promotion or promise – If you can’t find a way to make your product or service stand out from my previous six examples, then you can offer a unique promise to your prospective patrons.
Examples: Dominoes = 30 minutes or less
8. Place – Physical location and/or the channel (or media type ) you will use.
This is a way to stand out from your competitors that most businesses and companies overlook. So take time to think about ways you can leverage this in your unique situation.
Example: Blendtec Blender – Tom Dickson is the founder of Blendtec. And Tom is an inventor.
Back in 1975, Tom’s curiosity was piqued when he used a vacuum to clean up some spilled wheat kernels. This curiosity drove him to revolutionize the home wheat milling industry, taking it from stone grinding to his patented, stainless steel, milling heads.
But, like most inventors, Tom didn’t stop there. He dreamed of inventing the perfect mixer using the freshly milled flour from his mill, so he could make homemade bread in minutes.
And that is how he came up with the Blendtec Blender.
But Tom is a unique sort of guy. In order to test how strong his new blender was, he decided to try blending 2x2s. And guess what? It worked!
So how did he go from that to producing viral videos? George Wright, Blendtec’s marketing director, heard about Tom’s habit of testing the blades by blending boards, so he had an idea.
Why not video Tom blending up items that you normally can’t (and probably shouldn’t!) blend?
“P90X fans swear by the workout, a mix of jumping, yoga, martial arts, and strength training that, in fact, isn’t all that revolutionary. But the secret of P90X’s success is the marketing.”
So by using these 9 ways to create a more effective USP.
Standing out from your competition is one way you can make your product more worthy.
But let me give you some questions you can ask that can help you to make your product more worthy.
Questions To Help You Make Your Product “Worthy”
For the rest of the articles in this series, I’m going to focus on cultivating, coordinating, and celebrating your fans and customer evangelists.
But having a product or service that’s worthy is the starting point that will impact your ability to do any of the other things I’m going to show you.
So let me leave you with these questions to help you work on making your product worthy.
Who are you trying to help? You have to understand the target patron group you will market to. And you have to understand if they are the best group to actually market to, based on what the company offers.
What are you actually offering? What forms are we selling it in? Can you change or improve this in some way in order to make your product or service more worthy?
What problem are you solving for them? Can you add, subtract, or in some other way change the problem you’re solving?
What are you asking for in exchange for what we are offering? Is the transaction just monetary? Or are you also asking for a time commitment, a commitment to a community of customers with similar needs, desires, etc.?
Read the First Two Articles About the 12th Marketing Fundamental You Need to Succeed
If you have read my last two articles, you can do that below:
In my last article, I revealed the 12th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2022: You need to uncover and empower your raving fans and customer evangelists.
(If you haven’t read about the other 11 marketing fundamentals I’ve already revealed, click here to read them.)
Today, I want to talk about where you need to start if you want raving fans or excited customer evangelists: with the product or service you offer.
You might never have thought of it in this way before, but offering a “worthy” product or service IS a marketing strategy.
Think about it.
If your product or service isn’t what I would call “worthy,” then there’s nothing I can tell you that will help you to attract raving fans or customer evangelists.
Why? Because why would a customer become a fan or spread the word about your product or service, if it’s not worth loving or telling others about?
“It’s no longer enough to be good, or better, or even the best. Now the question is…what makes you DIFFERENT?”
Sally Hogshead, New York Times Bestselling author
What makes a product or service “worthy?”
Here are the three questions you need to ask to determine if your product or service is worthy.
Is your product or service unique and not offered exactly in the same way(s) by other businesses?
This is what is called your USP or “ Unique Selling Proposition.” It’s what makes you and your product different from all of the other companies. (This is the 4th marketing fundamental.) Your prospects have to know WHY and HOW your business is different than any of the other choices.
Is the product or serviceyou sell above or beyond what others offer?
If your product or service is exactly the same as what everyone else sells, then why would anyone become a raving fan of your business or company?
Your prospects have to know WHY and HOW what you’re selling is betterthan any of the other choices.
Does your product or service meet the customer’s needs/wants in an overwhelmingly satisfying or surprising way?
It is NOT just about offering a better price. Unless you’re Walmart, you can’t win by offering the cheapest product or service! Instead, it’s about offering the maximum benefit possible for your customers (i.e. the maximum end result) in a way that is pleasing and makes them feel they “won” by buying from you.
Your prospects have to BELIEVE and KNOW that what you’re selling is satisfying and surprisingin the way it meets their needs/wants.
Your Chance to Create Raving Fans and Excited Customer Evangelists
If your product or service meets these three criteria, then you have a chance to create raving fans and excited customer evangelists:
Your prospects know WHY and HOW your business is different than any of the other choices.
Your prospects know WHY and HOW what you’re selling is better than any of the other choices.
Your prospects BELIEVE and KNOW that what you’re selling is satisfying and surprising in the way it meets their needs/wants.
Once you know you’re product or service is worthy, you’re ready to move to the next steps in the process of leveraging the 12th marketing fundamental cultivating, coordinating, and celebrating your fans and customer evangelists.
Stay tuned for my next article.
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Robert McGarvey once shared an important story about L.A. Lakers Coach Pat Riley in an issue of Reader’s Digest that I want to start with today.
The story was called “Little Things Do Mean a Lot” and you need to have it in your mind as I take this last week to finally bring this series to a close.
Why is it important? Because it reveals why the “little things” really are so important in sports and business.
Listen to what McGarvey says…
Success is often reached through the little stuff.
When Pat Riley coached the Los Angeles Lakers from 1982 to 1990, the team won four NBA championships.
In taking over the New York Knicks in 1991, Riley inherited a team with a losing record.
But the Knicks seemed able to play above their abilities and even gave the eventual champions, the Chicago Bulls, their hardest competition in the playoffs.
How did Riley do it?
He says his talent lies in attention to detail. For example, every NBA team studies videotapes and compiles statistics to evaluate players’ game performances.
But Riley’s use of these tools is more comprehensive than that of his rivals.
“We measure areas of performance that are often ignored: jumping in pursuit of every rebound even if you don’t get it, swatting at every pass, diving for loose balls, letting someone smash into you in order to draw a foul.”
After each game, these “effort” statistics are punched into a computer.
“Effort,” Riley explains, “is what ultimately separates journeyman players from impact players. Knowing how well a player executes all these little things is the key to unlocking career-best performances.”
Robert McGarvey, Reader’s Digest
The little things matter. But the problem with the little things is that they’re easy to ignore.
In many people’s minds, the fundamentals are the “little things.”
They’re the things that are easy to overlook or ignore as we search for the next hot fad or the latest marketing trend to implement in our business or company.
But I know the fundamentals are really the big things. They’re the real secret behind the success of the top businesses and companies.
It’s also why, after much delay, I want to finish up this series with the final marketing fundamental on my list.
The Successes of 2022 Will Be Built on the Marketing Fundamentals of the Past (*Skip This If You’ve Read the Other Articles in This Series*)
In 2022, I believe that the biggest marketing breakthroughs will take place at the intersection where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
The people and companies that will succeed the most this year are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then build their success on the strong foundation of the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
How do I know this will be true? Because this has been true for a century, before and after the internet.
(I don’t have time to go into details here, but the success of Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other top companies are inextricably connected to the same marketing fundamentals that were used in 1922 and even earlier.)
For that reason, I’m going to finish up the series I began over a year ago at the beginning of 2021. (Important: I will be updating all of my previous articles to refer to 2022.)
The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2022
Today, I’m going to reveal the 12th marketing fundamental you need to succeed this year.
If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, then you should read the next section. It will help you to understand the importance of the marketing fundamentals I’m sharing with you.
Here are the first 11 of the marketing fundamentals you need to succeed this year…
The First 11 Marketing Fundamentals
Here are the eleven marketing fundamentals that I’ve revealed so far in this series:
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow up at all. They don’t follow up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
Alright, you’re now ready to discover the 12th marketing fundamental.
Your Most Important Customers
Not all customers are created equal. In fact, some of your customers are worth MUCH MORE to your business than others are.
Let me give you an example…
If you take a look at your customer records, you’ll probably discover that 20% of your customers are responsible for 80% of your revenue.
Another way to think of it is based on a theory that Kevin Kelly proposed back in 2008 that has since become known as the “1,000 True Fans Theory.”
“To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients, or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.”
His concept has since gained popularity and has been applied to all kinds of businesses.
But the customers who are valuable to you aren’t just the ones who are fans.
They’re also the customers who tell everyone they know about your business, products, and services.
They’re what some would call your customer evangelists or your brand ambassadors. (I’ll stick with the customer evangelist term from here on out.)
What I’m trying to get you to see is that this small group of your customers is your secret weapon.
They’re the untapped source of some of the most powerful marketing tools at your disposal:
Word of mouth
Social proof via reviews
Social proof via testimonials
Social proof via case studies
Customer-generated content
Ability to attract presold prospects
You already have them.
You just need to identify their existence, quantify their impact, and then multiply their influence.
Then, once you know who they are, you should begin:
Rewarding them
Focusing specific marketing and sales towards them and for them
Discovering how to better serve and sell more to them
Whether you look at these customers through an 80/20 lens, a true 1,000 fans lens, or even see them as customer evangelists, the conclusion is the same.
If a small percentage of your customers are behind a large percentage of your revenue and success, can you see why it’s so important to know who they are?
But most businesses have no clue who these customers are. They just live in ignorant bliss of one of the largest sources of their success.
And I think that’s one of the most foolish and dangerous types of ignorance any business or company can have.
That’s why the 12th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2022 is this…
You need to uncover and empower your raving fans and customer evangelists.
If you stick with me for the last four articles of this series, I’m going to show you why and how you need to create, cultivate, coordinate, and celebrate your true fans and customer evangelists.
When you do that, combined with the other 11 fundamentals on my list, your business or company will have a chance to reach a level of success that you never could before.
I came across a story that I want to start with today. It will give you a humorous way of thinking about the biggest problem you have when it comes to trying to re-engage inactive customers.
Then I will reveal 6 different things you can do to begin wooing your customers back.
A Well-Known Broadway Producer’s Problem
The well-known Broadway producer Jed Harris once became so convinced and worried that he was losing his hearing that he finally went to see a specialist.
The specialist began testing Harris’ hearing. But he did it in a very unconventional way.
He pulled out a gold watch and asked Harris, “Can you hear this ticking?” “Of course,” Harris replied.
The specialist then walked to the door and asked the same question again. Harris concentrated for a second and then answered, “Yes, I can hear it clearly.”
Then the doctor walked into the next room and repeated the question a third time. Surprisingly, Harris said he could hear the ticking.
“Mr. Harris,” the doctor concluded, “there is nothing wrong with your hearing. You just don’t listen.“
The Biggest Problem You Face
I tell you that story because the biggest problem that you’re going to face in trying to re-engage your former customer is getting them to listen to you again.
Because the odds are pretty good that if they stopped purchasing from you, they probably also have stopped listening to your regular communication through email and/or direct mail.
That means that if you want to win them back, you’re going to have to do something different to get their attention.
To help you with that, I’m going to reveal six things below that you can do to capture their attention, get them listening, and encourage them to become an active customer again.
6 Powerful Ways to Win Back Former Customers
IMPORTANT: Please pay close attention to the specific order that I’m presetting these to you.
Why? I’ve listed them in this order to show you the sequential order you should take in applying these things. In other words, you should try 1-3 before trying 5-6.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at them:
1 Share testimonials from other successful customers or clients – One of the reasons that customers stop purchasing from you is because they stop believing that you or your product/service can actually help them.
Sharing detailed testimonials from satisfied customers explaining how you/your product helped them can help overcome their doubts.
2. Share case studies of how your product or service helped a customer to succeed – This is another way to help them overcome their doubt that you or your product/service can help them.
But by sharing case studies, you’re doing something more. You are giving them a more in-depth view of the success that other customers have experienced.
Not only that, case studies usually provide some lessons that your inactive customer can relate to and also learn from.
That’s what makes case studies an even more powerful way to attract these former customers.
3. Make them a special discounted or bonus offer if they come back – A very effective way to re-engage previous customers is by making them a special offer.
It could be a special discount that you normally don’t offer, or it could be a special bonus that they get if they purchase from you again. (Important: Make sure that either of these offers has a time limit so that you create urgency.)
Don’t worry about the money you’ll lose by offering them a discount or the money it’ll cost you to provide the bonus.
Instead, focus on the amount of money it would cost you to gain a new customer and/or the amount of profit you will gain from this customer if they become a regular customer again.
4. Offer them special customer service or training to help them succeed – Another reason your customer might have stopped purchasing from you is because they didn’t know how to use your product effectively in order to produce the result(s) they wanted.
In case that’s the reason they didn’t take your special offer (mentioned above), you should try offering them some kind of extra help or training that will help them to achieve their goals.
A simple offer like this could be all it takes to convert a former customer into a committed customer.
5. Make them a downsell offer – After you’ve tried all of the above ways to attract your former customer back to you, and haven’t had success, you should try offering them a downsell offer.
If they haven’t shown interest in the product/service you’ve been offering them, it could mean that they stopped purchasing from you due to a lack of finances. They might just not have the funds right now or anymore.
That’s why offering them a lesser product/service (that, therefore, costs less) might be just the thing that’s needed to get them to purchase from you again.
6. Offer them a completely new or different product or service -If they haven’t responded to any of the above ways to re-engage them, then the final reason that they might not be responding might be that they aren’t interested in that particular product/service (or the end result it provides) anymore.
That means the last option is for you to offer them a completely different product or service – something that solves a completely different problem or pain point or helps them achieve a totally different goal.
There you go. You now have 6 different ways to begin reactivating your inactive customers.
But there’s one last thing you can do to powerfully implement these 6 things.
Combine Them for Maximum Impact
Instead of just using these six things occasionally or randomly, you should consider using them as a part of a coordinated winback campaign designed to strategically reactivate former customers.
To do that, you need to take the 6 ways listed above and use them to create an automated email campaign that you can use to plug your inactive customers into.
Here’s how you can do that:
Have the first emailthat’s programmed to go out be an email focused on recent testimonials you’ve received from successful and happy customers.
Have the next emailthat’s sent out 2-3 days later share an in-depth case study with lessons that your inactive customer can relate to and learn from.
A few days later, you can send out an email that has a special offer or special bonus that they’ll receive if they respond within 7-10 days. (NOTE: If they respond to your offer, have your automated email system unsubscribe them from the winback campaign.)
If they don’t respond to your special offer or bonus, then schedule an automated email to send out a few days later with your special training offer.
If that doesn’t encourage a response, have the next email in the queue set to send them a downsell offer.
Lastly, program your final email focused on offering them a totally different product or service.
What if they don’t respond to ANY of these emails?
If they don’t respond to and of your emails, then it’s time to take drastic action.
I’d suggest that you purge them from your lists and add them to a list that you only send occasional updates or offers to.
Why? If you leave them on your regular lists, they could negatively impact your open rates or click-through rates, which could impact your email deliverability.
The Importance of the 11th Marketing Fundamental
Many businesses totally drop the ball when it comes to customers that leave their business.
Some don’t even notice when a customer stops purchasing or becomes inactive.
Others don’t do anything to try to win customers that they know have stopped purchasing.
Finally others, only make a half-hearted effort to winback former customers.
Don’t be like these businesses. Former or inactive customers are a source of revenue that could really make the difference in your company succeeding or failing. They deserve your full attention and effort.
Read back over the five articles focused on the 11th marketing fundamental. But do yourself a favor. Don’t just read them. Apply them.
That’s the only way you’ll see results.
The 12th and Final Marketing Fundamental
It’s hard to believe it, but we’re nearing the end of this series on The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed.
My next article will begin my final series of articles focused on the 12th marketing fundamental.
Stay tuned. You don’t want to miss them!
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The right winback email can be an extremely effective way to re-engage inactive customers.
The problem you might be experiencing is trying to figure out how exactly to create that winning winback email.
Well, if that’s you, today you’re in luck. Because today, I’m going to give you an example you can rewrite and reimagine for your own purposes.
But first, I have a question for you: How many times do you think the same story can be told effectively?
The answer just might surprise you. Plus, understanding the answer will show you the incredible value of the letter you’re about to see.
The Many, Many Adaptations of The Prince and the Pauper
In 1881, Mark Twain’s novel The Prince and the Pauper was published in Canada. It was later published in the U.S. in 1882.
Within Twain’s lifetime, the story was adapted into a stage play. But I don’t think Twain could ever have imagined how popular and long-lasting his story would become.
Believe it or not, over the 141 years since The Prince and the Pauper was first published, it has been adapted 35 times.
The adaptions have ranged from other plays to comic books, films, TV shows, and even video games. Some have been direct or faithful adaptions like the 2000 film of the same name.
Other adaptations have been loose adaptations like the 2011 film Monte Carlo (starring Selena Gomez) or the CGI musical adaption Barbie Princess Adventure (2020).
Why am I talking about The Prince and the Pauper?
Because I want you to see that some themes and types of content have a lasting impact. That means that they can be effectively used over and over again.
That’s good news.
Because that means you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. All you have to do is reimagine the original theme.
Today, I’m going to show you a letter that one business used 100 years ago to successfully re-engage, or winback, their inactive customers.
The basic theme you’re about to see can easily be used to create your own winback email that can help you to re-engage your inactive customers.
Before I show you the letter, I want you to see the results that this letter got. Why? Because when you see the results, you’ll be even more convinced to pay close attention to this letter.
The Incredible Results of a 100-Year-Old B2B Winback Letter
The letter was mailed in 1922 to just 425 customers who had stopped buying. And here are the amazing results that one letter produced:
It brought in 32 direct orders amounting to $1,092 ($18,122.13 in 2022).
It brought in 15 payments of small past-due accounts totaling $789 ($13,093.74 in 2022).
It brought 103 answers from B2B customers saying that they would order more gloves as soon as their stock ran down.
That’s already a 35% response rate. But wait, there’s more…
32 said poor business (on their part) was the only reason for not ordering.
And they received 9 answers with specific complaints.
That’s amazing, isn’t it? Are you ready to see the letter itself?
Good. I’ll show it to you and then reveal some lessons that you can learn from it and apply to your own re-engagement email.
The Successful Re-Engagement Letter
Below is the original letter.
See how many lessons you can learn from it before you take a look at the eight lessons that I’m about to reveal to you.
8 Lessons You Can Learn from This Letter
Let’s look more closely at the letter and I will point out eight lessons you can learn from it to create your own winning winback email campaign…
====
Gentlemen:
Ever had a good customer suddenly quit buying goods in your store? If so, what did you do?(LESSON 1: With B2B customers, you can and should start in a way that helps to put them in your shoes.)
You waited until you saw him again and then said, frankly: “We haven’t seen you in the store lately, Mr. Jones. What is the matter?”
You went at him STRAIGHT FROM THE SHOULDER in an attempt to find the real reason why he quit you.
Then Mr. Jones probably told you EQUALLY FRANKLY his reasons. If his complaint was a just one and you had made a mistake — we’re none of us perfect — you did your level best to make amends.
This is just the attitude in which I am writing YOU this morning. I can’t see you face to face, but I can TALK with you.(LESSON 2: Be upfront and transparent about the purpose of your email.)
We haven’t had an order from you since last fall, and I would certainly appreciate it if you told me “right out in meeting” WHY NOT.(LESSON 3: Tell them specifically how long it’s been since they’ve purchased from you.)
If any department of this business has failed you, I want to know it.
The fact that this business isn’t PERFECT is surely not due to any lack of effort on our part, or because we aren’t trying to make it so.(LESSON 4: Admit that you/your business isn’t perfect.)
Every season finds us grown out of last year’s clothes — literally so this year, when we had to move into larger quarters.
Every season finds us selling better gloves and working harder WITH our customers to make THEIR sales larger, cleaner, and better.(LESSON 5: Tell your lapsed customers about the new products that you have since they’ve been gone.)
Just put yourself in my place for a minute or so. Turn this sheet over NOW, and answer this letter as you would like to have it answered if you had written it. Don’t mince words.(LESSON 6: Ask for an immediate response.)
Give it to me “hot off the bat.” Enclosed is a stamped envelope to make an answer convenient. (LESSON 7: Provide a link or phone number as a way for them to reply.)
I am looking forward to hearing from you with the keenest interest.
Very sincerely, FRANCIS T. SIMMONS & COMPANY
P. S. I am enclosing two yellow order blanks. If, as I sincerely hope, nothing whatever is wrong, and you have merely overlooked filling in your stock, these blanks will be an easy way for you to tell us your needs. Any gloves that we send you must please you, your sales people, and your customers, or we do not expect you to keep them. (LESSON 8: I love this because they’re not afraid to ask for the sale. Remember the great response rate they got and let that give you the boldness and confidence to do the same!)
====
Now, it’s your turn.
Take this basic template and add your own twist and style to it.
8 Steps to a Winning Winback Email
To get you started, I’ve listed the 8 lessons or steps below to make it easier for you to write your winning email to re-engage your former customers.
Start your email in a way that helps to put them in your shoes.
Be upfront and transparent about the purpose of your email.
Tell them specifically how long it’s been since they’ve purchased from you.
Admit that you/your business isn’t perfect.
Tell your lapsed customers about the new products that you have since they’ve been gone.
Ask for an immediate response.
Provide a link or phone number as a way for them to reply.
Don’t be afraid to ask for the sale.
The only thing left for you to do is to come up with the subject line of your email.
(Maybe you could try a shortened version of the first sentence of the letter? Subject Line: Ever had a good customer suddenly stop buying?)
Can you do me a favor? If you test this out, I’d love to hear the results you get.
Keep your eye out for my next article. It’s the last article on the 11th marketing fundamental and it will reveal…
6 Powerful Ways to Win Back Former Customers.
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NOTE: Today we’re going to continue looking at the 11th Marketing Fundamental You Need to Succeed in 2022: the need to continually reengage your lost or former customers.
If you really want to win back past customers, you have to begin by asking the right questions.
That way you can get to the root of the problem behind why they stopped doing business with your company. I guess you could call it “the straw that broke your customer’s back.”
If you stick with me, I’ll help you discover two things:
The actual, mathematical measurement of the straw that broke the camel’s back. Why not? 🙂
A way to discover what caused your customer to stop purchasing from you so you can win them back.
If that sounds good to you, let’s get started…
The Popular Idiom
“The straw that broke the camel’s back.” I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase before.
It’s used to describe a small or even routine action that suddenly leads to a surprising, negative result.
You might not believe this. But I discovered in an issue of New York Magazine, back in 1978, that a guy named Randy Cohen decided to findout the REAL ANSWER to the question, “How much can a camel actually carry?”
I thought it’d be fun to quickly look at his answer before we look at the root problem you need to uncover to re-engage your former customers.
The Real Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back
Here’s the excerpt from Cohen…
“At what point did the straw break the camel’s back?
“In his Treatise on One-Humped Camels in Health and in Disease, A. S. Leese reports that camels can generally carry from 240 up to 1200 pounds–which only ‘the very best animals’ can manage. The record for camel capacity in Australia is 1904 pounds.”
– Randy Cohen in New York Magazine, 1978
According to Cohen, it sounds like 1200+ pounds is the official, mathematical answer for the actual amount that equals “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get back to the answer that you really care about.
What’s the straw that broke your customer’s back? What caused your customer to stop purchasing from you?
5 Important Questions to Answer to Successfully Win Back Past Customers
In order to calculate that answer to what caused them to stop purchasing, you need to ask 5 key questions:
1. When did they stopped purchasing?
If you don’t know the answer to this question, then you can’t begin to trace back what caused them to stop purchasing from you in the first place.
You need to know when this problem began.
2. Why did they stopped purchasing?
Can you discover this from the data that your company collects? Can you find the answer in any contact with your customer service?
If not, you might need to directly ask your question this question. (*Don’t worry. I’ll show you a way to do that in the next article I have planned for you.)
3. What did they purchase from you in the past and especially what did they purchase from you last?
How long have they been your customer and what is their purchase history?
This information is important to know so that you can determine what made them stop purchasing. It can also be helpful to determine what incentive can get them to come back.
4. How often did they purchased from you in the past?
Were they a frequent or regular customer? Or were they more like an infrequent and random customer?
This is important to know so you know how valuable they were to your company and how much time, effort, and money you should invest to get them back.
You wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time and effort on a customer who didn’t purchase much from you in the first place.
5. Who are they? Demographics, psychographics, etc.
If you’ve determined that they were valuable to company and are important for you to win back, you’re going need to know who they are, what they care about, and what they value.
When you come up with the answers to these 5 questions, you’ll know (or be much closer to knowing) what the straw was that broke their back.
And armed with that information, you’ll be able to focus on winning them back.
In my next article, I’m going to give you a template you can use to directly ask them why they stopped buying from you (question #2 above).
But the source of this template might surprise you. My next article will be called…
How to Use This 100-Year-Old B2B Re-Engagement Letter (with a 35% Response Rate) for Your Next Winback Email.
The First Two Articles on the 11th Marketing Fundamental
You can read the first two articles focused on the 11th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2022:
In my last article, I revealed the 11th marketing fundamental: You need to continually reengage your lost or former customers (also known as remarketing).
Why is remarketing or customer re-engagement so important for your business or company? The following three stats will reveal why:
These stats reveal the truth I shared in my last article…
No matter what you do, no matter how great you are, and how great yourproduct or service is, you will eventually lose customers.
If all businesses deal with customer loss or churn, the question is: Why do so many businesses and companies lose customers?
6 Reasons Why Customers Leave a Business
There are many unique reasons that a business might lose a customer. But here are some common reasons…
Your customers move out of town. They no longer live close enough to make buying from you feasible. This applies mainly to physical business that offers physical products or services that can’t easily be shipped long distance.
Think of businesses such as a restaurant or dry cleaners. If you have a business like that, it’s hard to serve your customers if they’re in a different state. Or, for example, if someone moves to another state they’re not going to use your gas station anymore.
Your customers no longer need your product or service. They are in another stage of life or they might have solved (or no longer have) the problem they originally needed your product or service for.
Do you want an example of a former customer like this? It could be a parent whose child grows up and no longer needs your daycare service. Or it could be a person who changes jobs/interests/fields and might no longer be interested in your membership site.
Your customers had a bad experience with your customer service or with your product or service. If someone has a bad experience with your product or service, they could easily decide to just stop doing business with you – without ever letting you know.
If they do happen to come to you with their complaint and don’t feel like they were taken care of properly, then they will also be gone.
According to Forbes, businesses are losing $62 billion per year through poor customer service.
Your competitor wooed them away with lower prices, better results, or better service (or all three). This is probably the one way that businesses actually worry that they will lose customers.
How common is this problem? U.S. companies lose $136.8 billion per year due to avoidable consumer switching. (CalMiner.com)
They no longer have the finances to pay for your product or service. I couldn’t find any stats for this reason. But we all probably have done this to a company at some point.
The bills grow and you decide to ditch cable. Or you decide it’s time you finally had a decent amount in savings, so you have to cut some things out. That means you decide to make coffee at home and no longer grab coffee at your favorite local coffee shop.
They felt ignored by your business or company. They felt like they didn’t matter to your business or that you took them for granted.
You might be surprised how many customers leave for this reason. 68% of customers leave you because they perceive you are indifferent to them. (SmallBusinessTrends.com)
Which of These Reasons is Causing You to Lose the Most Customers?
I would encourage you to go over this list and begin to examine and investigate which of these reasons is causing you to lose the most customers.
Because you can’t actually do anything to solve a problem unless you’re aware of what it is.
In my upcoming articles, I will reveal some ways that you can reengage your former customers to try to win them back.
In fact, I think you’re going to be surprised at one of the sources I use to help you to do this. Stay tuned.
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A 2022 Marketing Lesson from the 650-Year-Old Leaning Tower of Pisa?
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is known worldwide for its nearly four-degree lean. Unlike many famous buildings, it’s not famous for its exquisite details or impressive construction.
It’s famous for one main reason: It was built on an unstable foundation. I always thought that tower started leaning after standing there for a long time.
But do you know what I found out? The tower started leaning during its construction in the 12th century because the soft ground it was built on couldn’t support its weight.
And that makes perfect sense.
Do you know what the word “Pisa” means in English? I found out that the city of Pisa got its name way back in 600 BC. It comes from a Greek word that means “marshy land.”
I think The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a great object lesson for marketers and companies that want to succeed this year.
If you don’t build your marketing on the deep and solid marketing that has stood the test of time, you shouldn’t be surprised when everything you’ve worked for comes tumbling down.
The Successes of 2022 Will Be Built on the Marketing Fundamentals of the Past (*Skip This If You’ve Read the Other Articles in This Series*)
In 2022, I believe that the biggest marketing breakthroughs will take place at the intersection where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
The people and companies that will succeed the most this year are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then build their success on the strong foundation of the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
How do I know this will be true? Because this has been true for a century, before and after the internet.
(I don’t have time to go into details here, but the success of Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other top companies are inextricably connected to the same marketing fundamentals that were used in 1922 and even earlier.)
For that reason, I’m going to continue the series I began a year ago at the beginning of 2021. (Important: I will be updating all of my previous articles to refer to 2022.)
The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2022
Today, I’m going to reveal the 11th marketing fundamental you need to succeed this year.
If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, then you should read the next section. It will help you to understand the importance of the marketing fundamentals I’m sharing with you.
Here are the first 10 of the marketing fundamentals you need to succeed this year…
The First 10 Marketing Fundamentals:
Here are the ten marketing fundamentals that I’ve revealed so far are in this series:
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow up at all. They don’t follow up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
Alright, you’re now ready to discover the 11th marketing fundamental.
The Local Restaurant That Was Popular with Senior Citizens
Back in the Bay Area, there used to be a local restaurant in a small strip mall that is very popular withsenior citizens. I don’t know how or why it became popular with this niche, but it did.
I was driving by it one day and realized that if they didn’t add new customers to their business, then eventually all of those customers will no longer be around to be able to eat there.
I don’t mean this to be morbid, but since this business deals with people in the later stages of life, they will eventually lose all the customers they currently have.
But before you think, “Yeah, they better do something about that!”
This also applies to YOU and YOUR business or company.
What this business and ALL businesses and companies need to do is to add new customers or reengage former customers.
Why? Because of a simple fact: No matter what you do, no matter how great you are, and how great yourproduct or service is, you will eventually lose customers.
Many businesses and companies focus on getting new customers. But they forget about the need to reengage former customers.
That’s why you need to focus on the 11th marketing fundamental: You need to continually reengage your lost or former customers. Some also call this remarketing.
The mistake that many businesses make is they begin to rely on the fact that they have customers and expect their current clients/customers to always be around.
They don’t do anything to ensure that they will be around. They just expect them to be.
That’s why in my next series of articles, I will be focusing on the 11th marketing fundamental. If this resonates with you, then subscribe below so that you will be automatically notified when my articles go live.
Catch Up on What You Missed in This Series
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For my last article in my series on The 10th marketing fundamental, I want to emphasize something that I touched on briefly in a previous article: repetition.
I bet it’s a power you take for granted. Let me explain…
Can you remember the words to one of your favorite songs in high school, even if it’s been years or decades?
Of course, you can. You sang that song over and over for weeks on end. That’s the power of repetition.
Can you remember the name of your best friend in Elementary school?
You probably can. You spent time with that person daily over many years. That’s the power of repetition.
Can you recite the ABCs or remember the multiplication table?
Of course, you can. You recited and practiced those things over and over and have used them in various ways for years and years. That’s the power of repetition.
But that’s not all.
Do you have a habit that’s hard to break? That’s the power of repetition.
Are there actions and behaviors that you do (right or wrong, positive or negative) that you only first began doing after someone constantly encouraged you to do this over and over again? That’s the power of repetition.
Marketing Is No Different
Why do we think marketing is going to be any different?
If you want your company, product, or service to be remembered, it’s going to take repetition.
If you want to educate your prospects and or customers about their problems, needs, and goals – or about the benefits of your company, product, service, it’s going to take repetition.
If you want the use of your product or service to become a positive habit in peoples’ lives, it’s going to take repetition.
If you want to influence your prospects or customers to take certain actions or begin certain behaviors, it’s going to take repetition.
Let me say that again in a different way… Without repetition, it will be very difficult to:
In my last two articles, I showed you how content marketing can help you to implement the 10th marketing fundamental (aka be memorable).
Well, today I’m going to tell you how to implement it using something besides content.
And the lesson is contained in this incredible story about a man with a unique name….
An Unexpected Goal
It was the 1980’s and Pearl Fryar wasn’t aiming for anything big.
He just wanted to win the “lawn of the month” award. That’s all.
Why? Because when Pearl (who is African-American) moved into the mostly white neighborhood in Bishopville, South Carolina, the neighbors complained.
They said they didn’t want him in their neighborhood. Their reason? They said it was because African-Americans don’t keep up their yards.
Pearl decided, “I’ll show them!” And he did. But he did it in a very unexpected way.
He went to the local nursery and took ONE lesson on topiary gardening.
Then, armed with FREE “throw-away plants” that the nursery piled up to toss out, Pearl began experimenting with his topiary skills.
And guess what?
He won the “lawn of the month” award!
But something else happened in the process… Pearl slowly became famous.
Professional topiary artists began to show up to see what he was doing. Pearl said they’d see what he’d done and they were amazed.
They couldn’t believe their eyes! Why?
Because Pearl was doing things that weren’t supposed to be possible. I LOVE Pearl’s answer to them. He simply said, “No one told me it wasn’t possible.”
And something happened to his neighbors. (Remember the ones who originally didn’t want Pearl there?) They became so impressedthey asked PEARL to help them with THEIR gardens!
His fame continued to grow and so did the “Pearl Fryar” brand.
People began to come and visit to see this amazing accomplishment of this man named Pearl.
And they didn’t just come by the car-ful. They began to show up by the busload!
Literally, buses on local tours began to take people to see Pearl’s work. And Pearl welcomed them all.
People found out that this man with an amazing garden had an equally amazing heart.
The whole time Pearl continued to focus on his accidental passion: topiary gardening. And as he did, he got better and better.
His skills became so honed and well-known that a woman at the local community college, who taught art classes, asked Pearl to come and speak to her students.
This art teacher was so impressed with who Pearl was and his great skill that she worked out for him to do a show of his work at an art museum.
Pearl shared with the class some of his powerful, simple wisdom. He told them, “He who wants to rise above the average must do beyond the average.”
But it gets even better.
The man who just wanted to win the “lawn of the month” award was COMMISSIONED by the city of Bishopville to work on the plants downtown and give them that special “Pearl” look.
Even Pearl’s favorite restaurant, Waffle House, asked Pearl to design the bushes outside their location.
(Guess who gets free meals whenever he comes there!?!)
This person who just wanted to win an award became a person that people all over knew of, respected, and loved. (You can watch a documentary about him on Apple TV that’s called, “A Man Named Pearl.”)
What was his secret? His strategy?
Simple like all things that Pearl does. (Pay attention to what I say next or you might miss it.)
He didn’t try to be someone he wasn’t. He didn’t change his name to fit it. He didn’t try to copy what all other topiary artists did.
Here’s what Pearl did… He just was who he was, did what he did well, and did it his way.
And because he did this, people were drawn to him!
They wanted to meet him.
They wanted to experience what he did.
They told their friends.
And then the accidental branding happened… they wanted to be like Pearl so much that they asked him to do what he did FOR THEM.
Are you seeing the lesson for you and your business here?
Listen to how Pearl explains it in his own words, “There’s no way they’re gonna forget me. An African-American guy, in Bishopville, named Pearl Fryar with a topiary garden… And it works in my favor.”
You just heard Pearl’s branding revelation.
I’d say it like this…
Stop trying to fit in.
Stop trying to copy everyone else in your niche.
Be YOU.
Better yet… Be you in all your uniqueness, with all of your idiosyncrasies.
George Washington Carver’s Secret to Being Unforgettable
I’ll leave you with one more take on the way to implement the 10th marketingfundamental. It’s a quote from another unlikely source...
“When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”
– George Washington Carver
Do this and the world will be drawn to you like they were to Pearl. You’ll become unforgettable.
You learn more about Pearl and how visit his garden here. You can find him on Facebook here.
The 10th Marketing Fundamental
This article is the third one in a series of articles focused on the 10th marketing fundamental. If you haven’t read the other articles, you can do that below:
A decade ago, I came across a story on The Guardian of a man with the strangest condition I have ever heard of.
I wasn’t expecting this, but after I read his story, I realized that his story reveals something you might be concerned about: why your content marketing isn’t working.
I’ll explain what I mean in a second. But first, you’ve got to hear this man’s shocking story…
Living in a Right-Sided World
Alan Burgess’ life changed forever on November 5, 2007.
It was the day he had a stroke.
I know that many people have strokes, so that might not seem unique.
But how his stroke changed his way of perceiving the world is what makes this such a unique story.
You see, his stroke left him with a syndrome known as hemispatial neglect.
His stroke damaged the parietal lobe on the right side of his brain, which is the part of our brain that handles our ability to pay attention or be aware of certain things in our world.
That means that his stroke had a strange effect on his attention.
It caused him to ignore people, sounds, and objects on his left. It’s like the world on his left doesn’t exist at all.
Now you need to understand something. He is NOT blind in his left eye.
His brain is just ignoring one side of his world.
Before his stroke, Burgess was working as a driver. But now his “visual neglect” makes driving impossible, so he had to retire early.
Since his retirement, he has taken up painting, which he really enjoys.
But if you took a look at his paintings, you’d notice something unique about them.
Half of the picture is missing.
He has a painting that he has done of two robins, which he copied from a Christmas card.
The robin that is on the right is done in full detail, but if you look at the one on the left, you’d notice that it is still unfinished.
A doctor who studies this condition, named Dr. Paresh Malhotra described this condition in this way, “Vision is most strikingly affected because we are visual creatures, but hearing, touch, representation, and sense of self are also affected.”
The sad thing about this condition is that people who have hemispatial neglect are many times not even aware of their condition.
And because of this, many people like Alan Burgess don’t seek out help.
What does this have to with content marketing? A lot.
And it all begins with multitasking.
Let me explain…
The Short-Order Cook and the Myth of Multitasking
I actually think I am pretty good at multitasking. (In fact, I’ve stopped writing this multiple times to do other things like check my email.)
Don’t you feel the same way about your awesome multitasking ability?
Well, according to an NPR article on multitasking, we’re wrong.
“Humans, they say, don’t do lots of things simultaneously. Instead, we switch our attention from task to task extremely quickly.”
The example they use in the article to show us this reality is the example of a short-order cook.
Short-order cooks have to juggle all sorts of small tasks. Tasks that enable them to make: Chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs with sausage, an order of French fries, and even rye toast.
Cooking pancakes or eggs might not seem like that big of a deal. But on a busy day, when you need to manage all of their small details at the same time, then they become a really difficult job.
You might be thinking… “Who cares? I’m not a short order-cook!”
Well, as the NPR article reveals, we’re ALL living lives where we have to juggle all sorts of small details simultaneously.
We all have emails to answer, calls to return, errands that need to get done, meetings that we need to attend, family responsibilities that are on our calendar, etc. And many of these things are things we need to do all at the same time.
And so, just like a short-order cook, we are forced to juggle it all.
But here’s the problem. We’re living in a fantasy world.
Neuroscientist Earl Miller says it like this in this NPR article…
“People can’t multitask very well, and when people say they can, they’re deluding themselves. The brain is very good at deluding itself.”
Information Neglect
We don’t realize this, but we all have a condition that we are unaware of. And it’s the result of living in a world where we have to multitask in order to survive.
I call this condition “Information Neglect.”
Our brains haven’t experienced a stroke that has caused us to ignore a certain side of our world.
Instead, our brains have been overloaded by so many tasks and so much information that we’ve begun to block out the flood of information that flows our way each day.
And some of that information we’re blocking out is very important. But it doesn’t matter. We’ll never see it.
This leads us to the problem I mentioned at the beginning: why your content marketing isn’t working.
You see, you aren’t the only one with this Information Neglect condition.
Your prospects have Information Neglect too.
This leads to three problems that content marketers need to overcome:
That means that some of that excess information that your prospects are blocking out is your content.
They don’t even see your content. It’s not even on their radar.
They don’t even know they’re doing this.
This is the world we now live in.
This is the condition we all have, even if we don’t realize this.
So what is a content marketer to do about this?
How do you create content that people will actually consume?
I’ll tell you…
How to Create Content That Doesn’t Get Ignored
You know, I didn’t tell you everything that I discovered when I read Alan Burgess’ story.
There was something I left out. It’s something about Dr. Malhotra that was mentioned at the end of the article.
It’s this surprising fact: Dr. Malhotra figured out a way to begin to REDUCE this problem in hemispatial neglect patients.
By offering patients with hemispatial neglect rewards for noticing and paying attention to what they are normally blind to, he is helping them to overcome their perception blindness!
And guess what?
I believe that that is the answer to solve your problem too.
Here’s what I mean…
If you want to create content marketing that is not ignored, but is actually noticed and happily consumed, then you must do the same thing.
You must reward your prospects for consuming your content.
When you reward your prospects for consuming your content, then they will gladly pay attention and consume the content you create.
I call this type of content “rewarding content.”
Three Ways to Create “Rewarding Content” That Your Prospects Will Want to Consume
There are many ways to create content that rewards your prospects.
I don’t have the time to go into them all, so let me just focus on three basic types of “rewarding content” that you can create:
Create content that answers your prospects’ questions.
If you create content about topics no one cares about, then guess how many people will consume it? That’s right. No one.
Instead, you want to create content that answers your prospects’ questions and is focused on topics and subjects that they care about.
I did that here. I wrote about a topic that you probably care about: “why your content is getting ignored”.
You need to do the same thing and create content that answers your prospects’ questions.
This type of content will teach your prospects to pay attention and cause them to want to consume your content because they know that it rewards them with answers to their actual questions.
Create content that is enjoyable to read.
The other way to create content that your prospects will pay attention to is to create content that is enjoyable.
I firmly believe that even the most boring topic can be made enjoyable to consume if you use the right methods to create intriguing content.
I just did that in this post. I wrote about the topic of “multitasking,” which isn’t necessarily the most exciting topic. But I used Alan Burgess’ story and the analogy of a short-order cook to make it more interesting.
You must do the same thing.
This type of content will teach your prospects to pay attention and cause them to want to consume your content, because they know that you provide content that not only answers their questions, but is enjoyable and intriguing.
And sometimes you can actually create content where you literally give your prospects some kind of real reward.
The above two types of “rewarding content” are based on rewards that are IN the content itself. But this last one is a reward that exists outside of your content.
It is something that your content points to.
That means that you create content that leads to, or reveals, a reward for your prospect in the form of a special report, a discount, a video, or maybe a contest of some kind. (These are just a few examples. You need to get creative and come up with others.)
This type of content will teach your prospects to pay attention and cause them to want to consume your content. Because they know that it answers their questions, is enjoyable to consume, and even (sometimes) leads them to actual rewards.
A Daily Bouquet of Love
“Attention is like a daily bouquet of love.”
-Bob Keeshan aka “Captain Kangaroo”
I love the above quote about attention from Bob Keeshan.
I think it’s a great way to think about the value that someone is giving to you when they give you their attention.
And with all of the distractions we have these days, I think that “attention” has become the treasure that all businesses are desperately searching for.
If you really want your prospects to cover you in “daily bouquets of love,” then you must learn how to create content that rewards them.
That is the only way that you can overcome the modern condition of Information Neglect.
Good luck.
P.S. Just in case you were disappointed that I didn’t show you an example of how I used the third type of “rewarding content,” you might want to look through the above post again. I included a reward hidden for you in one of the links above. (Hint: It’s towards the top.)
This article is the third one in a series of articles focused on the 10th marketing fundamental. If you haven’t read the other articles, you can do that below:
What I am about to tell you might, at first, be shocking, but please hear me out.
Because once you understand the full impact of this truth, it could change how you create content — and how it positively impacts your business.
You might think that one of thereasons your business isn’t more successful is because prospects and customers are rejecting you.
The fact is that this is probably not true. (Unless you have a generic or lousy product, then you’re right. They are rejecting you.)
The real reason you’re not more successful could be something as simple as this:They don’t remember you. (See the 10th marketing fundamental.)
Let me tell you a story to illustrate just how important memory is to successful content marketing (and a successful business)…
A Tragedy Spawns History’s Greatest Memory Technique
The great Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero aka “Cicero” was the first to record a legendary story about the discovery of a memorization method that has been used by people throughout history — and is still used by top “memory athletes” today.
Once, a poet named Simonides of Ceos was dining at the house of a wealthy nobleman named Scopas. He was there to recite a poem that he’d composed in honor of his host.
As was the custom in his day, he included a long passage referring to Castor and Pollux (twins who were commonly mentioned in Greek and Roman mythologies).
However, this large inclusion in the middle of his poem made Scopas angry, so he told Simonides that he’d only pay him half the fee agreed on for the poem.
Simonides returned to his seat at the banquet table very frustrated with Scopas. But what happened next, would be something he could never have imagined, even in his wildest dreams.
Not long after this disagreement, Simonides received a message that two young men were standing at Scopas’ door, anxiously wanting to see him. Simonides got up from his seat and went out to meet them.
The strange thing was that once he got to the door, no one seemed to be there. Just as he stood outside looking for them, a horrible tragedy occurred.
The roof of the hall where Scopas had been giving the banquet caved in, killing Scopas and everyone else inside. Later, when their friends were digging through the rubble, they couldn’t find the bodies of their loved ones, or even tell them apart, because they had been completely crushed.
It was because of this horrible tragedy that history’s greatest memory method was discovered. How?
Because Simonides was able to identify where each person would be found in the rubble by remembering where each of them had been while reclining at the table a few moments before.
Later, as he thought about this experience, it suddenly hit him: Our minds have an incredible ability to remember things spatially.
He realized that if he replaced the people sitting at the table with important items or ideas, he could remember those items just as easily as he recalled who was sitting where.
Thus, the concept of the “memory palace” was created, and from that moment on, it has been one of the most popular memorization tools people have had.
Now, hold onto this thought, because I’ll be coming back to it in just a minute.
It’s Not Personal
As I mentioned above, the reason that your prospects and customers might not be buying from you could simply be a problem of memory.
In other words, you’re not on the top of their mind when they need the service or product you’re offering. And if your prospects and customers can’t remember you in their time of need, you may as well not even exist to them.
When you realize that one of the biggest problems your business faces may just be a memory problem, then you will understand that your most important task in business is to become more memorable.
This is as fundamental to successful content marketing (and marketing, on the whole) as any other tool or technique.
Moonwalking with Einstein
Many years ago, I read a really interesting book by Joshua Foer called Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything.
Though this book has nothing to do with content marketing, it still contains a powerful truth that every content marketer should be familiar with:
“The principle underlying all memory techniques is that our brains don’t remember all types of information equally well.”
– Joshua Foer in Moonwalking with Einstein
He says that while we are good at remembering visual imagery, we may not be as good at remembering words or numbers.
Basically, he feels the secret of “memory athletes” is the ability to transform the things we want to remember into the kinds of memories our brains were built to remember well.
Don’t miss this point, because it’s just as important for content marketers as it is for memory athletes.
The key to getting our content marketing noticed and consumed, instead of being ignored by the reticular activating system, is to create content that our brains were built to remember.
How do you accomplish this? Foer’s words also reveal a solution:
“The general idea with most memory techniques is tochange whatever boring thing is being inputted into your memory into something that is so colorful, so exciting, and so different from anything you’ve seen before that you can’t possibly forget it.”
– Joshua Foer in Moonwalking with Einstein
The Good News for Content Marketers
The good news is that, if it is used effectively, content marketing is perfect for making your business more memorable. But the key is to use it effectively.
As I always say, you cannot create generic content and expect to see results. It will never grab your audience’s attention or be memorable. You must create content that is unique and memorable. And here are five suggestions on ways you can do just that:
Harness the power of case studies: As I said before, stories are a powerful tool that we all need to leverage, because our minds seem to be intrinsically wired to remember them. Case studies don’t just present prospects with words and numbers they won’t remember — they tell stories that flesh out the words and numbers you use to describe your business, and give them context. This isn’t just a much more powerful way to convey information, it a much more memorable way, too.
Harness the power of repetition: Strangers aren’t memorable to us, but we do remember people we have met and liked. You want your business to become something that consumers know, like, and trust. The way to do this as a business is the same way you do this as a person: You need to keep in touch with people you want to be remembered by. You must use content to keep in regular touch with your prospects and customers. You can do this through email, blog posts, podcasts, or video posts. Repetition is a strong memory tool, so it’s essential that you frequently and consistently place your content in front of your prospects and customers.
Harness the power of descriptions: Our minds are adept at remembering things we can picture — this includes images, of course, but it also pertains to words that are highly descriptive. For this reason, it’s key that you use visuals and descriptions in your content (even if you are trying to present analytic or other data-rich information). Descriptive words help your prospects “see” and understand what you’re talking about. This means you will want to use analogies, adjectives, and any other comparisons in your content as much as possible, so your readers will be able to better lock it into their memories.
Harness the power of imagination: This next method is similar to the last one in some ways, but moves beyond just descriptive words. Simonides realized that our minds are adept at remembering things in terms of spatial relationships. Similarly, content marketers can tap into the power of imagination to form memorable bonds between businesses and customers. In other words, you want to create content that will encourage your prospects to imagine what it is like to do business with you — to use your products or services and to experience the positive results this relationship will bring. By doing this, customers can, in a sense, experience your business in relation to their needs, which will enable them to remember you on a deeper level.
Harness the power of voice: The final content marketing method I want to encourage you to use relies on the power that comes from using your own, unique voice. Remember that Foer said that the general idea of all memory techniques is to change something “boring” into something that’s “so colorful, so exciting, and so different from anything you’ve seen before that you can’t possibly forget it”? That’s what writing (or speaking) in your own voice will do to your content. It makes your content stand out from the boring “me too” content. It will make it more interesting, and most of all, memorable.
Once you realize that one of your most overlooked business problems is likely a memory problem (not an “interest” problem) and you recognize how poorly our minds remember abstract words and numbers, you’ll come to realize how vital it is that we focus on becoming more memorable in our content marketing.
While the five ideas above are just suggestions, there are plenty of other ways to make content more memorable. If you have your own ideas, we would love it if you could post them in the comments.
“If you want to know the future, look at the past.”
– Albert Einstein
“Why should we look to the past in order to prepare for the future? Because there is nowhere else to look.”
― James Burke
The Fundamentals of the Past Reveal the Future of 2022
In 2022, I believe that the biggest marketing breakthroughs will take place at the intersection where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
The people and companies that will succeed the most this year are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and take advantage of these opportunities by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
How do I know this will be true? Because this has been true for a century, before and after the internet.
(I don’t have time to go into details here, but the success of Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other top companies are inextricably connected to the same marketing fundamentals that were used in 1922 and even earlier.)
For that reason, I’m going to continue the series I began a year ago at the beginning of 2021. (Important: I will be updating all of my previous articles to refer to 2022.)
The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2022
Today, I’m going to reveal the 10th marketing fundamental you need to succeed this year.
If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, then you should read the next section. It will help you to understand the importance of the marketing fundamentals I’m sharing with you.
Here are the first 9 of the marketing fundamentals you need to succeed this year…
The First 9 Marketing Fundamentals:
Here are the nine marketing fundamentals that I’ve revealed so far are in this series:
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow up at all. They don’t follow up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
Alright, you’re now ready to discover the 10th marketing fundamental.
Prospect and Customer Amnesia?
If your business or company is going to succeed, then your prospects and customers need to remember you exist when they need what you offer.
But here’s the problem: Many prospects won’t buy immediately from you. Why not? There are many reasons. Here are just a few:
They might want to look around.
They might want to check you out on Yelp or other review sites.
They might not have the money or a strong enough need/desireto buy.
They’ve never heard of you before and want to get “used to” the idea of buying from you.
They just might be in a hurry and not have the time to purchase today.
The problem this causes is that they have to remember that you or your business exists when they finally needor want what you offer.
You might be thinking about your business every day, but your prospects aren’t!
And I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t just true of prospects. It’s also true of your customers!
They might purchase from you once. But when they have the same need/desire again, they might not think of your business first – or at all!
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
The old saying “out of sight, out of mind” is true about your customers.
There was a local steakhouse that closed in a city near where we used to live in the Bay Area. When I drove by and saw the building was vacant I realized that I NEVER thought about eating there when I was thinking of a place to go out to.
I totally forgot they were there. And I like steak!
I bet the restaurant owners never realized this. They just thought people were choosing not to eat at theirrestaurant. In reality, there were probably many people that didn’t even have them on their “radar.”
There are restaurants or other retail stores that I’ve purchased from once in the past and I never went to again.
Why? It wasn’t that I didn’t like the place. It was just that I never thought about them again.
What’s the 10th marketing fundamental? It’s that you must find ways to make your business more memorable to your prospects and customers.
They must remember you or your product when they’re ready to buy what you offer.
You have to come up with ways to help your prospects and your customers remember your business. You have to come up with ways to get them in a HABIT of purchasing from you.
In my upcoming articles, I’ll reveal some things about why you need your business to be memorable that I bet you’ve never thought of.
And I’m going to show you some unique ways to be on (and stay on) the top of your prospect’s or customer’s mind.
If that sounds interesting to you, then subscribe below so that you will be automatically notified when my articles go live.
Catch Up on What You Missed in This Series
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The reason that every business should focus on their backend marketing is because the real money is made on the backend.
As marketer Todd Brown says, the aim of front end marketing is to generate a new customer. The goal of the back end marketing is to generate profit.
So today I wanted to give you a list of some back end marketing offers that any business or company can use in their back end marketing campaigns.
All they need to do is apply some creativity to any of them.
1. MORE OF THE SAME
Offer your customers more of what they already purchased.
If they purchased one product you offer them more of the same type of product. If they purchase one service, then you offer them another one of the same type of service.
These types of offers are usually made for products that are consumables. In other words, products or services that people regularly repurchase.
They’re one of the easiest and most successful backend marketing offers you can make. Because if a prospect has purchased a certain product or service from you, they’ll probably purchase the same product or service again.
2. SAME BUT DIFFERENT FORMAT
For this marketing backend offer, you would offer your customer more of the same thing but in a different format.
If they purchased a book, you could offer them an audiobook. If they purchased an audiobook then you could offer them a video course.
These types of offers are usually made for content-based products. But with some creativity. they can be used for other types of products or services.
If they purchased your Saas product, you could offer a course on how to accomplish a goal or offer them a conference as a backend offer. This is what Salesforce does by offering their annual event Dreamforce.
3. SAME BUT DIFFERENT SIZEOR AMOUNT
For this marketing backend offer, you offer them more of the same thing by offering different sizes or amounts of the same product they already purchased.
If they purchased a 60″ TV for their living room, you can offer them a 39″ TV for their bedroom.
If a customer purchased your SaaS product, you could sell them a team or enterprise version of your product.
If someone bought one dinner at your restaurant, you could offer them a gift card for dinner for two. An online tutoring company could offer tutoring books on certain subjects (tutoring in a different format).
4. DIFFERENT BUT RELATEDPRODUCTSOR SERVICES
Offer your customers different products or services than the ones that they’ve already purchased from you.
But make sure that they have some sort of connection to the purchases they’ve already made. In other words, you can think of these as accessories.
For example, if you own a hardware store and someone has purchased paint, you could offer them paintbrushes. It’s not more of the same product (more paint). But it’s a product that ties into the original purchase.
A web design business could offer web hosting services or even social media marketing services that promote their businesses or their websites via social media.
5. DIFFERENTBUT UNRELATED PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
Offer your customers completely different products or services than the ones that they’ve already purchased from you.
But with this marketing backend offer, the products or services don’t have to be directly related to the exact purchases they’ve already made.
If someone purchased paint from your hardware store, you could offer them a home decorating service.
If a hair salon could offer manicures or facials. A web hosting company could offer group coaching or mastermind groups.
6. SUBSCRIPTIONS
This is where you offer your customer your product or service on a subscription basis. This could be monthly or yearly.
Why would your business or company want to do this? As marketing legend Dan Kennedy says, it gives you the ability to create reoccurring income versus episodic event income.
You’ll Only See Results If You Apply These to Your Business
If your business or company currently doesn’t offer any backend marketing offers, I’d encourage you to begin offering the easiest and most effective of these backend offers: begin offering your customers more of the same or what they’ve already purchased.
If your business or company already uses backend marketing offers, then I’d encourage you to look at my list and see if you can add any of other these backend marketing offers to your sales funnel.
But do something. The only way this list is going to make any difference in your business or company is if you apply them.
Previous Articles on the 9th Marketing Fundamental
That’s all I’m going to share on the this 9th marketing fundamental.
If you haven’t read my previous articles on the 9th marketing fundamental, I’d encourage you to do that. You can click any of the links below to do that right now. (All links open in a new window.)
My next series of articles will be focusing on what I call the 10th marketing fundamental. It’s the next thing you will need if you want your business or company to succeed this year.
Stay tuned. You won’t want to miss it.
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I’m still working on my next article I’m calling The 10 Backend Offers Any Business Can Make.
So while I finish that up, I thought I’d share an awesome quote from Brian Tracy that can help you as you think of the best backend offers to make to your customers…
Copy & Paste
If you’d like to use this quote, you can copy it below…
“Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her to solvea problem or achievea goal, not of sellinga product or service.”
I want to do that by showing you when the best time is to make your first backend offer to your new customer.
I’ll also reveal the best time to send your second backend offer and how often you should consider sending backend offers.
In the process, I’ll also show you three common mistakes businesses and companies make when it comes to backend offers.
But before I do that, I need to tell you a quick story about what happened when I took my sons to a bowling alley while on vacation visiting family recently.
Why do I need to start with this story? Because it reveals some powerful lessons about backend marketing and backend offers.
I’ll explain more in a minute. First, let me tell you what happened…
The Unexpected Backend Marketing Lesson I Learned on Vacation
After Christmas, my family and I flew out to Colorado to be with extended family and celebrate New Year’s together.
Before we flew back home, we took all of the kids to go to a local, high-end, bowling alley/arcade.
I didn’t know it at the time but I was about to see some great backend marketing in action.
You see, after the kids were done bowling, a message popped up on the screen offering us tokens if we texted the bowling alley at a certain number.
The best part of the offer? We could text them right away and use the tokens before we left.
After we texted them, all we had to do was go up to the counter and show them the automated text message we received, then delete it in front of them (so we couldn’t use it again).
That was until the next day when I received my first text from the bowling alley…
FIRST TEXT
Thanks for your recent visit to (name of business)! We are grateful for the pleasure of serving you.
We would appreciate it if you would take a minute and give us some feedback on your recent visit. (They had a link here).
The fun doesn’t need to end. Come back and visit within the next 14 days and receive up to 40% off your purchase. Get offer>> (They had a link here).
TextSTOPtoEnd
SECOND TEXT
But that wasn’t all. Three days later, I received this short but effective text message…
Join your friends at (name of business) to enjoy live music tonight at 8:00pm! Reserve> (They had a link here.)
Show this text and get $5 off a $25 purchase. 1/7 only
Stop2End
(IMPORTANT: I changed the wording slightly in both of the above texts.)
I was REALLY impressed with the backend marketing that this business used. I’ve since received another text from them that I’ll mention a little later.
But I just want to focus on those two texts because you can learn several important lessons about backend offers from them.
A Quick Review for Those Who Missed My Last Two Articles
In my first article, I revealed that the 9th marketing fundamental you need to succeed this year is backend marketing. In other words, the marketing that you make to your existing customers.
If you haven’t read these articles yet, I’d encourage you to scroll back up and read them as soon as you’re done with this one.
Now let’s get back to the lessons you can learn from this high-end bowling alley/arcade…
SIDEBAR: What is a Backend Offer (or Back End Offer)?
For those of you who don’t know, a backend offer is an offer you make to an existing customer.
The First Mistake Businesses Make With Their Backend Marketing
Believe it or not, one of the biggest mistakes businesses make with their backend marketing is waiting too long to make their first backend offer.
They mistakenly think that making a backend offer too soon will make their customers upset. And that thinking makes them afraid to pull the trigger and make a backend offer.
This causes them to wait days or even weeks to make an offer and so they miss out on the opportunity to build momentum off of their customer’s purchase.
The Best Time to Make a Backend Offer
When is the best time to make a backend offer? The bowling alley sent me a text the day after I was there. That means that within 24 hours of being there, I received the first text to come back again.
That’s pretty good. Many businesses and companies are too afraid to make a backend offer that soon. So I give the bowling alley a lot of credit for sending that first text.
But do you know what would’ve been even better than sending me an offer the next day? It would’ve been better to send it to me right after I sent them the text.
You see, the best time to send a backend offer is right after a customer purchases from you.
Why Should You Make a Backend Offer Right Away?
There are several reasons why you should make a backend offer right after your customer purchases from you, but here are two important ones:
If you sell a great product or service (and you should), the moment right after a customer purchases from you is when they’re the happiest about their experience and therefore most likely to buy.
This is when your customer first realizes their need for other products or services. You know what I mean.We’ve all purchased something and then immediately realized we also need something else. (I’ll talk more about this when I share the types of backend offers you can make in my next in my next article.)
The Second Mistake: When You Should Make Your Second Backend Offer
After waiting too long to make the first backend offer, the second backend marketing mistake that businesses make is waiting too long to make the second backend offer.
Let’s look again at the example from the bowling alley.
They sent me the first text/first offer the next day. Then they sent me a second text with a second offer three days later.
Did they risk getting me upset by sending me a text three days later? Some might say so. But I don’t agree. I think it was a really smart move.
Here are five reasons why I think it was a smart move to offer a second backend offer within 72 hours of making the first backend offer:
I might not have read the first text.
I might not have had the time, money, or interest to respond to the first offer, but I might now.
Offering another offer helps to weed out any people who will be too bothered by receiving offers.
It’s a different offer. Different offers appeal to different people.
It’s still really soon after I first purchased, so I’m probably still happy and more likely to buy again.
I’d encourage you to test making your second backend offer within 72 hours of making your first offer.
You might find out that you bother some people and you’ll get some unsubscribes.
But you also might find that you make a bunch of additional sales and the customers that you keep are better quality.
That seems worth the risk of testing this out, doesn’t it?
The Third Mistake:How Often You Should Make Backend Offers
When it comes to backend marketing, the third common mistake that businesses and companies make is not making enough backend offers.
They don’t make enough backend offers because they’re again afraid to upset their customers.
Now you don’t want to be annoying and keep hitting your customers over the head with offer after offer.
But that doesn’t mean that you need to go to the opposite extreme and hardly ever make any backend offers to your customers either. Instead, try to find a happy medium.
I told you that the bowling alley sent me another text besides the two I mentioned above. What was it? It was another a MLK Day offer that was sent 10 days after the second email.
How do you find a happy medium between hardly ever making backend offers and annoying your customers with too many backend offers?
Again, the only way you can really find out is through testing.
4 Takeaways
I hope this article has got you to think about your backend marketing and how you should set up your sales funnel with backend offers.
Before you leave, let me leave you with these four takeaways you can begin testing:
Make sure to send your first backend offer right away – no later than 24 hours from the purchase.
Test making your second backend offer 72 hours after your first one.
Test making your third backend offer 10 days after that.
Test how regularly you should continue making backend offers so that you don’t leave too much money on the table or don’t annoy too many customers.
Stay tuned for my next article on the 9th marketing fundamental. I’ll reveal the types of backend offers that any business or company can and should make.
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The easiest and best way for you to help a business make more money is by focusing your marketing on your current customers.
You want to use backend marketing to get your customers to buy more often. If you don’t get people to buy more often, your business will have a hard time staying in business.
Let me show you what I mean by telling you a story about an incredible light bulb…
The Longest, Continuously Lit Light Bulb
When we think of the light bulb, we think of Thomas Edison, because he was the inventor of the light bulb.
But just like any product, as soon as it came out many people tried to improve it and make a better one.
One of the men who came up with a better version of the light bulb is Adolphe Chaillet. And the Shelby lightbulb is his creation.
Chaillet liked to do a theatrical product demo where he’d have a big theatre marquee-like light bulb bank.
In it would be one bulb of his own design, and the rest would be bulbs by competing brands. Then, Chaillet would start slowly dialing up the power. One by one, the competitors’ bulbs would all explode.
Every time, Chaillet’s bulb would be the last one shining.
One of his amazing lightbulbs made it to Livermore, California, when a shop owner donated it to the town’s volunteer fire department in 1901.
He did this because he didn’t want the firefighters to have to ready their horse-drawn “hose carts” in the dark. Eventually, the old-fashioned hose carts were replaced with fire trucks.
The bulb hung between the firehouse’s two garage doors and the firefighters were aware of it but didn’t think much about it.
The bulb hung down from a long cord, and it was low enough that you could walk by and tap the bulb and watch it swing back forth.
Bored firefighters would even throw Nerf balls at it.
In 1971, the first fire chief was brought in and he noticed the old bulb and asked people how long it had been hanging there. No one knew for sure, just that it was a LONG time.
So he had people research it and found out it had been light for 70 years! If you think that’s impressive it has now been lit for almost 121 years!!
This product was so good no one needed to buy any more lightbulbs!
GE bought the company and met with others in their industry and came up with a standard that their bulbs would only last 40 days.
This is the first case of something called “planned obsolescence.”
You Have the Same Problem
This is the same problem your business or company has if it doesn’t have any other products or services to sell after you sell your first one.
That’s why you must have additional backend products or services – that they need and want – that you can offer to your customers.
You want to train your customers to buy more and to keep coming back for additional products and services, so you can help them even more!
Because you DON’T just want to sell to them more!You want to take care of them more. When you do that, your customers will happily keep purchasing from you over and over again.
A Reminder and a Challenge
I wrote today’s article for two reasons:
I wanted to remind you just how important it is for you to have additional products or services to sell to your customers.
I wanted this article to challenge you to think about any way your business or company might be overlooking this truth or not fully implementing it.
With that in mind, I want to leave you with these questions to think about:
What additional products or services are you currently offering your customers? Are these the best and most desirable you can offer?
Is there any area of your business or company where you’re not offering your customers more products or services they can purchase from you?
What other products or services can you begin to offer your customers?
Stay tuned for my next article.
We’ll continue this series by looking at the types backend offers you can make, the best ways to make these offers to your customers, and the importance of increasing your customer’s lifetime value.
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We Love Predictions But Are Horrible at Making Them
There’s something deep within us that wants to know the future, what’s coming ahead.
But the funny thing about this fact is that we are pretty horrible at making predictions. Don’t believe me?
Check out the four horrible predictions these experts made in the past:
“Theoretically, television may be feasible, but I consider it an impossibility–a development which we should waste little time dreaming about.” – Radio pioneer Lee de Forest in 1926, inventor of the cathode ray tube
“I think there is a world market for about five computers.” – Thomas J. Watson in 1943, former Chairman of the Board of IBM
“I see little commercial potential for the internet for the next 10 years.” – What Bill Gates allegedly said at one Comdex trade event in 1994.
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” – Steve Ballmer in 2007, former chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014
With that understanding of our love of predictions and our inability to effectively make them, I want to make a marketing prediction that’s guaranteed to be true about 2022.
My Marketing Prediction for 2022
In 2022, I believe that the biggest marketing breakthroughs will take place at the intersection where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
The people and companies that will succeed the most this year are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and take advantage of these opportunities by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
How do I know this will be true? Because this has been true for a century, before and after the internet.
(I don’t have time to go into details here, but the success of Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other top companies are inextricably connected to the same marketing fundamentals that were used in 1922 and even earlier.)
For that reason, I’m going to continue the series I began a year ago at the beginning of 2021. (Important: I will be updating all of my previous articles to refer to 2022.)
Stay Tuned for My Podcast Coming in 2022
As soon as I finish going over the last marketing fundamentals, I will be starting a podcast version of this series. I’ll share more about it in the future. For now, stay tuned.
The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2022
Today, I’m going to reveal the 9th marketing fundamental you need to succeed this year.
If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, then you should read the next section. It will help you to understand the importance of the marketing fundamentals I’m sharing with you.
Here are the first 8 of the marketing fundamentals you need to succeed this year…
The First 8 Marketing Fundamentals:
Here are the eight marketing fundamentals that I’ve revealed so far are in this series:
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow up at all. They don’t follow up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
Alright, you’re now ready to discover the 9th marketing fundamental.
Marketing FundamentalsBefore, During, and After the Sale
The first seven marketing fundamentals that I shared focused on what happens BEFORE the sale.
With the eighth marketing fundamental, I focused on what happens DURING the purchase, a huge opportunity that many companies completely overlook or don’t fully employ.
Well today, with the ninth marketing fundamental, I’m going to focus on what happens AFTER your customer purchases.
The ninth marketing fundamental is backend marketing.
In other words, it’s marketing that you make to your existing customers as opposed to prospects you’re trying to get to buy from you for the first time.
Where Your Biggest Revenue-Generating Opportunities Lie
The backed is where many companies unintentionally leave so much money on the table.
If you and your company are looking to increase your revenue in 2022, one of the places you should look first is at your backend marketing.
Why? Because it’s cheaper and easier to sell more to current customers than it is to sell to prospects.
“We direct marketers must never forget that our biggest money-making opportunities lie in our customer lists and not our prospect or suspect lists. Selling more things to existing customers is easier and more profitable.”
“Remember that it costs you six times more to sell something to a new person than to sell that same offering to a customer.”
Do you see why your biggest revenue-generating opportunities in 2022, reside in your customers?
Do you see why your company’s revenue-generating goal this year must include how to serve them more and sell more to them in 2022?
If you stick with me, my upcoming articles will show you the key reason all companies and businesses must master backend selling, ways you can begin backend marketing, and/or improve backend marketing you’re already using.
If that sounds interesting to you, then subscribe below so that you will be automatically notified when my articles go live.
Catch Up on What You Missed in This Series
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Riddle: What’s the Type of Content You Create Once and Get Paid for Again and Again?
Content marketing is usually about creating a piece of free content whose purpose is to directly or indirectly play a part in bringing in future sales for a product or service of some kind.
Well, how would you like to create a single piece of content just once, but get paid for it year after year after? Does that sound like some kind of internet scam? It’s not.
In fact, there is a certain category of songwriters who actually achieve this amazing feat. They create one song and then make money off of it year after year after year.
Who are these songwriters? They are the writers behind Christmas songs. Want proof?
It was the summer of 1970 and Jose Felciano was recording a Christmas album made up of classic Christmas songs. That’s when his producer and friend, Rick Jarrard, made a surprising suggestion.
He told Jose that he should create an original Christmas song, one that had lyrics in both English and Spanish. Jose then went into the other room to see what he could come up with.
He started messing around by singing the words “Feliz Navidad” and “Merry Christmas.” Suddenly out of nowhere the melody just came to him.
He didn’t know it at the time, but the song would go on to become one of the most popular Christmas songs. It would become as popular – or even more popular – than some of the classic songs he had already recorded that day.
Just how popular is that song?
According to Billboard, this song has been heard on the radio by an estimated 3.8 billion people. Yes, that’s billion with a “B.”
It is one of the top 10 best-performing songs on Billboard’s Holiday 100 chart.
According to ASCAP, it is one of the 25 most-played Christmas songs in the world.
In 2010, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
How’s that for a song that “just came to him” in the summer of 1970?
50 Years Later and That One Song is Still Going Strong
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Feliz Navidad. You heard that right. Jose Feliciano created one piece of content 50 years ago and he has been paid every year for it for 50 years.
So the story I started with, that you thought sounded like a scam, is actually the story Jose Feliciano has been living out since 1970.
There are some valuable content marketing lessons that you can learn from Jose and other Christmas songwriters that will help you to create content with a lasting impact in 2022.
I’ll share these important lessons with you in just a minute. But first, you might be interested to learn this…
To honor the 50th anniversary of this still very popular song, Jose recorded a special version of the song with 30 top artists.
These artists include CNCO, Isabela Merced, Shaggy, Jon Secada, Jason Mraz, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rachael Ray, Gloria Gaynor, Big & Rich, Michael Bolton, Los Temerarios, Sam Moore, and Styx. (If you’re interested in hearing it, you can find it exclusively here on Amazon.com. )
The Surprising Content Marketing Lessons You Can Learn from Christmas Songs
As I said, there are some valuable content marketing lessons that you can learn from Jose and other Christmas songwriters. I’ve packed all of these lessons in the video below.
In my video, you’ll discover:
How to capture your audience’s attention
How to create content that appeals to your audience
How to create content that can appeal to your audience for years to come
Two important content marketing lessons we can learn from Christmas songs
Two takeaways that you can apply to your content marketing
And three methods you can use to produce your content based on the way popular artists create and record Christmas songs
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Does it sound to you like I say, “Christmas sogs” at the beginning of the video? It does to me!
I’m not sure what happened, but let’s pretend it didn’t happen! Haha.
IMPORTANT: Do you know the Christmas TV specials that used to only come on once a year?
Well, you can think of my Christmas content marketing videos that you’ll see over the next few days like those TV specials.
I say that because I will be reposting these videos and related articles during this time every year.
Christmas Content Marketing Examples
If you just pay attention, there are examples of content marketing, and lessons to be learned, everywhere.
There are even content marketing examples and lessons that can be found at Christmas time.
What you’re about to see is just one example. But let me be clear.
This and the upcoming examples are content marketing examples that come from Christmas.
But they are NOT examples that can only be used during Christmas time. They can be used year-round.
How Content Marketing Gave Birth to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The video you’re about to see contains the little-known story of how a content marketing assignment led to the most famous reindeer of all.
In other words, you’re about to discover a Christmas content marketing lesson. In the video, you’ll discover:
Montgomery Ward’s use of content marketing at Christmas
How the story of Rudolph came to be
The tragedy that almost ended it all
The surprising success of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The offer he had to refuse
The big risk and the big payoff
The rejected song that became a hit
In You Enjoyed This, Can You Do Two Things?
If you enjoy this video, then please subscribe to this channel.
You’ll not only learn other Christmas content marketing lessons, but you’ll also learn lessons on how to create engaging content through my behind-the-scenes videos.
Can you also share this article on social media and with someone that you think will like it?
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You Won’t Believe Me But You Don’t Mind Being Upsold
What would you think if, while you were in the process of purchasing something, a company tried 10 different times to get you to buy something else to add to your cart?
Would you be ok with it or mad about it? I bet you answered, “Mad!!”
Really? What if I don’t think you would be mad? In fact, what if I told you that I think you would be fine with it?
Not only that, what if I had the nerve to tell you that I think you’d not only be fine with it, you’d go back to that company to buy from them again and again?
And what if I was crazy enough to tell you that I had proof that I was right and you were wrong?
You’ve probably figured this out already. But let me spell it for you in case anyone got left behind and hasn’t caught on yet.
The company I’m talking about is Amazon. And pretty much all of you reading this have purchased something from them. Not once, but over and over again.
Believe it or not, Amazon makes AT LEAST 10 upsells when you go to purchase something.
You are so not bothered by them upselling you that I bet you didn’t even realize they were making that many upsells to you! (Confession: I didn’t realize it until I counted them.)
I bring up Amazon for two reasons:
People don’t hate having a business or company upsell them. They only hate it if it’s done improperly or in an annoying way.
Amazon can teach us some powerful ways to implement upselling in a way that’s pleasurable and not annoying.
If you stick with me, I’ll show you the 10 upsells that Amazon made to me when I went to purchase a book.
And I will show you how you can implement these in your own business or company. Are you ready?
The 10 Powerful Ways Amazon Ethically Increases Their Profit Per Customer
Before I share the ten powerful methods that Amazon uses to increase their profit per customer, I want you to understand something important that I noticed.
Amazon doesn’t just upsell all at once. They upsell in two distinct phases.
Amazon’s Unique Two-Phase Upsell Strategy
Their two-phase strategy has a before and after focus:
Before You Choose an Item – They offer upsells as you are shopping or browsing for what you want to purchase.
After You Choose an Item – They offer upsells after you choose an item you want to buy.
This is really important. Because many online retailers offer upsells only as you’re checking out. On the other hand, Amazon doesn’t make any upsells once I click “Proceed to checkout.”
Upselling at check out can feel intrusive because it disrupts the purchasing flow. That can bother people, especially if you make multiple upsell offers during the checkout process.
I wonder what would happen if other e-commerce businesses tested making their upsell offers before the checkout?
Would it enable them to make even more upsells like Amazon does? Or would it lessen the cart value? Let me know if you test this. I’d love to hear your results.
With this two-phase upsell strategy in mind, let me now reveal the ten powerful ways Amazon uses upsells that I discovered.
The first four upsells all happen before you even add anything to your cart…
1. The social proof upsell
The social proof upsell
The first upsell they make is made before you even have chosen something to put into your cart. And it’s an interesting one to start with.
Before I even chose to put this book in my cart, Amazon was already suggesting that I not just buy this book. They’re already suggesting that I buy two other books too.
But this is important. They don’t make this suggestion as one that comes directly from them. They use social proof to do this.
In a sense, they’re saying, “In case you’re wondering, this is what other a lot of other people are buying along with that book you’re looking at.”
This is really smart. Because we are always making purchasing choices based on what we see and/or hear other people are buying.
Everyone’s buying an iPhone with AirPods? I want to do that! Everyone’s going to see the new Spiderman: No Way Home movie? I want to go see it too. Everyone’s buying EV cars? I wonder why? I think I should look into that too.
LESSON 1: Make sure that you are using upsells based on social proof.
Tap into this natural way that influences how we all make purchases. But make sure that you do this in an honest, helpful way. Don’t ever do this in a way that’s deceptive or manipulative.
NOTE: Make sure to check out the hidden upsell method that I reveal at the end of this article. It taps into this same social proof method. (I didn’t notice it because it’s not obvious until you click on something.)
2. The soft sell upsell
The soft sell upsell
The second upsell they make before you choose what to put in your cart is a soft sell upsell. They’re not saying, “Hey! You need this. Don’t leave here without buying this too!!”
No, instead they’re just making a suggestion, “I see you’re looking at this item. If you are interested in something like that, you might also like any of these.”
I want you to also notice again that they’re suggesting I buy more than one thing before I even choose what I want to buy.
LESSON 2: When you make an upsell before someone has chosen what they want to buy, do it as a suggestion, not as a command.
This soft sell method is a great one to begin implementing. Why?
Because we all appreciate suggestions. None of us like it when a salesperson rudely tries to force us to buy something.
Our first instinct when we’re suggested something is to listen and consider it. Our first instinct, when forced to choose something, is to reject it just as forcefully.
3. The sponsored upsell
The sponsored upsell
Until I started putting together this article, I never noticed what makes the third upsell so unique. It looks to me like these particular upsells are all ads that people have paid for to get their book suggested.
Think about that for a second. That means that Amazon is making money whether someone takes the upsell offer or not!
This is an amazing way to offer an upsell that I’ve never thought of before.
LESSON 3: Is there a way that you can offer a sponsored upsell by offering a non-competitive product that another company would pay you just to offer?
Think of what a game-changer that could be for your business. You’d be able to add more profit per customer whether someone takes the upsell offer or not.
And, depending on you set up the agreement, if they do take the offer, it could mean even more profit for you.
4. The low barrier USP upsell
The low barrier USP upsell
The fourth upsell that Amazon makes is one that comes after someone has scrolled down below the product details and the author description.
That seems to be important to me. If someone has scrolled this far down, there might be two opposing reasons for this:
A. They’re unsure about purchasing the item they’re looking at. B. Or they’re really excited/interested in it and they want to know every detail about it.
Regardless of which reason it is, Amazon makes what I would call a low barrier upsell. It’s an upsell that doesn’t feel difficult for the customer to say yes to.
Don’t miss this though.
It’s not just a low barrier upsell, it also points to what makes Amazon unique: free shipping via Prime. (*I have Prime so I don’t know whether they use this upsell with people who don’t have Prime.)
When they see someone is unsure about the item they’re considering, they basically say, “If you aren’t sure about that item, these are some similar items that would be easy (not as costly, less complicated) to get.”
This is smart because if someone is about to give up on the item that they were about to buy, offering a similar low barrier upsell will give them something else to purchase instead. (In a way, this is a down sell.)
And if someone is really interested in the item and scrolls down to see this upsell, it’s an exciting additional purchase they can add to their cart.
I also love that Amazon’s low barrier upsell is tied to what makes Amazon different in the marketplace.
LESSON 4: Come up with low barrier upsells for people who are unsure about what to purchase and/or for your committed buyers. And do your best to tie these upsells into what makes your business or company unique!
This will help you to not lose a customer. It will also help your unsure customer to get something similar to what that they needed/wanted. And it will help your committed buyers to have additional solutions and benefits to their purchase.
PHASE 2: AFTER YOU ADD AN ITEM TO YOUR CART
The next upsells all happen after you add something to your cart…
5. The sponsored upsell – Take two
The sponsored upsell again
For the fifth upsell, Amazon does something surprising. They offer the “sponsored” upsell again. I would’ve never even thought to do one sponsored upsell.
But Amazon doesn’t just offer one of these upsells, they offer two of them.
That means that Amazon is getting paid TWICE whether or not anyone takes one of their upsell offers or not.
LESSON 5: Figure out how you can use sponsored upsells before and after someone adds something to their cart.
Think of how this could change your business and let that be your incentive to figure out how to creatively do the same thing,
6. The “more of what you like” upsell
The “more of what you like” upsell
For the sixth upsell, Amazon takes a different tactic. They don’t try to convince you that you need or want some random, additional product.
Instead, they just let you know about new items from authors you’ve already purchased from before.
LESSON 6: Make sure that you are tracking customer purchases so that you can offer them more of what they’ve already shown interest in.
The cool thing about this upsell is that your customers will end up being thankful for the recommendation and more of them will take your upsell offer in the process.
7. The peer pressure upsell
The peer pressure upsell
The seventh upsell is a different take on upsell #1 The social proof upsell. This is where Amazon is again tapping into the part of us that makes decisions based on popularity or what others are doing.
The thing I want you to notice is that they first used this type of upsell at the very beginning of this process before you even put anything in your cart.
Now they’re doing it again after you’ve added an item to your cart. But, again, they’re doing it in a very casual way.
LESSON 7: Think of ways you can use customer purchase habits to make suggestions to your customers that can give them insights into what others are purchasing.
But the key with this is to do it like Amazon does, in a very casual, non-pressured way.
8. The more to explore upsell
The more to explore upsell
The eighth upsell Amazon makes gives you even more suggestions based on your purchase history. But notice the difference in this upsell and upsell #6, the “more of what you like” upsell.
Instead of just suggesting new items from an author you’ve already purchased before, they are now making suggestions of additional books from other similar authors.
LESSON 8: Make sure that you don’t usecustomer purchase history to just offer them more of what they’ve already shown they like.Use it to also make recommendations of similar items from different providers or suppliers.
This is a great way to serve your customers while making an upsell.
Why? Because you’re educating them on other products from other providers that are similar to what they already like.
9. The mind reader upsell
The mind reader upsell
The ninth upsell Amazon makes is not made based on your purchase history. It’s made on your browsing history. This is an interesting upsell to make it.
It seems to be based on the idea that people are giving hints to the types of things that they care about by the things that they’ve paid attention to in the past.
That means you don’t have to just guess about the things to upsell your customers.
Your customer’s previous browsing history enables you to almost read their minds and make powerful upsell recommendations inspired by this history.
LESSON 9: Realize that your customer’s past browsing behavior provides powerful insights that can help you to make upsell recommendations that your customers will be more likely to say yes to.
This should go without saying. But that means that you need to begin paying attention to, and begin gathering, your customer’s browsing history and not just their purchase history.
If you’re not currently doing that, start doing it today.
10. The telegraphed upsell
The telegraphed upsell
For the tenth upsell, Amazon also taps into that same browsing history.
But instead of making a recommendation that is inspired by that history, they make a direct recommendation of something you looked at but didn’t purchase.
This seems to be based on the knowledge that people often look at an item multiple times before purchasing it.
Because Amazon understands this, they don’t assume just because you didn’t purchase something last time, you won’t purchase it this time.
LESSON 10: If your customers have been to your business, company, or website before, there’s a good chance that they’ve already telegraphed the exact things they’ll be interested in buying in the future.
Your job is to just pay attention to these hints and then recommend these unpurchased items to them when they come back to purchase from you again.
BONUS: Amazon’s hidden upsell offer
When I was studying Amazon’s upsell methods, I thought I had noticed and noted all of their upsells.
That was until I just happened to click on something and discover a hidden upsell offer. It happened when I clicked on the “Look Inside” feature for the $100M Offer book.
I then began reading the preview of the book. When I got to the end of the preview, I came across something I wasn’t expecting…
Amazon’s hidden upsell offer
It was a hidden upsell that seemed to be designed specifically for two purposes:
It was designed for someone who was interested enough in the book to take a look at its contents.
It was designed to get that person aware of more books they could also buy.
BONUS LESSON: What are some ways that you can make a special offer to people who express their deep interest in a product?
If you can figure out how to creatively answer that question, you’ll have a chance to test how this kind of offer can impact your profit per customer in a way that most of your competitors will never think of.
Why I Think Amazon’s Upsells Work So Well
After discovering these upsells Amazon has been making right under my nose – without me even noticing it or being bothered by it – I asked myself this question…
How is it possible that Amazon can make 11 upsells and I not only don’t get upset about it, I gladly keep buying from them?
I’ve thought about it and I’ve come up with these four reasons:
The upsells never feel forced on us.
They are always something we’re in control of.
At any point, we can stop the upsells or continue to look at more of them.
They are presented in a non-pressured and even pleasant way.
The reason that upsells from other companies seem to bother us so much is because they feel forced on us.
We don’t feel like we have any say about how many we see. And we definitely feel pressured to take them.
The upsells from these companies feel involuntary and Amazon’s feel voluntary.
I would encourage you to really think about how Amazon uniquely uses upsells.
Because I believe these upsell methods are one of the key reasons that Jeff Bezos was able to build Amazon into such a successful and profitable company.
If that’s true…
What does Amazon know about upsells that everyone else doesn’t?
My article today will be short, sweet, and to the point. Because I only have one goal.
I want to show you that upselling isn’t just good for companies and businesses. It’s actually good for customers too. I’ll show you what I mean in just a second.
But before you read any further, I need you to not think like a marketer, business owner, or company.
I need you to read the rest of the article today as a customer. Ok? If you’re in the right mindset, scroll down and continue reading.
REMINDER: My Definition of Upselling From My Last Article
What is Upselling? – I consider upselling to be when you encourage customers to purchase an additional or comparably high-end product or service they need or want, while they are in the process of purchasing a product or service from you.
Let’s say that a strange law was passed. It’s a law that said you could ONLY buy one item or service per store or website.
That means that if you wanted anything else, you’d have to go to another store/website to get the item.
That would also mean that you couldn’t get any benefits (saving time or bulk purchases) from purchasing more than one item/service from the same place.
Because of this law, companies, businesses, or websites can’t even let you know about an additional product or service that you will probably need or want with the purchase you’re making.
Now that you have that imaginary situation in your mind, I have some questions for you:
How would you like it if you were only allowed to buy one item or service per store or website you visit?
Would that situation allow the best use of your time and money?
Would it even enable you, or would it limit you, from fully enjoying purchasing from people/places you like and trust the most?
How happy would you be to continually to find out after the fact that you purchased something that needed another item to work or work best?
How happy would you be find out afterward that there was a service that could help you with your purchase, but instead you had to figure it out on your own?
Let’s be real. You wouldn’t like this kind of law. You’d complain about it to friends and family. Why?
You wouldn’t feel that being forced to go to multiple places to buy things is the greatest use of your time or money.
And, most of all, you wouldn’t be happy because you couldn’t spend all or most of your money only with the people, businesses, or companies that you like and trust.
But since that law doesn’t exist, you can buy more than one product or service from a company.
That means that businesses and companies can upsell you and offer you more of what you want and/or more of what they know would be helpful to you.
Best of all, since they’re allowed to sell you more than one thing, they can offer you a better deal as an incentive to encourage you to take the offer.
That ends up being good for you (you save some money and time) and it’s good for the business or company (they can make more profit per customer).
There have been many times when I walked away extremely happy with the deal I got from an upsell offer and was thankful that the company or business made that offer to me.
Of course, upselling is good for companies. There’s no denying that. But let’s not forget that upselling is good for us as customers too.
As long as upselling is done in an honest and fair way, it’s good for business and it’s good and even enjoyable for consumers.
8 Powerful Ways to Ethically Increase Your Profit Per Customer
In my next article, I will prove that upselling can be enjoyable for customers by exposing a way that you’re being upsold to on a regular basis… and you don’t even realize it.
I’ll also reveal ways you as a business owner or company can ethically increase your profit per customer.
Two Favors?
In the meantime, can you do me a favor or two?
Can you share this and/or my other articles with a friend, colleague, or co-worker you think would like this?
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How would you like to make money today from what you will sell in the future?
Think of it as being able to travel into the future and borrow money from the sales your future self is making. Does that sound interesting to you?
Well, pay close attention. Because even though this sounds like a fantasy, it’s a reality. It can all be done by making a simple offer to every customer.
I will explain what I mean in the true story you’re about to read.
I wanted to remind you about this quote because today I’m going to continue to reveal some things to you about upsells. I’m particular, I’m going to show you a powerful upsell you might be overlooking.
An Ingenious Upsell Offer from a Local Burger Joint
The other night, my family and I were out driving around and decided to grab dinner.
The original place we planned on going to wasn’t available so we decided to drive around to see what else we could find.
We ended up trying a burger place I’ve seen many times but never tried: Big Bun Drive In in Boise, Idaho. (It’s been around since 1954.) I got a bacon cheeseburger that was really good.
But what impressed me even more than the burger I got was the upsell offer that the guy over the loudspeaker made to me.
–This Section is for Any of You Who Aren’t Sure What Upselling Means–
What is Upselling? – I consider upselling to be when you encourage customers to purchase an additional or comparably high-end product or service they need or want, while they are in the process of purchasing a product or service from you.
There are three key things that I want you to notice in my definition:
1. “related to the product or service” – I consider an upsell to be an offer that encourages the purchase of something related or connected to what’s being purchased.
2. “needor want” – You should never offer anyone something that isn’t needed, helpful, or not wanted.
3. “in the process of purchasing” – Finally, I consider upselling to take place while a customer is purchasing from you. It’s not an offer made after the sale is complete and your customer has left your website or place of business.
—
The Ingenious Upsell Offer They Made Me
As I finished my order, the young guy on the other end of the speaker asked me an interesting question….
He said, “Is this your first time here?” I said, “Yes, it is.” He replied, “Well, we know you’re going to like what you’re about to eat. So we’d like to offer you a $25 gift card – that you can use the next time you come in, for only $20.”
I didn’t take his offer but I was still very impressed by it. Let me explain why:
He was encouraging me to come back and purchase again in the future by making me an offer today. (It was essentially a 20% off offer on my next $25 purchase.)
Unlike Big Bun Drive In, most business owners only hope, pray, or wish that customers come back. They don’t give their customers any incentive to actually come back.
He was making an offer that enables the business owner to literally collect money today for a purchase that will be made in the future. (This is money that can be used today. It doesn’t depend on waiting until the customer is ready or remembers to come back.)
Unlike Big Bun Drive In, most businesses have to wait until the future to collect any money from their current customers. Think about how unpredictable this typical business strategy is compared to the upsell strategy that was offered to me.
I Know What You’re Thinking
I can read some of your minds right now. You’re thinking, “Yeah, but you didn’t take them up on the offer?”
Who cares?
Not everyone has to take this offer in order for it to still bring great results for a business like this. I’ll prove it to you.
How Much Additional Profit That Upsell Could Bring In
Let’s break down some of the potential numbers so you can see what I mean.
Restaurant profit margins can typically span anywhere from 0 – 15% profit. (Source: Pos.toasttab.com)
Let’s say Big Bun Drive In makes 5% profit spent using the $25 gift card. That’s $1.25.
The average restaurant processes around 47 transactions daily. (Source: Womply.com)
To make things easy, let’s say Big Bun Drive In makes 50 transactions a day. Again to keep the math simple, let’s assume they make a similar offer to regular customers. (I don’t have the desire or energy to try to figure out how many new customers come a day. Haha.)
Let’s say that only 20% of the people take them up on the offer.
50 transactions x .20 = 10 customers
That’s 10 transactions x $1.25 in profit = $12.50.
$12.50 x 7 days a week = $87.50 a week.
$87.50 x 52 weeks a year = $4550 in PROFIT a year
That’s an extra $4550 in profit a year from one upsell offer. And, remember, that’s assuming a low profit margin and only 50 transactions a day.
Just think how these numbers change if they have a 10% profit margin, have 100 transactions a day, and 25% of people take the offer. (I think that’s $22,750 in profit a year but do the math yourself. 🙂 )
(DISCLAIMER: As of the time I’m writing this article, I don’t know the owners of Big Bug Drive In. I have no clue how much profit they’re actually making. I just can tell that they’re smart marketers.)
Three Important Things to Remember
But don’t forget the beauty of this upsell offer:
This is all profit that they get in the present without having to wait until the customers come back.
Not only that, think about how many of their first-time customers convert to regular customers after eating their twice.
Making this offer doesn’t cost them anything!
But My Business Is Different…
I don’t have the time to explain how and why other types of businesses or companies (online, offline, or a combination of both) can make money with a similar offer.
To show you how your particular business or company could apply this basic idea, we’d have to set up a time for a consultation.
But I will tell you this. Any business can offer a similar offer. You just need to be creative.
You need to ask yourself, “How can I apply this to our business?” instead of thinking, “I can’t apply this to my business.”
Stay tuned. In my next article, I will share some more ideas you need to understand in order to implement the8th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021.
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Invisible Marketing: Content Marketing is Everywhere
I’ve been involved in writing and teaching content marketing for over a decade.
For that reason, I can’t NOT see content marketing being used everywhere. In fact, I see content marketing being used where most people completely miss it.
That’s what I mean when I use the term “invisible marketing.” Here’s an example…
Progressive Is Using Content Marketing?
I was watching TV yesterday and minding my own business. All of a sudden, a commercial came on that I wasn’t expecting.
It was a Progressive commercial featuring my favorite guy: Dr. Rick. You know him. He’s the self-help guru who helps homeowners to avoid becoming like their parents.
But it wasn’t one of the regular commercials I’ve seen and liked before. It was a commercial that caused my content marketing sensor to start going off.
It was a commercial for a book by the fictional Dr. Rick has written.
The reason my content marketing radar went off is because, even though Dr. Rick is just an actor (played by Bill Glass), it seemed to me like this commercial was an offer for a real book.
So I decided to go on Progressive’s website and learn more about it. And I couldn’t believe what I found.
It appeared to be a page that you’d create to sell a real book. It even had sales copy that mentioned: “while supplies last.”
I couldn’t resist. I had to see if it was a real book. So, I decided to click the “Buy Now” button.
Before I tell you what happened, I need to make sure you understand why Progressive selling a book was seen as content marketing for me.
Progressive’s page for Dr. Rick Will See You Now
SIDEBAR: How is a book a form of content marketing?
There are many ways that a book can be a form of content marketing. First, you need to remember what content marketing actually is at its core.
Here is my personal definition of content marketing…
My Personal Definition – Content marketing is the creation (or curation) of engaging content for the express purpose of gaining the attention and favor of a certain group, so that they will be persuaded to do business with an individual, business, or organization.
If you want to learn more about ways that I book can be used as content marketing to position you or your company, check out my post on my site RecessionSolution.com called Content Marketing And A New Purpose For Books.
What Happened When I Clicked the “Buy Now” Button
When I clicked the button, I saw that the cost of the book was $0.00. When I saw that, I thought, “Wait a minute. Is it possible that Progressive is offering a ‘free plus shipping offer?'”
I’ve never seen a major company like Progressive use a free plus shipping offer. I began to get excited just thinking that they might have used this type of offer.
(Ok, now you really know I’m a “marketing nerd.” I see content marketing everywhere and I get excited about the idea of major companies using direct response offers. Look away from me! I can’t take your judging glares!)
My already fast-beating heart was about to begin beating even faster from what I discovered next.
SIDEBAR: What’s a “free plus shipping offer?
A “free plus shipping” offer is a direct response offer that has been around for a long time. But it has been made extremely popular in the online world by Russell Brunson.
People who use this offer offer a book (or other product) for free and ask people to just pay for shipping.
After a person fills out their information and pays for the shipping offer, they are usually taken to one or more special offers where the person is encouraged to purchase an additional, related offer.
Are “free plus shipping” offers effective? You would think that by offering a product for free and only having people pay for shipping that you wouldn’t make any money.
But that’s not true. People who use these types of offers effectively have made large amounts of money.
Did Progressive Use a “Free Plus Shipping Offer”?
I had to see if they actually did. So I clicked “Add to Cart” and then the “Continue Shopping” button.
What I saw next confirmed my suspicion. They had three options for me to pay for my book to be shipped to me.
It was a free plus shipping offer! Awesome.
I filled out my credit card information, then I clicked the “Continue to Payment” button and filled out my payment information.
I did this because I want to see the book itself. I want to see if there’s any marketing in the book itself. I also want to see what type(s) of marketing Progressives uses after they send me the book.
So, I clicked on the “Pay Now” button to finish my order.
What Happened After I Clicked “Pay Now”
At this point, I was still waiting anxiously to see if Progressive was going to make me an additional offer like a typical “free plus shipping offer” does.
Guess what? They did. It wasn’t executed the way I hoped it would be but it was still an additional offer.
They offered a chance for me to shop for other Progressive products.
They have cool, branded products like a Flo costume or a Jamie costume and many other products. They even have a Mrs. Flo-Tato Head! You can see the products here.
I Can’t Wait to Get My Book and See What Happens Next
I already really liked the Dr. Rick commercials.
But I’m very impressed that Progressive is using content marketing in the form of a book and direct response marketing techniques in the form of a ‘free plus shipping” offer.
Now, I’m excited to get my book Dr. Rick Will See You Now! I can’t wait to get see what other cool marketing Progressive uses.
P.S. After looking more into this commercial and offer, I discovered it’s been out since late October. I don’t know why I never saw it until now!
The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021
When I took martial arts, we went over the basics in almost every class. Why?
Because the most complicated moves were usually just a couple of different basic moves put together. Or an advanced move was based on the same simple motion of a basic move.
When you join the military what kind of training do they give you? Basic Training.
Success in any area of life comes from knowing and perfecting the basics. In other words, success is about the fundamentals.
Well, guess what? It’s no different when it comes to marketing and business success.
The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021
Today, I’m going to reveal the 8th marketing fundamental you need to succeed this year.
If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, then you should read the next section. It will help you to understand the importance of the marketing fundamentals I’m sharing with you.
*Skip This If You’ve Read the Other Articles in This Series*
In my first article of the series, I laid an important foundation that I have continued to build on. In that article I said…
Based on some things I’ve been reading from the experts I follow, there are some interesting trends and predictions that are said to be coming our way in 2021.
These trends and predictions will be opportunities for people that know how to leverage them.
But I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow up at all. They don’t follow up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
Alright, you’re now ready to discover the 8th marketing fundamental.
Marketing FundamentalsBefore, During, and After the Sale
So far, the marketing fundamentals that I’ve been focused on have all been ones that happen BEFORE the sale.
Well, believe it or not, marketing fundamentals aren’t just important before the sale. They’re just as important during and after the sale.
When you apply the first seven marketing fundamentals, a certain percentage of your targeted audience will take you up on your offer and purchase from you.
And it’s during that purchase that many companies miss a huge opportunity. That’s why the 8th marketing fundamental is upselling.
The Real Creator of the First Combo Meal
Some of you might not realize this but there was once a time when combo meals didn’t exist.
When was this frightening and barbaric time? Pre-1958. Maybe you’re like me. I always thought that McDonald’s was the creator of the first combo meal. Well, that’s wrong.
From what I understand, a restaurant called Burger Chef came up with the idea for a combo meal in the late 1950s. Before they did that, you had to order a burger, fries, and a soda individually.
Even though the combo meal was a little cheaper than ordering each item separately, the total profit they made from each combo was more than if that customer didn’t order all three of those items.
That means they might have lost a small percentage of profit from customers who would’ve ordered the three items separately.
But think of the higher profits they made from the customers who might have only ordered one or two of those items.
Plus, think about how much easier and economical combo meals made it for the customers who would’ve ordered the items separately.
I bet that that ease in ordering and the money saved caused those customers to come back and come back more often.
4 Benefits of Upselling
You might not have realized it but you just heard the main reasons every company should implement upsells of some kind. Done correctly, upselling can:
Increase your profit per customer
Make ordering easier for your customers
Help your customers save money
Encourage repeat sales
In my upcoming articles, I’ll show you how your company can begin to implement upselling and/or improve the upselling that you’re already using.
I’ll also share some examples of businesses and companies doing upsells effectively, and dive a little deeper into why your company needs to maximize upselling. Stay tuned.
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An Unexpected Content Marketing & Copywriting Lesson from A Quiet Place II
A few weeks ago, I went to see The Quiet Place 2 with my sons. It was one of the first movies I’ve seen since the pandemic started.
It was awesome. If you’ve seen the first movie, I’d say that the sequel was as good as the first one, if not better.
It’s such an intense and powerful movie. The crazy thing about this movie is that the intensity comes from the silence.
In fact, It’s so quiet at times that you feel like if you make a sound during that moment of the film, either you or one of the people on the screen are going to die. 🙂
Have you ever wondered why or how you can feel so connected to what’s happening on the big screen?
Well, I’ve been thinking about that and I’ve come to realize that there is a neurological explanation for why horror films work.
Why should you care about how horror films work?
Because it reveals the same reason that powerful content marketing or copywriting works.
The Neurological Reason Horror Films Work
Many years ago, I read a great book by Daniel Goleman called, “Social Intelligence.”
In the book, he talked about a then relatively recent discovery of brain cells that sort of act like a neural WiFi.
You might’ve heard of these cells. They’re called “mirror neurons.” What do these cells have to do with the way horror films work?
And, more importantly for us, what do these cells have to do with the force behind powerful content marketing or copywriting?
Let’s see if you figure it out from what I reveal to you next…
Mirror neurons are what allow us to pick up on, feel, and mirror what others are feeling.
Have you ever watched one person telling an exciting story and see their friend’s face and body begin to respond with similar signs of excitement? That’s the mirror neurons in action!
The way Goleman describes this phenomenon is very powerful. He simply says…
“Emotions are contagious.”
Did you catch that?
The only reason that horror films work is because of mirror neurons! If our brains weren’t designed in a way to cause us to feel what others are feeling, horror films wouldn’t work!
Without them, content marketing and copywriting wouldn’t work either.
Powerful Content Marketing & Copywriting Lessons from A Quiet Place II
Really think about what Daniel Goleman is saying.
The most powerful type of influence is when a person shares emotions, actions, and feelings with another. It influences us on a deep, even subconscious, level.
When John Krasinski wrote and directed A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place II, he didn’t try to tell us what the characters were feeling
He wrote the stories in a way that would powerfully show the audience the emotions and feelings of the characters.
By showing us these emotions and feelings, he tapped into the audiences’ mirror neurons. This caused us to connect with the characters so that we felt what they felt.
The secret behind powerful content marketing and copywriting is to make sure that you show your audience the feelings and emotions that you want them to experience.
That’s the way you draw them into your content or copy and really influence them.
*SIDE NOTE: Just to be clear. I’m NOT talking about manipulating or deceiving people. I’m talking about motivating people in an honest way. But I am suggesting that you do this in a way that many people overlook or never think of.
How to Create Content or Copy That Powerfully Influences People
Have you ever wondered…?
Why is it that when you as a content marketer, copywriter, or business owner tell people about your product, service, or business, they aren’t influenced like they’d normally be?
In other words, why aren’t their mirror neurons activated? It’s because you aren’t harnessing the secret that John Krasinski knows.
YOUR ERROR: You are telling people things that you want them to feel.
Instead, you need to show them what you want them to feel and experience.
Telling people what you want them to feel won’t help them see, hear, and experience the problems that others like them have had.
Telling people what you want them to feel won’t help them see, hear, and experience the solution that your product or service has provided for others like them.
And telling them these things will never activate their mirror neurons!
If they don’t feel and experience these problems and your solution, you will have little hope of influencing them.
What is the solution? Again, take a cue from John Krasinski.
THE SOLUTION: Start showing people what you want them to feel through others’ stories.
Another key reason that your content or copy doesn’t influence people is because it’s coming from you.
You see, when you tell others these things, they know you want to sell them something and this causes them to put up their guard. It blocks (or at the least somewhat dulls) the natural influence that happens between two people.
It stops the mirror neurons from doing their thing. What’s the solution?
In it, he explains exactly why this type of content is so powerful. He says…
“When people are unsure about how they should act or feel, they observe people around them. This is known as social proof. Research shows that when we observe others, our brains simulate what they are feeling.”
Later, Adams explains, “Social proof can be used to show people the preferred course of action or appropriate behavior.”
– Grouped: How Small Groups of Friends Are the Key to Influence People by Paul Adams
Let me take what Paul said and put it into the context of what I’ve been talking about here…
In the same way, we begin to act like the people on the screen in A Quiet Place II (i.e. we become very quiet and afraid), people look to others for social proof.
Through that proof, they begin to act the way that they see others acting. They emulate them.
YOUR SECRET WEAPON: Social Proof
What I’m trying to get you to see is that top content marketers and copywriters know what John Krasinski knows.
They understand the power of stories that are packed with feelings and emotions that they want their audience to feel.
IMPORTANT: You don’t have to create fictional, false, or fake stories to do this. Instead, you can simply use the real-life stories of your customers.
Share their testimonials
Share their stories
Share their case studies
TIP: When do all of this, make sure that you share these things with a focus on the emotions of these stories and not just the facts of the stories. Why? Because emotions are what will make the mirror neurons kick in!
Think about it.
When you share testimonials, you are having others tell the truth about your product or service through their experience. Their words have a much greater chance of being felt than yours alone.
When you share case studies, you are allowing prospects to vicariously go through the experience that someone else has had.They get to “feel” the same process and results.
When you ask customers to submit testimonials and then share them with your prospects, it will have a much greater impact than your own words about your business ever will. This provides the social proof your prospect is looking for.
What you have just learned about mirror neurons and the neurological reason powerful content marketing or copywriting works is something that most content marketers and copywriters don’t know.
That’s why I used the word “secret” in the title of this article. (It wasn’t just a marketing trick.) For that reason, I would encourage you to read this article again.
And this time write down a couple of takeaways you can apply right away to your content or copy. Then begin actually applying them.
Over time, you will become better at creating content and copy that taps into the mirror neurons in a natural way. The end result will be that your content or copy will have a greater impact than it ever has before.
When that happens, reach out and let me know about it. I’d love to hear how this secret impacts your results.
If you liked this article, can you do me a favor and share it? I’d really appreciate it.
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Successful Content Marketers and Copywriters Think Like a Lawyer or Speaker
Successful content marketers and copywriters are successful because they realize that their job is very similar to the job of a lawyer or speaker.
No successful lawyer ever wins a case without considering the questions or objections people listening will have to their arguments.
No successful speaker puts together a powerful and convincing talk without considering the same things.
Successful content marketing or copy is written with an understanding that the task before you isn’t to influence the convinced.
Your job is to convince the unconvinced and inspire the uninspired. It’s only when you do that that your content or copy is successful and produces sales.
That means that creating successful content or copy comes down to creating content or copy that powerfully overcomes the objections and questions that your market has. (I touched on this briefly in #7 of The 11 Indispensable Elements Behind All Great Content or Copy.)
What are the objections and obstacles that are keeping your prospects from buying? The answer to that question comes from something powerful that Zig Ziglar once said.
The Five Basic Objections and Obstacles Keeping You from Making a Sale
As a former door-to-door salesman, Zig Ziglar had amazing insight into the common things that keep people from buying.
In fact, he broke them down into five obstacles. He said…
“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.”
Zig Ziglar
Important Disclaimer and Why I Hope Some of You Fail:
The advice I am about to give you can be used in honest or dishonest ways. It can be used to manipulate people for your own gain or to motivate people for their benefit.
In pointing these things out, I am assuming that you will use them in honest ways in order to motivate people for their benefit. In other words, I’m assuming you are offering a legitimate solution that really helps people.
If you aren’t planning on using these things in honest ways, to motivate people for their benefit, so that you can really help them, then I hope that all your marketing fails. 🙂
Otherwise, any “success” you achieve through dishonest marketing will ultimately make you, your business, and your life a failure.
Alright, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me reveal the five obstacles your content or copy must overcome.
The 5 Obstacles All Successful Content (or Copy) Must Overcome
1. No Need
Your content or copy must help your prospect to see their need for your solution. It should do that by revealing and amplifying the problem that it helps them overcome.
Why? Because all of us tend to overlook or downplay the problems in our life because we’ve become so used to them.
If you don’t help them to see the seriousness of their problem, they will stay stuck. And they definitely won’t buy from you.
2. No Money
Your content or copy must make your prospect see such a great value in the solution you offer that the price you’re asking for it seems like a deal.
You must also help them see the cost of staying in their situation with their sane problem.
Why? Because we all spend money on things that are valuable to us. Even those of us who say we don’t have much money, spend all sorts of money on things we value.
Do you want proof?
How much total money do you spend monthly on streaming services? According to Cord Cutters News, the average American household spends $47 a month.
How much money do you spend on going out to eat every month? According to The Simple Dollar, The average American spends $232 per month eating meals prepared outside the home.
How much money do you spend every month at Starbucks (or Pete’s, Dutch Bros, or ?)? According to Cliff & Pebble, the average American spends $12 a month at Starbucks.
How much money did you spend to buy your smartphone? According to Statista, the average price of a smartphone in the consumer segment in the United States is forecast to reach $580.27 in 2020. (NOTE: According to Engadget, the average American gets a new phone every 3 years. That means these phones cost us about $193.42 a year.)
How much money do you spend on your smartphone every month? According to Money Saving Pro, the average American spends $114 a month on their phone bill.
If you take all of these together, the total amount the average person is spending every month on these things is $423 a month!
Remember, this is all based on the average American, not wealthy Americans.
Look, I am not suggesting that you don’t need things like a smartphone. But do you need to pay the amount that you are actually paying for them? No!
So when any of us say that we don’t have the money to purchase something, it might be true.
But it’s only true because we’re already spending money on the things I listed above (and many other things I didn’t list), things that are valuable or important to us.
That means that the thing keeping people from purchasing from you really isn’t a lack of money. It’s that they don’t see what you’re offering as valuable or important.
Your job is to change this perception.
3. No Hurry
Let’s face it. If you don’t give people a compelling and valid reason to purchase now/today, they will probably delay the purchase.
Why? Because most of us are afraid to make decisions – especially purchasing decisions. We don’t want to waste our money, get ripped off, or look/feel stupid.
We don’t necessarily delay our purchases because we don’t need or want the solution today. We delay them because we are afraid to make a mistake.
Now, there obviously are some purchases we should delay. There are also some that we should probably never even make. (Maybe because we’re already in debt and/or we don’t really need the item.)
But there are other purchases that we shouldn’t delay (once we gather enough info) because the cost of delaying the decision ends up ultimately costing us more.
What kind of purchases cost us when we delay them? Here are just a few that I quickly thought of:
Certain insurance
A solution that can improve our health
A solution that can improve your business
A purchase that replaces another more costly, regular expense
Etc.
If you are selling something that can really help people right away, you should always make sure to give people enough information to understand that and to see the benefit of purchasing it now.
I’m not saying you should create content or copy that forces people to make a rushed decision. You shouldn’t do that.
But you also need to balance the fact in knowing that, by default, most of us will delay a decision, even when it’s to our own detriment.
That means that you will need to create content or copy to overcome this fact. If you don’t, you will not make as many sales and/or help as many people as you could.
4. No Desire
People won’t purchase your solution if it is not desirable to them. Why would they, unless someone or something is forcing them to?
That means that unless someone is forcing or requiring people to purchase from you, you will have to overcome this obstacle.
That means you have one of two choices:
You need to make your solution desirable.
You need to tie your solution to what your prospects already desire.
To accomplish that second choice, you have to know what people desire. Here are some of the basic things we all desire:
What is attractive
What is helpful/useful
What is entertaining, fun, or pleasurable
What relieves current or future pain or problems
What helps us achieve our goals or desires
If you want to make your solution more desirable, it must honestly possess some (or many) of these qualities.
Or it must be connected to something that your prospect already wants that possesses these things.
5. No Trust
I will never, ever purchase anything from someone I don’t trust. Neither will you. Your prospects are the same.
That’s why you want to make sure that your prospects trust you or your company. You might think, “Why wouldn’t they trust me or my company?” Well, how about the fact that they’ve been burned by people like you or companies like yours?
That means that they’re not going to assume that they should trust you. They’re going to assume that they shouldn’t.
They’re going to want to trust you, and even look for clues that you or your company is trustworthy, but the burden of proof is on you and your company, not on them.
What are some ways that you can prove that you and your company are trustworthy? Here are a few ways that come to mind:
Share what customers think about you by using customer testimonials
Share your product or service’s ratings or reviews from third-party sites and sources
Share what industry experts or influencers think about you by asking for and then sharing what they have said about you
You should also share the names of influencers and experts that you/your company have worked with, alongside, or worked for.
Only create and/or sell solutions that actually work
Only offer them for a fair price
Have great customer service that helps and takes care of every customer or client
Have guarantees to take the risk off of your purchases and put it on you and your company
Those are just some of the ways you prove that you and your company are trustworthy. But the key thing for you to remember is that you do need to prove this fact.
You cannot assume that prospects will automatically believe or think that you’re trustworthy.
Greater Results Than the Competition
There are other objections, questions, or obstacles that you might need to overcome for your specific niche or market.
But if you make sure to always address these 5 obstacles, your content or copy will produce greater results than many of your competitors will see.
And you will have a much better track record of creating successful content or copy.
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New. Marketers know that people are attracted to anything new. That’s why marketers use the word whenever and wherever they can.
The funny thing is that “new” even attracts and mesmerizes marketers and companies.
Look, “new” is awesome. I love new things, new methods, new tools, etc.
But I’m here to tell you that when it comes to marketing, “new” is overrated and in many ways an illusion.
You might think that the only way your company can succeed in 2021 is by harnessing the latest, greatest marketing technique.
Well, I’m here to politely tell you that you’re wrong. It’s not the new marketing techniques that you should be focusing on. It’s the old, forgotten marketing principles.
I’ll explain what I mean in just a second. But first, I need to tell you a quick story to explain what I mean.
Ancient Technologies and Inventions You Never Knew Existed
I used to love watching a show on The History Channel called Ancient Discoveries.
The show featured ancient technologies and ancient inventions that are thought to be modern but actually existed in the ancient world.
Why don’t we know about these ancient technologies and inventions? Because they’ve been lost and then reinvented. We basically forgot about them.
What were the types of technologies and inventions that they revealed in this series? Amazing ones like these:
A computer-like device that may have been used to calculate the movements of stars and planets called the Antikythera Mechanism
Automatic doors and coin-operated machines invented by a guy named Heron in ancient Alexandria.
A jar that appears to be an electric battery
Archimedes use of solar power to defeat the Romans
And many other amazing things you wouldn’t believe existed in the ancient world
Unbelievable, right? Who would’ve thought these things were invented centuries ago?
Well, you’d be just as amazed to discover that many of the new marketing methods have been around for almost a century (some longer than that).
Ancient Marketing Methods You Never Knew Existed
I love discovering and reading old marketing books. For me, it’s like finding a lost treasure that most people have forgotten ever existed.
One of the main things that I’m constantly discovering in these old marketing books is the fact that many of the marketing methods and marketing techniques that we think are new were actually invented
Split testing& ad tracking – Claude Hopkins was talking about tracking ads and split testing in his book Scientific Advertising back in 1923 – 98 years ago
Lead generation – As I’ve been reading some classic books on advertising by John Caples, I was struck by this realization: many of the famous ads he talked about all focused on capturing leads, not making direct sales from their ads. Many of these ads are from the early 1900s (over a century old)!
Content marketing – I’ve discovered the oldest known content marketing to exist. And they are over two hundred years old!
My point?
In the same way that the ancient technologies and inventions were overlooked until rediscovered or reinvented, many of the marketing methods many think were invented in the dot-com days were created way before then.
The early internet pioneers and the early dotcom companies just were smart enough to harness these methods that the mainstream business world had forgotten.
And this is the real reason for their massive success.
The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021
As I said at the beginning of this series back in January, I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
In fact, I believe that there are 12 marketing fundamentals that all companies should be focused on if they want to succeed in the second half of 2021.
So far, I’ve revealed what the first seven marketing fundamentals are. Since it’s been a while since my last article, let me give you a quick recap…
The First 7 Marketing Fundamentals:
Here are the six marketing fundamentals that I’ve revealed so far are in this series:
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow up at all. They don’t follow up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
The 7th marketing fundamental if your content or copy. Once you have chosen your “who” and your most powerful offer, you must choose the right words to inspire and influence your target audience to take action (whatever you decide that should be).
I’ve already shared two important articles on this 7th marketing fundamental:
Over the next few days, I will share two more articles on this particular fundamental.
One will be about the obstacles that all successful copy or content needs to overcome and the other article will be about the secret behind powerful content marketing and copywriting.
I think you’re really going to like them so stay tuned.
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Whether you are a content marketer or a copywriter, you face the same challenge. You must make your content or copy stand out from the rest in your niche.
If you don’t, you will never sell the product or service you’re promoting. And you definitely won’t last in your job or your career very long.
That means it’s imperative that you learn how to create better content or persuasive copy.
Well, I want to show you one way you can make ordinary content or copy feel extraordinary.
Do you know the best part about what I’m about to reveal to you? It’s a method that many people don’t know or completely overlook.
In order for you to fully understand this method, I first need to tell you a story, or better yet, a legend.
Because the legend you’re about to hear contains the secret behind this powerful method…
The Legend of the Extraordinarily Ordinary Tea
There once was a group of elderly, cultured gentlemen who met often to exchange wisdom and drink tea.
Each host did their best to find the finest and most costly varieties of tea that they could.
Each host worked hard to create exotic blends that would arouse the admiration of their guests.
When the most honored and respected member of the group had them all over, he served his tea with unprecedented ceremony.
He measured the leaves from a golden box.
The elderly group of cultured gentlemen praised this exquisite tea.
They couldn’t stop talking about how amazing the tea was.
But what the host revealed next surprised his guests...
He smiled and said, “The tea you have found so delightful is the same tea our peasants drink. I hope it will be a reminder to all that the good things in life are not necessarily the rarest or the most costly.”
First of all, it is true and very important for us all to remember that many of the ordinary things in life are pretty amazing in and of themselves.
I don’t want you to miss that lesson.
But I didn’t tell you that story to teach you that lesson. I told it because I wanted to teach you a hidden lesson.
The Hidden Lesson
I want you to notice the important hidden lesson in this legend. What is the hidden lesson?
The lesson is that presentation and packaging really matter.
Do you think the elderly tea connoisseurs would have been raving if he served the ordinary tea in an ordinary way?
Do you think that his friends would have been in awe of his tea if he measured it out of an ordinary container?
The answer to both of these questions is no!
You see, he didn’t present his tea in an ordinary way. He presented itwith unprecedented ceremony.
He didn’t measure it out of an ordinary container. He measured the leaves from a golden box.
That is what influenced the opinion of his guests.
That is what created the feeling that they were drinking something extraordinary.
How This Lesson Can Help You to Make Your Ordinary Content or Copy Feel Extraordinary
After reading this far, some of you are feeling like the elderly gentleman’s friends.
You have enjoyed the “taste” and “experience” of the content I just presented for you to consume.
The possible impact of the method and truth I just revealed has really intriguedyou. If you’re feeling that way, I’m glad. That was the plan I had for you when I wrote this article.
Do you want to know how I created this content in a way to impact you? I did it by applying the same method I just revealed to you.
In other words, I used the same method that the honored and respected member of the tea connoisseurs used.
I took an ordinary (but very important) idea and I focused on doing my best to present it to you in the most extraordinary way I could.
What was my idea?
My ordinary idea was this: How you present your content will make all the difference in whether your content or copy feels ordinary or extraordinary.
How I Used His Method in This Article
Instead of just presenting the above sentence/method to you, I focused on the presentation of the method:
I started by focusing on the need you have to make your content or copy stand out.
I reminded you how the ability, or lack of ability, to do this will mean success or failure for you.
I told you that that is why you must learn how to create better content or persuasive copy.
I told you I wanted to show you a method that many people don’t know or many overlook.
Then I told you the legend of the extraordinarily ordinary tea.
ONLY after all of that did I reveal the idea/lesson.
Now, please pay close attention because this is really important…
All of the things I did before “the reveal “were important things for you to know or be reminded of. All of those things were true.
Your content or copy must stand out from your competition or it will fall short.It will fail you.
It is extremely important that you know how to create powerful content and engaging copy.
The ordinary idea that I revealed today will play a very important role in enabling you to make your content or copy feel extraordinary.
In fact, this ordinary idea is so important I COULDN’T risk the chance of you ignoring it. I HAD to figure out the most extraordinary way to present it to you.
Otherwise, you never would’ve consumed this content. This means you never would have learned (or been reminded of) this valuable, but very ordinary idea.
I couldn’t risk doing anything else or anything less. This ordinary idea was too valuable to waste.
Would You or Your Team Like to Learn How to Create Content Like This?
If you or your team of content marketers or copywriters would like to learn how to create powerful content or persuasive copy, I have three options you can choose from:
Stay tuned for the next article that I’ll be posting next week. I’m going to continue to show you how to harness the power of the 7th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. (You can read all of the 7 marketing fundamentals here.)
Contact me if you’d like more information about a small, paid coaching group I’m thinking of starting. If there’s enough interest, I’ll teach a small group of you many more ways you can use to create powerful content and persuasive copy – copy that will stand out from the rest of the content or copy out there. Contact me and I’ll give you more details on what I’m going to teach and how much it will cost.
(*Don’t worry. If you contact me, you won’t be obligated to be a part of the group. I won’t pressure you or barrage you with emails begging you to be a part. I don’t want anyone to be a part of this group unless they are really interested and excited to be a part.)
IMPORTANT: If you work for a company and you have a group of content marketers or copywriters you’d like me to coach, I would be willing to start a group with just your team. We would just need to agree on a regular coaching time and a price that works for your team and me. Contact me and let’s talk about it more.
You can choose option 1 and option 2. You can stay tuned for my next article and contact meabout the coaching. 🙂
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Powerful content or compelling copy doesn’t just happen by accident any more than a great book or popular movie happens by accident.
Engaging content or effective copy is not only written using creativity. It’s also formed with a clear purpose and strategy in mind.
If you want to know how to write powerful content or great copy, then you will want to keep reading. I’m about to reveal to you the indispensable elements behind all great content or copy.
But before I do that, I need to tell you a quick story that will reveal something interesting about our desire to know the elements that form things…
The Universal Theory of the Ancient World
There was once an interesting theory that was believed throughout the ancient world.
What was this “universal theory”? It was the theory that nature and all of matter could be explained by four elements: water, earth, fire, air.
The cultures of Ancient Egypt, Greece, Persia, Babylonia, India, and several other cultures all had similar elements on their lists. That’s really interesting, isn’t it?
It’s interesting that people who were separated by great distances all came up with a similar list of the core elements of this world.
Of course, science doesn’t believe that these four elements are what make up our material world anymore. Atomic theory now states that matter is composed of atoms.
But my point is, whether it’s the ancient cultures or modern science, all of us are always trying to figure out the core elements that make up the things around us.
Well, I have good news for you today. There actually are some core elements behind all powerful content or copy. In fact, I would say there are 11 elements.
I’ll reveal what those 11 elements are in just a minute. But first, let me remind you of what I shared in my last article.
The 7th Marketing Fundamental
In my last article, I told you that the words you use are the 7th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021.
In other words, after you’ve chosen your Who (the 5th marketing fundamental) and created the most powerful offer that you can for them (the 6th marketing fundamental), the next most important thing you can do is focus on the words you use.
The words you use or don’t use in your content or copy will make all the difference between your company experiencing success or failure from the marketing you use in 2021.
But you can’t just use any words that are randomly thrown together and expect to see amazing results.
If you want your words to have an impact, then your content or your copy must contain certain powerful elements.
The 11 Elements Behind All Powerful Content or Copy
Below are what I believe to be the eleven elements behind all powerful content or copy:
Capture Attention– You must have a captivating headline and an intriguing intro or you will never get anyone to consume your content or copy. If they don’t consume it, your company will never experience the success that it could in 2021.
Hold Attention – Once you capture their attention, you need to know how to keep hold of it. Because if you can’t keep your prospects attention, you will never be able to lead them where you want them to go.
Entertain – Your content or copy must be enjoyable to consume. If your content or copy isn’t enjoyable to read, then it will not be consumed. But if it is enjoyable to read, then people will not only consume it once, but they will also come back to read other content or copy you create. They will also share it with others.
Personality – If you want your content or copy to stand out, it must have a unique voice or tone. In other words, it must have personality. The common problem with a lot of content I see is that it doesn’t stand out. It sounds the same as any other content on the same topic. Copy without personality has the same problem. If your content or copy doesn’t stand out, it will never impact your prospects.
Educate – Great content or copy leaves people feeling like they know something that they didn’t know before. Or maybe it reminds them of something they forgot or have been overlooking. If your content or copy educates people, they will come back for more and share it with others.
Believable – Your content or copy must provide your readers with reasons to believe. I think it was Todd Brown that said this, “Not all things that are true are believable, and not all things that are believable are true.” You must tell the truth and do it in a way that people believe and accept it. If people don’t believe you, they will never purchase from you.
Answer Objections or Question – Questions or objections are a normal response to any information. You should not be surprised by them. You should expect them. Not only should you expect them, but you should also anticipate them and answer within your content or copy. If you can answer the objections and questions of the readers of your content or copy, then you have removed a major barrier that keeps people from purchasing from you.
Speaks to the Heart and the Mind – We are beings that have emotions and intellect, so both should be spoken to or I should say “written to.” If you want to create powerful content or copy, you need to create content that speaks to people’s hearts and their minds.
Inspiring – The origin of the word “inspire” comes from a Latin word that means to inflame or to blow in to. In other words, when you inspire someone, it’s like you’re blowing air over a low flame to make it grow. That means your content or copy can inspire many things in your readers. It can inspire confidence, hope, or inspire them to take action. Powerful content or copy is inspiring.
Empathetic – Your content or copy must show that you understand and can relate to the feelings of your readers. Do you want to know the secret to create content or copy that’s empathetic? You have to actually have empathy with your readers. If you don’t, then any content or copy you create with the appearance of empathy will ring hollow.
Motivate to take action – This is the ultimate sign of powerful content or copy. Powerful content or copy moves people to action. That means that it moves them to do things like: purchase from you, subscribe, share, or even comment on your content. If your content or copy doesn’t inspire people to action, it really just ends up being empty words. Empty words will not bring success to your company this year.
In My Upcoming Articles, We’ll Go Deeper
Today, I just wanted to touch on the eleven basic elements. But in my upcoming articles, I will go a little deeper on some of these elements,
Notice I said “some.” I won’t be able to go deeper into all of them. But I do want to give you some specific tips on how to use some of these elements in your content or copy.
Stay tuned. In the meantime, why don’t you sign-up below so that you will be notified when my next article goes live or when future articles do.
(While you’re at it, you should also sign-up to get access to the free resources in our DRCM Member’s Resource Area.)
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I am currently working on my next article that will reveal some of the key elements your content or copy must have if you want it to be effective.
In the meantime, here are four quotes from content marketing experts and copywriting legends that will inspire you to master the 7th marketing fundamental (aka the words you use)…
Text Version of Content Marketing Quote from Avinash Kaushik
“Content is anything that adds value to the reader’s life.”
– Avinash Kaushik
Text Version of Content Marketing Quote fromMarkus Sheridan
“Great content is the best sales tool in the world.”
-Marcus Sheridan
Text Version of Copywriting Quote fromEugene Schwartz
“Copy is not written. Copy is assembled.”
– Eugene Schwartz
Text Version of Copywriting Quote fromLeo Burnett
“The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.”
–Leo Burnett
Catch Up on What You Missed in This Series
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University-educated people know around 40,000 words. (BellEnglish.com)
A child in first grade uses between 8,000-14,000 words. (Scholastic)
When actually speaking and with everyday writing (emails, letters, notes, etc.), the amount of words the average person uses goes down to about 5,000 very common words that are used repeatedly. (BellEnglish.com)
300 to 600 words may be enough to travel, but at least 1,000 words are necessary for a conversation in another language. (MosaLingua.com)
Keep those facts in mind. Why?
Because the marketing fundamental I’m going to reveal to you today has something to do with word usage.
Keep reading and you’ll discover what I mean…
The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021
If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, then you should read the next section. It will help you to understand the importance of the marketing fundamentals I’m sharing with you.
*Skip This If You’ve Read the Other Articles in This Series*
In my first article of the series, I laid an important foundation that I have continued to build on. In that article I said…
Based on some things I’ve been reading from the experts I follow, there are some interesting trends and predictions that are said to be coming our way in 2021.
These trends and predictions will be opportunities for people that know how to leverage them.
But I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow up at all. They don’t follow up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
Now that you’re all caught up, you’re ready to discover the 7th marketing fundamental.
When I revealed the 5th marketing fundamental, I told you that there’s a secret that successful direct response marketers all know.
They know that the most important element in a successful direct response campaign is the list. It’s what I called your Who.
When I revealed the 6th marketing fundamental, I told you that there’s another secret that successful direct response marketers know.
They know that the second most important element is a successful direct response piece is the offer.
Well, today I’m going to reveal the third most important element of a successful response piece.
After the who and the offer, it’s the most important component to creating powerful copy or content. This component is what I am calling the 7th marketing fundamental.
What’s the 7th marketing fundamental? It’s the words you use.
5 Important Facts to Understand About the 7th Marketing Fundamental
Now, that you know what the 7th marketing fundamental is, let me clarify some important facts that you need to understand:
Most marketers start with the words. That’s the wrong place to start. You must start with the right list, the right who, or the right audience. (They are all basically the same thing.)
If you are creating content or copy that is meant to directly influence sales, the second thing you must do is come up with the most powerful offer that will appeal to the list/who/audience you’ve chosen.
That is NOT to say that the copy/words/content that you choose to use are not that important. They are very important. But their importance doesn’t come into play until after you’ve chosen the right who and the right offer.
After those things are chosen, there is nothing more important to creating powerful marketing than the words you use. The most important elements are not the images you use or the layout of your page. Even though those things are important, the words you use are more important.
The words you use or don’t use will make all the difference between your company experiencing success or failure from the marketing you use in 2021.
That means your success in implementing the 7th marketing fundamental in 2021 comes down to how you answer these questions…
Do you know the kinds of words, phrases, and sentences that will make your prospects actually enjoy reading your copy or your content?
Do you know the kinds of words, phrases, and sentences that are the most effective to useto capture your prospect’s attention?
Do you know the types of words, phrases, and sentences that are the most important in helping your prospects to overcome their hesitancy to act on your offer?
Do you know the types of words, phrases, and sentences that will cause your copy or content to stand out from the sea of sameness?
In my upcoming articles, I’m going to reveal some of the elements that you can use to create powerful content and copy. Once you know these elements, you will enable you to answer “yes” to all of the questions above.
Stay tuned.
The First 6 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021 (INFOGRAPHIC)
If you haven’t, you can click the link above to read the full article. If you’ve already read it, I’ve included the infographic below again. Why?
Because I want to ask you to do me favor. Can you share it on your favorite social media platform and/or on your website?
When you do, you’ll not only be helping your followers and/or website visitors, you’ll be helping me to spread the word about this series I’m doing.
The First 6 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021– Infographic
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Famous Indy Race Car Driver’s Surprising Success Secret
It’s been said that race car driver Bill Vukovich, the man who won the Indianapolis 500 race back in 1953 and 1954, had something surprising to say about his “secret to success“.
When he was asked the secret of his success in the Indianapolis 500, Vukovich shocked people with his answer.
He said, “There’s no secret. You just press the accelerator to the floor and steer left.”
What Bill was basically saying was this: Success comes down to how you implement the fundamentals.
Bill’s Advice Applies to Business Success Too
As I’ve said, I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
The people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
That means that the secret of the companies that will succeed in 2021 and beyond will come down to this:
Understand the current opportunities
Successfully apply the fundamentals to take advantage of these opportunities
In other words, the secret of the companies that will succeed in 2021 will be very similar to Bill’s advice: “There’s no secret. After you see the opportunities, seize those opportunities by successfully pushing the accelerator on those fundamentals.”
Why I Stopped Posting for a Few Weeks
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been publishing a series of articles that reveal the 12 marketing fundamentals that will help you succeed in 2021.
But some of you might have noticed something. After posting the first six marketing fundamentals, I haven’t posted an article in a couple of weeks.
Why? Well, there are a few reasons:
I was really busy at work.
I went on vacation.
And we had friends come to visit.
Anyway, I’ll be continuing my series and will be posting the final marketing fundamentals you need to succeed this year. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, you’ll find a list of the first 6 marketing fundamentals below.
The First 6 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021– Infographic
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The First 6 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021– Text Version
The 1st marketing fundamental is attention. Without attention, there’s no marketing.
The 2nd marketing fundamental is attraction. Without attraction, all the work capturing attention is wasted.
The 3rd marketing fundamental is follow-up. Two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up.
The 4th marketing fundamental is a USP. You need this if you’re going to get your prospects to choose you over your competition.
The 5th marketing fundamental is your “who.” Because if you don’t get this group right, all of your marketing efforts will produce little results.
The 6th marketing fundamental is your offer. If you don’t create a powerful offer, even the right “whos” won’t end up purchasing from you.
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I’ve been talking to you about the 6th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. I told you that it’s your offer. I went on to reveal these things about creating a powerful offer:
Well, today I what to show you how the extremely popular new app called Clubhouse harnessed one of the elements of a powerful offer to create a company that’s now valued at $1 billion.
But first, I need to make sure that you know what Clubhouse is.
Well, this is what Clubhouse is according to Wikipedia…
“Clubhouse is an invitation-only audio-chat iPhone app launched in April 2020 by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth of Alpha Exploration Co. that offers room for discussions between two or more speakers. In May 2020, the social networking app was valued at nearly $100 million. On January 21, 2021, the valuation reached $1 billion.”
How Clubhouse Describes Their App in the Apple App Store
Clubhouse is a space for casual, drop-in audio conversations—with friends and other interesting people around the world.
Go online anytime to chat with the people you follow, or hop in as a listener and hear what others are talking about.
Clubhouse Description in App Store
The most interesting thing about this popular social media app is that it didn’t become popular by accident or by using some new high-tech tool or technique.
It became popular by using an old-school direct response method for creating powerful offers.
Which One of the 9 Elements of a Powerful Offer Did Clubhouse Use?
The element they used was one of the most powerful elements of an irresistible offer: the power of scarcity.
How did they use scarcity? They used it really strategically. Watch what I mean…
1. When the Clubhouse founders, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Paul Davidson and Rohan Seth, first provided the beta version of the app, they only allowed 1500 people in, many of these being high-profile venture capitalists and celebrities.
These people included people like MC Hammer, Van Jones, Shaka Senghor, and venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
Did you catch that? They not only used scarcity, but they also harnessed the power of exclusivity by bringing in people that people want access to.
Do you want to know how effective this strategy was? They launched the app in April 2020. By May 20, 2020, they were already valued at $100 million.
2. When they opened it to a wider audience, they didn’t open it to everyone. They limited it to only iPhone users.
This was a smart move because there are 1 billion iPhone users compared to 2.5 million Android users. This helped limit the users to a much smaller pool than if they opened it up to both phone platforms.
But they didn’t stop there. They made the Clubhouse app even more scarce.
3. They made access to it by invite only.
Instead of opening it up to all iPhone users, they made it only available to people who had an invite. This was ingenious. Because by limiting it, it made the app even more desirable to people.
This also made any user who got access to Clubhouse WANT to use their invite because it gave them social clout with their friends, colleagues, and followers.
Basically, they took the basic the old school direct response technique of limiting the number of people who can have your product and they 3Xed it by:
First making it only available to a limited number of celebrities and high-profile venture capitalists
Making it only accessible to iPhone users
Making only obtainable to iPhone users with an invite
Look, I don’t want to discount the fact that the creators of Clubhouse were very smart in making sure that their app had a really unique selling proposition (the 4th marketing fundamental).
That definitely helped give them an edge in the crowded field of companies trying to come up with the next hot social media app.
But it was the fact that they took this U.S.P and paired it with a 3Xed scarcity offer that made it gain such attention so quickly and made it desirable by so many.
My Clubhouse Confession
By the way, I need to admit something before you leave. I need you to know that I’ve never used Clubhouse. Why? Because I have an Android phone. 🙂
But guess what? As soon as they make it available to Android users, and as soon as I get an invite, I’m joining Clubhouse right away.
Their use of exclusivity and scarcity has made their app extremely desirable to me. You see, even though I understand the technique they used, I still can’t resist it. Haha.
The 7th Marketing Fundamental Might Be Delayed
This week and the next are going to be really busy weeks for me. For that reason, I’m not sure when I will be able to write my next article on the 7th marketing fundamental.
I’ll do my best to get the first article written as soon as I can. But it might take a little longer than usual.
In that article, I shared the fact that your prospects need you to follow-up because we all procrastinate and don’t do what we know we should. We do that because we’re scared.
Well, the reason you must create the most powerful offer you can is because you must do everything you can to inspire and motivate your prospects to take action.
Otherwise, they won’t.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m NOT telling you to trick your prospects. I’m also not telling you to manipulate them.
What I am telling you is this: If you are selling something that your prospects really need or want, then you must figure out a way to get them to take action.
How do you create an offer that gets a prospect to take action? It starts with understanding the purpose of your offer.
Let me share a story I came across with you to explain what I mean.
Your Offer is the Incentive to Take Action
In a Michigan State University study, 97% of the faculty members and staff who bet $40 that they could stay with a six-month exercise program were successful. Only 19% of a non-betting group stayed with their six-month program, however.
– MSC Health Action News, April 1993
Did you pay attention to the percentages in those two groups? They’re pretty impressive:
97% of the faculty and staff who bet money were successful.
Only 19% of the faculty and staff that didn’t bet any money were successful.
That reveals an important truth that you need to remember when you’re creating your offer.
The truth you need to remember is that people are more likely to take action when they have the incentive to do so.
But here’s the thing that amateur marketers don’t realize. The most effective incentives have a positive and negative aspect to them.
Something to Gain and Something to Lose
In other words, your offer should make your prospect see and feel that they have something to gain if they take action.
And more importantly, it should also make them see and feel that they have something to lose if they don’t take action.
Why did I say, “…more importantly” when I mentioned what they’d lose? Because a sense of loss is even more important than a sense of gain.
I guarantee that the reason that 97% of the faculty and staff were successful is because they didn’t want to lose $40. It wasn’t really because they cared that much about gaining $40.
The Two Important Emotional Elements of an Irresistible Offer
You need to clearly explain and paint a picture of what the prospect will gain – how their life will change for the better – if they take your offer.
You need to clearly explain and paint a picture of what the prospect will lose- how their life will change for the worse– if they don’t take your offer.
Again, please don’t think I’m suggesting that you lie or exaggerate when adding these two emotional elements.
You shouldn’t do that. In fact, you shouldn’t need to do that.
If your product or service really offers a benefit to your prospects, and if you have added things to make a powerful offer, then what they will gain or lose is real.
You just need to help them see and feel that gain or loss. The “one-two punch” of gain and loss will be a powerful incentive that will make it much more likely that your prospect will take action.
It will make the gain or loss more real to them just like the $40 bet made things real for the faculty and staff at Michigan State University.
I’m not saying that 97% of them will take action but it will be a much higher percentage than if you didn’t include these two emotional elements.
By the way, if you’d like to read Claude C, Hopkins’ classic book, Scientific Advertising, you can get free access to it in our free member’s area.
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In my last article, I told you that the offer is the 6th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. In other words, you need to learn how to create powerful offers.
I also told you not to make the mistake that so many do. Your offer is much more than just your product or service.
In fact, there are certain key elements that every powerful offer has. Today, I want to reveal those key elements to you.
But before I do that, I need to tell you a story that will help you understand the importance of what I’m about to show you.
Let me tell you the story and then I’ll explain…
The Dream That Led to the Discovery of the Periodic Table
Back in 1863, there were only 56 known elements.
That’s less than half of the 118 known elements today. At that point in time, some scientists had already noticed that elements seemed to have patterns in their chemical makeup that showed up in some kind of regular intervals.
But the process of discovering new elements took a very long time back then. How long? About a year. Well, that was about to change thanks to a man named Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev.
Dmitri was a Russian Chemistry professor. But he wasn’t just your average Chemistry professor.
After becoming a teacher in 1867, he wrote what was considered the Chemistry textbook of his time. It was called Principles of Chemistry. (He wrote it while he was preparing for a course he taught.)
It was while writing his book that he made an important discovery. As he tried to classify the elements according to their properties, he suddenly noticed something.
He noticed patterns. It was those patterns that led him to come up with what we know as the periodic table. But this is where the story gets interesting.
He later revealed that he had a vision of the complete arrangement of the elements in a dream.
Listen to how he describes this below…
By кабинет академика Михаила Михайловича Шульца – фото любезно передано мне в собственность вдовой М.М.Шульца Ниной Дмитриевной Шульц., Public Domain,
“I saw in a dream a table where all elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper, only in one place did a correction later seem necessary.”
— Mendeleev, as quoted by Inostrantzev
That’s pretty amazing, huh?
At this point, you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you about a periodic tables when you’re wanting to learn about offers.
Well, it wasn’t just so I could tell you an interesting story. I told you this story because of what the discovery of the Periodic Table enables people to do.
Let me explain.
What the Periodic Table Enables Chemistry Students to Do
If it wasn’t for the simplification of the elements in this chart, chemistry students would need to learn all of the properties of all 118 known elements.
But, thanks to the periodic table, chemistry students only need to master the properties of a handful of elements. Why? Because all of the other elements fall into groups or families that have the same type of chemical properties.
Did you catch that? The periodic table gave people a much simpler, condensed way to understand all of the many different elements.
That’s exactly what I want to do for you today.
Instead of trying to give you all of the different ways that there are to create a powerful offer, I want to do give you a simpler way to understand the key elements of a powerful offer.
Use These 9 Elements to Create a Powerful Offer
With these simple elements, you’ll be able to make all types of powerful offers. Are you ready? Here are the nine elements you need to create a powerful offer:
A headline – In the same way that your content or copy needs a headline to capture people’s attention, so does your offer.
Identify solution – You need to clearly explain and show your prospects the problem that your product or service solves.
Describe offer and benefits – You need to describe what it is that you’re actually offering and why it’s a benefit to your prospects.
Determine price or pricing structure – This is where you need to describe the value that your prospects are getting, the price, and any pricing structure or payment options that you have set up.
Bullet points – Bullet points are a really important and effective way to make certain elements of your offer more digestible and/or draw attention to important points.
Scarcity – If you really want people to act now, and not wait, you should make your offer scarce in some way. You can do this by either having a limited amount that you are selling or by limiting the number of people who can purchase that particular offer.
Time-sensitive – Another way to get people to act now and not delay their purchase is by using time sensitivity in your offer. You do this by making your offer only available for limited times or limited days.
A bonus – An effective bonus can nudge a prospect across the line and get them to purchase your product or service.
A call to action – You need to tell your prospects what to do in order to get your offer. Examples of calls to action that you might use are: “Call us at…,” or “Fill out the form below…”
Two Final Thoughts About These Elements of a Powerful Offer
Let me leave you with two final thoughts about these elements of a powerful offer.
I haven’t shared everything that there is to know about each of these elements. If I did that, I would write an article about each of these elements. But I don’t have time to do that. I still have 6 additional marketing fundamentals to reveal! 🙂
You can obviously create an offer that doesn’t have all of these nine elements. But I would encourage you NOT to take away too many of these elements if you want your offer to be as powerful as possible.
That’s it for today. I will reveal some other important things that you need to know about powerful offers in my next article.
If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, then read the next section. It will help you to understand the importance of the marketing fundamentals I’m sharing with you.
*Skip This If You’ve Read the Other Articles in This Series*
In my first article of the series, I laid an important foundation that I have continued to build on. In that article I said…
Based on some things I’ve been reading from the experts I follow, there are some interesting trends and predictions that are said to be coming our way in 2021.
These trends and predictions will be opportunities for people that know how to leverage them.
But I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow-up at all. They don’t follow-up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
Now that you’re all caught up, you’re ready to discover the 6th marketing fundamental.
The 6th Marketing Fundamental You Need to Succeed in 2021
As you learned in a previous article, the most important element of a copywriting campaign is the list. The who.
Well, guess what the second most important element is? Again, if you asked a group of successful direct response marketers what the second most important element in a copywriting campaign is, after the list, they will tell you it’s this…
It’s your offer.
The offer is the 6th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. But, do you know what the biggest problem with offers is?
It’s the fact that many companies are confused about what an offer actually is. Most people believe that your offer is just the product or service you sell.
But that’s incorrect. An offer is much more than that.
“An offering in marketing is the total offer to your customers. An offering is more than the product itself and includes elements that represent additional value to your customers, such as availability, convenient delivery, technical support or quality of service. A strong offering differentiates your products from competitors and creates value by meeting customers’ wider needs better than other options.”
So you see, your offer is much more than just the product or service that you’re selling. But misunderstanding what an offer is is only part of the problem.
The next problem with offers is that many companies don’t realize an important fact. How you create and state your offer makes ALL the difference.
In other words, the offers you make in your company’s marketing shouldn’t be just an afterthought. Offers are way too important for that. They should be one of the primary things you should focus on.
To show you what an offer is and how a great, well-thought-out offer can impact your business, let me tell you a quick story of how a powerful offer accidentally started a business.
How Avon Was Accidentally Started
Have you heard of Avon? If not, here is how Wikipedia describes the company.
“Avon Products, Inc. or simply known as Avon, is a direct sales company in beauty, household, and personal care categories. Avon had annual sales of $5.57 billion worldwide in 2019.“
I’d say it’s a pretty successful company, wouldn’t you? Well, most people don’t know this but this successful company was started by accident.
It all started back in 1886. David H. McConnell was a door-to-door salesman who sold books. David was a smart man. He knew that an offer was more than just his product.
He also knew that in those days his main customers were women. (He knew his who.)
In order to attract female customers, he decided to offer little gifts of perfume. That made his offer much more attractive to his target market. Little did he know, this decision would change his life forever.
Because before long, the perfume he was giving away had become more popular than the books he was selling.
He wisely decided to shift his focus from books to perfume and founded the California Perfume Company, which later became Avon.
Think about it. If a powerful offer can accidentally start a company that’s now worth a billion dollars, what can a powerful offer do for your company?
In my upcoming articles, I’m going to reveal some things you can do to create powerful offers.
Until then, let me leave you with three questions you should ask yourself so that you can be ready to get the most value from what I’m going to share in my upcoming articles.
Take a Look at Your Business Through the Lens of Offers
Now that understand the importance of offers, I would encourage you to take a look at your business through the lens of offers.
Then ask yourself these three questions:
Have we created offers for our products or services?Or are we just selling products and services?
How effective are our offers?
What are some things that we could add to our offers to improve them?
Don’t just answer these questions in your head. Write down some answers.
Write down some examples of the offers you’ve created and look at them separately from your marketing or your ads. Then judge whether they’re good offers or not.
Take a good look at the results these offers have brought your company. Would you say that they’re effective? Is there any room for improvement? Write down what you think.
If you think they can be improved, begin to think about things you can add to your offers or other ways you can improve them. Write down any ideas.
Once you have all of these things in mind, you’ll be ready for my upcoming articles that will begin to show you the elements of a powerful offer and much more.
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In the meantime, if you want to catch up on the previous marketing fundamentals I’ve already revealed, then click here. (There are now 22 previous other articles in this series.)
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If you stick with me today, I’m about to show you a different way to think about target markets (your who). Not only that, but I’m also going to show you a different way you can help certain target markets. And in the process, I’ll show you how that target market can help your company.
Are you ready? It all begins with the invention of a new dish soap that could clean away grease: Dawn dish soap.
Dawn dish soap is the leading dishwashing liquid in the U.S.Procter and Gamble introduced it to the marketplace in 1973. It was invented by a guy named Paul Andrecola who only 26 years old at the time.
(Interesting side note: Paul is the same person who later invented Febreze.)
So far the story doesn’t seem that exciting yet, does it? That’s because you haven’t heard about the amazing discovery that was made about Dawn…
The Amazing Discovery
Five years after it was introduced, something interesting happened that Procter and Gamble had nothing to do with.
In 1978, the International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) was conducting a test. You see, Chevron had given the IBRRC a small grant to test how well all of the major dish soaps were at cleaning birds that were covered with oil.
That’s when they made an amazing discovery.
After testing all of the dish soaps, they discovered that one of them worked way better than the others. It was Dawn.
After making this discovery, they contacted Procter & Gamble to let them know the results of their test. They also asked Procter & Gamble if they would donate cases of the product to help them to save birds.
Dawn/Procter & Gamble’s Surprising Response
What was Procter and Gamble’s response? Surprisingly, they ignored the IBRRC’s requests. Before you get upset at Procter & Gamble, you need to know the reason why. It wasn’t because they didn’t care about birds.
It was because Procter and Gamble knew that they first had to make sure Dawn was doing well as a product before they could pursue causes they wanted to support.
Now think about that for a minute. The IBRRC has uncovered a new use for Dawn and a new target market for Procter and Gamble, but Procter and Gamble didn’t see a value in pursuing this new target market… yet.
But, after 10 years spent establishing the brand in the marketplace, Procter and Gamble finally felt they were ready.
The Decision That Changed Everything
In 1988, Procter and Gamble finally agreed to donate cases of Dawn to IBRRC. Their timing couldn’t have been any more perfect. Why do I say that?
It was just a year later, during the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, that volunteers used Dawn to clean the oil-covered birds. That moment changed everything for Dawn.
The media fell in love with the story of Dawn dish soap being used to clean the birds. They loved the story so much that they featured it in their news stories. The crazy thing is the media has continued to love and share that story over all the years since.
Think about how powerful that is for the brand Dawn. What else can better prove that it works at cutting grease and is also safe and gentle?
That’s why, after taking so long to decide to participate in bird rescues, Dawn isn’t just donating cases of its dish soap.
They are now so focused on this unexpected target market that they now take part in advocating and promoting animal rescue efforts in their commercials.
Commercials like this one…
Now, that’s a powerful and moving product demonstration!
3 Lessons on Targeting Your “Who” from Dawn Dish Soap
I believe there are several valuable lessons that we can learn from Dawn dish soap:
1. Focusing on the right target market is more than just about finding a group you can sell to. It also involves focusing on a group you can effectively serve.
2. When you find the right target market to sell to, the revenue that those customers generate for your company will generate the funds that enable you to serve another market.
3. When you find the right target market to serve and actively and passionately serve them, you will attract even more people that you can sell to. Why? Because you enable a target market to give their purchase meaning.
Don’t just pick a target market for your company to serve for the financial benefit. Choose one purely for the benefit of helping a group of people (or a group of people trying to help animals as in this case).
Just know that when you do choose a certain who to serve that you will, by default, attract a certain target market that wants to purchase from you.
That’s not all. Choosing a who/target market to serve will also give a unique way to stand out in the market.
And that will give you an advantage over the competitors who only focus on a who/target market to sell to.
Next Week: The 6th Marketing FundamentalYou Need to Succeed in 2021
Well, that’s all that I want to share with you about the 5th marketing fundamental (your who). Next week, I will reveal the 6th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021.
Stay tuned.
Catch Up on What You Missed in This Series
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In the meantime, if you want to catch up on the previous marketing fundamentals I’ve already revealed, then click here. (There are now 22 previous articles in this series.)
As I told you in a previous article, if you choose the right audience, you will be surprised at the different results you will get in 2021 from the same marketing plan.
Those of you who are content marketers might be wondering, “Once you find the right audience, how do you figure out what kind of content to create for them?”
I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve realized that I already unintentionally answered that question. I did it when I created a video about attention back on May 8, 2019.
It was when I revealed the secret the HGTV knows…
The Attention-Getting Secrets Marketers Can Learn from HGTV
Did you know that HGTV is the 6th most popular cable network?
That means they understand how to not only CAPTURE attention but also how to KEEP attention and build ATTENTION LOYALTY.
As content marketers or direct response marketers, wouldn’t it be cool to learn just a little of what they know about attention?
Well, in the video below, I reveal one of the secrets that HGTV knows about attention. Remember, this also applies to creating content for your target market.
Watch the video to discover this secret and see if you can see both lessons…
My Next Article is Almost Ready
I’m very close to finishing my next story on how a popular brand achieved new levels of success after they found out about a new market. It will be ready tomorrow.
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Beginner marketers don’t focus on the headline as much as they should. To them, a headline is an afterthought.
Established marketers put much more thought into them. They focus on things like how their headline can impact SEO and impact SERP.
But when the most effective marketers put in the time to develop a headline, they not only think about the SEO aspect of a headline. They also think aboutthe importance of the headline to the humans they’re wanting to attract.
Today we’re going to look at headlines through the lens of the 5th marketing fundamental. So far, I’ve revealed the 5th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. I called it your Who, but you might have heard it called your “target market.”
If you don’t get this group of prospects right, then all of your marketing efforts will produce little results.
Missed My Recent Articles?
If you’ve missed my previous articles on the 5th marketing fundamental, you can see them here:
Today, I want to show you how applying the 5th marketing fundamental to the 1st marketing fundamental (attention) can help you to capture the right people’s attention in 2021.
To show you this, you have to see what a marketing legend once revealed were the two key attributes of a good headline.
In 1958, A Marketing Legend Revealed These Secrets to Creating Powerful Headlines
In that article, I shared a powerful quote and two lessons that I want you to see…
“There are two principal attributes of good headlines. They select, from the total readership of the publication, those readers who are (or can be induced to be) interested in the subject of the advertisement. And they promise them a worthwhile reward for reading it.”
– Victor O. Schwab
Think about those two purposes of a headline:
To select the people who would be most interested in what you’re advertising
To promise them a reward for reading the ad
Most people who create ads never do either of those things, let alone both of them.
SOME good copywriters accomplish the first task, but only the GREAT copywriters also accomplish the second.
If you learned how to master those two things, your ads would outperform any of your competitors or fellow copywriters this year.
Do you see how these two things combine the 1st and 5th marketing fundamentals?
You’re writing an article to capture attention (1st marketing fundamental). But you’re making sure that the headline is written for select people (5th marketing fundamental).
(We’re not even halfway through the 12 marketing fundamentals you need to succeed in 2021 yet. But I couldn’t resist touching on that fact that combining these fundamentals will exponentially increase the impact of your marketing this year. I’ll explain more in future articles.)
Two Things Before You Go
Before you go, I want to mention two quick things:
I’m sorry. I haven’t had the chance to write my next story of how a popular brand achieved new levels of success after they found out about a new market. You’re not going to want to miss this one because their success came to them differently than the way it did in the Play-Doh story. I’ll see if I can get that story done by the end of the week.
If you like Victor O Schwab’s quote, you should read my whole article at MarketingInsiderGroup.com. You can read it here.
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I love this quote. It captures an awesome perspective that ties in well with your Who...
Copy & Paste
If you’d like to use this quote, you can copy it below…
“Authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. It is the art of identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction to the customers, profits to the producers and benefits for the stakeholders.”
“Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.”
– H Jackson Brown Jr
In my last two articles, I’ve been talking about the 5th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. I call it your Who. It’s what many call your “target market.”
You might think you don’t need to learn more about this because your company has already chosen your target market.
But what if there is an even more profitable market, or segment of the market, that you could be focusing on?
Because the fact is, once you’ve chosen a target market, you want to take time to make sure it’s the most profitable one or that there isn’t some valuable segment within that market that you’re overlooking.
What is Market Segmentation
That leads us to something called “Market Segmentation.” What is market segmentation? Don’t let the term intimidate you. It’s just a process of dividing a target market into smaller, more defined categories.
Market segmentation is an important part of determining the exact Who you should be marketing to. It can help a start-up company to have more success in its early stages or it can help an established company achieve a new level of success.
You’re about to hear the story of how one well-known company gained popularity and success after starting out focusing on a completely different market.
But once they changed markets, and then focused on a specific segment, they achieved success like they never did before.
You’re about to discover:
The surprising origin of Play-Doh
Market segmentation lessons from Play-Doh
3 ways you can uncover new opportunities and new customers
The Surprising Origin of Play-Doh
I am sure you’ve heard of the kid’s clay-like substance called “Play-Doh”.
But you might not have heard how it came to be the well-known toy we all know and remember fondly.
Believe it or not, Play-Doh didn’t originally have anything to do with kids and fun.
It actually was manufactured as a cleaning substance for wallpaper.
From what I hear, the dough-like substance was rolled against wallpaper to remove built-up, soot, and dirt.
The Teacher and the New Idea
But in 1955 it made the shift from a wallpaper cleaning product to a kids joy-maker.
How? Well,after World War II, the wallpaper market was changing.
The demand for a cleaning substance was decreasing because peoples’ heating systems were more efficient and vinyl wallpaper was easier to clean.
One day Joseph McVicker, the nephew of the inventor, heard his sister-in-law (a teacher) complaining about how difficult it was to work with her students and the clay they used in the classroom back then.
When McVicker heard that, on a whim, he gave her a supply of the wallpaper cleaner to use with the kids in her class.
She used it, the kids loved it, and McVicker realized he was on to something.
His next move was a genius one.
Tested by Thousands of Cincinnati Kids
He decided to supply the schools in the Cincinnati area with his substance, which basically got his “play dough” into the hands of thousands of young product testers.
You can guess what happened next.
News of this amazing squishy goop spread from kid to kid and parent to parent.
McVicker decided to keep the momentum going.
He did that by demonstrating and selling the item in the toy department of a store called Woodward & Lothrop Department Store that was located in Washington, D.C.
At this point, McVicker realized this could be a big thing.
Because of this, he formed Rainbow Crafts to manufacture what he began to call Play-Doh.
He later sold his company and all the rights to Play-Doh to General Mills.
This made him a millionaire before the age of 30.
Market Segmentation Lessons From Play-Doh
What is the lesson you can learn from this?
Always be open to new markets, market segments, and new uses for your products and services.
The current ways your products and services are being used might not be the most profitable.
The current type of customers you sell to might not be the only ones, or the best ones, for you to sell to.
IMPORTANT: Notice how the process happened for McVicker. First, he discovered a new use for his product, which led to him providing it to teachers (a new market). That led him to decide to sell it directly to kids/parents (new segment).
3 Ways You Can Uncover New Opportunities And New Customers
If you want to uncover new opportunities and new customers for your product or service in 2021, then here three ways you could do that:
1. Ask your customers how they actually use your product or service. This can lead to new revelations about how your products or services can be used.
2. List all of the end results that your product or service provides. Notice that I said “end results.” Thinking of these will help you to break out of the confines of its current use.
3. Look for customer groups that you currently don’t target who want those same end results.
Just do me a favor. Don’t wait till the current demand for your products or services lessens.
Begin the search now. That way if the demand lessens, you’ll be ready.
And if it doesn’t, you’ll increase your profits and have a stronger company that can better serve your current and future customers.
QUESTION FOR YOU: What ways have you discovered new opportunities and new customers to serve? Let me know in the comments below.
Stay Tuned for Another StoryAbout Another Popular Brand
If you liked the Play-Doh story, you’re going to like the next one I have for you.
It’s going to be another story of how a popular brand achieved new levels of success – after they found out about a new market they had never known of before.
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Yesterday, I revealed the 5th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. I called it your Who, but you might have heard it called your “target market.” If you don’t get this group of prospects right, then all of your marketing efforts will produce little results.
But if you choose the right audience, you will be surprised at the different results you will get from the same marketing plan.
Today, I want to reveal a specific group that you must target with your who if you want your marketing efforts to produce a good ROI.
To help you realize the significance of this group, I need to start by telling you a revealing story…
Stop Trying to Get Any Old Horse to Drink
I once heard a story about a young salesman who had given the very best pitch that he had to a prospect. But despite all his effort, the prospect still didn’t make a purchase.
He went back to his office and told his boss that he didn’t get the sale.
Then he said to his boss, “I guess it’s true that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”
The boss responded quickly with a lesson that the salesman never forgot.
The boss said, “Your job is not to make them drink, your job is to make them thirsty.”
I think that most of us think of sales in this way.
I completely agree with the idea… up to a certain point.
You see, I’ve been thinking about this recently: What is easier to sell? Something that someone already wants? Or something that someone has to be convinced to buy?
I’d prefer to sell something that someone already wants.
The Hamburger Stand with the Most Advantage
That reminds me of a lesson the late direct marketer, Gary Halbert, once taught to an audience.
He asked the group, “If you opened a hamburger stand, what advantage would you want to have?”
Someone would yell out, “The best hamburgers!” Someone else would yell out, “The best location!” Another would say, “The best prices!”
Gary would let them keep going for a while, watching the smug looks spread across the room, as each person became more and more convinced their answer was the best one.
Finally, Gary would surprise them all by saying something to the effect, “Those are all good ideas, but I only want one advantage: a hungry crowd!”
I’d add one more condition that I’d want: A hungry crowd – with money!
Of course, you want to offer the best possible product or service.
You want a great location.
You want to have competitive prices.
You want a great website, great content marketing, great SEO, great social media strategies, etc.
But if you don’t have a crowd of peoplewith money – who are hungry for what you’re offering – then you’re going to have a very difficult time generating any revenue.
Your Content Marketing, Products, And Services Must Attract That Kind Of Crowd
All of the content and marketing you create must be designed to attract and help that hungry crowd with money.
Your products and services must meet the needs and/or desires of a crowd of people who have the money to purchase from you.
Otherwise, you’ll take a lot of action, and maybe see a lot of reactions, but you’ll never get any transactions.
And that will never lead to satisfaction!
(Don’t make me rhyme again! 🙂 )
I don’t know about you, but I am going to focus everything I do on this #1 priority in 2021!
I will continue discussing this 5th marketing fundamental on Monday. Stay tuned!
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*Skip This If You’ve Read the Other Articles in This Series*
In my first article of the series, I laid an important foundation that I will continue to build on. In that article I said…
Based on some things I’ve been reading from the experts I follow, there are some interesting trends and predictions that are said to be coming our way in 2021.
These trends and predictions will be opportunities for people that know how to leverage them.
But I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow-up at all. They don’t follow-up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
Now that you’re all caught up, you’re ready to discover the 5th marketing fundamental…
The Archer’s Secretand the 5th Marketing FundamentalYou Need to Succeed in 2021
I once heard a story about a king who was hunting in a forest when he came across a tree that caught his attention. Why? Because it had several targets drawn on its trunk.
What amazed the king was that in the center of each circle was an arrow.
The king turned to his men and asked them, “Who is this amazing archer? I have to find him and recruit him for my army.”
At that moment, a boy walked by carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows. Overhearing the king, he admitted that he was the one who had shot the arrows.
The king couldn’t believe it. He asked the boy, “Are you sure you didn’t just push the arrows into the middle?”
But the boy said, “No, sire. I shot these arrows from a hundred paces.” “That is amazing,” said the king in awe.
That was all the king needed to hear. He looked the boy in the eye and told him, “From now on, consider yourself to be in my service.” The boy was so happy.
But the king had to know how the boy had such incredible aim. So the king asked the boy, “Tell me, how did you come to be such an excellent archer?”
That’s when the boy revealed his shocking secret. He said, “First, I shoot the arrow at the tree, then I paint a ring around it.”
The Secret of the Most Successful Direct Response Marketers
The secret of the most successful direct response marketers is very similar to the success secret of the boy in the story you just heard.
You see, if pick the right who, then you’ve just taken a major step towards success.
They make sure to pick the right list of people who:
Already wants what they’re offering
Has already purchased what they are offering
…then they offer that to that list.
The Most Important Element of a Successful Direct Response Campaign
If I get a room full of the top direct response marketers and I ask them, “What’s the most important element for a successful direct response campaign?” They will all unanimously give me the same answer.
It’s not the copy. Remember, these are people that get paid top dollar for the copy that they write but they know the most important element is not the copy.
It’s not the offer. Again, these people create amazing irresistible offers. but they know the most important element for a successful campaign is not the offer.
They will all tell you that the most important element in a successful direct response campaign is the list.
It’s the Who!
Because if you get the right, your offer doesn’t have to be perfect and you’ll still see a good response.
If you picked right who, your copy doesn’t have to be the best that’s ever been written and you’ll still see good results.
But if you pick the wrong who, you could create the best offer that has ever been created and still see hardly any results.
If you pick the wrong who you could create the most powerful copy that has ever been written, and you still will have a dud.
The Worst and Best Person to Sell Pizza To
Think about this… How difficult would it be to get someone who hates Pizza to purchase pizza from you, no matter how good your offer is or your copy is?
Even if you offered free pizza, they wouldn’t want it. Why? Because they hate pizza! The only offer that MIGHT work is if you offered to pay them to eat the pizza. And for some people that offer wouldn’t even work!
But now think of another person…
Think of someone who loves pizza. Someone who loves pizza of all different kinds.
Someone who buys pizza every week. Someone who loves thin crust and thick crust. Someone who constantly wants to try new places to eat pizza.
Think about the offer that will give them to purchase your pizza. All you probably have to do is just mention that your pizza place exists and they’ll be there.
Your offer doesn’t have to be that powerful. Your copy doesn’t have to be that compelling. And you will still see a result.
That’s the difference between picking the right who and the wrong who. That’s the difference between a successful marketing campaign and an unsuccessful marketing campaign.
It’s the list. It’s the audience. It’s the who.
If you want to succeed in 2021, then you cannot forget to focus on the 5th marketing fundamental: the who.
If you target the right who in your marketing campaigns, then everything will be easier.
If you target the wrong who, then even with the same exact marketing everything will be more difficult.
The key is going to be picking the right who. In my next article, I’ll reveal one of the criteria for the right who.
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Today, I want to share with you a powerful story of a man who personally tapped into the power of a USP.
The Story of a Man Named Harry
I never heard motivational speaker Bill Gove speak.
But I heard that he was considered the founder of the public speaking industry. I also heard that he was an amazing storyteller.
I’m about to share with you an example of the type of story that made him so special.
It’s a story of his that I came across that reveals a simple way one appliance store owner established a powerful brand, a brand that helped his store stand out from the rest.
It was so powerful that it even helped his store compete against the discount stores in his neighborhood.
Bill Gove told this story…
How Harry Competed With The Discount Stores
“Harry ran a small appliance store in Phoenix, Arizona. Harry was used to price-shopping by young couples. They would ask detailed questions about features, prices, and model numbers, and one of them always took notes.
“Harry knew that as soon as they left the store they were going to head for one of the discount appliance dealers to make comparisons.
“Nevertheless, Harry would patiently answer all their questions, even though it took more than a half-hour at times. But here’s where Harry really shines.”
Harry’s Surprising Response
Bill would continue by saying, “When the couple would announce that they were going to look around at some other places, Harry had a standard spiel to deliver. ‘I know that you’re looking for the best deal you can find,’ he would say.”
“‘I understand that, because I do the same thing myself. I know you’ll probably go down to Discount Dan’s to compare prices. I know I would. But after you’ve done that, I want you to think of one thing.
“‘When you buy from Discount Dan’s, you get an appliance–a good one, I know, because he sells the same appliances we do’.”
Now watch closely how Bill describes how Harry presents his USP (unique selling proposition) because it’s so powerful…
Harry’s Powerful USP
Bill shared that Harry would say, “‘But when you buy here, you get one thing you don’t get at Dan’s. You get me. I come with the deal. I stand behind what I sell. I want you to be happy with what you buy. I’ve been here 30 years. I learned the business from my Dad, and I hope to be able to give the business over to my daughter and son-in-law in a few years.
“‘So you know one thing for sure–when you buy an appliance from me, you get me with the deal. That means I’ll do everything I can to be sure you never regret doing business with me. That’s a guarantee.”
Then Bill said, “Harry would then wish the couple well and give them a quart of ice cream in appreciation of their stopping at his store.“
Bill Gove finished the story powerfully by saying, “Now how far do you think that couple is going to get with Harry’s speech ringing in their ears and a quart of ice cream on their hands in Phoenix, when it’s 110 degrees in the shade?”
Awesome story, isn’t it?
I don’t know if you realized this but there are six powerful unique selling proposition lessons that any company can learn from Harry.
Continue reading and you’ll discover what they are…
6 Brand Lessons From Harry That Can Help You Succeed
1. Offer a powerful guarantee.
People are scared to be ripped off or to look stupid. Not many have a lot of extra money to risk. That means that if you take away the risk, you’ll increase sales.
2. Know the questions your customers have and be prepared to effectively answer them.
Customers will have questions before they buy, even if they’re just simple ones like, “I want it. What’s the next step?” Do your best to learn their questions and how to powerfully answer them.
If prospects have too many unanswered questions, they’ll usually take their purchase elsewhere.
3. Don’t just sell a product or service. Attach who you are (or “who” your business is) to it.
This is the power of a brand. It’s the personality of a product that makes one product more appealing than another. It’s what (who) it represents. Don’t just focus on what your product or service is. Focus on who is offering it, whether that who is you or the personality your business represents.
4. Know what makes you/your business different from your competitors and make it clearly known to your customers.
Are you clear about what makes your business different from the others? Can you easily explain the difference to someone? If you can’t, you need to become clear and learn how to explain this to others.
5. Be a real human being interacting with another real human being.
Maybe at some point in the past people preferred buying from entities over people (if that was ever the case), but nowadays people want to buy from real people – people they know, like, trust, and can relate to.
Even if your business isn’t tied to your personality, make sure it has a personality. Make sure it’s human. Make sure your employees speak to your customers as one real person to another real person.
Understand your customers. Care about them and make sure that they know you understand and care about them!
6. Give and you’ll receive.
Do whatever you can to make the first move in the relationship with a potential customer. Don’t make them take the first step. Give them value, make their day before – or even whether – they purchase from you or not.
When you do these things, you’ll create a powerful brand, just like Harry.
The 5th Marketing FundamentalYou Need to Succeed in 2021
That’s it for the 4th marketing fundamental. Next week, I’ll begin to reveal what the 5th marketing fundamental is.
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Today, instead of trying to teach you more about unique selling propositions, I thought I’d give you some examples of some powerful ones.
Some you might have heard of, some you haven’t. Some are USPs for new companies, some are for old brands.
Either way, if you study them closely, you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of how to make your marketing or your brand stand out from your competition.
14 Famous Unique Selling Propositions Examples
I’ve shared a brief comment with each of these examples below.
But I want you to read these unique selling propositions with the four things that Reeves revealed in mind. That way, you will make your own discoveries and uncover your own insights.
1. Dominos Pizza – Old delivery guarantee: “30 minutes or it’s free.”
My Comment: This was a claim that no one else was making back then. If you were hungry and you wanted food now, then you knew where to get it.
2. NerdFitness.com – “We help nerds, misfits and mutants lose weight, get strong and get healthy permanently!”
My Comment: When most gyms are trying to attract athletes, they focused on a neglected group.
3. GEICO – “15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance.”
My Comment: The genius of this claim is that it’s clear, simple, and very specific.
4. FedEx – Old guarantee: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.“
My Comment: When this claim was first made, it was an unheard of promise. And it was a promise that solved the need of many business people.
5. Schiltz Beer – Old campaign: They had a campaign that is now known as the “Purity” campaign. The campaigned basically went into detail about their brewing process. It explained the care that went into each step. It explained the science behind each step. It revealed all of the things that were meant to show why Schlitz was a “pure” beer.
My Comment: They were the first to point out things that many of the competitors also did. By claiming these things first, they stood out.
6. 7UP – Old slogan “The uncola.”
My Comment: Instead of trying to be like their competitors, they decided to emphasize what made them different.
7. Robinhood – “Investing for everyone.”
My Comment: Now that they’ve been in the news recently, I think this promise is stronger than ever.
8. Warby Parker – “Try 5 pairs for free at home.”
My Comment: They decided to address the problem that most people had: the difficulty of finding the right pair of glasses.
9. Head & Shoulders – “Clinically proven up to 100% dandruff protection.”
My Comment: They choose to be known for something that many other shampoos didn’t even talk about.
10. Palmolive Dishwashing Liquid – Old slogan: “It softens your hands while you do the dishes.”
My Comment: This slogan stood out because it suddenly made dishwashing liquid have a whole new purpose.
11. The Economist – “You’ve seen the news, why not discover the story.”
My Comment: I like this because it suggests that you’ll learn the behind-the-scenes stories that you won’t get anywhere else.
12. Tiffany & Co – “The right one is worth waiting for.”
My Comment: This is a creative way to express a double entendre that express their uniqueness and the uniqueness of the person you’re purchasing the jewelry for.
13. Ben & Jerry’s – “We make the best possible ice cream in the best possible way.”
My Comment: This is a great way to continue to remind consumers that they make amazing ice cream with a powerful purpose behind it.
14. Tuesday Morning – When this store first began, it was literally only open on Tuesdays.
My Comment: When most stores were trying to be more available, they chose a different strategy. By limiting the times customers could purchase from them, they stood out in the marketplace and made their company more memorable and desirable.
If you have any examples that I didn’t include, feel free to list them in the comments below.
Want More?
If you missed my first article about the 4th marketing fundamental, you can check it out at the link below:
I’m about to reveal to you some things about creating a unique selling proposition that most of your competitors don’t know. Once you understand these things, it will help you to create a USP that is many times more powerful than your competition.
But in order to do that, you first need to know about the man behind the concept.
Rosser Reeves: The Man Behind One of the Most Important Activities Companies Must Constantly EngageIn
Theodore Levitt, a professor at Harvard Business School, once described the importance of differentiation with these powerful words…
“Differentiation is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage.”
Do you know what I find so interesting about the concept of a unique selling proposition or point of difference?
Many companies these days think they understand the concept, but they don’t know the origin of the term.
And for that reason, they really don’t grasp the full meaning and potential of the concept.
I don’t want you to be like these companies that only know the general concept. I want you to understand the full meaning and power behind a unique selling proposition.
To do that, you need to know about the man who coined the term USP.
Who Was Rosser Reeves?
He was an American advertising executive who was a pioneer of television advertising. How good was he at what he did? Well, he generated millions for his clients.
Do you know what I’d say his own personal USP was?
He didn’t think companies should advertise just for name recognition. Instead, he believed the purpose of advertising is to sell.
In fact, he insisted that the purpose of an ad or commercial was to show off the value or unique selling proposition of a product.
He didn’t think that the purpose of an ad or commercial was just to be funny or clever.
So, what did Rosser Reeves actually say about the unique selling proposition? I found this quote below from him. In it, he shares some powerful thoughts about a USP.
Let me share this quote about the USP and then I’ll share some insights we can glean from it…
The Powerful Thing Rosser Reeves Said About the Unique Selling Proposition
“Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer. Not just words, not just product puffery, not just show-window advertising. Each advertisement must say to each reader: ‘Buy this product and you will get this specific benefit.’ The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer. It must be unique-either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions; i.e., pull over new customers to your product.” Photo by Matvey99 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
— Rosser Reeves, 1961
4 Lessons About Unique Selling Propositions from the Man Who Made the Concept Popular
Now let me reveal four lessons we can learn from what Reeves said. To do that, let’s look closely at four things he said about USPs:
1.It should promise a specific benefit.
The mistake that some companies make is they don’t make any promise at all to their prospects. The mistake that other companies make is that they make a vague promise.
Why is that a problem? Because vague promises don’t stand out. How could they? When something is communicated in an unfocused or imprecise way, then its meaning isn’t clear.
Something unclear doesn’t stand out. Only a specific promise does.
If you want to harness the power of the 4th marketing fundamental, you need to make a specific promise to your prospects. That’s the first way to stand out and be different in the marketplace.
2. It must contain a claim the competition can’t or doesn’t offer.
Another mistake that some companies make is they just copy the promises of every other company in the market. That will never make a company different.
That means you need to start by asking and answering some important questions:
– What are all the claims that your competition is making in the marketplace? – Is there a common theme? Are they trying to solve a common problem or relieve a common pain? – What claim is not being made in the marketplace that your company can honestly make or that can be made about your product or service? – What is the gap or blind spot that is being overlooked by your competitors? Is there a way to relieve the problems or pain in the marketplace that isn’t being offered? Or is there a problem or pain that is not being focused on at all?
If you feel stuck trying to answer these questions, then the next point might help.
3. It must express a uniqueness of the brand or the claim being made.
If you don’t feel like you can make a unique claim, in what other ways can your brand stand out?
You see, a unique claim is not the only way that your company, product, or service can be different and stand out. The other way is through your brand.
What makes your brand different than the others? You might not think that there are many ways to make your brand stand out, but there are actually 9 different ways you can do that.
I’m don’t have the time to go over all 9 of the different ways, but I will share three of them with you:
Personality or Brand – Who is the founder/CEO of your company or who represents your company? Do they make your company different? Examples: Steve Jobs & Wendy’s
Backstory –The story of how the company (or founder) got into this particular line of business. Examples: TOMs Shoes or Clif Bar
Experience – The experience people get from buying or using your product or service to get the end result they want. Examples: Disneyland and any “high end” restaurant
Hopefully, these will give you some ideas to get you started.
4.The claim must be strong enough to move the masses.
Wow. Now that’s setting the bar high, isn’t it? But before you just dismiss this completely, let’s think about what it says for a minute.
I think the key point is that you shouldn’t focus on a claim about your product or brand that just moves one person or a few people. You want to find one that hits the nerve of a large amount of people.
In other words, you want to find a claim that speaks to a universal need, desire, pain, or goal in the marketplace.
Look, I’ll admit something to you. It might not always be possible for you to literally come up with a unique selling proposition that moves the masses.
But if you don’t aim that high, you’ll fall so short of the power that the unique selling proposition could bring to your company and its marketing.
Now that you know the original concept of the unique selling proposition, you have insight that many companies have overlooked, which means you now have the opportunity to use it in a way that your competitors have no clue is even possible.
My hope is that you’ll take this insight and implement it to the fullest. By the way, if and when you do implement it, I’d love to hear about it.
If you missed my previous article, you can check it out at the link below:
In my first article of the series, I laid an important foundation that I will continue to build on. In that article I said…
Based on some things I’ve been reading from the experts I follow, there are some interesting trends and predictions that are said to be coming our way in 2021.
These trends and predictions will be opportunities for people that know how to leverage them.
But I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow-up at all. They don’t follow-up enough.
The 4th Marketing Fundamental You Need to Succeed in 2021
The fourth marketing fundamental that you’re going to need in 2021 is the one that really has an impact on all of the marketing fundamentals I’ve revealed so far.
And honestly, it probably impacts all the fundamentals I’m still going to reveal.
What is the fourth marketing fundamental? It’s your unique selling proposition or USP. Some call this your point of difference or POD.
Whatever you call it, it’s a marketing fundamental you can’t overlook. Why?
Because if you’re ever going to have any chance of your prospects choosing your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to understand something important.
Your prospects have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
I have two situations for you to imagine to help you see the need for this.
SITUATION #1
Imagine that you’re thirsty and want to buy a bottle of water. Now imagine a whole crowd of people who all look and sound similar. They are even dressed similarly.
They are all yelling your name, holding up water bottles, and telling you they have what you want! Which one are you going to choose?
It’s hard to decide, isn’t it? It’s actually pretty confusing. You’ll probably pick the closest and/or the loudest one.
Let’s look at the next situation and see how different it is…
SITUATION #2
Now imagine the same situation and the same crowd yelling out the same things. But suddenly you look closer at the crowd and you see one guy who is dressed differently.
He’s yelling your name too, but he’s saying something different. He’s telling you that his water is chilled at exactly 40ºF to make it extremely refreshing. He tells you that the others are just at room temperature.
He also tells you that his water comes from a pure spring at the top of a mountain and is filtered to remove any impurities. He tells you that even though it is filtered, it still maintains the important minerals your body needs.
He also mentions that all of the others are offering just filtered and bottled tap water. He tells you that his water is priced at the same as the others, but that it will be much more refreshing and helpful for your body.
Which one are you going to choose now? The one guy who is different! Why? Because you know why/how what he is offering is different and better than the others.
This is what it’s like when we make it clear to our prospects why/how we’re different from the competition.
The Van with the Generic Sign
Many years ago, I was driving through a city and saw a van with a generic sign on its door that just said, “Air conditioning and heating service.’ It also had a phone number on the sign that you could call.
I couldn’t believe that was all it said! Did they think someone who needed that service was going to see the van a scream, “YES! I finally found an A/C and heating service!” And then call them right away?
In a small town, with no competition for miles around, that might work. But it’s not going to work in most other areas! Why didn’t this guy at least have his name on A/C & heating sign? Something at least like, “Steve Smith’s A/C& Heating service?”
Better yet, why didn’t this guy ALSO have something on the sign that explained how his service was unique. He could’ve had something like, “We offer the guaranteed best-priced services that are fully guaranteed for 1 year!”
That would’ve been much more powerful and attractive to prospects looking for his services. My prediction is that his business is no longer in existence.
Successful companies make it very clear that their companies are different than the competition. They clearly spell out how their product or service is better/different.
If you want your company to have a chance of succeeding, then prospects must know how you’re different than other companies selling the same things.
USP or POD Applied to the Other Fundamentals
But remember what I said earlier? I said that this also applies to the previous marketing fundamentals. Well, think about that for a second and then answer these questions:
If you want to capture attention, do you think something different or the same will do it best?
If you want to capture attraction, do you think something different or the same will do it best?
If you want to capture attention with your follow-up, do you think something different or the same will do it best?
You know the answer.
Do you now see why I’ve said a USP or POD is so important? I’ve mentioned the importance of your prospects knowing how your company or product is different or better is than the competition.
But the reality is that in this world that’s crowded with competition in every vertical, one of these things is more important than the other.
The short video below gives a pretty powerful argument as to why different is better than better.
Sally Hoghead – Why Different is Better Than Better
VIDEO DESCRIPTION: It’s no longer enough to be good, or better, or even the best. Now the question is…what makes you DIFFERENT? Sally Hogshead, New York Times Bestselling author, Hall of Fame Speaker, and creator of the Fascinate test speaks on the subject of why DIFFERENT is better than BETTER.
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One of the reasons your prospects might not be ready, willing, or able to purchase from you today is because they’re dealing with a problem.
It doesn’t matter what the problem actually is. It’s too distracting, annoying, or painful for them to think of anything else. It’s too much of a pain to think about making any decisions. So, instead, they delay purchasing from you today.
That’s why follow-up is so important.
Let me tell you a quick story about a big problem that a farmer had and to reveal to you more of what I mean…
The Old Farmer and the Large Rock
An old farmer had a large rock in the middle of his field.
Instead of getting rid of it, he plowed around that large rock for years.
He did this because he’d broken several plowshares and a cultivator on it.
After breaking another plowshare one fall, and remembering all the trouble the rock had caused him through the years, he finally determined to do something about it.
He was determined to pull it up and get it out of his field, so one day he grabbed a crowbar.
When he put his crowbar under the rock, he was surprised to discover that it was only about six inches thick and that he could break it up easily.
As he was carting it away he had to smile, remembering all the trouble that the rock had caused him and how easy it would have been to get rid of it sooner.
Most of us do the same thing with our problems.
Instead of really dealing with them, we try to ignore them. We try to work around them.
As I mentioned yesterday, we do anything we can to procrastinate instead of dealing with them. But what does this story have to do with the importance of following up with your prospects?
I told you that story because your prospect has at least one problem that they’ve been dealing with for a long time, just like this farmer.
They haven’t dealt with the problem. They’ve instead tried to ignore it or work around it. And that leads to the whole reason you need to follow-up.
I know that might sound crazy. If they have a big problem and can’t think about buying right now, why should anyone follow-up?
Let me give you three very important reasons.
Three Reasons You Need to Follow-Up with Prospects Who Aren’t Ready to Buy Today
If your prospect has a big problem and can’t think about buying right now, here are three reasons why you need to follow-up:
1. You want to be there when they finally deal with it.
When they finally realize it wasn’t as big of a deal as they thought and they finally deal with it, they will finally be ready to make the decision about purchasing what you offer from someone.
You want to be the someone who is still there when they’re ready.
2. You can help them to overcome their problem faster.
You can be the one to show them that the big rock in their life really isn’t that big. Not only will that help them be free of it much sooner, but you’ll also stand out from the competition because you relieved their pain.
(You’ll also feel good about being able to help them.)
Before I get to the third reason you need to follow-up with prospects who are dealing with a big problem, I need to talk to you about how we all see problems.
Our Problem With Problems
Actually dealing with our problems is only one of our problems with problems. (Try saying that 5 times fast!)
How well you can solve problems in your business or your life all depends on how you view your problems.
Many years ago, I came across a powerful perspective on problems while reading leadership expert John Maxwell’s blog.
He revealed this interesting perspective on how to view problems. He said…
“Problems always bring opportunities, and opportunities always bring problems. The two go hand in hand. If we can learn to appreciate that truth, we have a real advantage in life.“
– John Maxwell
It’s so easy to naturally see problems as negative things.
I do it. I am sure you do too. That means that your prospects do the same thing. And that leads us to the third reason you need to follow-up with them.
3. You need to show them the opportunity even in the middle of their problem.
You do this by answering these questions:
How can you help them to stop seeing their problem as a negative thing?
How can you help them see it as a positive thing?
But here’s the key.
Don’t do it just to get them to buy something. Don’t it to really help them. When you have the mindset of following up with your prospects so you can actually help them, you will see follow-up in a whole different light.
Not only that, but your prospects will see you in a whole different light. When they do, some of them will gladly purchase from you.
Some of the ones who don’t purchase from you will tell all of their friends about your company and your product.
But whether they buy from you or not, or tell others about you or not, the best thing is you will have helped someone overcome their problem… and possibly gained a friend.
Now that you know these things, you should feel much better about following up and more confident about how to do it.
Next week, we’ll begin looking at the 4th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. Stay tuned.
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If you give me a few minutes, I’m about to reveal the reason you must follow-up with your prospects, if you care about them.
This might surprise you but the reason you must follow-up with them is not for your benefit, but for theirs.
Before I explain, let me ask you a few questions:
How many of the things that you KNOW you should do, are you currently, actually doing?
How many goals have you set for yourself that you haven’t achieved yet?
I don’t know you but let me make some predictions about your answers:
You probably aren’t doing all, or maybe not even many, of the things that you know you should be doing.
You probably have not achieved some, maybe not even many, of the goals you’ve set for yourself.
My bonus answer to a question I didn’t ask you: How do you feel about not doing all you know you should do and not achieving some of your goals? You feel bad about it all.
How’d I do? Good? Well, thanks. No, I’m not psychic. The reason I knew these were your answers is because they’re MY answers.
You and I have a similar problem: We procrastinate. Why? Because we’re scared. Of failure. Maybe even more afraid of success.
So we keep putting off things, even important things we know we should do and want to do.
And this is the important part… Your prospects are just like you and me.
They aren’t doing everything they know they should, and they aren’t achieving all the goals they have hoped to.
That’s why they NEED you to follow-up with them. (Of course, that’s assuming your product or service is something that can really help them.)
They need you to follow-up because they’ve been procrastinating like we have.
They need you to follow-up because they’ve been delaying the decision about buying your product or service, even though they want to purchase it.
They need you to follow-up because they’re afraid your company or your product/service is not what you say you are. They’re scared you are not the answer to their problems.
They need you to follow-up because they might be even more afraid that your company or your product/service ARE all that you say you are. They’re scared that you do have the answer to their problems. And they’re not sure they’re really ready to go to the next level.
There are probably many other reasons why they need you to follow-up.
So, the next time you’re procrastinating and putting off creating that lead magnet, the next time you’re procrastinating and not emailing your leads – because you’re afraid of failure or success, remember you’re not alone.
I’m like you. And more importantly, those prospects you’re afraid to create that lead magnet for, or afraid to email, are like you.
And they need you to follow-up. Otherwise, they will never get unstuck.
The video below fromAsapSCIENCE can help you to understand your and your prospect’s problem with procrastination.
The Science of Procrastination – This Is WHY You Do It (VIDEO)
If you want to know more of the reasons WHY you and your prospects procrastinate – and how to stop, watch this awesome video below.
If You Liked This, Please Share
If you liked this article, please share it with your friends, followers, colleagues, or even enemies. 🙂
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In a Reader’s Digest issue, Jacob Riis just hinted at the invisible quality I want to talk to you about today. See if you can tell what this invisible quality is from what he said…
“I look at a stone cutter hammering away at a rock a hundred times without so much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the 101st blow, it splits in two. I know it was not the one blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”
Jacob Riis in Reader’s Digest
Persistence is the invisible quality you need to possess if you want to see success with follow up, the third marketing fundamental. (Read more about the third marketing fundamental here.)
You must be persistent in following up in your efforts to gain attention, attract your prospects, and convert them into customers.
The question is: How do you follow-up with prospects without being annoying?
How to Effectively Follow-up with Your Potential Customers and Clients
When it comes to following up with the people you hope to convert to customers or clients, there are two groups you will focus on:
Prospects – When I say prospects, I’m talking about anyone who isn’t on one of your email lists. They’re not an email subscriber or they haven’t signed up for any of the lead magnets you offer. They might know about your company or products. They might not. They might have consumed your articles, blog posts, podcast, or videos or not.
Leads – When I say leads, I’m talking about anyone who is on one of your email lists. They have raised their hand and have shown enough interest to be willing to exchange their contact info with you.
Alright, now that that is clear, let me share with you ways that you can follow-up effectively with prospects or leads.
Follow-Up Tactics for Prospects
The key to following up with prospects is to continue to stay in front of them until they are ready to become a lead or a customer.
The most effective way to do this is through the use of content marketing. Why is content marketing so effective at multiple marketing touches with prospects?
Have you ever had a salesperson constantly contact you and ask you if you’re ready to buy? Annoying, huh?
Well, content marketing allows you to continue to be in front of prospects and have something more to say than just asking, “Wanna buy from us now!?!”
It helps you to not sound like (or feel like) that annoying salesperson.
Content marketing enables you to provide helpful information so that you’re viewed as an expert, not a pest.
Follow-Up Tactics for Leads
The key to following up with leads is to continue to provide them with content related to the lead magnet they originally signed up for.
While in the process of providing that information, you want to continue to educate them, encourage them, and explain to them why and how your solution is the one they’re looking for.
The most effective way to do this is through the use of email marketing. Why is email marketing so effective at multiple marketing touches with leads?
Have you ever met someone in a loud, crowded room (pre-COVID days) and tried to have a conversation with them? It wasn’t easy, was it?
But what if you got their contact info and texted or called them later? That’s a whole different story. Now your conversation isn’t drowned out by the distractions of a crowded and noisy room.
It’s now much easier to have a one-on-one conversation. That’s how you can build a friendship with someone whose messages and calls you look forward to.
Well, if you use email marketing effectively, it will enable you to speak one-on-one with your leads, through a channel that is much less crowded and noisy, instead of trying to communicate through the crowded space known as the internet.
Again, if you use email marketing effectively, your leads will look forward to your emails. They begin to enter into a relationship with you where they start to know, like, and trust.
When that happens, it’s only a matter of time (while you tap into the invisible quality of persistence) until they become a customer.
Two Resources to Help You Use Email Marketing to Effectively Follow-up with Leads
I don’t have the time in this article to go into all the details of what it takes to use email marketing effectively so that your leads will get your messages and even look forward to them.
But I can point you to two resources that can help you with that…
1) Case Study: How Brian Dean (From Backlinko) Built a Massive Email List (and How You Can Too)
Back in March of 2020, I wrote an article that revealed how SEO expert, Brian Dean, focuses on building an email list.
Yes, you read that right. He’s a SEO expert whose secret to success is building an email list of prospects that he can follow-up with.
You can read my case study that reveals what I discovered when I signed up for Brian’s lead magnet. You can see it here.
How to Grow Your Business with Email Marketing
Aweber is the company I use for my email marketing. It allows me to easily create different email lists for different lead magnets. It also makes it easy for me to create automated email nurture follow-up sequences and send email broadcasts.
You’ll learn everything you need to know to get started with email marketing. You’ll walk away knowing how to:
Create sign up forms and landing pages
Write and design beautiful emails
Build your email list in creative ways
Measure email performance
Avoid the spam folder
Plus, you’ll get access to tons of fantastic templates that help you get up and running quickly.
You can learn more about the guide and sign-up to get access to it by clicking here.
*AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: I proudly feature affiliate links for some products that I love. It adds no extra cost to you but enables me to earn a commission if you purchase. This is just one way I can continue to provide you with valuable information on this site.
Want toCatch Up on This Series?
If you missed the previous articles, you can go to this page I’ve created for the series.
In case you’re wondering, there are currently 15 previous in this series.
In my first article of the series, I laid an important foundation that I will continue to build on. In that article I said…
Based on some things I’ve been reading from the experts I follow, there are some interesting trends and predictions that are said to be coming our way in 2021.
These trends and predictions will be opportunities for people that know how to leverage them.
But I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
I went on to reveal that without attraction, all the work you put into capturing their attention will be wasted.
Want toCatch Up on This Series?
If you missed the articles and want to read them, you can go to this page I’ve created for the series.
In case you’re wondering, there are 14 previous articles in this series.
The 3rd Marketing Fundamental You Need to Succeed in 2021
After you have captured your prospect’s attention and then attracted the prospect, your work is not done. The next marketing fundamental you need to focus on is follow-up.
Because one of the biggest mistakes many companies make is tied to follow-up.
They don’t follow-up at all.
They don’t follow-up enough.
The “7 Marketing Touches” Principle
One well-known marketing principle is that you need, on average, 7 marketing touches before your marketing gets through to someone. That means it takes minimally 7 marketing touches to produce a sale.
I believe this is true today more than ever.
In fact, with how flooded our lives have become with marketing and advertising hitting us from all directions, we probably need much more than 7 touches.
You probably need more like 21 touches. Why? Because with so much information coming at us we’ve learned to block most of it out.
Even if we see an ad, and have an interest in what is being offered, we usually will forget about it unless we act on it right away.
The problem is that nowadays we’re all much less trusting of people, businesses, and organizations. We’ve been burned too many times by false promises to believe everyone.
This keeps us from acting on things right away, because we don’t want to look stupid.
We want to wait and find out more about this thing, person, or service. We want to make sure we don’t move too quickly and look stupid.
That’s why multiple marketing touches are needed today.
How This Applies to the First Two Marketing Fundamentals
When you realize how important the third marketing fundamental, it will help you to be more patient and better at applying the first two marketing fundamentals this year.
Let me explain.
The 1st Marketing Fundamental
When you realize how important follow-up is, you’ll be more persistent and patient in trying to get your prospect’s attention (1st marketing fundamental).
You’ll realize that you will never capture the majority of your prospects on your first effort to gain their attention.
That means when others mistakenly make only a single effort to gain attention in the marketplace, you’ll still be there long after, gaining the attention of prospects that your competitors gave up on too quickly.
The 2nd Marketing Fundamental
When you realize how important follow-up is, you’ll be more stubborn and determined in following up on the prospect’s whose attention that you’ve captured.
You’ll realize that the list of leads you gather, through your usual or “unusual” lead magnet, will need to stubbornly be followed up with in order to fully harvest the actual revenue potential they contain.
That means when others foolishly attempt to use lead magnets, and give up thinking they don’t work anymore, you’ll be generating revenue long after they’ve moved on to something else.
That’s it for today.
In my next article, I’ll help you to discover ways that you can follow-up with your prospects without being annoying.
A New Article in the Member’s Resource Area
I have a new article that reveals how another company used lead magnets in an “unusual” way to gain success.
Today, I’ll share with you the “unusual” lead magnet they used and show you the path they took to achieve success.
NOTE: If you’ve read my previous articles in this current series, you can skip the next section.
Haven’t Read Previous Articles? Read This – Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Tech Companies Have Been Built On
As I mentioned in my previous article, lead generation and lead magnets could change your business forever. Why do I say this?
Because the greatest tech companies around today have actually been built using lead magnets.
The key thing to understand is that they didn’t do that by using lead magnets in the usual way. They’ve used them in an unusual way.
In a previous article, I also shared with you my definition of a lead magnet.
My Definition of a Lead Magnet: A lead magnet is something valuable that you offer to your ideal prospects in exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable (usually information of some kind).
I told you that when you see this definition, you need to realize that a lead magnet can be much more than a PDF file.
You need to realize that prospects possess something much more valuable than just an email address they can exchange with you.
In my previous two articles, I showed you how Facebook and Canva both built such successful businesses by using a very unusual way to think of and implement lead magnets.
Tubi: An “Unusual” Lead Magnet That Led to a $400 Million Acquisition
TubiTV.com
Today, I want to show you another company that has used lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
But, unlike the other two companies, this one achieved success by applying this “unusual” understanding of lead magnets to streaming TV.
By taking a look at this story, it will help you see that what I’m sharing with you can be applied to all sorts of businesses.
The company I want to talk to you about today is Tubi TV.
In case you haven’t heard of it, Tubi is a free video streaming service that enables users to watch over 20,000 movies and television shows from nearly every major Hollywood studio.
Users can watch this content in multiple ways:
Through iOS and Android apps on your smartphone
Through apps available on Roku, Samsung TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Sony, Vizio Smart TVs, Xbox, and PlayStation
Or even through your web browser via your laptop or tablet
Now, let’s take a closer look at what their unusual lead magnet is…
Tubi’s Lead Generation Strategy That Led to Their Incredible Success
(IMPORTANT: Everything I’m about to share with you about their strategy is just from observations I’ve made as an outsider. I have no insider information.)
Stage 1: They offered a free video streaming service to anyone – no email required.
You can think of this first stage as the “free sample” stage. Because as you will notice, Tubi lets users access their content without offering anything valuable in exchange.
In other words, you don’t even need to create an account with them to view the TV shows and movies. One thing that Tubi does do at this stage, which makes them stand out, is they have some really unique categories that they list their content under.
Categories such as:
“Something Completely Different”
“Not on Netflix”
“Leaving Soon”
“Only Free on Tubi”
“Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes”
and more
The way they categorize their content makes it easier to sift through, so you can find what you like.
You might be wondering. Why would they let users view their content without asking for anything from those users? Because the main way Tubi makes money is from ad revenue. That means the larger audience they have, the more revenue they make.
If they would have just stopped at this stage, then they wouldn’t have qualified as a company that used an unusual lead magnet.
But they didn’t stop there.
Stage 2: In exchange for your email address, you can access the free content on all of your devices, sync your list, and continue watching anywhere.
They ask for your first and last name, an email address, a password, date of birth, and gender.
But actually, I hear that you can sign-up with only your first name and email address. The rest of the info is optional. You also have the option to sign-up via Facebook or Google sign-in.
Pay close attention because this is where their choice to let users have free access becomes an actual incentive for people to sign-up. You see, the more you use Tubi, the more an account becomes attractive to you.
Why? Here are three reasons:
1. You can create a watchlist. The more you use Tubi, the more you will discover things you want to watch later. But if you don’t give them your email address, you will just have to remember these things.
In fact, when you try to add something to your list without an account, you get a prompt that encourages you to sign-up. (See image below.)
Tubi on a laptop
2. You get recommendations based on your viewing habits. Once you create an account, you give Tubi a better way to make recommendations that actually match the things you like to watch. This saves you from having to manually find all the content you’d actually like.
3. You can access the free content on all of your devices, sync your list, and continue watching anywhere.
This might not seem like a very compelling reason, but it’s the reason I finally ended up signing up for an account.
The more that a person uses Tubi (the power of that first stage in action), the more this becomes a really valuable incentive for a user.
How Tubi’s Lead Generation Model Is Just a Variation ofFacebook’s Model
They did that until they gathered enough users to be able to sell other companies the chance to advertise to them. That’s how Facebook made so much money and became such a valuable company.
Now think about it.
Tubi had the same basic lead model: gather a bunch of users so that companies will pay you to advertise to them.
But Tubi implemented that lead generation model in two different ways:
Instead of relying on users to create content, like Facebook did, Tubi relied on media companies to provide the content.
Instead of making their content only available to people with accounts, like Facebook did, Tubi made the same content available to people with or without an account.
How Effective Has Tubi’s Variation of This Lead Magnet Model Been?
When I say that Tubi achieved success by using an “unusual” lead magnet, I don’t mean that other companies haven’t offered ad-supported TV streaming.
Other companies have used this model. Tubi has just been more successful:
Pluto has 28.4 million users
Vudu has 25 million users
Crackle has 26 million users
Roku has 27 million users
How many users does Tubi have? In August of 2020, Tubi announced that it had reached 33 million users – an increase of 65% year-over-year.
Why have they been so successful? I believe the reason they’ve been so successful is because of how well they’ve implemented this lead generation model.
The stats that I began this article with should prove that this isn’t just a personal opinion. But if you want more proof of how successful they’ve been at the implementation of this lead gen model, check this out…
They’ve done such a great job at implementing their “unusual” lead magnet that Fox Corporation (no longer connected with 20th Century Fox) decided they were worth $400 million. That’s how valuable an “unusual” lead magnet, and the list of prospects it can attract, can be.
“The acquisition of Tubi underscores FOX’s long-term strategic initiatives to broaden and enhance FOX’s direct-to-consumer digital reach and engagement.
“Tubi brings to FOX an expanded consumer offering with a sizable, younger-skewing and directly connected user base that spends over 160 million hours per month watching content on the service.
“Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Corporation, Lachlan Murdoch commented: ‘Tubi will immediately expand our direct-to-consumer audience and capabilities and will provide our advertising partners with more opportunities to reach audiences at scale. Importantly, coupled with the combined power of FOX’s existing networks, Tubi provides a substantial base from which we will drive long-term growth in the direct-to-consumer arena.'”
IMPORTANT INSIGHT: I won’t get into this in this article, but I do want to point out something important that was repeated over and over in the quote above: “direct-to-consumer,” “directly connected user base,” and “direct-to-consumer arena.”
Fox Corporation, realizes the benefit of having direct access to a list or user base of consumers. That’s a benefit direct response marketers have known for at least 100 years.
In this disjointed and distracted world, more and more major corporations are coming to this realization. I’ll have to go deeper on this point in some other format in the future, but this is one of the most important reasons why you should focus on attracting leads in 2021. It allows you to speak directly to your leads.
Tubi’s Example Applied to My Lead Magnet Definition
Another reason I’m calling it an “unusual” magnet is because Tubi didn’t choose to go the way that many of the big-name streaming services have.
They didn’t decide to charge for their content. Instead, they decided to offer an “unusual lead magnet” in exchange for something valuable.
Let’s take my definition and plug in Tubi’s example. Then you’ll see their whole strategy at its simplest level:
Something valuable that you offer your ideal prospects: Tubi offered free access to TV shows and movies. (Canva offered the ability to create great designs.)
In exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable: When a user creates an account, they are trading more than just their email. They’re also giving Tubi the ability to track their viewing habits. That made Tubi such a valuable asset, Fox Corp was willing to pay hundreds of millions for it.
Many More Successful Tech Companies Have Used an “Unusual” Lead Magnet
I’ve now shared three examples of extremely successful tech companies that have used “unusual” lead magnet.
You’ve now seen three different businesses built off of just two different lead generation models.
Have I finally proven to you that many successful companies really have built their business models off of the second marketing fundamental (aka attraction)?
I hope so.
Because, as I’ve said, when you understand lead magnets in this deeper way, the right lead magnet really could be worth millions, if not billions of dollars to you.
I still have 9 other very successful tech companies that I’ve documented that have used lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way to build their company.
I need to decide what I will do with this information. Maybe I’ll offer another example via a lead magnet in my member’s resource area? 🙂
Then maybe I’ll later share the other examples through some paid option. I’ll let you know more once I decide.
I still need to get to my 10 other marketing fundamentals that you’ll need to succeed in 2021. So I’m going to move on to the next one next week.
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I’m sorry but I still need some more time to finish my article “How One Company Used an “Unusual” Lead Magnet to Succeed in the Streaming Wars.”
It took me longer than I thought to get all my thoughts put down.
Now I want to take the time to edit and proof it. That way I can make it as helpful for you as possible.
Don’t worry. It will be ready tomorrow.
In the meantime, I want to offer you a cheat sheet to help you create traditional lead magnets (which are still very effective).
In other words, I want to offer you a cheat sheet to help you make effective lead magnets in the usual way people think of lead magnets.
For Member’s Only: Cheat Sheet with 10 Types of Lead Magnets That Will Help You Grow Your List
If you want to grow an email list of prospects, then you’re going to have to give people some reason or incentive to sign-up.
Otherwise, your efforts won’t be very effective. In fact, you will probably repel people away instead of attracting them.
To create an effective lead magnet, it must have three things:
An attractive topic or subject your prospects see as valuable
The topic or subject must be presented in an appealing way
A format that your prospects see as valuable.
I’ll be honest with you. I can’t quickly show you how to do the first two things on that list. (If you keep coming back to this site, you’ll learn those things over time.)
But I can show you effective formats or types of lead magnets that you can put your content into. To do this, I’ve put together a cheat sheet of 10 irresistible lead magnets.
You can use this list to brainstorm the format you want to put your content in, so you can begin offering it right away.
Why do many companies ignore lead magnets? If you surveyed the companies that ignore lead magnets, I bet you’d find they’re doing this for three main reasons:
They’re too focused on making sales today to focus on tomorrow’s sales.
They’re too busy taking care of their current customers.
They’re too busy managing all of the day-to-day tasks of running a company.
By ignoring lead magnets, these companies are unintentionally missing the opportunity to:
Build an email list they can make offers to
Gain trust with their prospects
Establish their company as a leader in their industry
And more
If you don’t want to be one of the companies making this fatal mistake, keep in mind the wisdom of loggers.
Yes, you read that correctly, the wisdom of loggers.
More Trees in 2021 Than 1921?
“By 1997, forest growth exceeded harvest by 42 percent and the volume of forest growth was 380 percent greater than it had been in 1920.”
Did you know that for everytree that loggers cut down they plant four seedlings?
Because of this practice, there are more trees now than there were in 1921!
If you think about it, this is a very smart practice. Because without new trees, loggers have no future.
That made me think.
Lead Magnets Are the Seeds That Lead to a Harvest in the Future
As I said in my previous article, “Lead magnets and lead generation are your way to secure your future, today.”
Using lead magnets today is, in a sense, planting seeds that you can harvest tomorrow.
When you think of it like this, how many companies are wise enough to do the same thing as these loggers? Don’t get me wrong.
Many companies start by focusing on doing everything they can to get customers or clients… until they start showing up.
Then, once they start showing up, something interesting happens.
They stop focusing on getting them (or lessen that focus) and begin to concentrate on helping those customers or clients.
Now, obviously, you need to focus on your customers or clients. I would never tell you not to do that. But think about it.
What will eventually happen to you if you stop focusing on getting new leads that you can grow (aka nurture) into customers?
That’s right. You’ll end up like unwise loggers.
You’ll soon have no future.
P.S. What I just shared doesn’t just apply to companies. It applies to schools, universities, doctors, hospitals, dentists, restaurants, etc.
P.P.S. I’m still working on my next article focused on “unusual” lead magnets, but I needed more time to finish it. Stay tuned. My article will be called “How One Company Used an “Unusual” Lead Magnet to Succeed in the Streaming Wars.“
A Brief Review – Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Tech Companies Have Been Built On
As I mentioned in my previous article, lead generation and lead magnets could change your business forever.
The greatest tech companies that are around today have actually been built using lead magnets.
But they haven’t used lead magnets in the usual way. They’ve used them in an unusual way.
In my last article, I also shared with you my definition of a lead magnet.
My Definition of a Lead Magnet: A lead magnet is something valuable that you offer to your ideal prospects in exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable (usually information of some kind).
I told you that when you see this definition, you need to realize that a lead magnet can be much more than a PDF file.
You need to realize that prospects possess something much more valuable than just an email address they can exchange with you.
Then I showed you how Facebook built one of the most successful businesses around by using a very unusual way to think of and implement lead magnets.
Canva: Another Company That Used Lead Magnets in an Unusual Way
Today, I want to show you another company that has used lead magnets in an unusual way.
They used the same basic understanding of a lead magnet that I just shared with you. But they built a different business model off of it.
The company I want to talk to you about today is Canva.
In case you’ve never heard of it, Canva is a website or an app that enables you to create graphic designs. You might be creating social media assets, website assets, or even posters or pdfs.
And you can do all of this for free.
So what is the unusual lead magnet that they offer?
Canva’s 4-Stage Lead Generation Strategy That Lead to Their Incredible Success
(IMPORTANT: Everything I’m about to share with you about their strategy is just from observations I’ve made as an outsider. I have no insider information.)
Stage 1: They offered the ability for non-designers to design professional-looking graphics very easily.
This is how the first stage of their lead magnet strategy worked. In other words, this was the “lead magnet” that they chose to offer people.
Their Lead Magnet’s Promise: Give us your email address and we will make it easy for you to create graphics at no cost.
And what an amazing promise it is!
In exchange for your email address, you get:
Access to over 250,000 free templates
Over 100 design types such as social media posts, presentations, letters, and more
Hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphics
You can invite up to 4 members to your Canva team for free.
You can collaborate and comment in real-time.
And you get five GB of cloud storage.
How Canva’s Lead Generation Model is Different Than Facebook’s Model
Now let me point out some important things.
Facebook’s purpose was to gather a bunch of leads so that one day they could make money by letting businesses and companies advertise to these people.
Canva had a different plan. Canva’s plan was to offer you as many features as possible for free. But that’s not all. They wanted to make it as easy as possible to use these features to achieve success.
Once the user achieved success, that’s when their revenue plan kicked in.
Stage 2: Offer better or additional images, graphics, and more for a small price.
Let’s say you’re creating a graphic with Canva and you’re not satisfied with the pictures they offer for free. For just $1, you could purchase one of their better quality images.
Did you catch that?
They aren’t trying to make a large sale off of a small amount of people.
They want to make a small sale off of a large amount of people.
In fact, they don’t just want to make one small sale from a large amount of people. They want to make a bunch of small sales from a bunch of people.
How I Accidentally Became a Paying Customer
Originally, I didn’t sign up to use Canva with a plan to spend any money. I was just going to use the free tools, images, etc.
How did I end up becoming a paying customer? It was just too easy to spend $1.
After I purchased the first time, it made purchasing the second time easier… and the third time even easier. You get the point.
As an example, let’s use my “accidental purchase” history with Canva from 2020.
Over the year 2020, I spent $10 with Canva. That’s not a lot. I’ve spent more with them in previous years.
But let’s use it as an example because it’s from someone that didn’t plan on spending any money. Imagine how much was spent by someone who planned to spend a little extra on the graphics and pictures they wanted.
Now think about it.
Canva has 30 million users. If each of those users just unintentionally spent $10, like I did, that means Canva probably made AT LEAST $300 million last year.
Let me point something out, in case you missed it.
Canva Didn’t Do What Other Companies Selling Images Would’ve Done
Instead of just trying to sell me images, templates, or designs that I might want to use, they offered me a lead magnet.
They offered me this lead magnet in the form of a free tool, a toolto enable me to do something I desired to do: create better-looking designs.
Then, once I began using their tool and had the need for free images and graphics, they offered me some better images to purchase.
Stage 3: Offer users a chance to purchase access to a Pro Level.
Now, pay close attention. Because things are about to get good. The third stage of their strategy was to offer what they call the “Pro Level.”
For $12.95 a month, you get:
Everything that I already mentioned in the free version
Plus, you can create one brand kit and upload your own fonts and logos.
You can use a special feature that’s not available for the free members. It’s called the “One-click design magic resize tool.” If you’ve ever created a design in Canva and wanted to resize it, because you realized you needed it in a different format, then you realize how valuable that tool is.
But wait there’s more… 🙂
You get over 420,000 free templates with new designs daily.
You also get over $75 million premium stock photos, videos, audio, and graphics that are free to use.
You can save designs as templates for your team to use.
Instead of 5 GB of storage, you get 100 GB.
You can schedule social media content for 7 platforms.
And all of this can be used by up to 5 members of your Canva team.
Think about the power of this additional offer.
A certain number of people, like me, signed up to try their free tools. They eventually decided to purchase a $1 image, and another, and another.
These users began spending so much on $1 images – and were getting so much value from Canva – this $12.95 offer was a no-brainer.
By implementing that simple offer, they moved people up the value ladder and locked in a guaranteed monthly revenue from a certain percentage of people.
Do you see how adding that “Pro Level” boosted their sales and stabilized their monthly revenue?
Well, they didn’t stop there…
Stage 4: Offer more levels for larger companies to purchase.
Canva realized that there were probably users out there who required many more users – large companies.
That’s why they added higher-priced levels.
If you have 10 members on your team, it’s $77.70 a month.
If you have 15 people on your team, it’s $142.45 a month (and $9.50 more per person a month).
Or if you have up to 50 people, you can pay $595.70 (and $11.91 per person more than 50).
I didn’t even realize this until I started researching, but they actually have a Canva Enterprise level.
I won’t go into all the details that come with purchasing that level, but it provides a bunch of tools that an Enterprise level company would want to have for their team.
The cost? $30 a month per member.
How Effective Their Lead Magnet Model Has Been
Do you want to know how successful this lead generation model has been?
An article on TechCrunch.com, “Canva raises $60 million on a $6 billion valuation,” revealed this surprising fact about the company…
“Sydney-based Canva, the design platform for non-designers, has today announced the close of a $60 million funding round, bringing its valuation to $6 billion, according to the company.
“The startup has raised a total of more than $300 million, including this latest round of financing, from investors like Bond, General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital China, Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Ventures.”
In my last article, I said something that some of you probably thought was an exaggeration.
I said, “That means that when you understand lead magnets in this deeper way, you’ll realize that the right lead magnet is worth millions, if not billions of dollars.“
I think after revealing Facebook and Canva’s examples, you now see that I wasn’t exaggerating at all.
Canva’s Example Applied to My Lead Magnet Definition
Let’s take my definition and plug in Canva’s example. That way I can help you see their whole strategy more clearly and simply:
Something valuable that you offer your ideal prospects: Canva offered the ability for non-designers to easily design professional-looking graphics. (Facebook offered “connection” as their lead magnet. Canva offers the ability to create great designs as their lead magnet.)
In exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable: Canva got the user’s email address, but they got much more than that. They were able to build databases of people who had voluntarily shown their need for professional-looking designs and images. This gave Canva a massive amount of leads it could sell images to and eventually offer a monthly service to. This ultimately gave them access and opportunity to sell to larger and larger companies.
Many More Successful Tech Companies Have Used an “Unusual” Lead Magnet
So far, I’ve shared the examples of Facebook and Canva. I did that to prove to you that successful companies really have built their business models off of a fundamental marketing strategy.
And it’s this basic – but unusual – lead magnet strategy that has brought them such incredible success.
This second marketing fundamental (aka attraction) could also help your company achieve success in 2021 if you implement it correctly.
The thing I want you to realize is that these are just TWO business models I’ve discovered after thinking of lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
There are 10 other very successful tech companies I’ve documented that have used lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way to build their company.
As I said before, many of them have built completely different business models off of this fundamental marketing strategy.
Others have simply added their own variations to the different models.
I don’t have the time to walk you through all of these companies and show you each business model or variation.
But, I do want to show you one final example. Because I want you to see one other way you can use lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
Here’s a hint of what I’ll reveal to you in my upcoming article.
How One Underdog Company’s “Unusual” Lead Magnet Enabled Them to Enter the Streaming Wars Under the Radar
In my next article, I’m going to share the incredible story of a company that created an “unusual” lead magnet.
This lead magnet enabled them to enter the stream wars in such an amazing way that in 2020 they were purchased by a well-known company for $440 million.
You’re going to like this next story because it will show you a very different way to use “unusual” lead magnets.
This article will go live in a couple of days. Stay tuned.
These are all important things that you should test. But there’s one thing that some people never try.
And the sad thing about this is that this overlooked thing is such a simple way to increase your leads.
In this short, new video, I share an unbelievable (but 100% true) story that reveals this simple way to generate leads.
And I also share some simple ways you can be implementing it right away.
This is a Simple Way to Increase Your Leads (VIDEO)
My Apologies and What’s Coming on Monday
Some of you who have been following along with this series might have noticed that this article today is not the one I told you I’d be posting.
Last night, as I was trying to get the article I planned finished, I realized I was going to need more time to perfect it.
That’s when I decided to share this new video with you instead. I know it would be a helpful concept for you and I knew it would give me the weekend to finish the article I originally planned for today.
Stay Tuned
I think when you see the article on Monday, you’ll agree that it was worth the wait. To give you a little tease of what it will be about, here’s the title of Monday’s article…
The Unusual Lead Magnet Canva Used to Build a Company Worth $60 Billion
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When I first heard the average marketing conversion rates were between 1-3%, I couldn’t believe it. Those numbers seemed so low they’re almost depressing.
That was until I later came across a piece of information that helped me see why those low numbers are actually good.
Let me explain.
The Percentage of Your Market That’s Ready to Buy Today
In his book, Sticky Branding,Jeremy Miller states that onlyapproximately 3% of your market is ready to buy at any given time, the rest is not.
In other words, only three out of every one hundred in your market is ready to buy right now, today. The rest are not.
When I heard that a light bulb went off.
If only 3 out of 100 people are ready to buy today, and you end up with a 1% conversion rate, that’s actually a 33.33% conversion rate, right?
Because you converted one of the three people who were actually ready to buy today. And if you end up getting a 3% conversion rate or higher? That’s incredible! You’re doing an amazing job.
It’s only when we have the false assumption that 100% of the people out there are ready to buy today that we think a 1-3% conversion rate is bad.
Do you see now why the average conversion rate is better news than you thought it was?
But when we hear this info, there’s another very important question that we should ask. It’s this…
How can we make it so we don’t have to fight with so many competitors for those 1-3%of people who are ready to buy today? I’m glad you asked! 🙂
What You Can Do Today to Make More Future SalesTomorrow
We’ve already established the fact that only a small percentage of people in any market is ready to buy today.
That means that the majority of people are not ready to buy today. They might be ready tomorrow, or the next day, or next month, over even months from now. But they’re not ready today.
Now think about this…
What are most businesses and companies mainly focusing all of their marketing, time, and effort on? Yep. They are focused only on those who are ready to buy today.
If you want to make more sales from those 1-3%, and not have to compete so hard with your competition, there’s only one way to do that.
You need to begin focusing on the people who will be ready tomorrow – or someday in the future, and begin attracting them today.
If you knew the actual percentage of people who will buy what you’re offering from someone – not today, but in the near future – you’d be trying to come up with every way possible to begin attracting them today.
And what’s the best way to do that? You guessed it. Lead magnets.
That’s why lead magnets and lead generation is so important. It’s because it’s your way to secure your future, today.
Practicing What I Preach
At some point in the future, I will want to offer you something to purchase that will help solve the marketing problems that you or your company are having.
Or I will want to offer you an easier way to achieve the marketing goals that you and your company have.
I don’t have anything to offer you today. And, even if I did, you might not be ready to buy it, anyway.
But, I don’t want to just hope that you will remember me when you’re ready to buy.
I don’t want to rely on the slight chance that you come back when I begin offering the solutions, answers, and help you want.
Instead, I’d like to offer you a simple trade.
Want to Make a Trade?
You give me something valuable to you: your real email address (not your junk one).
And, I’ll give you something valuable in return. What will I give you?
Here are just some of the valuable things I’ll offer you in this trade:
You can have access to classic marketing books that contain the forgotten or overlooked marketing fundamentals that’ll help to dominate in 2021 (one example is the classic book Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins).
You can have access to my 5-star book, 51 Content Marketing Hacks. (It costs $9.99 on Amazon and I’ll be taking it out of our member’s resource area at the end of this month.)
I’ll send you a member’s only email newsletter with info and insights that I don’t offer here to the public.
This year, I also plan to create more exclusive content that’s only available to members.
You will get a member’s discount on certain solutions and assistance that I offer for sale in the future.
Is that a deal?
I’m not asking for your money. I’m just asking for your email and your attention.
Then, after you begin to know, like, and trust me – and when you’re ready and I’m ready – you can see if you want to make a monetary trade with me at some later point.
If you’re interested, or would just like to learn more, then click the link under the DRCM Member’s Resource Area image below.
Stay Tuned
Stay tuned for my next article on the “unusual” lead magnet that another great tech company used to achieve success.
If you didn’t read my last article about how Facebook did this, you should…
If you stick with me, I’ll help you see lead generation and lead magnets in a way that could change your business forever. In fact, it could help your business to reach new levels in 2021.
Because, believe it or not, the greatest tech companies today have been built using lead magnets.
In order for you to understand what I mean, you first need to see lead magnets on a deeper level than most people do.
So, let me give you a new way to think of lead magnets.
My Definition of a Lead Magnet
Most of us have such a limited and basic view of lead magnets that we are missing out on how powerful they are and will be in 2021.
When most people think about lead magnets, they think about them on just the simplest level. They mainly think of a lead magnet as a PDF that attracts your ideal prospects and causes them to exchange their email address for access to it.
Don’t get me wrong.
This is a very effective way to use a lead magnet. But you can think of that understanding of a lead magnet as the white belt version of a lead magnet compared to the black belt level.
Today, I want to give you that “black belt” level of understanding. 🙂
I don’t want you to think of lead magnets in the usual way. I want you to think of them in the unusual way.
I think of a lead magnet at a deeper level than most people. ..
My Definition of a Lead Magnet:A lead magnet is something valuable that you offer to your ideal prospects in exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable (usually information of some kind).
To get the most from my definition, you must understand some important things about lead magnets.
The 2 Things You Must Understand to Take Your Understanding of Lead Magnets to the Next Level
Here are the two things you must understand to use lead magnets at a “black belt” level:
You need to realize that a lead magnet can be much more than just a PDF file.
You must understand that prospects possess things of much greater value that they can exchange with you, besides just an email address.
When you truly grasp these two truths, you’ll start to realize that lead magnets are all around us.
Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Companies Have Been Built On
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, lead magnets are the fundamental element that the greatest tech companies of our day have harnessed to build their empires.
Yes, lead magnets are the primary method that successful companies employ to capture the attention of prospects (the 1st marketing fundamental) and attract them (the 2nd marketing fundamental).
That means that when you understand lead magnets in this deeper way, you’ll realize that the right lead magnet is worth millions, if not billions of dollars.
I’m not exaggerating.
Let me give you an example that I bet you’ve never noticed before, to prove it to you…
Facebook Was Built on This Greater Understanding of Lead Magnets
Facebook’s Thumb Icon
When you see lead magnets in the way I’m trying to get you to see them, you’ll realize that Facebook’s success was built on having an “unusual” lead magnet.
Once you see this and realize this is just one of many “unusual” lead magnets that great tech companies have been built on, you’re going to get more excited about lead magnets and their ability to help you attract prospects in 2021.
Facebook’s 3-Step Lead Generation Strategy That Led to Their Incredible Success
(IMPORTANT: Everything I’m about to share with you about their strategy is just from observations I’ve made as an outsider. I have no insider information.)
What was Facebook’s lead generation strategy? Their strategy took place in three powerful, progressive stages.
Stage 1: The opportunity to connect with friends and family
The lead magnet they offered to us was not a simple PDF. Here’s how the first stage of their strategy worked…
1. Give us your email address and we’ll connect you with friends and family. Their marketing promise to us was simple but powerful.
Notice that Facebook didn’t just provide an initial connection with certain friends and family. They continued to provide new connection suggestions. But they didn’t stop there.
2. They allowed users to share pictures (information) in exchange for likes, comments, etc.
Think about this. Facebook was allowing its users to create content that they could share with other people on their platform (aka leads creating content for other leads).
IMPORTANT INSIGHT: All great lead generation strategies have a follow-up system that provides continual value – that way your prospect doesn’t just take your lead magnet and run.
Facebook took care of this need for a follow-up system by allowing their own leads to create value for each other (aka user-generated content).
3. Then they enabled their users to share videos (more information) in exchange for a chance to gain more likes, comments, etc.
This also offered a way for users to gain an audience and have a voice.
At each stage, they continued to offer users more functions/tools so that we could exchange much more than just our email addresses with them.
This first stage enabled Facebook to attract a massive amount of prospects. But they were just getting started.
Their next stage enabled them to set the stage to begin monetizing the whole thing. Watch what they did next…
Stage 2: The opportunity for businesses to connect with prospects and customers.
1. After attracting a significant amount of individuals with the offer of connecting with friends and family, they began to offer businesses and companies the chance to connect with prospects and customers.
2. To do that, they encouraged businesses to create their own pages where they could attract likes, comments, and followers. And they even encouraged businesses to create content.
Now think about how ingenious this was. By doing this, they accomplished two powerful things:
They now had more content on their platform. This gave the users on the platform more reasons to keep coming back to Facebook and to stay on Facebook (more user-generated content for their follow-up system).
They now had business owners who had self-identified themselves. That meant it’d be much easier to target them for the next stage – stage 3.
Stage 3: Finally, Facebook offered these business owners and companies a chance to advertise to the users (aka leads) they had gathered together on their platform.
It was at this point that Facebook began to make money on a level that they never did before.
I won’t get into this in this article, but you should also notice something important. Facebook chose to make money from the leads it had gathered in a much different way than most companies typically do.
Now don’t forget, this all began with a deeper, more “unusual” way of thinking of a lead magnet than most people do.
But even as different as it is, it’s still the same fundamental definition that I shared with you at the beginning…
“A lead magnet is something valuable that you offer to your ideal prospects in exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable (usually information of some kind).“
Facebook’s Example Applied to My Lead Magnet Definition
Let’s take my definition and plug in Facebook’s example to help you see their whole strategy more clearly and simply:
Something valuable that you offer your ideal prospects: Facebook offered this in the form of connection with family and friends or a connection with prospects and customers.
In exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable: Facebook got the user’s email address, but they got much more than that. They were able to build databases of users. A database that was valuable not only to Facebook but also to other companies.
What I’m NOT Suggesting
Over the years, Facebook has done some things with its user information that have gotten some people upset. (I’m not saying that they’ve actually done anything wrong. I’m just saying that some people have gotten upset with them.)
I’m NOT suggesting that you do things that make some of your leads feel uncomfortable or cause them to get upset with you.
You can actually use this basic led gen model that Facebook used without getting people upset.
In fact, many other social media platforms have used this same lead generation model effectively without seeing their users get upset.
I shared the example of Facebook with you today because I wanted you to see that this successful company really did build its business model off of a fundamental marketing strategy.
And it’s that basic lead magnet strategy that has brought them success in the past. It will bring other companies who use the same model success in 2021.
This is just ONE business model I’ve discovered after thinking of lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
There are 11 other very successful tech companies I’ve documented that have used lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way to build their company.
Many of them have built completely different business models off of this fundamental marketing strategy. And others have simply added their own variations to the different models.
If I had time to walk you through this list of companies and show you each business model or variation, you’d be amazed at how much opportunity there is for your company in 2021.
I, unfortunately, don’t have time to do that. I do want to show you another example of how you can use lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
I’ll do that in a couple of days. But first, I need to make sure you really understand why lead magnets are such a vital way to leverage the second marketing fundamental.
Stay tuned.
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In my first article of the series, I laid an important foundation that I will continue to build on. In that article I said…
Based on some things I’ve been reading from the experts I follow, there are some interesting trends and predictions that are said to be coming our way in 2021.
These trends and predictions will be opportunities for people that know how to leverage them.
But I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
I then went to share ways you could capture, keep, and earn future attention.
If you missed the articles and want to read them, you can go this this page that I’ve created for the series.
The Second Marketing Fundamental You Need to Succeed in 2021
After you have captured your prospects attention, the next thing you’re going to focus on is the second marketing fundamental: attraction.
In other words, after you capture your prospect’s attention, you’re then going to have to attract them.
It’s the whole purpose behind attention.
Without attraction, all the work you put into capturing their attention will have been wasted.
In 2021, you’re going to need to realize the unbreakable connection between prospects and the future of your business.
Let me explain what I mean in my new video below.
Without a Prospect, You Don’t Have a Future
In my latest video, I’m going to reveal the unbreakable connection between prospects and the future of your business.
And I’ll do that by showing the surprising origin of the word “prospect.”
Not only that, but you’ll also discover:
Why this unbreakable connection exists
The easy and the hard way to get prospects
And more
The Most Effective Way to Attract Your Prospects
To effectively convert prospects into a future for you business, you must take the next critical step.
You must get your prospect to exchange their contact information with you.
In other words, you must create and offer a lead magnet. I’m sad to say this but many content marketers overlook this step. And that is a fatal mistake.
You see, you don’t just want to attract them. You want to attract them in a way that enables you to continue contacting them so you can build a relationship with them.
Why? Because the majority of the people who will purchase from you will not buy from you today.
I talk more about this in my upcoming articles in this week’s series. In the meantime, I want you to know where we’re headed…
Beyond the Basics in 2021
In order for you to see success in 2021, you’re going to have go beyond the basic understanding of lead magnets and lead generation.
You’re going to have to understand them on a whole new level. That’s why you don’t want to miss tomorrow’s article.
I promise you that it will help you see lead magnets in a way you never have before.
In fact, you’re going to discover that lead magnets are the foundation of the most successful companies in existence today.
You’re not going to want to miss the example I share tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s article will be called…
The Way to See Lead Magnets That Will Change Your Business Forever
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Pay Attention
When we think about attention, we use a phrase that I think means more than we probably have thought about before. We use the term “pay attention.”
We’re trying to get people to pay attention to us – to our marketing, in order for us to do these other things that I’ve talked about.
Now, think about that.
When you pay for something, you are taking something that’s valuable to you (your money) and you are giving it to somebody else in exchange for that thing.
When somebody is paying attention to us, they are exchanging something that’s valuable: their attention. These days attention is a very, very valuable asset because it’s so rare.
They are paying us with their attention for something in return. They might be hoping:
To be entertained
To gain an insight
To learn something
To distract themselves
Etc.
In other words, they expect to gain something. Now, if you pay for something, and you get nothing in return, then you feel like you got ripped off. You’re never paying for that thing again.
You’re never buying from that person, that company – or whatever/whoever, again. We need to remember that.
Return on Attention
If someone pays attention to us, that is just the first step.
If we don’t reward them, give them something in return – if they don’t have a return on attention (R.O.A), then they are not going to pay us attention again.
That’ll be the last time they ever pay attention to us.
But if reward them for giving us their attention in the first place, then they will pay it to us again and again and again.
When that happens, we don’t just gain a temporary moment of attention, but we gain an audience.
The Power of Building Audience
An audience is a powerful thing. As direct response content marketers, an audience is one of those things that we need to really understand the value of.
An audience has as much value as a list does. Now, I’m not saying we should have an audience instead of a list.
But we should realize the importance of both, making sure that we’re building up a list of prospects and an audience of prospects.
So you need to make sure that when someone pays you attention, that you reward them.
You reward them with education.
You reward them with entertainment.
You reward them with helpful answers to their questions, solutions to their problems.
If you do that, they will pay you their attention again, and you will gain an audience.
That’s the secret to earning your prospect’s future attention…today.
If you find them helpful, if you have felt like I’ve rewarded you for your attention today, then please subscribe to be notified whenever new articles go live.
Tell other people about it, share it, or embed it on your website. Tweet about it, share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram. I will give you more great content as a reward for your attention.
Member’s Only Content Focused on Attention
I will be sharing a special post in the member’s resource area of this site that will be focused on how you can keep your prospect’s attention after you capture it.
I’ll also point you to one of the resources that members have access to which can help you to capture attention in the digital world.
If you’re not a member, you can join for free…
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Next Week: The Second Marketing Fundamental You Need to Succeed in 2021
Make sure to come back next week. Because next week, I’ll begin talking about the second marketing fundamental you’re going to need to succeed this year.
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Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to write another article like I had hoped to do. So, instead, I’ve decided to share another video of mine with you about attention.
In this video, you’ll discover another way to capture attention (one of the three things you need to do with attention).
I’ll not only show you how to capture attention. I’ll show you how to capture your prospect’s attention, even if you don’t know a lot about them.
If you missed my previous articles (and one video), you can see them at the links below:
(Don’t worry. If you click on them, they won’t take you away from this page. They will open up a new window.)
We Pay Attention to What We Crave
Without knowing you personally, there are not a lot of things that I can predict will grab your attention every time – except for one thing: the thing you crave.
Because I know that if it’s something you crave, then you’re going to have your reticular activating system on “high alert” and on the lookout for that thing.
That means that if you want your marketing to capture your prospect’s attention, then all you have to do is figure out what they crave.
Now I CAN’T tell you what your prospect specifically craves, but I CAN tell you what they crave at a universal level.
And it has everything to do with what I call “content we crave.”
Watch my video below to learn about the “31 Types of Content We Crave” and how you can use them in your marketing to grab attention…
After you watch my video, you can download or print out my two “content we crave” infographics. You can then use them as your cheat sheets whenever you want to create copy or content that has a higher chance of capturing your prospect’s attention.
In case this is your first time here, you need to know something. This week, I started a series that I’m calling The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021.
You can see the first two articles at the links below:
(Don’t worry. If you click on them, they won’t take you away from this page. They will open up a new window.)
Anyway, today, you’re in luck. I have a treat for you.
I want to share a video with you today that will teach you something you’ve probably never heard anyone teach about the first marketing fundamental (aka Attention).
I call it… The Secret of the Reticular Activating System and How to Capture Attention.
(NOTE: This is a repost of a previous article and video I did back on May 11, 2019. I’m posting it here, again, because it’s a message that is just as important today as it was then.)
The Brain’s Reticular Activating System: Your Friend or Foe
You might not realize this but your brain is equipped with something that’s called the Reticular Activating System.
It’s the part of your brain that determines what you notice or pay attention to.
And that’s why content marketers and direct response marketers should learn the secrets of tapping into it.
If you figure out how to harness its power, it will be your friend and your copy and content will be welcomed in.
If you don’t figure out how to harness its power, it will be your foe and your copy and content will be turned away every time.
Watch my video to discover how you can use the reticular activating system to capture your prospects’ attention…
A Confession About This Video
I need to confess something. I started a YouTube channel 21 months ago intending to create content regularly for it. This video is one of a series of videos that I created during that time.
I created them but I didn’t really get a chance to promote them very much.
A major move from CA to ID stalled out that plan. Don’t get me wrong. That move has been such a great choice! But it did stall out my plan to create videos.
Well, I think in 2021 that it’s time for me to get back to that plan.
In this new year, I plan to get back to posting videos.
I’ll also be putting on some webinars (free and paid).
I also will be creating exclusive video content for the member’s area.
It’s going to be content that you’ll find interesting, entertaining, and, most of all, helpful for you personally, your company, and/or your career.
If you want to know when more videos go live, then you should do two things:
Yesterday, in my first article in this series, I told you that:
I believe the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
The people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
Today, I’m going to reveal the first marketing fundamental that you will need to succeed in 2021.
The 1st Marketing Fundamental You Need to Succeed in 2021
The first marketing fundamental you need is attention. Why is attention the first marketing fundamental? Because without attention, there is no marketing.
In other words, you, your company, your business, your organization, or your non-profit will have a very hard time succeeding in 2021 without attention.
If we don’t capture people’s attention:
We can never educate them.
We can never build a relationship with them.
We can never capture leads.
We can never make offers to them.
We can never gain customers, clients, patients, donors, etc.
It all starts with attention.
Don’t believe me?
Ok. What do you plan on focusing on this year?
SEO?
Online or offline ads?
Your website?
Your emails?
Video?
Social media?
It all starts with all attention! You can’t be effective at any of these things if you don’t first capture your prospect’s attention.
Getting Attention Will Matter More Than Ever in 2021
Getting attention has always been a needed and fundamental first step. And, I don’t think I need to convince you of this fact, it will matter more than ever in 2021.
With the continual onslaught of new content online, new social media platforms, the battle of streaming services, etc., it’s not going to get any easier to get the attention of the people you’re trying to reach.
The Right Attention vs The Wrong Attention
This goes without being said. But it’s not just any old attention that’s going to matter in 2021.
The key is going to be capturing the right prospect’s attention. If you capture the wrong prospect’s attention, you’ll waste a lot of time and money in 2021.
In fact, the better you can become at getting the right peoples’ attention, the more effective your marketing will be, the less money and time you’ll waste, and the more success you will experience this year.
The Three Things You’re Going to Need to Do with Attention in Order to Succeed in 2021
When it comes to attention, you’re going to need to master three things things:
1. You’re going to have to capture their attention. This is the first step when it comes to attention. And it’s the one step that most people think of when they think of the need for attention.
It’s definitely where you must start with attention, but it can’t be where you stop. Because if you do stop there, even capturing the attention of the right prospects won’t be beneficial to you or your prospects.
2. You’re going to need tokeep their attention. This is the second step you must take with attention. Once you first gain or capture attention, you then need to figure out how to keep that attention long enough to get your message across.
This is the step that will help all of the work you’re currently doing to produce more results, whether that’s leads or sales.
3. You mustearn the right to their future attention. This third step is the step that only a small minority of people, companies, and organizations take. But it’s the step you will want to take because it will determine how easy it will be for you to capture attention in the future.
This will help your prospects to get to know, like, and trust you. If they don’t know, like, and trust you, they’ll never take any further steps along with you.
They’ll never raise their hands and ask for more info. They’ll never sign-up for trials. They’ll never share your content or your company with their friends and followers.
And they’ll definitely never buy from you.
We’re Just Getting Started
With this article, I just wanted to get you started thinking about attention. (I wanted to get your attention about attention. 🙂 )
In my upcoming articles, I’m going to look more closely at this topic of attention.
I’m going to share:
Some ways to capture attention
Some ways to keep attention
Some ways you earn future attention
And that’s just the first marketing fundamental that you’ll need to harness to succeed in 2021. I still have 11 more fundamentals that I want to reveal to you.
My next article in this series will go live on Thursday, January 7th. Click here to subscribe and be automatically notified when it and other articles go live.
P.S. I’ll be revealing additional information and insights for each of the 12 marketing fundamentals in our DRCM Member’s Resource Area.
It’s free to join…
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Based on some things I’ve been reading from the experts I follow, there are some interesting trends and predictions that are said to be coming our way in 2021.
These trends and predictions will be opportunities for people that know how to leverage them.
But I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
You might think this can’t possibly be true. It sounds too simplistic to think that the marketing fundamentals really matter in 2021.
Oh really? Think about this…
(Article continues below…)
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(Continue reading below…)
The Fundamentals That Are All Around Us
The fundamentals are the key to success in many different areas of life.
They’ve mattered in the past and they’ll still matter in 2021. Let me give you some quick examples.
When I took martial arts, there were important things you had to learn at the beginning of your training.
What were these important things? The basics, the fundamentals!
We learned common attacks (problems) and common defenses (solutions).
But these important things weren’t just things you had to learn at the beginning of your training.
They were things we practiced at the beginning of every class.
The most complicated and cool looking moves were really just the fundamentals combined in a new way. (This isn’t just true about martial arts. It’s also true about marketing.)
You might not have realized it but Facebook, LinkedIn, Spotify, Disney+, and many others have harnessed these marketing fundamentals to take advantage of opportunities and ultimately succeed.
That’s why when others will be sharing about the new opportunities in 2021, I’ll be sharing with you about the 12 marketing fundamentals that you should harness, so you can seize the opportunities coming your way in 2021.
I’ll be sharing the first 2-3 marketing fundamentals with you this week.
I’ll reveal the first one in tomorrow’s article.
P.S. I’ll be revealing additional information and insights for each of the 12 marketing fundamentals in our DRCM Member’s Resource Area.
It’s free to join…
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In the article, Jess Bell shares a warning from Elmo Software’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Monica Watt, about the tsunami of information we now have to face in a remote world.
Watt says that this immense wave of information has brought about what she calls “knowledge obesity.”
What’s the difference between knowledge obesity and good old ordinary information overload? Here’s what Watt told Bell…
“…the concept of knowledge obesity is subtly different to too much information.
“With the rise of apps, employees have tools at their disposal, for example, organisation apps to streamline productivity or meditation apps to prioritise their mental health.
“But with knowledge, it’s much harder to assess what is and isn’t necessary in our working lives.”
So, according to Watt, all this knowledge makes our brains “obese” and paralyzed.
That’s why I told you in a previous article that our problem is NOT with time management.
Our problem is with ATTENTION Management.
When we manage our attention better, then we’ll manage our time better.
And here’s the good news.
Trying to manage our time can seem overwhelming and complicated.
But managing our attention doesn’t have to be like that.
The 3 Keys to Increased Focus, Efficiency & Creativity
I’ve come across three simple things that will help any of us to become more focused, more effective, and more creative in the new year.
Just to be clear, these three simple things are not just something I made up.
I discovered them. Let me explain…
1. The first key is something that many of the “Greats” from the past implemented daily in their lives.
2. The second key is based on an ancient concept that was unknowingly implemented by one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century.
3. The third key is based on a mindset that both modern productivity experts and an ancient group of people agree upon.
What Makes These Three Keys Better Than Your Typical Time Management System
These three keys are NOT like your typical time management system.
In fact, the interesting thing about these three keys is:
They DON’T require more work or effort on your part. In fact, it requires less.
They DON’T require you to memorize some new time management system. They can be easily remembered once you learn them.
They DO require you to do what the majority of our 24/7, non-stop world doesn’t do.
They’re not difficult things. They’re just overlooked by most people.
They DO require you to relax and slow down.
I’ve taken these three keys and I’ve recorded a 39:00 minute video explaining WHAT they are,WHY they are so important, and HOW to implement them in your life.
I’ll Let You Watch the First 17 Minutes of My Training for Free
When I first found these three keys, I was so sure of them that I reached out to some friends on Facebook to see if any would want to give them a try.
Thankfully, I had some friends who wanted to be my guinea pigs. 🙂
I was glad to have people try out these keys, but I was even more excited to see the positive results they got from applying these three keys.
After I knew that these three keys worked, I offered the training for $56. This year, I’ve decided to offer them to you for a special price.
(*I’ll begin offering it for a special price during the week of January 4th, so stay tuned.)
But before I give anyone the chance to buy it, I decided to let you watch the first 17 mins of the recording for free.
That way you can get a taste of it before you decide if you want to get full access to it.
Just to be clear, you won’t learn what the three keys are in the first 17 mins. I’m saving those for people who purchase the recording.
But you will discover:
The connection Benjamin Franklin has with time management systems
How/why ancient people cared more about time than we do
The most important thing that all successful people seem to do
This will give you a significant taste of it before you decide to purchase the whole thing.
If you’d like to watch the first 17 mins of the training, sign-up below. You’ll be sent the link to watch it right away.
If You Missed the Previous Articles
If you missed the previous articles in this series on the myth of time management, then you can see them here:
If you give the average person $1,000 – that they’re free to spend on anything they’d like, in an hour or less, most will have nothing left.
But give a financial expert $1,000 and watch what happens.
In the same amount of time, they can invest it and set into motion the possibility of that $1,000 becoming $2,000 or even $10,000.
If you give the average person a pencil and paper – and ask them to draw you something, most will have trouble coming up with something worth more than something you hang on your refrigerator.
Give an artist a pencil and paper and then watch them produce a masterpiece worthy of being shown in a museum.
Let me give you one more example…
Give an average person access to a piano and they might be able to play you “Chopsticks.”
Give a professional pianist access to the same piano and they can play you “Beethoven’s 9th Symphony“.
In most areas of life, we know that it’s not just what you’re GIVEN that matters. It’s what you DO with what you’re given.
But somehow, when it comes to time and our lives, we don’t seem to see this correlation.
Don’t Be Fooled By the Calendar
Author Charles Richards once said something powerful about this.
He said, “Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.”
Listen to that last sentence again…
“One person gets a week’s value out of a year and the other person gets a full year’s value out of a week.”
We all have the same 7 days each week. The same 10,080 minutes each week.
No one is getting any more minutes or days than you are.
The question is: What are doing with minutes and days?
You are either using your time like an amateur or like an artist.
What good is it to be good at everything else in life, except living our lives well?
Richard L. Evans, the former president of Rotary International, said…
“The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”
Richard L. Evans, the former president of Rotary International
None of us knows how much time we get in this life.
Some of us will get more. Some of us will get less.
Our only choice is to use whatever time we get in the best way we can.
I want to encourage you to not wait to live your life.
Stop being fooled by the calendar and begin to use your days more wisely.
When people look at your life, will they say that the way you crafted and formed your life was like an artist or like an amateur?
The 3 Keys to Increased Focus, Efficiency & Creativity
The hardest thing these days seems to be figuring out how to use our time wisely.
We have so many options, we’re overwhelmed.
It’s hard to know what to focus on.
It’s easy to feel like our wheels are spinning, but we’re not going anywhere.
I recently discovered three simple things that can help you to increase your focus, efficiency, and creativity.
They can help you to seize each day more fully.
I discovered them when I was looking at the way people lived in the past.
I’ll Give You Free Access to Part of My Recorded Trainingon These Three Keys
I recorded a 39-minute video training where I revealed what these three keys are. In the past, I’ve sold the recording for $56.
I will tell you more about the recording tomorrow and let you listen to the first 17 mins of the recording for free.
And, if you like it and want access to the full recording, I’ll give you the full access for a discounted price.
Stay tuned.
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If you think that you don’t waste time, you should take a look at these stats:
On average, we spend two hours and twenty-four minutesa day on social media. (Source: BroadbandSearch.net)
Average smartphone usage is 3 hours and 15 minutes per day. (Source: RescueTime.com)
The average American spends 24.4 daysa year doing household chores. (Source: PolicyGenius.com)
The average American sleeps 134 days a year. (Source: PolicyGenius.com)
Our Problem is Not with Time Management
More time.
It’s the thing that we’re all chasing after, but I have become convinced that we’re chasing after the wrong thing.
Our problem is NOT with time management.
Our problem is with ATTENTION Management.
The tools, luxuries, and benefits of our modern lives that were supposed to add to our lives have ended up distracting us from the important things in life.
It’s not our time that we need to manage better.
It’s our attention. When we manage our attention better, THEN we’ll manage our time better.
And here’s the good news.
Trying to manage our time can seem overwhelming and complicated.
But managing our attention doesn’t have to be like that.
You see, when it comes to how you manage your attention and your time, the key is to be an artist, not an amateur.
I’ll explain more about what I mean in my next article…
The Art Of Living – Are You An Amateur Or An Artist?
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Henry Ford once said, “A weakness of all human beings is trying to do too many things at once. That scatters effort and destroys direction. It makes for haste, and haste makes waste. So we do things all the wrong ways possible before we come to the right one.”
Too many things are pulling at us these days.
There are too many things to distract us. Let’s be honest.
It’s not a lack of opportunity that holds us back in most cases.
It’s that many times we don’t see the opportunity that’s right in front of us.
It’s not a lack of timethat keeps us from getting our work done.
It’s the fact that we can’t decide what’s the most important thing that we should be focused on. (It is a flaw in a business setting, but it’s “fatal” in our personal lives.)
It’s not that the problems that we’re facing are insurmountable.
It’s that we don’t have the time to think about them and come up with the solutions to these problems.
We all are so busy that we wish we had more time to see the opportunities, decide what’s important, and come up with more solutions to our problems.
It’s just that we can’t seem to find the time.
But what if our problem isn’t that we don’t have enough time?
What if we’ve been looking in the wrong direction for a solution and actually missing the real issue in the process?
In my next article, I’ll explain why I believe that time management isn’t the real problem and I’ll explain what our real problem is.
Stay tuned.
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If you’re like most people, you probably think that the biggest thing that will keep you from success in 2021 is your lack of time. In other words, you think that your biggest problem is with time management.
Well, you might not believe this, but your problem (and my problem) will actually be with a different type of management.
I’ll reveal more of what I mean about this in an article scheduled for later this week. But before I do that, you need to first hear this story today.
An Ancient Story About Attention
There is an ancient story about attention that was once told by a man called “Pliny the Elder,” a Roman writer who lived during the same time period as Jesus.
He told a story of the setting of a massive obelisk, which when erected would stand 99 feet tall.
It was such a monumental task that 20,000 workers were chosen to pull on the ropes and activate the hoisting apparatus.
There was great responsibility and risk in the operation.
It would just take one error and the obelisk would fall, which would ruin years of work.
The King demanded one actthat insured the complete attention and best direction of the engineer.
What was the one act which could ensure this?
He ordered the engineer’s own son to be strapped to the apex of the obelisk so that the engineer’s heart, as well as his head, would be given to the task.
Whether you realize it or not, your ability to bring the absolute focus of your heart and mind to the right things in the new year will impact the well-being of the things and the people you care about.
So let me ask you a question… What would it take to get YOUR absolute focused attention in 2021?
I want you to really think about that because your focused attention will be needed if you want to reach new levels in your life and business this year.
In my upcoming articles, I’m going to reveal how you can harness your absolute focus this year without needing to endanger anyone you love to accomplish this. 🙂
In the other articles I’ll share:
The weakness of us all
Time management isn’t the real issue (our real problem isn’t with time)
Three keys that I stumbled upon which will solve our real problem
Stay tuned.
If you don’t want to miss an article, you should subscribe below to be automatically notified when it goes live.
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I used to love going to get my picture taken with Santa when I was a little kid.
But have you ever wondered how the tradition of kids getting pictures with Santa got started? Or have you ever wondered who was the first person to do this?
Well, you’re about to find out.
James Edgar was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1843.
He arrived in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1878 and opened up a dry goods store there on Main Street.
It All Started with an Idea to Drum Up More Business
He would have lived a life of obscurity except for one thing: an idea he had one Christmas in 1890.
You see, he wanted to bring in more business during the Christmas season and so he came up with the idea to dress up as Santa Claus in his store.
The crowds that showed up surprised Edgar. Within days, children began flocking to his store.
In fact, the news spread so far that kids began to show up from as far as Boston and Providence.
He discovered that they had come by train just to see Santa.
Because of this, Edgar is credited as the first business owner to dress up as Santa.
And malls and department stores around the U.S. carried on this tradition ever since.
Entering the Conversation in Your Prospect’s Minds
The brilliant thing about Edgar’s idea was that he tapped into the conversation that was already going on in many of his prospect’s and customer’s minds (conversations about Christmas and Santa) and figured out a way to enter that conversation.
Robert Collier famously said it this….
“You want to enter a conversation that’s already existing in your prospect’s minds.”
-Robert Collier
With so much going on nowadays and so many distractions, any way you can break through the static is a HUGE benefit for you.
Doing this is like giving you, your product, or service a little “hook” to hang on in someone’s mind.
It’s the power of association.
It’s time for you to associate your business with what is already on the minds of your prospects and customers. The question is: How will you do that?
(Example: I am doing that with this article.)
Maybe He Really WAS Santa?
One last thing…
Not only was Edgar a smart businessperson, but he also was extremely generous.
“Edgar shared his good fortune, paying for children’s medical care, offering jobs to youths in need. and passing out pennies to children who came to his store.”
Isn’t that awesome?
Maybe he was the real Santa in disguise as a store owner? 🙂
Riddle: What’s the Type of Content You Create Once and Get Paid for Again and Again?
Content marketing is usually about creating a piece of free content whose purpose is to directly or indirectly play a part in bringing in future sales for a product or service of some kind.
Well, how would you like to create a single piece of content just once, but get paid for it year after year after? Does that sound like some kind of internet scam? It’s not.
In fact, there is a certain category of songwriters who actually achieve this amazing feat. They create one song and then make money off of it year after year after year.
Who are these songwriters? They are the writers behind Christmas songs. Want proof?
It was the summer of 1970 and Jose Felciano was recording a Christmas album made up of classic Christmas songs. That’s when his producer and friend, Rick Jarrard, made a surprising suggestion.
He told Jose that he should create an original Christmas song, one that had lyrics in both English and Spanish. Jose then went into the other room to see what he could come up with.
He started messing around by singing the words “Feliz Navidad” and “Merry Christmas.” Suddenly out of nowhere the melody just came to him.
He didn’t know it at the time, but the song would go on to become one of the most popular Christmas songs. It would become as popular – or even more popular – than some of the classic songs he had already recorded that day.
Just how popular is that song?
According to Billboard, this song has been heard on the radio by an estimated 3.8 billion people. Yes, that’s billion with a “B.”
It is one of the top 10 best-performing songs on Billboard’s Holiday 100 chart.
According to ASCAP, it is one of the 25 most-played Christmas songs in the world.
In 2010, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
How’s that for a song that “just came to him” in the summer of 1970?
50 Years Later and That One Song is Still Going Strong
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Feliz Navidad. You heard that right. Jose Feliciano created one piece of content 50 years ago and he has been paid every year for it for 50 years.
So the story I started with, that you thought sounded like a scam, is actually the story Jose Feliciano has been living out since 1970.
There are some valuable content marketing lessons that you can learn from Jose and other Christmas songwriters that will help you to create content with a lasting impact in 2021.
I’ll share these important lessons with you in just a minute. But first, you might be interested to learn this…
To honor the 50th anniversary of this still very popular song, Jose recorded a special version of the song with 30 top artists.
These artists include CNCO, Isabela Merced, Shaggy, Jon Secada, Jason Mraz, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rachael Ray, Gloria Gaynor, Big & Rich, Michael Bolton, Los Temerarios, Sam Moore, and Styx. (If you’re interested in hearing it, you can find it exclusively here on Amazon.com. )
The Surprising Content Marketing Lessons You Can Learn from Christmas Songs
As I said, there are some valuable content marketing lessons that you can learn from Jose and other Christmas songwriters. I’ve packed all of these lessons in the video below.
In my video, you’ll discover:
How to capture your audience’s attention
How to create content that appeals to your audience
How to create content that can appeal to your audience for years to come
Two important content marketing lessons we can learn from Christmas songs
Two takeaways that you can apply to your content marketing
And three methods you can use to produce your content based on the way popular artists create and record Christmas songs
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Does it sound to you like I say, “Christmas sogs” at the beginning of the video? It does to me!
I’m not sure what happened, but let’s pretend it didn’t happen! Haha.
Many of you who have read my posts and articles in the past know that I see content marketing lessons everywhere.
Well, in this article today, I want to share an important content marketing lesson for those of you who don’t consider yourselves a content creator.
How Apple TV+ Got Charlie Brown Fans Upset
2020 almost gave us another reason to wish it was over sooner than later.
Back in October, it was announced that Apple TV+ had purchased rights to the “Great Pumpkin”, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” TV specials.
That meant that for the first time since 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” would not air on public television.
Apple TV+ probably thought that they had made a great move to provide their subscribers such beloved TV specials.
What they probably hadn’t anticipated was the backlash from people who aren’t subscribers and who are so used to seeing it every year.
For that reason, Apple decided in November that they would allow “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to be aired on December 13th on PBS stations. (Click here, if you want to know how to watch it.)
“The next day, Coke sent Schulz and Mendelson the following telegram: ‘CONFIRM SALE OF CHARLIE BROWN FOR CHRISTMAS TO COCA-COLA FOR DECEMBER BROADCAST AT YOUR TERMS WITH OPTION ON SECOND SHOW FOR NEXT SPRING. GOOD GRIEF!‘”
The Show Almost Didn’t Air
As popular as the show is these days, this might be hard to believe, but the show almost didn’t make it on air.
“The network hated the idea of a religious message in a Christmas TV special. They hated that the special wasn’t non-stop action interrupted with gales of fake laughter (as if cartoons would actually have a live studio audience).
“They didn’t like the soundtrack, thought the kid voiceover actors sounded too much like children, and would rather have played a needle scratch than jazz music. Things got so bad that even the special’s producers and Charlie Schulz (not known for having a cheery outlook to begin with) thought the cartoon would be a critical and commercial bomb.
“In fact, everyone was thinking of simply scrapping the show altogether…except for Cocoa-Cola, who was the special’s main sponsor and was not about to let a half-hour of advertising not make it to air.“
Where Are the Coke Ads in the Show?
The ads for Coca-Cola have been removed from the special over the years, so you won’t see them when you watch it today.
So where were they in the original?
Ted Ryan says that the only Coca-Cola messages were “title slides telling viewers that the production was made possible by the support of the local bottlers around the country.”
Here is a video clip of the title slides mentioning Coca-Cola…
“Create content that your prospects and customers want — especially if it isn’t focused on your business: You must not only create great content, but you must also create content that your desired target group is craving and searching for. And this might seem counterintuitive, but the most powerful kind of content for you to create might actually be content that doesn’t directly focus on your business or industry at all.”
Do you want proof that it was content that marketed Coca-Cola effectively?
If You Want to Increase Your Traffic, You Should Share Your Audience
Look, the other websites who let you borrow their audience aren’t stupid. They’re really smart. Why?
Because they realize that exposing their audience to other content creators won’t cause them to lose that audience. It will actually cause them to grow their audience.
You see, when each expert creates content for them, they each share and promote what they created with their audience – on social media, with friends, colleagues, etc.
They don’t just do that, though.
Some of them might email their lists a link to the content. And some might even link to the content from their own site (like I did in my last article).
Are you starting to see why sharing your audience is such a great strategy? Think about the kind of impact this can have on a site:
Multiple people social sharing your site on social media
Multiple people emailing their lists about your website
Multiple people linking back to your site
Etc.
Imagine if just a small portion of their social media followers, email subscribers, and audience like the content enough to share it with their followers, email their lists, and link back to it?
Imagine how that will increase your traffic, and even your search ranking, when multiple experts are doing that every time you let them borrow your audience?
Is there anyone reading this who wouldn’t like that kind of ripple effect to happen for their, or their company’s, website?
You don’t have to just wish or hope that would happen. All you have to do is decide to let others borrow your audience.
In fact, I would call this the SECOND most important, powerful, and reliable traffic building strategy that exists.
Interested in Attending a Webinar on These Strategies?
If enough of you are interested in learning more about these two powerful traffic building strategies, I’d be willing to put on a low-cost webinar ($47) in the new year focused just on these strategies.
If you’re interested, then let me know.
You can contact me here or reach out to me on social media. When you contact me, you can let me know topics you like me to cover and I can also share more details. (*I will take every suggestion that is made and consider adding it to what I cover in my webinar.)
For Now, Grab a Free Copy of “Traffic Borrowing Checklist”
In the meantime, I’ve put together a Traffic Borrowing Checklist that you can have access to at no cost.
It lists the steps that you or your company should take to discover websites that will let you borrow their audience, what to do when your content appears on other sites, and more.
This checklist, along with $38.25 in resources and exclusive DRCM content, are available in our free Member’s Resource Area.
Stay Tuned
Next week, I’m going to begin sharing some Christmas content marketing lessons that you can use now or in the new year.
The purpose of creating content is so that you, your company, or product or service becomes known.
You want people to look to you for answers, solutions, and help. To do that, you must become known by your target audience. They must look to you as an authority, expert, and influencer.
As you probably know, the way to achieve all of this is through content marketing.
*Feel free to share this definition on social or your website. Just please attribute it to me and this site.
There’s only one problem with content marketing.
If no one sees or consumes your content, then it will have no impact. It’s like to trying impact and influence an empty room.
For that reason, as I’ve been discussing in my previous posts, you must not only drive traffic. You must also build an audience.
And the main way to do that is by doing what I call “borrowing an audience.”
If you’ve missed any of my previous posts, you can see them here: (*All links will open in a new window.)
When I first began writing about content marketing on my other site RecessionSolution.com, I was getting an ok amount of traffic and slowly building up an audience.
— SIDE NOTE: The name of that site came from some books I put together to help business owners survive and prosper in a recession. (It was another form of content marketing.) —
This was in the really early days (2011) when content marketing was just becoming known. I say “known” because, as I’ve written about before, content marketing isn’t new. It’s been around for more than 200 years.
Anyway, I wanted to drive more traffic to my site and build an audience, so I did exactly what I’ve been suggesting that you do. I decided to borrow an audience.
I reached out to ContentMarketingInstitute.com and asked them if they were open to receiving guest posts.
Do you know what was interesting? The same type of post I would’ve normally written for my site, and gotten a certain level of comments and shares, now was getting many more comments and shares.
Why? Because they had a bigger audience.
Remember how in my last post I told you not to try to overly promote you, your company, or your products/services? I didn’t. The only real reference to my site was in my author bio.
But by simply doing that, and by consistently creating content for them, my traffic began to grow and so did my audience.
This simple act began to make me more known in the content marketing arena. And that began to provide me with more opportunities. What kind of opportunities?
Did you catch that? I repurposed content that I created for other audiences (with their permission) and I used it to create a book, which gave me a platform to attract an even greater audience.
None of these opportunities would’ve come my way if I didn’t first take the chance to create content for someone else’s audience.
You will never know what opportunities will come your way, or your company’s way until you take that same first step.
In case you’re not convinced yet, let me tell you about a unique opportunity that came in 2017.
An Opportunity to Create Content for a Very Unique Audience
At the end of 2016, I saw that a friend was teaching a course for UC Berkeley Extension. I asked him how he got that opportunity. He explained the process and later introduced me to his contact there.
I submitted my name and some ideas and was asked to teach an “Intro to Marketing” course for them. I ended up teaching for them in the fall of 2017 through the spring of 2019.
A picture of me after teaching one of my classes at UC Berkeley Extension
That was an audience I would’ve never imagined having the opportunity to speak to. Don’t miss this fact: this was still content creation. How? Because I designed the marketing course from scratch. In other words, I created the content for it.
What results did this bring? Here are just a few of them:
This course allowed me to teach people from important, local companies such as Oracle, PayPal, and NetGear.
I received testimonials and endorsements from former students (people in important roles at these companies).
It opened up new opportunities for me to work with local business owners.
All of these results continued to provide me with even more opportunities because opportunities produce opportunities.
Just to clarify, these opportunities weren’t just opportunities to create more content. Over time, all of these opportunities combined began to produce a financial return.
That’s why I’ve written these articles for you. It’s because I’ve personally seen the benefits of “borrowing an audience” and I know that it can do amazing things for you and your company too.
You can do this. You just need to take action.
But, if for some reason you prefer to have someone coach/consult/advise you through this process, feel free to reach out to me. We can then talk about whether this would be a good fit for both of us. And we can discuss what the time and cost commitment for a partnership would look like.
P.S. This website is relatively new (especially since I haven’t gotten a chance to write very much here in 2020). I still need to apply this method to this site and increase its traffic and audience.
If you’d like to become a part of my audience, then subscribe below and you’ll be notified whenever a new article goes live.
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Many companies fail to drive more traffic to their content because of a simple false belief that they have.
I’ll explain what it is in just a second. But first, let me test you to see how good you are at recognizing false beliefs.
Which one of these two statements is true?
Marie Antionette said, “Let them eat cake.”
An ostrich buries its head in the sand.
Believe it or not, but the correct answer is that neither of them are true.
Antionette did not actually say, “Let them eat cake.” The phrase was credited to her by people who were in opposition to Louis XVI. The reality is that this statement had been used by other important figures long before her.
An ostrich doesn’t really bury its head in the sand. It just looks that way. It can appear that way when it lowers its head in fear, or feeds itself, or when it covers its eggs for protection.
Do you see how easy it is to believe the wrong thing?
In the case of these two statements, believing either of these incorrect statements isn’t going to ruin your life.
But when it comes to getting more traffic to your website, there is a false belief that is keeping many companies from harnessing a very powerful traffic building strategy.
The False Belief That’s Limiting Your Traffic
This is the false belief: no one is going to want to share their audience with us. Today, I want to show you how false that belief really is.
In my last post, I told you about the most important, powerful, and reliable traffic building strategy that exists. One that the top content marketers and top content marketing companies use.
It’s the strategy of borrowing an audience instead of trying to create one completely on your own.
You see, the thing that stops so many companies from implementing this strategy, which in turn causes them to miss out on a lot of traffic to their site, is this simple thought…
It’s because every content creator has a never-ending need for more and more content. That’s why they are looking for people to create it for them.
That’s why they would let you borrow their audience.
If you can come up with a way to help them with this problem, and at the same time satisfy their audience, they’ll gladly let you create content for them. Not just once, but over and over again.
You just need to make sure that when you create content for their audience that you do two things:
You need to create great content that their audience needs and wants.
You need to make sure that you don’t try to overly promote your own company, product, or service.
If you do those two things, then they will let you borrow their audience. Who are these mythical people, websites, and organizations who will share their audience (aka traffic with you?
They’re actually everywhere.
Where to Find the Audiences (aka Traffic) That You Can Borrow
You might not believe this, but there are so many different types of audiences that you can borrow from. You’re really only limited by your imagination.
Let me give you a list of some of the places where you can go looking for audiences to borrow:
Blogs
Websites
Podcasts
YouTube channels
Local or online magazines
Local newspapers
Local radio
Local TV
Even local associations and clubs (speaking is a form of content)
And the list goes on…
Hopefully, this list gets your creative juices flowing and inspires you to think of even more places.
Now that your false belief has been corrected, there’s only one thing keeping you from beginning to capture and drive more traffic to your content.
Action. You just need to go out and approach some of these potential traffic sources and see if they’d be interested in letting you or your company create content for them.
Stay Tuned
In my next post, I’ll share an example or two of how I’ve successfully implemented this strategy in the past and how it increased my audience.
A Favor
If you liked this article, can you do me a favor? Any of these things would be appreciated:
Share this with your friends, followers, or colleagues
Link to it (where relevant) from the content you create
Anyone who uses content marketing is continually trying to answer two nagging questions:
How do you increase the traffic to your content?
How do you get free traffic?
Well, today I’m going to answer both of these questions for you.
I’m going to do that by showing you one of the most important, powerful, and reliable traffic building strategies that exists.
You’re about to learn a traffic building strategy that’s not only used by the top content marketers and top content marketing companies, but it has also been used for over a century.
I’ve already come up with a bunch of content marketing ideas — and I’ve only read the first 27 pages!
Anyway, one of the lessons that I discovered, or more accurately rediscovered, was a lesson that is an important one for any company using content marketing.
It’s an important lesson on finding an audience for the content your company (or the company you’re creating content for) produces.
In other words, it’s a lesson on how to consistently drive more traffic to your content. Consistent traffic and ROI producing content doesn’t come from driving random traffic to your site. It comes from building an audience.
Without an audience, your content will have no lasting impact. It won’t produce any lasting and reliable results.
Two Ways to Build an Audience for Your Content
There are two ways to find an audience for your content:
Build one
Borrow one
Building your own audience is very important, but it takes a very long time to do. It also can cost you a lot of money.
So what can you do? While you’re slowly building your audience, you’ll also want to begin borrowing one.
What do I mean by “borrowing an audience”? I mean finding ways to get your content in front of an audience that someone else has already created.
In the early days of Charles Dickens’ career, that’s exactly what he did. He didn’t try to build his audience from scratch.
He borrowed the audience of the magazines of his day by writing (creating content) for them. When he did this, something magical happened:
It was through the process of writing for these publications that Dicken’s found his voice and honed his writing skills.
It was by writing for these publications that he slowly began to make a living as a writer (aka content creator).
And it was because of the audience that he borrowed from these publishers over the years, that he was ultimately able to build his own audience that purchased his books.
The same things can happen to you and/or your company when you begin to focus on borrowing an audience.
Your content will become better.
You’ll discover ways to actually make money from the content marketing you’re creating. (Yes, that’s an additional revenue stream.)
You will ultimately build an audience that will give you access to people who want to purchase the solution that you’re offering.
Why Some Content Marketing Doesn’t Work
Besides the fact that so much content that’s created these days is too generic, there are three reasons that so much of the content produced by so many companies fails:
No one ever sees it or consumes it. In other words, the company has no traffic or no consistent traffic.
The wrong people (aka wrong prospects) see the content. (That’s a topic for another post.)
The company producing the content is only focusing on the slowest and most expensive way to generate traffic: building it from scratch.
When these things happen, it causes most companies to give up before the results come.
Why? Because they run out of money in their content marketing budget or their senior leadership runs out of patience waiting to see results.
If you want to want to drive more traffic to your content quickly and at no cost, you need to begin asking this question: Who already has the audience we’re wanting to reach?
Stay Tuned
In my next post, I’ll answer this question that’s probably on your mind:
Why would anyone let me borrow their audience?
A Favor
If you liked this article, can you do me a favor? Any of these things would be appreciated:
Share this with your friends, followers, or colleagues
Link to it (where relevant) from the content you create
I saw that the movie The Man Who Invented Christmas is on Hulu. That reminded me of some important content marketing lessons that I wrote about on one of my other websites back in 2017.
I think the lessons are still really important, so I want to share them with you here…
How Dickens Accidentally Helped Make Christmas Popular
Today, I want to show you how Dickens helped to make popular one of the most beloved holidays in the United States: Christmas.
And I want to show you how he did this by unintentionally taping into the power of content marketing.
In fact, as you’re about to discover, he wasn’t really intending to promote Christmas, but something else much nearer and dearer to his heart.
Today, I want to tell you how he did this. In the process, I want to reveal some important content marketing lessons that we can learn from Dickens.
And it all starts with a movie that I didn’t plan on watching.
(In case you’re worried, there are no real “spoilers” about the movie in this post!)
Movie – The Man Who Invented Christmas
The Great Movie We Didn’t Plan on Seeing
It was the day before Thanksgiving and all through the house… Oh, wait. Wrong story. (Sorry! I couldn’t resist.)
But it really was the day before Thanksgiving. My wife and I, and our three sons, were all getting ready to see Thor Ragnarok.
My sons and I had already seen it, but we wanted to take my wife to see it, because we thought she would love it. (She loves to laugh. We love to hear her laugh.)
But we made a fatal error.
We didn’t think we had to show up that early to a 3:30 pm showing of the movie because it was the day before Thanksgiving, the movie had been out for a while, and we thought many people would still be working.
We were wrong.
When we got there, 10 minutes or so before it started, we found out that the only seats that were left were in the front row. We didn’t want to do that, so we asked them what other movies were playing soon.
Both of the movies were ones we had thought about watching at some point — before we were forced to make this choice —so we thought for a second and decided that we wanted to see a more light-hearted movie.
So, we chose The Man Who Invented Christmas.
The Man Who Invented Christmas – Official Trailer
I had seen the trailer, and I thought it could be good. But I wasn’t sure if it would be cheesy.
Well, it wasn’t cheesy at all!
In fact, I really loved the movie.
I thought that the screenwriter (Susan Coyne) and director (Bharat Nalluri) did a REALLY great job at presenting a story that we all know in a new, entertaining, and very emotionally powerful way.
But it was what the movie revealed about how Dickens inspired the holiday of Christmas, as we know it today, that gave me the inspiration for this post.
Let me explain…
How Charles Dickens Unintentionally Harnessed the Power of Content Marketing to Make Christmas Popular
Image of Dickens’ original “A Christmas Carol” book via Wikipedia
Preface to the Original Edition A Christmas Carol
I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.
Their faithful Friend and Servant, C. D. December, 1843.
—
After watching the movie and researching Charles Dickens, I discovered that the way that we think about and celebrate Christmas is NOT the way it was in Dickens’ day.
In Dickens’ era, Christmas was not the popular holiday it is today.
Christmas was a second-class holiday in many peoples’ minds. Easter and Boxing Day were much more popular in that day and age.
It had been popular up until the late 1700s, back when people actually took 12 days to celebrate it. (Remind you of a certain song?)
By Dickens’ time, all of the old traditions and ceremonies had faded away.
It wasn’t a joyful time of the year. There were no decorations, carols, etc. People weren’t walking around with a sense of “the Christmas spirit.”
But Dickens loved Christmas. He had an affection and nostalgia for it.
Why? Because when Charles was young, his father used to celebrate it, in the old ways that people used to, with Charles and his siblings.
Still, his purpose for writing the book wasn’t really to make Christmas popular.
He had a much more basic and urgent need on his mind.
The Great Charles Dickens… Broke?
Original copy of Dickens’ “Oliver Twist”
Charles needed money!
He had written several flops after the huge success of Oliver Twist.
He had many large expenses, a fifth child on the way, and his payment checks from his publisher were lagging. (Things haven’t changed much, have they? 🙂 )
So he NEEDED to write another book and it had to be a good one. His family’s survival depended on it. But the inspiration for the book wasn’t to make Christmas popular.
He had a much more personal interest that he wanted to encourage/promote.
You see, he had gone to Manchester to deliver a speech in support of adult education for manufacturing workers there.
And when he saw the poor conditions of the children at the Field Lane Ragged School (a school for the poor), he remembered his own difficult childhood.
These events inspired him to go back home and write a story set during the Christmas season. A story about a struggling lower class family and a rich man who has a change of heart.
You see? His main goal – besides making money so his family wouldn’t be in the poorhouse themselves – was to have his readers walk away with a different view of and concern for the poor.
And he hoped that setting the story during Christmas would inspire his readers to become like the renewed and changed Scrooge at the end of the story.
(The way the movie portrays the process of coming up with this story is great!)
The Amazing Reception for “A Christmas Carol”
Scrooge passing out toys
The public’s reaction to the book was unbelievable!
The book was released during the Christmas season of 1843 and it became an instant bestseller in England and eventually in the U.S. as well.
Charles Dickens would go on to gain so much fame from A Christmas Carol that he was like “The Beatles” of his day.
Now, I am NOT saying that his book is the only reason that Christmas became so popular and adored. There were other factors too.
But Dickens had such an influence on Christmas and was so connected to the holiday that when he died in 1870, it is said that when a young girl heard of his death she asked her mother…
“Mr. Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?”
CONTENT MARKETING LESSON #1:
Stories, the Secret Weapon of Powerful Content Marketing
Think about it.
If Dickens had just written a book about the plight of the poor in England and the need to care for them, the book would’ve never become a bestseller and the well-known work it is today.
But instead of just writing directly about the need to care for the poor, he wrapped the idea behind the veil of a powerful, relatable story.
Don’t miss the importance of this fact. In a great book called Winning the Story Warsby Jonah Sachs, he gives an interesting perspective about how stories have the power to persuade…
Stories are a particular type of human communication designed to persuade an audience of a storyteller’s worldview.
“The storyteller does this by placing characters, real or fictional, onto a stage and showing what happens to these characters over a period of time.
“Each character pursues some type of goal in accordance with his or her values, facing difficulty along the way and either succeeds or fails according to the storyteller’s view of how the world works.”
“Your brain enters and experiences stories! Your brain can ignore dry facts. It passively takes in data and stats. But when you tell a story (if you tell it well), then the brain wakes up and plays along!”
In other words, when you speak to people’s intellect you make them think. But when you speak to their heart, you inspire them to act!
Because Dickens wrapped his ideas up in stories, they not only changed peoples’ minds about the poor, they also changed their attitudes and hearts about the poor.
This caused them to see that Christmas (the time of the year when the book was released) was the best time to DO something about their new feelings and concerns for the poor!
A Strange Example from My Own Life
Recently, I watched a documentary about writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, the actual creators of Superman.
It told the story of their struggle to gain back their rights (and income) to the character they created for DC comics.
It was so heart-wrenching to see these guys try to get just a small piece of the financial rewards for their character, while they lived an almost penniless existence.
In the end, it was so rewarding to see that decades later they were awarded by Warner Bros. (the then owner of Superman) a significant amount of money to be paid to them annually until their deaths.
What does this have to do with the way that stories and feelings inspire us to act? Nothing at this point in my story.
It’s what happened next that shows the impact of this story in a very strange way.
After I watched the documentary, I went online to look something up. As I did, I ended up being led to Wikipedia and I found this message…
In case you can’t read it from this image, it says…
TITLE: We ask you, humbly, to help.
Hi reader in the U.S., it seems you use Wikipedia a lot. This Friday we ask you to protect Wikipedia’s independence. It’s December 1, we haven’t hit our goal, and time is running out in 2017 to help us. We depend on donations averaging $15, but fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $3, the price of your Friday coffee, you would help keep Wikipedia thriving for years. Please take a minute to keep Wikipedia growing. Thank you. — Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia Founder
I’ve never given to Wikipedia before.
In fact, I have never even wanted to give to them before.
But after seeing the story of those two creators not getting the money due them, I saw a similarity in Jimmy Wales’s request.
I have gotten a lot of benefit from Wikipedia over the years, but Jimmy never got anything from me in return.
The story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had impacted my emotions and so I decided to give.
And I decided to not just give $3. I decided to give $15. The amount isn’t an impressive amount. I only mention it because it was the higher amount they were asking for, not the minimum they were asking for.
Why did I do that? That’s how much of an emotional impact the story of the creators of Superman had on me!
It had so much impact that I gave to someone else who also seemed to be in a similar place. Because I didn’t want to be like DC Comics acted back in the day.
Did you catch that?
Their story had bled into the reality of my OWN life! I felt I was acting like DC Comics formerly acted. That made me want to change my ways.
Do you get it now? THAT’S what Charles Dickens’ story did.
People didn’t want to be like Scrooge (before his transformation), so they responded in the real world to the poor (and each other) with care and compassion.
It didn’t just change their attitudes about the poor. It changed their attitudes about Christmas… and it is still impacting people’s hearts today.
That’s the power that stories have!
Too many content marketers focus too much on getting the facts across and forget to share stories that will make those facts have more impact!
The Types of Stories You Can Use in Your Content Marketing
There are many different types of stories that you can use in your content marketing
Stories from others (like this one)
Personal stories from your own life or from individuals within the company you are creating content for (like my Superman story)
Your business’s origin story
Customer stories
Case studies
Just make sure that when you tell these stories that you make sure to do it like a storyteller would and not like an analyst would (no offense to analysts!).
CONTENT MARKETING LESSON #2:
Form Impacts and Increases Function
There is one last thing I learned AFTER watching this film. And this lesson has nothing to do with Charles Dickens himself or even his story “A Christmas Carol.”
It has everything to do with the movie – the story about him.
The book came out in 2011, but I have never heard of it!
What is the lesson that content marketers can learn from this?
It’s simple.
Never imprison your content in only one format! When you do, you limit its audience and impact.
That means that you need to remember to repurpose your content so that you can extend its reach and the reactions it causes in people.
A book reaches a smaller amount of people than a movie does. Not only that, but the impact of reading a story is different from seeing it acted out before you.
When they took the story from the book and transformed it into a movie, it changed its influence.
The wisest and most successful content marketers have always understood something. They know that each form of content has a different level of impact, reaches a different audience, and even has a different perceived value to each audience.
If you want an example, think of how people value movies over books. You can see this difference in value when you look at the typical box office earnings of a blockbuster movie and compare that to the earnings of a typical best selling book. The movie makes much more money because more people value movies than books.
In case you’re worried, your new format won’t take away the value or impact of the old format. The truth is that new formats can actually impact the original format in very positive ways. Let me show you what I mean…
Do you understand what that means? It means that the story of Dickens’ impact on Christmas, in the form of a movie, has positively impacted the sales of the book!
(I know this personally because I went ahead and put the book on my Amazon Wishlist.)
That’s why you must free your content from the limits of only residing in one content form! When you do this you will see amazing new results through your new form of the content and your original form.
I don’t think that Charles Dickens ever meant to change how people thought of and celebrated Christmas during his day.
And he could never imagine influencing people 174 years later who lived on another continent!
But that is the power of content marketing that’s infused with stories or veiled in a larger story. It can have a huge impact, even when used unintentionally.
If that true when it’s used unintentionally, then just think of the impact it can have when you use the combination of content marketing and stories intentionally!
Read the Rest of This Series
After posting this, I finally began to read the book I mentioned in this article. That lead me to build a whole traffic building series off of what I read in chapter one.
P.S. If you haven’t downloaded my free guide, The Content Marketer’s Ultimate Guide to Creating Content That Captures the Short Attention Spans of Today’s Readers, you should do that right now. It reveals how you can use a literary technique that Dickens used to become famous, then you go do that by clicking here.
NOTE: The post you’re about to read originally appeared here on my site RecessionSolution.com back on July 1, 2015.
Boudin Bakery in San Francisco
The Surprising Lesson From a Bakery
We had some friends visiting San Francisco from Washington, DC, so we went up to spend time with them.
We saw a lot of things I haven’t seen, even though I’d lived 30-40 minutes from San Francisco for most of my life.
One of the places we saw went to was the Boudin Bakery on Fisherman’s Wharf.
While we were there, I learned some interesting things about the bakery that I didn’t know.
And in the process, I learned some important lessons that apply to content marketing.
Here are some of the things that I learned:
Boudin Bakery was started in 1849 by a French baker named Isadore Boudin.
He came to San Francisco and started his bakery in North Beach because of the Gold Rush population boom that had happened the year before.
It is the oldest bakery in the West.
It’s one of the oldest businesses in San Francisco.
He used a traditional European technique of capturing natural yeast found in the air for his “mother dough”.
They still use the same “mother dough” to this day!
The 171-Year-Old “Mother Dough”
Boudin Bakery 1849
Did you hear what I said?
Boudin still uses the same “Mother Dough” that they first used back in 1849.
Isidore captured the original yeast from the air 171 years ago and he was happy with it. It produced a flavor in the bread that was pleasing to him.
So instead of trying to capture the yeast again and trying to duplicate it, he did what bakers have done for thousands of years: he kept part of that original “mother dough” to use in the next batch.
That is how Boudin Bakery has continued to produce consistently delicious bread for all these years!
They don’t start completely from “scratch” with each new batch.
They always begin with a part of Isidore Boudin’s original dough.
The original dough is replenished daily with flour and water, so that the strains of yeast that he captured way back in the 1800s can continue to survive and can be used to make another loaf of bread today and tomorrow.
The Secret of Today’s Publishing Empires
Effective content marketing comes from two things.
It comes from using a powerful content marketing strategy and from utilizing great content.
What you need to realize is that people who produce great content and harness effective content marketing strategies hardly ever start from “scratch.”
They almost always have some sort of “mother dough” that they use as a “starter”.
But you need to understand that this doesn’t just apply to content marketing strategy.
It also applies to content marketing creativity.
That means that if you want to come up with new ideas for your content marketing,you don’t have to try to come up with them out of the blue.
Great Content
Let me explain by sharing with you a practice that copywriters have been using for decades.
Years and years ago copywriters learned a powerful secret to creativity.
Instead of starting from scratch every time they wrote an new ad, they discovered that it was better to use a previously written successful ad and use it for inspiration and ideas.
They created what became known as a “swipe file,” which was a file of copywriting that had already proven to be effective.
They would look over the samples that they gathered in this swipe file and use them to unlock ideas and inspiration for any and all new copywriting ideas.
What I am trying to get you to see is that the way to come up with the best content marketing ideas is not to start from scratch every single time.
The best way to come up with content marketing ideas is to use some sort of “Content Marketing Swipe File” as your “mother dough.”
The Way That Leads to Effective and Consistent Results
The Boudin Bakery has successfully produced amazing sourdough bread for 171 years, because they use the same “mother dough” that produced the first amazing loaf.
If you want to produce effective content marketing, then you must do the same thing.
Don’t start completely from “scratch”. That’s too risky.
Instead use a portion of the “mother dough” from a strategy or idea that has already proven itself to be effective.
Then add your own ingredients and twists to it.
That is how you consistently produce great content marketing.
Want to know the secret to selling more? Are you sure?
Because it’s so obvious that it almost seems like a joke. But it really is how/why some people and businesses sell so much and others sell very little.
Here is the secret to selling more…
Gary Halbert Quote on Selling
“Sell people what they want to buy!”
― Gary Halbert, The Boron Letters
That’s it. If you want to sell more, then sell what people want to buy. I warned you it would sound stupid.
The Uncomfortable and Difficult Way to Market
But the fact is that so many times we start with the premise that we need to convince people to buy something they don’t want to buy.
That makes us feel uncomfortable. And that makes our task very difficult.
But what if we started with the premise that Gary gave us?
The Ideal Prospects
That would change things in a drastic way. Here are just a few of the ways they’d change:
We’d start our SEARCH by only looking for people who are looking for what we offer and/or who would want the solution we provide.
We’d come up with ways to ATTRACT those people so that we could offer them what they’re looking for and wanting.
We’d be so much more CONFIDENT and COMMITTED in marketing to them and selling to them, because we would know we have what they want.
Imagine not only how different you’d feel, but imagine how more effective you’d be?
And that’s just the beginning.
Decide today that you will make the simple and powerful truth that Gary revealed your strategy and focus.
If you do, come back some time and let me know how things change.
In the meantime, here’s the quote if you’d like to share it with others…
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I want you to hear it because it reveals a way that I believe you can use to change the results that you’re experiencing in your marketing and therefore, your company.
Let me share Michael’s story and then I will explain how it applies to marketing.
“When I was twenty-nine years old, I became vice president of marketing for Thomas Nelson. It was a huge step up in my career.
“At the time, I thought I had arrived at the pinnacle of success. But I was in over my head. Or at least that’s the way it felt. I was just waiting for other people to come to the same conclusion.
“I struggled constantly with anxiety and fear—anxiety was the daytime version; fear was the nighttime version. This manifest itself in my body in two embarrassing ways:
“First, I sweat profusely. Second, my hands were always cold—ice cold.
“Before attending important meetings, I would wear two t-shirts, hoping that I wouldn’t sweat through both. I strategically selected my clothing, based on which colors would show the least amount of perspiration.
“I would also step into the bathroom right before the meeting began, and frantically run hot water over my hands.
“I would then dry them vigorously, praying that they would warm up. I dreaded having to shake hands with anyone.
“At some point, I realized that the problem was not in my body, but in my head. I was telling myself a bad story… Mine went like this:
‘You are too young for this job. Worse, you don’t have the experience. Who do you think you are fooling? It’s just a matter of time before everyone in the company sees it. When that happens, you will be out on the street—right where you should have been all along.’
“I would never say this out loud, of course. It was just the sound-track that was playing inside my head.
“Things didn’t change until I became aware of the story and took control of the narrative.I started telling myself a different story.
“I think almost every problem we experience can be traced back to the stories we tell ourselves.
“There may be a good reason for these stories, but in the end they produce bad outcomes. It comes down to this: Change your story, change your life.
Michael’s story is about changing your life, and I’d encourage you to read the rest of his post to discover Michael’s “five lessons to change the narrative in your head” when you’re done with this post.
But today, I want to talk to you about how the story we tell ourselves about marketing impacts: how we think about marketing, how we feel about marketing, and, worst of all, what we can accomplish with our marketing or marketing strategy.
You see, the stories we tell ourselves about what marketing is, what it can accomplish, how to market effectively will ultimately determine whether our marketing is effective or not.
Examples of Negative Stories About Marketing That Non-Marketers Tell Themselves
Marketing doesn’t work. If you tell yourself this story about marketing, you won’t try marketing. Or you’ll try it halfheartedly and, therefore, you’ll continue believing this story.
Marketing is magical and mysterious. If you tell yourself this story about marketing, then you’ll only believe that marketing can be done by the gurus and the wizards. You’ll think that a mere mortal like you can never do it effectively.
Marketing is complicated and difficult. If you tell yourself this story about marketing, then you will be intimidated and overwhelmed by it. You’ll be stressed and worried every time you try any marketing.
Marketing is sleazy and manipulative. If you tell yourself this story, about marketing, then you’re going to feel guilty every time you do marketing of any kind. You will be apprehensive about trying to encourage anyone to buy whatever it is that you’re offering.
Marketing is expensive. If you tell yourself this story about marketing, then you’re going to never see the ROI that marketing can bring you. You’re only going to see it as an expense. And that’s all you’re going to look for.
Marketing can solve all of your problems. If you tell yourself this story about marketing, then you’re going to be sadly disappointed. Because there are some problems that marketing can’t solve.
The problem with all of the above stories is that none of them are really true. They’re all marketing fairy tales.
The Truth About Marketing
Marketing does work if it’s done effectively. In fact, as I used to tell my marketing students at UC Berkeley Extension, you might be using marketing and not even realize it.
Marketing isn’t magical and doesn’t need to be mysterious. It is based on proven and tested principles that have bee around for over 100 years. (You can learn these principles on this site and in our member’s area.
Marketing isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. (If you’d like a free consultation to see if we should work together to simplify your marketing, then contact me.)
If marketing had to be sleazy and manipulative in order to work, I wouldn’t be involved in it. You don’t believe anyone who tells you it has to be that way.
Marketing can be expensive, but there are plenty of ways to use it on a tight budget. If you market correctly, it will produce enough ROI to make it cost-effective for you.
Marketing can’t solve all of your problems. If your product or service is not good, or if you’re trying to sell them to the wrong prospects, then no marketing will ever help you.
You will never be able to market effectively, if the stories that you’re telling yourself about marketing are just fairy tales.
Examples of Limiting Stories About Marketing That Marketers Tell Themselves
Marketers aren’t immune to having problems that stem from the stories they tell themselves about marketing. But instead of telling themselves false stories, they tell themselves limiting stories.
Here are some of the limiting stories that marketers tell themselves about marketing:
Marketing is all about analytics.
Marketing is all about creating desire.
Marketing is brand awareness.
Marketing is a numbers game.
The problem with the stories on the above list is that some are only partially true and others are only based on one facet of marketing.
None of the above things are really what marketing really is at its core.
If the stories that you tell yourself about marketing are only partially true, or based on only one facet of marketing, then you will never be able to accomplish all that’s possible with your marketing.
The only way for non-marketers to be able to market effectively and the only way for marketers to accomplish more of what’s possible with their marketing is by doing what Michael Hyatt said: Change your story.
About two years ago, I came up with a different analogy for marketing than one I’ve ever thought of before.
That analogy changed the story that I had been telling myself about marketing for almost two decades.
If you’re curious, I came up with it after reading something in a book by an economist. (I never read these types of books.)
Anyway, because I was getting ready to teach my first marketing class for UC Berkeley Extension, I decided to come up with my own personal definition of marketing based on this analogy.
I think that this analogy and the personal definition for marketing that I’ve come up with could rewrite the story that you’ve been telling yourself about marketing.
Discover a Different Way to Think About Marketing
Most people don’t really know what marketing is.
They think it’s advertising, but it’s not. Advertising is a part of marketing, but marketing is more than advertising.
That’s why people have such a difficult time trying to market effectively. How can you do something effectively, if you don’t know what it really is?
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein
Have you been wondering about what kinds of content you should or shouldn’t create during the Coronavirus?
Or have you ever wondered if you should be creating any content at all?
After you read it, I think you’re going to be more excited about your purpose as a content creator or content marketer.
Because the answer about the types of content you should create during this time won’t just give you content marketing ideas, it will give you inspiration.
Your Mission: Become the Voice of Hope for Your Audience
What you’ll learn in my post on ContentMarketingInstitute.com is that you don’t need to worry about if you should be creating content during this time.
Yes, you should be. You no longer need to worry about what type of content to create.
If the content you want to create will give your audience hope about the present and their future, then you should publish it with confidence.
Not only does my post about John’s SGN story reveal the type of content to create in a Coronavirus world, but there are also several things you’ll learn about how to create this type of content.
But there’s something that I didn’t mention in that post, that I want to share exclusively with all of you here…
In case you think that John just got lucky with this message of hope during this unique time, you’re wrong. This desire for a message of hope during a difficult time isn’t new.
The fact is that through SGN John stumbled upon a universal need and truth that has been true long before any of us were around. Let me give you two examples:
During World War I, after a British battalion stationed in the front line at Ypres, Belgium, came across a printing press abandoned by a Belgian, they decided to print a satirical newspaper for the troops called The Wipers Times. It became a source of hope and humor for the troops. (You can see a great movie about this on Amazon.)
During World War II, USO overseas shows began with a tour of the Caribbean. According to Wikipedia, “Within five months 36 overseas units had been sent within the Americas, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and during 1942 1,000 performed as part of 70 units.” As most of you know, the USO shows also became a source of hope and humor for these troops too.
You see? This means that this lesson isn’t just important for this strange season of life.
It’s a strategy that you should keep in your playbook for now, after this pandemic, and for the next time the economy or world is thrown into chaos.
The Skill You Can Use Now and In the Future
That means that if you can learn to master the skill of creating content that’s full of hope, you’ll not only have an impact now but also in the future.
When times of difficulty and desperation come again — and they will — you’ll have the ability to not only inspire your prospects and customers, you’ll have the ability to change their lives and change your business.
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In honor of Juneteenth, I thought I share a post about one of my favorite inventors, George Washington Carver. But I believe that he was not only an incredible inventor, he was also a person who used content marketing in a very powerful way.
He started a “School on Wheels” and went out to farms so he could teach farmers how to revive soil by planting peanuts and sweet potatoes.
Not only did he do that, but after teaching them, he went to his lab to create markets for these plants and ended up inventing 300 uses for the peanut and 118 uses for the sweet potato.
You see, Carver used content marketing (through teaching/speaking) to not only revive the soil but also revive the economy as well.
This teaches us something important that we all need to understand.
Content Marketing Isn’t About Tricking People, It’s About Serving Them
Content marketing isn’t about manipulating people or tricking them into buying your product or service. It’s about helping people.
If you have a solution to their problems, if you have an answer to their unanswered questions, if you have a way to genuinely make their lives better, it’s your duty to reach them.
Not just so that you can make a sale or receive income, but so they can be helped.
Content marketing allows you to do this by being able to educate people and build a relationship with them, so they can see working with you(or purchasing your product or service) as a natural foregone conclusion.
That’s what content marketing is really about… or at least should be.
It reminds me of this well-known quote from Zig Ziglar, “You can have everything you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”
So along with all of the other important ingredients for creating effective content marketing, let me add this missing ingredient… sincerity.
Adding that unwritten and unseen ingredient could change others’ lives and yours in the process.
Here are two questions for you to focus on as you try to achieve this with your content:
What do my prospects need to know and understand so they can see greater results in their lives?
What do they need to know and understand before (or so that) the solution you’re selling can really help them?
Figure out how to answer those questions and then go and serve people with your content.
An Advertising Lesson from the Message General Booth Gave to Attendees of an International Convention?
I heard a story that said that many years ago the Salvation Army was holding an international convention and they had a problem.
Their founder, General William Booth, couldn’t attend because of physical weakness.
Unlike the technology we have available to us today, he couldn’t just call in or “be there” virtually during the conference via Zoom to present his message to the attendees.
Instead, he cabled his convention message to them. And what was the message he sent them?
It was just one word: “OTHERS.”
In just a minute, I’ll explain what this has to do with advertising during difficult times like the kind that the Coronavirus has brought us.
But first, let me remind you of what I shared in my last article on this same topic.
Previously on DRCM:How to Advertise During Difficult Times
I then shared some advice from a book that has sold over 8 million copies and that marketing greats have recommended: Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins.
Well, today I have some more advice on how to advertise during a recession like we’re in right now.
And that advice comes again from the same book and the same author.
More Advice How to Advertise During a Recessionfrom the Book Scientific Advertising
People Don’t Care About Your Product or Service
Remember what I said in my last article about this book.
In it, Claude Hopkins shared fundamental advertising lessons that he had seen work inside and outside all of those many years of recessions and economic downturns.
With that in mind, listen to the next important piece of advice he gives…
“Don’t try to be amusing. Money spending is a serious matter. Don’t boast, for all people resent it. Don’t try to show off. Do just what you think a good salesman should do with a half-sold person before him.
“Some advertising men go out in person and sell to people before they plan or write an ad. One of the ablest of them has spent weeks on one article, selling from house to house. In this way, they learn the reactions from different forms of argument and approach.
“They learn what possible buyers want and the factors which don’t appeal. It is quite customary to interview hundreds of possible customers.
“Others send out questionnaires to learn the attitude of buyers. In some way, all must learn how to strike responsive chords. Guesswork is very expensive.
“The maker of an advertised article knows the manufacturing side and probably the dealer’s side. But this very knowledge often leads him astray in respect to consumers. His interests are not their interests.
“The advertising man studies the consumer. He tries to place himself in the position of the buyer. His success largely depends on doing that to the exclusion of everything else.“
– Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
Do you see the now see why I said General Booth’s message contained an advertising lesson? Let me explain…
The Common Advertising Mistake In a Recession
You see, the common mistake most businesses make during or after a recession is that they study and focus mainly on their product.
As Hopkins said, this kind of thinking will only lead you astray from influencing your prospect or customer.
(*You might be able to occasionally get away with that outside of a recession, but not when we’re in one and people are holding on more tightly to their money.)
How to Advertise More Effectively in a Recession
That’s where General Booth’s message and Claude Hopkins message line up. The way to advertise more effectively during a recession is by focusing more on others.
Study the customer.
Put yourself in their shoes.
See things like they do.
Think like they think.
Feel what they’re feeling.
This is where effective advertising in (or outside of) a recession begins. Honestly, it’s where it ends too.
As Hopkins said, “Your success depends on it.”
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Many people are trying to figure out how (or if) to advertise during this time.
No one wants to be insensitive but businesses still need to make money, if they’re going to survive the economic impact that has come from the Coronavirus.
So what should a business do? Look at what others have done during similar times. Let me explain…
Many of us know there was a Great Depression, but many of us don’t know there was a recession from 1920-1921 also known as “The Forgotten Depression.”
Wikipedia describes the depression of 1920-1921 like this…
“The Depression of 1920–21 was a sharp deflationary recession in the United States and other countries, beginning 14 months after the end of World War I. It lasted from January 1920 to July 1921.”
– Wikipedia Definition of 1920-21 Depression
But that’s not all.
What you need to realize is that this depression wasn’t the only difficult economic time that people had experienced.
Recessions in the U.S.
There were MANY recessions before this forgotten depression:
The Recession in 1899-1900
The Recession in 1902-1904
The Panic of 1907
The Panic of 1910-1911
The Recession of 1913-1914
The Post World War I Recession of 1918-1919
The Recession of 1923-1924
You might be thinking…
“Who cares about all of these recessions? What does that have to do with whether (and how) I should advertise during this current economic downturn?”
I’m glad you asked. 🙂
A Legendary Advertising Book Reveals How to Advertise During an Economic Downturn
You see, a very famous advertising book was published just two years later in 1923.
IMPORTANT: That means it must have been written in 1922 and it must have been based on advertising that was used during the (then) most recent depression and all of those difficult years before.
What book am I talking about?
It’s a book that has sold over 8 million copies and that marketing greats like David Ogilvy, Jay Abraham, and others have recommended.
Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins
The book I’m talking about is Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins.
In that book, Claude Hopkins shared fundamental advertising lessons that he had seen work inside and outside all of those many years of recessions and economic downturns.
And what was his advice about advertising that he learned from all of these difficult economic times?
Listen to what he says and pay close attention…
“When you plan or prepare an advertisement, keep before you a typical buyer. Your subject, your headline has gained his or her attention.
“Then in everything be guided by what you would do if you met the buyer face-to-face. If you are a normal man and a good salesman you will then do your level best.
“Don’t think of people in the mass. That gives you a blurred view. Think of a typical individual, man or woman, who is likely to want what you sell.”
– Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
Claude Hopkin’s Two Tips for Advertising During Difficult Economic Times
Claude Hopkins revealed two powerful tips you can use to help you advertise during difficult economic times:
1.How you advertise during this time depends on WHO your typical buyer is.
That means you need to know who you’re trying to reach in the first place.
And that means that you should have ALREADY CHOSEN a target group that needs or wants what you’re selling (and has the money to purchase it).
But you need to also ask questions like: How are they doing financially during this time? Are they doing well, just ok, or poorly?
This is what’s going to determine how you advertise during an economic downturn or recession.
This is going to determine how you get their attention.
2. After you figure out the “who” and how you will advertise to get their attention, then everything you say in your ad is what you would say to them if you met them face-to-face.
Hopkins warns us NOT to think of them as just a mass of people. That will only give you a blurred view. Instead, we must sharpen our view. How?
To do that, Hopkins says you must create your ad based on what you would say if you met one of the people from this target group.
When you do these two things, you’ll not only create advertising that doesn’t offend the people you’re targeting, but it will also resonate deeply with them.
That is how you advertise during difficult times like we’re facing today. (HINT: It’s also how you advertise to them when everything is “back to normal.”)
STAY TUNED:38 Experts Share How a Business Can Survive and Prosper in a Recession
During the last two recessions (in 2002 and 2008), I interviewed 38 business, marketing, sales experts and got them to reveal how businesses can survive and even prosper in a recession.
The best part? I reread them both recently and 90% of the books are still very applicable to today.
Stay tuned.
I’m getting ready to drop a new podcast soon where I’ll share some of the things that these experts shared with me in those interviews.
(Plus, I’ll also be re-releasing both books as a package.)
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Effective content marketing needs direct response marketing.
Effective direct response marketing needs content marketing.
Instead of being in opposite camps, tossing stones at each other, content marketers and direct marketers should unite their powers and impact the marketing industry like never before.
Because, as I used to tell my marketing students at UC Berkeley Extension…
“Direct response is the foundation of all effective digital marketing (and really all effective, measurable marketing).
“And content marketing plays a key role in effective digital marketing. “
You see, over the many years that I’ve studied and been involved with marketing, I’ve realized these two interesting things:
The best content marketers and the most effective content marketing almost always taps into direct response principles.
The best direct response marketing and the most effective direct response marketing that I’ve ever seen has harnessed the power of content marketing.
A Case Study from a Direct Response Agency Making Old-School Marketers Proud
I tell you all of this so you’ll understand why I was so excited to come across a case study from SeQuel Response, which is a direct response agency headquartered in Minnesota.
I loved their case study because it shows how they used old-school direct response principles and created a successful Facebook ad campaign for a major public university.
I’d encourage you to check out their case study below, so you can see the great ad they created…
I discovered that this SEO expert’s secret to success isn’t just SEO. It’s his focus on building an email list. (If you haven’t read the post, you should now.)
Today I want to show you a short case study about the things that I’ve discovered that Brian has done to build a massive email list.
(This is only from my own observations, not from asking Brian anything.)
The First Thing You See: An Offer to Join His Email List
Brian Offer to Join His Backlinko Email
When you go to Backlinko.com, the first thing you’ll see is a picture of Brian and an invitation to sign-up for exclusive SEO tips via email.
Let’s me point out some things that I believe have helped this to work so well for him:
He uses a powerful headline that emphasizes the exclusive tips his email subscribers receive. This captures your attention and gives you a reason to sign-up.
He uses a testimonial from Kieran Flanagan, the VP Marketing at HubSpot. This uses an influencer to provide powerful proof of the value you receive as a subscriber.
He uses a big image of himself. This personalizes the list and gives you a visual representation of him waiting to share his tips with you.
He only asks for your email address in his sign-up form. This makes signing up for his list really easy.
Many people would stop there, but not Brian.
He does something to convince people who might not be convinced that signing up is really worth it.
The Second Thing You See: More Social Proof
If you saw the above offer for his list and decided to pass on it, you would scroll down and immediately see this…
Larry Kim’s Testimonial on Backlinko
And if you kept scrolling you’d see this…
John Jantsch’s Testimonial on Backlinko
Let’s look more closely at the additional proof that Brian provides here:
He includes the logos of the top websites that have featured him and his SEO insights.
He provides another testimonial from an influencer in the search marketing arena. He has a testimonial from Larry Kim, founder of MobileMonkey and Wordstream.
If that wasn’t enough, he provides a third testimonial from a marketing influencer. He gives us a testimonial from the marketer and author of the book Duct Tape Marketing, John Jantsch.
I would bet this additional proof has to make anyone who passed up joining his list stop and think…
“Can all of these industry leaders and websites really be wrong about him? Maybe I SHOULD sign-up for his email list?”
But let’s see what else Brian does…
The Final Thing You See: A Lead Magnet Offer
Brian doesn’t just make an offer to join his email list and then follow it up with a ton of social proof.
He goes even one step further.
At the bottom of the page, he offers people a guide in return for their email address. (This is known as a lead magnet because it is designed to attract email leads.)
Backlinko’s “SEO in 2020: The Definitive Guide”
And Brian is very smart about the type of lead magnet that he offers.
He makes sure that lead magnet has two things that all great lead magnets should have:
It’s closely tied to the type of content he offers his subscribers.
It is information that his audience considers very valuable.
By doing this, he has ensured that he will pick up additional email subscribers, people who might not have just signed up for his email list.
Before I go on, I just want to point this out.
Do you see how important Brian believes email marketing is? His WHOLE home page is committed to getting people to sign-up by email.
He doesn’t just do it halfheartedly. He puts in all of his effort to get the result he values the most: an email subscriber.
Do you put this much effort into getting an email subscriber?
What Happens After You Sign-up for His Email List or Ultimate Guide?
After you sign-up for his email list or SEO guide, you are taken to a page that asks for you to confirm that you want to be a subscriber.
Brian Dean’s Double Opt-In Page
This is a best practice that is used by many email marketers known as a “Double Opt-In.”
What’s the purpose of using a double opt-in?
This additional request helps increase the quality of subscribers to his email list and helps him to have a high-quality relationship with his subscribers.
What happens after you confirm that you want to be a subscriber or that you want to receive the guide?
Once you click the confirmation link in the email he sends you, then you’re taken to this confirmation page.
And if you signed up for his SEO guide, you’ll automatically be emailed an email with a link where you can download the guide...
Email That Brian Sends When You SIgn-Up for His SEO Guide
(IMPORTANT: Notice that it’s only AFTER you’ve become an email subscriber that he tries to get you to follow him on Twitter.)
Two Key Reasons These Methods Work so Well for Brian
In just a minute, I’ll share some tips on how you can begin applying these lessons so that you can begin growing your own email list.
Before I do that, I want you to understand something important.
The methods that Brian uses are methods that anyone can (and should) use.
But you need to realize that these methods work especially well for Brian for two key reasons:
1. The first reason is because he has proven in video after video that what he teaches is unique and powerful.
You must do the same thing if you want to grow a massive email list.
Your content doesn’t have to be video content. It can be audio or just text. But the key thing is that it must be interesting, different, and powerful content.
(Contact me if you’d like to learn more about how I can teach you to create content like this.)
2. The second reason is because he has become so well-known and has endorsements from top people in the industry.
You don’t have to have endorsements from industry leaders and publications when you start, but you can and should begin to capture any/all endorsements and testimonials that you can.
It’s ok if the endorsements aren’t from anyone well-known. Any social proof is better than none.
The point is to not just collect endorsements and testimonials. The key is to use them effectively like Brian does! (Did you notice how he used them in the above SEO guide email?)
Now that you’ve seen how Brian has built his list, let me give you some tips to get you started building your own email list.
Ask for people to subscriber to your list. Do it in the most powerful and creative way you can. By the way, if you like this post and want to see future posts, sign-up here. (*You’ll also occasionally receive other valuable content.)
But don’t just ask once. Ask repeatedly and in different ways.
And go beyond asking. Give them proof of why giving you their email address is a smart thing to do.
And finally, you should use a powerful email marketing tool so that you can automate the whole process of signing up for your list. What’s a good service? Well, Brian Dean and I both use a powerful and inexpensive service called Aweber.
*AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: I proudly feature affiliate links for some products that I love. It adds no extra cost to you, but enables me to earn a commission if you purchase. This is just one way I can continue to provide you with valuable information on this site.
P.S. After writing this post, I clicked over to Brian’s blog and guess what I found? You guessed it. Another effort to gather email addresses at the top of his blog. See for yourself…
“There are no original ideas. There are only original people.” – Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
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“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.” – Voltaire
Focus Your Originality on the “How”
Many content marketers and content creators stress out about trying to come up with unique content that no one has ever seen before.
Look. It’s important to have original ideas, so do your best to come up with as original ones as you can think of.
But the reality is that the chances of you coming up with a completely brand-new idea are pretty slim. As King Solomon said, “There’s nothing new under the sun!”
It’s also important to realize that HOW you craft and present your ideas is what really matters when it comes to originality.
Why? Because it’s the only real way for you to create anything that is new.
That means that your focus and concern should be more on your HOW than on your WHAT. What I am telling you is this…
If you like this quote, then please share it!
What Do I Mean by “How?”
You might be wondering what I mean when I say you should focus on the “How” and the most original presentation of your ideas that’s possible.
When I am talking about “How,” I am talking about things like:
Personality – The style you use to present your ideas
Stories you use
Examples you use
Structure – The order and way you present your ideas
Attitude – The tone you use to present your ideas
Perspective – The viewpoint you take or the angle you use to present your ideas
These six things will give you the chance to create content that will be perceived as original and that will stand out from your competition.
The Game-Changer
“He who resolves never to ransack any mind but his own will be soon reduced from mere barrenness to the poorest of all imitations: he will be obliged to imitate himself.” – Sir Joshua Reynolds in Discourses on Painting and the Fine Arts, Delivered at the Royal Academy
Think of the 80/20 principle when it comes to content creation.
Focus 20% of your time on coming up with original ideas (the WHAT) and focus 80% of your time on crafting and presenting those ideas in unique ways (the HOW).
When you focus the majority of your energy and creativity on being creative with HOW you present your content, then that will change everything.
You will be able to stop being tormented by the fear of originality and your content will begin to stand out in your market’s mind.
A Powerful Example of “How” in Action
I have a really powerful example that will show you how focusing on your “How” can make your “What” seem completely original and unique.
The first video below is one of Justin Bieber’s songs from 2015 called Love Yourself. Listen to at least the first 57 seconds of it…
Justin Bieber – Love Yourself Lyrics
Pretty catchy isn’t it? Ok, great.
Now that you have that melody in your mind, take a listen to the first 1:20 seconds of Postmodern Jukebox‘s version of the song in the video below…
Love Yourself – Vintage 1929 Postmodern Jukebox Justin Bieber Cover ft. Sara Niemietz
It sounds like a completely different song, but the words and underlying melody (the “What”) are the same!
How did they make it sound so unique? Postmodern Jukebox focused on the “how” more than on the “what”.
And the result is a song that sounds totally different, but just as catchy and original sounding.
Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that you use the same exact words and content as someone else.
That’s illegal and lazy.
But I wanted to show you these two videos to show you that if Postmodern Jukebox can take the exact words and basic melody of Justin Bieber’s song and make it sound totally different, then you don’t ever have to worry again about your content ideas not being 100% unique and one of a kind.
All you need to do is what Postmodern Jukebox did. Focus your creative energy on the “How” and your content will be a sweet original sound in your prospect’s and customer’s ears.
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.” ― Abraham Lincoln
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“All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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