What’s up, crew!
Today I’m speaking about getting the basics of marketing and advertising right.
”Instead of putting all the pressure on yourself to sell. Put the pressure on the process and allow the process to do the selling for you.”
This is such an important principle. Chew on it for a minute.
It’s so important to lead with value.
When you build value upfront, it’s as if you’re creating and adding to a “goodwill bank account.”
What many try to do is they try to sell to people when that bank account is empty. In many cases this leads to getting ghosted by great people who are no longer interested in engaging with you because they expected a better experience.
You add to this goodwill bank account through education.
I absolutely love molding (1) education with (2) experience into something called “online demonstration.”
Online demonstration - in short - is you proving that you are the right person to help solve a problem.
With so many options out there, of course your market will be overwhelmed in selecting an option. The goal is to get higher up on the consideration list.
You don’t need a fancy website, a podcast, or complicated funnels.
You need one addressable market, one unique offer, one acquisition process for new clients, and one traffic source. That’s it.
Resist the urge to complicate the process for yourself. It takes time and resources to develop long-term infrastructure. The mistake people make is that they want to build that infrastructure too quickly and it doesn’t work that way.
You build infrastructure in the right sequence. We’ve simplified this process into 3 steps:
- Attention
- Demonstration
- Monetization
Each step has its own nuances based on the market you want to reach.
The 3 components
You only need 3 components:
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A unique offer. Something to get your ideal clients to raise their hands to.
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A reliable way to get in front of the right audience. A process that produces more eyeballs on your offers.
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A reliable way to turn people into clients A process that gets ideal clients to take desired actions.
How to create a unique offer.
A terrible situation to be in is where you are working on a solution that no one wants in the first place. You’d be surprised as to how many people sit in this place.
They spend MONTHS and even YEARS developing a solution that has not been validated with the right market.
Here’s how to avoid this:
Your first 3-4 weeks is you exploring.
We call this a “feedback loop”. You’re producing feedback directly from the market on what they really care about.
You’re finding out what people in your market are actively looking for, what they think is nice to have, and the things that they need and will pay money for. This is HUGE.
This will release the pressure for you to sell — because you’re figuring out what the starving crowd really desires. It’s no longer a guessing game. It’s based on hard facts.
Here’s the process in steps:
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Step 1. Figure out what’s really holding them back and how long they’ve been struggling with the obstacle for.
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Step 2. Create a list of the top 10 problems they’re facing and list it according to how important they find each point. This will give you insight into priorities. You could also figure out how much each point is costing them.
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Step 3. Make an offer based on the top 3-4 problems.
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Bonus step — you could ALWAYS circle back with these people and let them know about your new offer. Let them know you’re creating a small group and invite them to join.
Here are the pitfalls:
Many business owners create products that THEY believe will sell. Then they try to validate the offer with their friends and family, and when they launch to market, it’s silent. From the start you go directly to the market you want to serve and you ask them. Be upfront that you’re doing your research.
How to build a primed audience
Phase 1. Go to a cold audience and let them know you exist. You can do this by creating valuable content or demonstration pieces (like an online workshop)
Phase 2. Getting them to engage with you and your content. They’re slowly starting to see what you are about and the value you provide
Phase 3. Getting them into a conversation and onto the phone
Listen to people. Provide them with feedback. Create relationships and an environment of collaboration.
The mistake is selling too early. Be cool. Educate people. Share cool things with them.
You are in essence building a list of people you have relationships with.
When a relationship has been established, you have flexibility over the OFFER.
How to get your audience to take desired outcomes
You use offers. There are direct and indirect offers.
Direct offers: Offers to work together professionally.
Indirect offers: Lead magnets and value driven consultations.
Remember. Keep your process simple.
Attention → demonstration → monetization.
Feedback: “I don’t know what to create content on.”
Your market has told you exactly what they care about during the research phase.
Create content on those exact topics. It could be:
- “How To” posts that teaches something useful
- Stories that teach simple lessons
- Video trainings etc
The whole point is to provide massive value that solves problems.
When you do this consistently, you’ll build trust and authority.
When trust and authority exists, you increase the chances that your offers are considered.
Onward and upward.
— Justin
Justin Booysen