Why: I am paying randomly for ad campaigns.
Goal: learn how to properly launch marketing strategy and measure returns.
Table of Contents
Action: Make a checklist for your marketing system.
3 Key Concepts
- Measure and know your key marketing numbers: leads, conversion rate, avg. Transaction value.
- When prospects see your ad, they should say, “Hey, that’s for me”: Niche enough.
- Nurture your leads: rather a farm than hunt.
The 1-PMP Summary
This book underlines the importance of having a system for your business. It is a crucial element to free business owners from the company itself. This time we focus on marketing and sales systems. Allan illustrates the marketing plan in 3 phases in 9 steps.
Before
1. My target market
2. My message
3. The media I will use to reach my market
During
4. My lead capture system
5. My lead nurturing system
6. My sales conversion strategy
After
7. How I deliver a world-class experience
8. How I increase the customer lifetime value
9. How I orchestrate and stimulate referrals
Marketing is the strategy you use for getting your ideal market to know you, like you, and trust you enough to buy from you.
Allan Dib
While doing business, you should cook your own recipe that works: layout the systems.
The goal is to create scalable and replicable systems.
Start by building your own checklist for each system.
- Marketing system: generate a consistent flow of leads.
- Sales system: lead nurturing, follow-up, and conversion.
- Fulfillment system: the actual thing you do in exchange for a transaction.
- Administration system: reception, account, tax, human resource, etc.
Next is to follow and track your result.
In this book, we focus on marketing key numbers.
- Leads: number of new interested people coming into your business.
- Conversion rate: percentage of leads that turned into paying customers.
- Average transaction value: average dollars per customer.
- Break-even point: the number of dollars to keep your door open (fixed cost).
Measure
Meaningful marketing activities must improve these numbers.
Marketing works or not: asking, “Is Customer Acquisition Cost less than Customer Lifetime Value?”
The other way: calculate Net Promoter Score – NPS to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction. By asking, “How likely would you recommend us to others?”
1-Page Marketing Plan
Before (audience = prospect)
1. My target market
Create an avatar of your target customer. Be your customer; think like them. The key is to get in their head. This reminds me of Mel Gibson in the movie “What Women Want,” where he can read women’s minds and market to women.
Use simple 5W1H to build your avatar profile. First, print their photo and put it on your table. Then, talk to the avatar while writing your sales copy! Haa, this is a piece of great advice, ain’t it?
2. My message to my target market
Allan urges newbies not to confuse themselves with mega-companies. Branding like Coca-Cola will get you nowhere. Instead, use Direct Response Marketing!
Write a sales copy an inch wide and a mile deep: niche and addressing many people.
Niche: Make your prospects go, “Hey, that’s for me.“
Besides, rehearse your Elevator pitch (30-90 sec) when you encounter prospects offline. It tells about your business concept (answer what?) and its value proposition (answer why?)
You know [Problem]?
Allan Dib *<> added by me
Well, what we do is [Solution].
In fact, [Proof].
<Do you want to try [Offer]?>
You might notice it follows the same structure as your sales copy.
3. The media I will use to reach my target market
The key question is, “where do my prospects hang out?” As you see, there are no universal means of communication here. Ignoring this, your prospect will not see your offer.
One classic circus analogy on marketing
- The circus comes to town and paints a sign “We’re coming”: Advertising
- Put a sign on an elephant and let it walk in the city: Promotion
- Local news about this elephant trekking in the city: Publicity
- If it makes the town mayor laugh: Public Relations
- If you show citizens, your booths and they buy tickets: Sales
- And if you plan this whole thing: you are doing Marketing.
During (audience = lead)
4. My lead capture system
The rookie’s mistake is to sell at first lead capture. Allan advises to push down our desire to close the deal and ruin the trust.
Instead, use the lead capturing system as an individual collection process. But, first, build the base audience interested in engaging with you.
At this point, you must have a Customer Relationship Management system.
It is the nerve center of your marketing. CRM will help you identify the leads’ profiles so that you can serve your customers according to their specific needs. Most effective kind of marketing: “Just for you.“
5. My lead nurturing system
With ads, you turn prospects into leads. Now nurture them by being their best consultant on the topic. Become an educator! Allan stressed that it is the best position to be in doing business. They will come to you for advice.
One simple way to start is to offer information that presents a solution to a problem they have. Write a blog, send newsletters, or best write a book and give it away. Yes, that is not easy, and it takes time.
6. My sales conversion strategy
Bad news: being sold feels bad. We all must realize that we start in the negative zone. Our leads are afraid of being scammed, to begin with. Especially small businesses must address this fear and deal with it actively.
Realize how much we hate risk and failure. Think of ice-cream tasting. It costs as little as 2 euros, and people wanna try it first before buying it.
Lesson: If you are selling anything more expensive than ice cream, you must consider their fear.
Risk reversal: address the risk with outrageous guarantee, state that should it fails to deliver its promises: you are the one to lose.
After (audience = customer)
7. How I deliver a world-class experience
Create a chance to exceed the expectation.
Shock and awe package: sending physical objects because it moves customers emotionally.
Ex. text message vs. hand-written letter.
8. How I increase the customer lifetime value
Here you should refer to the book by Rafi Mohammed, “The 1% Windfall.” It gives you all sorts of pricing tactics. The Key is to offer recurring subscriptions, return coupons, etc., and keep them active as long as possible.
9. How I orchestrate and stimulate referrals
Allan observes that one holds onto 250 people in private life. Looking at several people at a wedding, funeral, etc. The point is that the network is huge. To get referrals, we should
- Keep in touch regularly by email, newsletter, postcard, etc.: make a system for this.
- Make them look good talking about what you do: be clear on your Unique Selling Point – USP.
- Give benefit for inviting: similar to 2. point, make the introducer looks generous like giving a discount, free trial, coupons, give-away, etc. to new people.
Check USP: “why should they buy from you and not the nearby store?”
Allan practices what he preaches: it is this compiled strategies book. He shows me how innovation is not always about a product. But also how it is priced, delivered, managed, marketed, packaged, and adapted to other customer experiences.
I was again lost in time diving into this book. So now, will I be at my 100 books reading challenge? Hahaha, we’ll see.
Goal check: I have an outline to write my marketing plan with key measurements.
Get this book on Amazon here!
Bonus: A rule of premium pricing
The premium version is priced at 50% above the standard version but offers 2x more value.