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Establishing a Productocracy - PULLing rather than PUSHing

Kruiser

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I find FB to be very useful for various business "groups." That is pretty much all I use it for. It is actually surprising when someone I know posts something personal and it makes it into my news feed.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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What did the ad say? "Please... won't you come back?"

Looked to be goodwill/institutional advertising, meaning, they know their reputation has taken some damage and they're trying to save face. Then a week later I saw something for their new gadget that spies on you in your home so they can sell you more pop-ads at Instagram. Yea, where do I sign up for that disaster?

Don't you like Zuck, MJ? Could I ask why?

The same reason why I don't like someone tracking my internet usage and then spying on my phone calls so they can tell me with an ironfist what I can and cannot say according to some virtue signalling Utopian worldview.
 

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Santi M

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TreyAllDay

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I always wonder what the right balance is here. I stress the crap out of myself thinking about marketing and SEO since we're a B2B product, we need to be found when people look. But having such an incredible product that the marketing handles itself - that's the goal.
 

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I noticed Facebook started advertising on major television markets. Guess that means the end of their productocracy. They never NEEDED to advertise before. And their stock is at a 52 week low. I only can hope it is the beginning of the end for Zuckerf*ck and company.

MARKED NOTABLE.

I'd say 75% of the fault lies with Zuckerfuck. The other 25% lies with the cultural/political climate that stifles free speech especially in most of California's cities. Zuckerfuck and the Facebook board caved in to them and refused to update their noxious and odious privacy/data collection procedures.

About a year ago, someone who worked for BlackRock told me, "Facebook is heading to $230 by the end of 2018." This is why you never listen to random people at family/friend's gatherings when they give their stock tips...
 
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Bekit

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  • I should be able to pre-sale my product before it's even available. Customers will want to buy early because of scarcity. (At least I think so... I'll let you know in a couple of months).
@amp0193 I would love to know how this turned out. Do you have a separate progress thread on the results you got?
 

amp0193

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@amp0193 I would love to know how this turned out. Do you have a separate progress thread on the results you got?

I pre-sold almost the whole container, yes.

What didn't pre-sell was sold in a week or two.

Next two containers were 50% pre-sold on arrival as well.

Progress thread wasn't updated in real time. But I did recently start one with a hindsight look over the last year. Link in signature. INSIDERS thread.
 

Bekit

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I pre-sold almost the whole container, yes.

What didn't pre-sell was sold in a week or two.

Next two containers were 50% pre-sold on arrival as well.

Progress thread wasn't updated in real time. But I did recently start one with a hindsight look over the last year. Link in signature. INSIDERS thread.

Awesome, thanks for sharing! That's inspiring.

When I become an INSIDERS, I'll check it out!
 
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Flo2018

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Great 1st post, for me it looks like a "detailed translation" of MJ's Productocracy from the book but I think that after 18 months not knowing what the product is/was and how it went on the market for the reader of this thread it's like driving a Lamborghini only in the 1st gear :)
 

B. Cole

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I noticed Facebook started advertising on major television markets. Guess that means the end of their productocracy. They never NEEDED to advertise before. And their stock is at a 52 week low. I only can hope it is the beginning of the end for Zuckerf*ck and company.

MARKED NOTABLE.

I'll be curious to see if the older demographic on FB begins shifting to other platforms, rides it out forever on FB like the diehard MySpacers, or if they abandon social media altogether. My target audience is easily reached on FB, definitely something to watch.
 

daru

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Discussion reminds me of this image:

http://blogs.ubc.ca/markgraham/files/2014/10/Google-Big-Brother.png

Google-Big-Brother.png


However bad Facebook is, I think Google is a disaster for privacy.
 
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amp0193

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Could you go more in-depth regarding pre-selling your product?

Get sample
Share a pic on instagram every day, using relevant hashtags
Share with influencer who makes a tweet
3 months in advance, run a 30% off sale.
Use that money to pay factory balance.
2 months in advance, run a 15% off sale.
1 month in advance, at retail price, and count down the number of units left on social media.

It helps if your product is worth waiting for.
 

jon.M

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Google-Big-Brother.png


- Use DuckDuckGo — Privacy, simplified.
- Switch from Google Chrome to Firefox or another more private browser, activate the "Do not track me" setting.
- Ditch Gmail & Outlook
- Switch from Windows OS to Linux
- Put some electric tape over your webcam for good measure.
 
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focusedlife

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Even though this is an older thread, I'm still glad I came across it.

Yeah, noticed the FB TV ads, too, but never considered it was because FB was on the decline.

I once heard Perry Marshall talk about going narrow and then wide in your "Push" advertising, which was what I'd figured FB was doing.

Also, doesn't Google still send out direct mail discount coupons to try and get folks to use adwords?

I know they used to in the past.

Also @amp0193 - hows the progress coming along?
 

Champion

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Thanks for the nice overview and example from your own business!

One thing im wondering, since you said no1 else is selling the product that you are selling:

How long did it take until competitors entered the market? How is it currently going?

Best,
Champion
 

amp0193

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Still no change. Going great. Competitors will come, but they haven't yet. Meanwhile we're growing and going.

Wouldn't be surprised if there were some working on getting set up under the radar.
 
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AllenCrawley

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sonny_1080

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Bump

For those who haven't read Unscripted yet (and those who can use the reminder):

In the "7 P's of Process" the Productocracy (PULLing) comes after the PUSHing.

Steps 1-3 in the customer life cycle: awareness, on-boarding, and evaluation.

These fall under the push that precedes the Productocracy (PULLing). Steps 4-6 in the customer life cycle - use, engagement, and discipleship - fall within the Productoracy.

It's not a matter of pulling rather than pushing. It's a matter of both just in a chronological sequence.
 

sonny_1080

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@MJ DeMarco

I have a question about the customer life cycle in Unscripted .

The 4th stage is a purchase... but if I'm building a website that provides information, then monetizing said website via advertising, then the purchase of advertising is going to come after I get a big enough audience, right?

After making about $500 so far (and I haven't spent any money on advertising), but all of the income has not had any reorders... so that tells me I have to make the advertising more valuable — by getting a wider audience.

Going back to Unscripted (that's been my north star); the evaluation stage can be measured by website visits; onboarding metric is registrations; but what would purchases be if being applied to growing an audience?

I feel if I focus on growing the audience, the purchases for advertising will come.

Am I looking at this right way?

Or should I continue measuring by real advertising purchases?

Because to be honest, I haven't really been marketing at all for the last 6-8 months. Just doing updates focusing on improving the UI/UX.

Any feedback is helpful — thanks MJ.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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The 4th stage is a purchase... but if I'm building a website that provides information, then monetizing said website via advertising, then the purchase of advertising is going to come after I get a big enough audience, right?

After making about $500 so far (and I haven't spent any money on advertising), but all of the income has not had any reorders... so that tells me I have to make the advertising more valuable — by getting a wider audience.

Going back to Unscripted (that's been my north star); the evaluation stage can be measured by website visits; onboarding metric is registrations; but what would purchases be if being applied to growing an audience?

I have no idea. This is not a business model I would ever advocate. This sounds more like a content marketing strategy, not really a business model IMO. But generally speaking, the larger audience you build, the easier it will be to sell advertising. The CPM model doesn't seem to be very effective (banner advertising, "in your face" ads, etc.).
 

sonny_1080

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I have no idea. This is not a business model I would ever advocate. This sounds more like a content marketing strategy, not really a business model IMO. But generally speaking, the larger audience you build, the easier it will be to sell advertising. The CPM model doesn't seem to be very effective (banner advertising, "in your face" ads, etc.).
The offer is for providers to get access to advanced features on a subscription model — not CPM.

Do you advise against this?
 

MJ DeMarco

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The offer is for providers to get access to advanced features on a subscription model — not CPM.

Do you advise against this?

Then you have to demonstrate value in the free trial stage, worthy enough of a subscription. Do your customers say, "Wow, this is a great ROI" or "I can't go without this." In short, if they get customers from you, and clearly do, then it becomes a no-brainer. So yes, you'll need to drive traffic to create a critical mass that your subscribers view as integral to their business. So it is important that you document value to each person to compel a subscription. (We sent 410 people to your website and 42 leads to your company.)
 
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