Learning Direct Response Marketing (Strategies/Book Summaries/Case Studies)

[MTF]

Issue #1: Alex Hormozi's $100M Offers

I stumbled upon Alex Hormozi recently. He was repeatedly recommended by different experienced entrepreneurs, mentioning how legit he is and how valuable his stuff is.

At first I was skeptical but then I decided to watch his free course on his website and then read his book $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No (the course is a companion to the book but in itself it covers a lot of stuff from the book).

Here are my key takeaways from this book:

1. Make people an offer so good they would feel stupid saying no

This is the entire premise of the book (Alex calls these offers Grand Slam Offers). Creating an offer that's impossible to refuse is the key to stand out and succeed.

Compare A to B:

A: Pay an SEO agency $1000 a month to maybe make more from the traffic they'll hopefully drive to your website.

B: Pay an SEO agency NOTHING until they generate traffic for you that converts. You only pay for real customers they help you acquire. So if you say no to their offer, you're essentially saying no to risk-free money.

Assuming the B agency has credentials, you'd feel like a fool if you refused their offer. Learning how to craft such offers is the secret that has changed Alex's life.

2. Sell your product based on value, not on price

The worst business you can be in is one in which you can't differentiate yourself. It's a race to the bottom with no hope of lasting success.

To avoid being commoditized, an offer you present to the marketplace can't be compared to any other product or service available.

It has to combine an attractive promotion, an unmatchable value proposition, a premium price (super important, as a high price signals more value), and an unbeatable guarantee with a money model (payment terms) that allows you to get paid to get new customers. This makes you a category of one in which the prospect decides between your product and nothing (because there's no competition).

3. The right market is a starving crowd

If there's a ton of demand for a solution, you can be mediocre at business, have a terrible offer, and have no ability to persuade people, and you can still make money.

You never try to create demand. Your objective is to channel existing demand. It has to be in a market that is growing at least at the same rate as the marketplace and falls into improved health, increased wealth, or improved relationships.

When picking markets, focus on these four things:

• The degree of the pain is proportional to the price you'll be able to charge.
• Your audience needs to have money needed to buy your services at the prices you require to make it worth your time.
• You need an easy way to find people who belong to your market. If targeting them is difficult, it'll be difficult to get your offer in front of them.
• The market needs to be growing. It doesn't have to grow super fast and be sexy but it can't be a declining market (like newspapers).

The order of importance between markets, offers, and persuasion skills:

Starving Crowd (market) > Offer Strength > Persuasion Skills

In other words, a starving crowd beats everything else. If you're in a "normal" market, your offer strength will help you win. Lastly, if you offer strength isn't great, you'll have to rely on your persuasion skills (worst case scenario to be avoided).

4. Pick one niche and focus on it

Half-heartedly trying one offer in one market and failing doesn't mean that you're in a bad market. Don't hop from niche to niche. Keep creating offers for your chosen niche until you find something that works. Alex suggests committing yourself to creating a hundred offers (one will work and make you rich).

5. Riches are in the niches

You can literally charge 100x more for the exact same product as long as you target a very specific niche and present the product as tailored to them.

Compare a generic product on time management which you can sell for $19 and a highly targeted time management product for outbound B2B power tools and gardening sales reps which you can sell for $1997 because of how specific it is.

6. Charge so much it hurts

The consequences of lowering your price instead of raising it (along with offered value) are beautifully described in the book:

When you decrease your price, you . . . . . .

Decrease your clients’ emotional investment since it didn’t cost them much . . .

Decrease your clients’ perceived value of your service since it can’t be that good if it’s so cheap, or priced the same as everyone else . . .

Decrease your clients results because they do not value your service and are not invested . . .

Attract the worst clients who are never satisfied until your service is free . . .

Destroy any margin you have left to be able to actually provide an exceptional experience, hire the best people, invest in your people, pamper your clients, invest in growth, invest in more locations or more scale, and everything else that you had hoped in the goal of helping more people solve whatever problem it is that you solve.

In essence, your world sucks. And to make matters worse, your service probably sucks because you are squeezing blood from the proverbial stone. There’s just not enough money left over to make something exceptional. As a result, you fall in line with the armies of average businesses that race to the bottom. I’ve lived that life. It’s terrible. If you love your customers and your employees, please stop short-changing them when there is a better way.

7. The only way to be unreasonably successful is to have a big discrepancy between what something costs you and what you charge for it

You should charge far more for your product and services than it costs to fulfill it. Think up to a hundred times more, not just two or three times more. And it should still always be a steal for your client (because of the value you offer).

8. Perception is reality

The Grand Slam Offer becomes valuable only once the prospect perceives the increase in likelihood of achievement, perceives the decrease in time delay, and perceives the decrease in effort and sacrifice.

People pay for certainty (increased likelihood of achievement). How much would you pay to be a plastic surgeon’s 10,000th patient versus their first? You'd pay a lot more.

The faster you can deliver promised benefits, the more valuable your offer is (decrease in time delay).

The less effort and sacrifice is needed, the more appealing your offer is (decrease in effort and sacrifice).

9. Create flow first

With your offer, channel demand first. This means starting with an irresistible, done for you offer that may be hard to fulfill but that's easy to sell.

Compare selling an ebook with marketing advice for owners of massage studios vs physically visiting them and helping them implement all the advice. Alex likes to start by creating cashflow first (by overdelivering) and then fixing your operations and making your business more efficient:

I have always lived by the mantra, “Create flow. Monetize flow. Then add friction.” This means I generate demand first. Then, with my offer, I get them to say yes. Once I have people saying yes, then, and only then, will I add friction in my marketing, or decide to offer less for the same price.

Practicality drives this practice. If you can’t get demand flowing in, then you have no idea whether what you have is good. I’d rather do more for every customer and have cash flow coming in, then optimize my business but have zero cash flow coming in after (and zero idea about what I need to adjust to better serve my customers).

10. Scarcity drives demand

Particularly if you sell high ticket products, have less spots available than you think you can sell. You can offer honest scarcity by simply defining a number of clients you can take on in a given time period and advertising that.

11. Deadlines drive decisions

Have deadlines and run seasonal promotions with a start and a finish. This helps people take action.

12. Stack bonuses

A single offer is less valuable than the same offer broken into its component parts and stacked as bonuses.

The value of the bonuses should eclipse the value of the core offer.

Create checklists, tools, swipe files, scripts, templates. Record every workshop, every webinar, every event, every interview and use them as additional bonuses. Offer exclusive discounts for other non-competing products (ideally get a deal for your customers that they wouldn't be able to get themselves).

13. Offer strong guarantees

An offer can convert 2-4x better by simply changing the quality of the guarantee.

You can offer unconditional guarantees, conditional guarantees, anti-guarantees (all sales are final because of a creative reason why), and implied guarantees (performance-based offers).

An example of a strong guarantee:

“I’m not asking you to decide yes or no today...I'm asking you to make a fully informed decision, that is all. The only way you can make a fully informed decision is on the inside, not the outside. So you get on the inside and see if everything we say on this webinar is true and valuable to you. Then, if it is, that’s when you decide to keep it. If it’s not for you, no hard feelings. You will then, after signing up at URL be able to make a fully informed decision that this isn’t for you. But you can’t make this decision right now for the same reason you don't buy a house without first looking at the inside of it. And know this...whether it’s 29 min or 29 days from now...if you ain’t happy, I ain’t happy. For any reason whatsoever, if you want your money back you can get it because I only want to keep your money if you’re happy. All you have to do is go to support@xyz.com and tell use “gimme my money” and you got it, and in short order - our response times to any support request average 61min over a 24/7 time period. You can only make such a guarantee when you're confident that what you have is the real deal and I'm fairly confident that when you sign up at URL you’re getting exactly what you need to BENEFIT.”

14. MAGIC headline formula for naming your offer

1. Make a magnetic reason
2. Announce the avatar.
3. Give them a goal.
4. Indicate a time interval.
5. Complete with a container word

You won't always use all these components. Typically you'll use between three to five.

Examples:

• Free Six-Week Lean-By-Halloween Challenge
• Back Sore No More! 90 Day Rapid Healing Intensive (81% off!)
• 5 Clients in 5 Days Blueprint

--

This is just a short summary. I highly, highly recommend studying his stuff as he offers many cool examples.

 

[MTF]

A business doesn't exist without sales.

You can have the best product ever, yet if you don't know how to find prospects and how to persuade them to try your offer, you'll make a big, fat zero.

Ironically, if I were to pick my weakest business skill, it would be marketing and sales.

Despite my weakness, I was lucky to build a successful self-publishing company. The problem is that I relied on big platforms such as Amazon to promote my books for me. As self-publishing became more popular, getting free organic traffic became more difficult. Today, an author without an existing loyal following or excellent marketing skills has low chances of success compared to how it was a mere few years ago.

Which brings me to this process thread. Because of my success (which, let me reiterate it, largely came down to being in the right place at the right time) delegating marketing to an external platform, I've become a lazy and ignorant entrepreneur. As I'm exploring new potential business opportunities now, it's apparent how much I'm lacking in the marketing department. Consequently, I have little confidence in my skills and feel like an impostor.

So I decided to go back to studying what got me interested in business about a decade ago - direct response marketing and all related concepts, including sales and copywriting.

In essence, direct response marketing is a type of marketing in which the goal is to elicit a specific, immediate response from a potential customer. Usually it's a sale but it can also be a newsletter sign-up or any other specific action.

Originally direct response marketing relied on sending physical letters to potential customers and then fulfilling the order via mail. These days, it's mostly about driving paid traffic to a sales page. But it doesn't have to be—you can use it for a wide variety of business models, including services, SaaS, digital products, e-commerce, and so on.

What's important to understand about direct response marketing is that it's the most rational and predictable approach to building a business there is. You rely on numbers. They either work or they don't. You aren't spending years building a brand or pursuing similar vague goals. You build your business through acquiring paying customers.

Some direct response marketing heroes I studied in the past include Gary Halbert (to this day, his collection of newsletters is one of the best things I've ever read), John Carlton (what an entertaining writing style), and Jay Abraham (probably the greatest business consultant ever with brilliant strategies you'll never see anywhere else).

In this process thread I'll post my notes from various resources I'll study to master direct response marketing. I'll cover both dated but still super valuable classics as well as newer stuff. I'll also post some real-world examples of great marketing. Perhaps we can also work together to help improve our offers, copy, or anything else pertaining to direct response marketing.

My hope with this thread is to document my journey of mastering direct response marketing and to help others improve their skills, too.

In the next post, my notes from $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No by Alex Hormozi.

Table of Contents:

I can't edit this post forever so I created a separate website where I'll post links to new issues for easier navigation.

Learning Direct Response Marketing (Strategies/Book Summaries/Case Studies)

Table of contents.

directresponse.carrd.co

 

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[MTF]

Issue #2: How Doodly Creates an Impossible to Refuse Offer

Russell Brunson is one of the modern legends of direct response marketing. He created products like ClickFunnels and Doodly. And Doodly is the example I want to cover today as I find it brilliant.

Doodly is whiteboard animation software. When you go on their page, you'll notice that their pricing is monthly or annual. Currently the monthly price for a standard plan is $39 and $69 for an enterprise plan (with more assets to use). Yearly it's $20/month or $40/month.

I found Doodly through a Google search (searching for Videoscribe alternatives, their ad was #1) and landed on a landing page that offers a one-time price of just $67 (it's called a special Facebook offer). There's also a pop-up that gives you additional 10% off if you sign up for their list. So you can get it for a one-time payment of $60 instead of paying up to a few hundred dollars annually. This in itself is IMO an offer that's super hard to refuse as it's clearly extremely valuable.

I assume they calculated their churn rate and realized it's better to sell lifetime access to software for a low price and then make money on the back end than sell software for a monthly/annual fee.

I signed up for the list to get the discount and started receiving emails from Russell. I'm impressed how convincing he is in his emails.

You get a reminder that you have 48 hours to use the discount (urgency). Each email restates the unconditional 30-day guarantee and reminds that the official price is monthly/annually instead of a one-time price. When my coupon was (supposedly) expiring in 36 hours, I got another email in which I received a $297 bonus (additional 500 assets which are normally sold separately in their Doodly marketplace). I'm going to wait one more day to see what else he's going to do to persuade me to buy it.

In the meantime, I also checked their website and found three upsells:

Doodly Elite Masterclass - a video course with advanced training on how to use the software. Super valuable and extremely relevant for the buyer (particularly those who want to make money with it, i.e. whiteboard animation service providers). It costs $97 so MORE than the software. But that's the entire idea behind upsells - you make more on them than on the main offer. And the cost of delivery is close to zero since it's a digital product.

Doodly Rainbow - an add-on that lets you add color to your animations. Costs $67. Another no-brainer upsell with huge value for power users who want any edge they can get to stand out. Yet again, zero cost to it (when you buy it, a new button will appear in your copy of software).

The Definitive Guide to Copywriting - sold for $47, an ebook on copywriting that's IMO way less relevant but still useful to many members of the target audience. Again, no delivery costs.

Then there's, I assume, Doodly marketplace available only for Doodly customers where they sell more assets.

The system is designed to be a money printer with various irresistible offers. You sell a product that can make people money, offering a very strong main offer that's super attractive compared to the regular price. Then you sell relevant upsells with low/zero delivery cost and offer even more through your own ever-growing marketplace (people will want more and more elements; they new assets are fairly easy to create). This lets you slowly raise prices as you offer more and more value.

Well thought-out marketing strategy like this is more beautiful to me than art LOL.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Not directly related to DM but, may I recommend something for you @MTF? The hardest thing about building an info business, whether you’re selling books, courses, info products, coaching, consulting… basically selling ADVICE - is getting in front of the right people.

It’s not the magical sales copy that convinces everyone to buy (although that is important), and it’s not the offer that does it. Those elements are both relevant… but not the real deal maker.

The real deal maker is CREDIBILITY and you’ve got 0 unless you have a brand or a list of your own, AND hungry traffic.

The easiest and most effective way to get both of those in one shot are through JVs. Building relationships with centers of influence, who hold the keys to large audiences. That’s how million dollar launches are done.

There are a lot of ways to provide value to such JVs… from very direct ones “be an affiliate and make up to $10,000 by the end of the funnel” (which requires a heavy backend), to more indirect ones (I’ll help you write and publish book for free, or here’s my book as a gift and then wait for them to invite you on their podcast, etc.). But this is the key - this is the step the newbies don’t get right and will never get right because they have no clue how to communicate at high levels, network with smart people and do deals.

With the right JVs, any product can sell, even with bad copy. Ofc having a solid product is usually a necessity to access JVs in the first place, but if you could do it without, it would still sell like crazy.

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

The more pages I read, the more... sleazy (?) I feel. Russell emphasizes that if you have stuff you know can help your clients, you have a moral obligation to sell it to them. But I can't help but feel he's extremely pushy in that 80s car salesman style. He brags about how many people he sold to and doesn't really seem to be that interested in helping people but more about squeezing as much as he can from the funnels he has.

This is also in response to that discussion above, @Speed112, @Black_Dragon43 and @Andy Black. This is a great example of a person I wouldn't want to become and why I don't feel comfortable doing anything more than simply leaving some notes here on the forum.

I think if we are to look at direct response, at least as traditionally understood, it IS sleazy in the sense of insistent and self-confident, no ifs or buts. Those people want you to buy what they’re selling - 100%, no shame about it.

I think Russell is just continuing the tradition from Halbert, Carlton, Kennedy and so on. The more you squeeze out of the funnel, the better your marketing is… that is the very criteria of judgement for direct response. Objectively when you’re in selling mode, if people are happy, but you barely made any money, your advertising failed - no ifs or buts.

He's so focused on selling that he says outright that, for example, if you have a webinar, you shouldn't teach anything useful, just the "what" (without any "how") because that will increase your conversion rates. Okay, maybe it will, but you wasted time of people who expected to learn something actionable from the webinar alone.

Yes - and Halbert, Kennedy and so on did exactly the same thing. Tell people WHAT they’re going to get and WHY it’s important for them, but don’t give them any hows. If you read Halbert, for example, he tells you stuff similar to “You’ll discover inside 3 simple steps to take advantage of new loopholes so that you can pay $0 in tax (you heard that right) if you’re making over $300,000 in income every year! (Page 7 of the report)”

Imo, that is valuable by itself. At least you know that a solution exists to your problem, and what that solution will involve, and if it would be right for you. You don’t need to know what it is to figure out the above.

And to be honest, when I’m selling I do the same. Why would I give the how away for free? I’m an expert. My knowledge is valuable. I spent years discovering these things. You gotta pay up to get the inside scoop, no? If you don’t believe me, F*ck YOU, let those who believe me benefit.

So I can inform you about what the said knowledge contains and what it will help you do - that’s copywriting, but not give it away to you for free if I’m in selling mode.

The Masterclass @Speed112 mentioned above was initially paid. People got the full details they were looking for IF they paid. Now that we’ve made it free, those who didn’t pay first see that it was worth it and would have saved them 1 year of trial and error. for those who didnt initially buy, they just had the details of the ad… what they will get and why it matters.

So I actually had the opposite reaction to Russell’s book. I loved that he was telling you to stop being an unpaid consultant. Yes, you’re helping people, but not yourself. There’s no value in self-laceration to help others. It needs to be win-win.

When I speak with a client I sometimes tell them… “where’s the money? I want to smell the leather first!”

People need to stop being afraid of selling. What you have is valuable, you DESERVE the cash. And someone who wants to get your knowledge without giving you the cash, and is emotionally manipulating you, they’re just a prick. They need to man up, pay up, and then get the help they need. Or just go figure it out themselves if they’re so smart.

Also, I didn’t get the sense that Russell was lying inside the book. Yes, he wants you to buy, but he was saying the truth - if you pay for it, you’ll be more committed, take more action, and get more out of it. Free knowledge never helped the large majority - maybe you are a self-starter, most are not. They need a bootcamp style committment to learn, apply and make it work.

I have no shame about selling. I’d take all your money and give you what you want most if I could. But I wouldn’t give you what you want for free. The exchange needs to be win-win.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t help for free. That is marketing, not selling. Providing free value. But make no mistake about it, when you’re selling, oh boy, you need to sell the damn thing!

So sure, separate your marketing from your selling. Now you’re providing value… just provide value without even thinking about selling. But make no mistake about it - that’s not selling. That’s building an audience, helping people, building credibility, etc. In other words, that’s marketing. And marketing is good, but sometimes you do need to sell.

“Ohhh but the knowledge you provide is all free, it’s on YouTube!”

Sure bro - good luck with that. The stuff a Tesla is made out of is also freely available… in the ground. Just go ahead and build your own, wtf! You’re paying for how information is organised - that’s what makes it into a valuable product.

I think leftist and communist thinking is spreading - people these days are ashamed to sell. If I tell someone I’m a marketer they look at me as if I told them I’m a thief. In my opinion, we shouldn’t give in to it. It’s just manipulation aimed to drag you in the mud.

Anyway, my 2 cents and how I approach these things for what that’s worth

 

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[MTF]

Issue #5: Jay Abraham's Strategy of Preeminence

Jay Abraham is one of the world's most experienced business consultants. He's behind the success of some big names, including Tony Robbins, Daymond John, and Ramit Sethi. His background is in direct response marketing.

One of the key concepts he teaches is his Strategy of Preeminence. Here are my notes on it (one from an interview I found in 50 Shades of Jay and one from a short document describing the strategy for insurance agents).

I personally relate to this strategy way more than to Russell's Brunson's pushy approach. Note how Jay emphasizes the focus on another person and the need for empathy. Very little about money and pushing people, a LOT about serving them regardless if they pay you or not. (@Andy Black, you'll love it).

Strategy of Preeminence in 90 seconds

There is a concept called the “strategy of preeminence” that I teach. It takes about two hours but I will give you the ninety-second version.

First, you establish yourself and your relationship with everybody as their most trusted advisor. As their advisor, your job is to give them the best reason, most heartfelt external perspective on what’s best for them. You have a “you attitude,” “you” meaning “them” and not yourself. Always focus on them.

Number two, you try to put into words the gnawing feelings, the desires, the frustrations they feel that are never verbalized.

Number three, you tell them the truth as you see it.

Number four, you never let them do things that are not in their best interest.

Number five, you tell them what you see life to be in your own words, and you don’t hold back even if they won’t like you for it, because you see yourself as their most trusted advisor.

Number six, I told you, you fall in love with them, not your business or your product.

Number seven, realize that it’s not what you say that makes people buy from you, that makes people hire you, that makes people give you raises, it’s how much more value you can give them that they desire, prize, and really want.

Number eight, you make yourself stand out as the only viable solution they’ve got, to a problem you alone understand and verbalize, or an opportunity you alone see and can really put words to.

In addition, you stop working harder for your business or your job than you let the business and the job work for you. You do that by understanding how to harness the power of geometry. Geometry is harnessed when you let multiple activities work together to produce a geometric or exponential result.

You will find that in order to be successful you have to first want to make other people successful, in order to be loved, you have to first love, in order to be interesting you have to first be interested. The mere opposite of what you want is what you have to give first and then you will get back the desired result or outcome in droves.

And here are my notes from the document for insurance agents:

1. I’m not trying to sell you – I want to serve you

Preeminence means being seen in your market as the most trusted advisor for life. You are there to make a profound and sustaining difference in their lives and you’re there for them, forever, whether they monetarily reward you or not.

Preeminence champions the roles of team members, suppliers and customers. Its focus is on the best interest of the receiver. It boils down to, “I’m not trying to sell you – I want to serve you.” It’s not about buying insurance or an annuity. It’s about having a richer retirement, saving taxes or creating a meaningful legacy. It’s about speaking to what is important down deep.

2. Fall in love with your client

The key is to fall in love with your client. If you can’t live to benefit and protect others, you’ll never achieve preeminence.

3. An important mindset change

At the heart of it all, you also have to believe that what you’re doing is for a greater good, that you’re selfless in your business goal to serve the client better and more fully than anybody else does. The money will follow, but that is just an acknowledgement that you are serving others in ways they value and want to reward.

4. Surpass all others

The definition of preeminence is “surpassing all others.” Here is an important point: this is not dependent on your product – this depends on you and the profound difference you can make.

The difference starts with your intention before the transaction ever occurs. From there, it’s only a matter of time before the people you want to affect most – i.e., your most coveted prospects – will do business with you.

Why? Because you care more, do more, serve better and provide a better outcome. Bottom line? You’re a better choice than anyone else out there.

5. Empathy is the key

The primary basis for the entire preeminence strategy is a keen commitment to empathy. Empathy is understanding how the other side in a transaction feels and sees the situation far beyond that transaction. It is understanding their hopes, dreams, needs and feelings.

Preeminent companies and producers always sell leadership in every communication. They convey, in everything they do and say, that they want to lead others to greater results and greater happiness.

6. Give advice, not information

There is a world of difference between giving information and giving advice. Information is inconclusive. Giving advice is definitive. Advice is converted into action. That’s why those who practice the strategy of preeminence tell people, “Here’s what you should do, here’s why you should do it and here’s how.” Being specific is incredibly powerful.

7. Give your customers clarity

Clarity: it’s important for your customers to define for themselves their biggest frustrations, challenges and opportunities. In most cases, they are paralyzed because they cannot put their dreams into words, and they just have a vague idea of what they really want... so they can’t take action.

You want to give them clarity by asking them, “What would the picture look like if your business were operating the way you really want it to?” (just asking this is a positive change for people.)

8. Give your customers certainty

Certainty: companies that practice the strategy of preeminence always come from a position of hopefulness. They genuinely have a better and higher wish or hope for the client or prospect than they even had for themselves. They have the best wishes for every single prospect with whom they come in contact, even if that person never does business with them in their life.

And it is this hopefulness that gives their customers the courage, the belief, the strength and the desire to establish a long-term, loyal, lifelong relationship with that company.

9. Be trustworthy

Trust: always provide customers and prospects with views and viewpoints they can absolutely trust. Never put your interest ahead of your customer’s. Refuse to sell more or less of what they need. Always provide what is in your customer’s best interest.

10. Lead

If you can go to someone like that and say, “I understand your frustration, and I think I can help. Here’s what I perceive you really want, and I’d like you to tell me, first, it that’s right or wrong. And once you and I agree on your ultimate goals and dreams and wishes, then we can move forward with a plan to make them come true. And I believe that I can do that for you.” But, it all starts with taking the customer’s point of view.

11. Do you want to sell stuff or transform people?

Do you want to spend the rest of your life and career merely selling stuff – or would you rather spend every second... of every hour... of every day of the rest of your life transforming lives and families’ futures?

12. Tell your creation myth

Tom Peters, the author of In Search of Excellence, put it this way: “He who has the best story, wins.” Preeminent business people have a story and a track record with their market. Their success depends upon how well they communicate it.

The term “creation myth,” doesn’t mean that you’re making anything up. The word “myth” is used to evoke the lovely, lyrical notion of a tale as old as time – a story of origin, history, and purpose. Think back to how you found your way into this market in the first place. What drew you to it? If you just stumbled into it, what kept you there? What do you like about your market? What do you dislike? Go even deeper. Think about your greatest achievements in this market. Then think about your greatest failures. Use it as a way to be honest. A truthful “I feel your pain” story can be an incredibly effective tool for connecting with your market. The more honest you are, the more you will gain your market’s trust – and the more trust you have, the more you can ethically advise prospects on what they should buy.

13. Make it easier for your customers

• Reduce the height of the hurdles. Lower the hurdles they have to jump over.
• Talk about frustrations or desire they really feel.
• Let them know you care. People worry about whether they stand out, whether they’re unique, whether people will care.
• Genuinely help them out – give your customers a chance to buy more often (don’t make them buy less than they want.)
• Give them an example of how things work. Most concepts are too difficult for most people to buy into the whole cloth on first blush.

14. Always make the client the center of attention

If in the past your business has been “subject” focused, how can you make it “individual” focused? Here are some tips to help you communicate, write, think, and talk, with a “read” focus rather than a “subject” focus:

• Start each sentence with the word “you” rather than the words “I” or “me.”
• Talk about the end result, the feelings that your product will bring – not how it will work.
• Ask your customers what they want.
• Listen.

 

[MTF]

Issue #3: Russell Brunson’s Expert Secrets Part 1: Becoming an Expert

Russell Brunson is one of the most respected direct response marketers these days. He’s behind ClickFunnels and Doodly.

He published a trilogy of books: Dotcom Secrets, Expert Secrets, and Traffic Secrets. According to this video, Russell wished he published Expert Secrets first (before Dotcom Secrets) so I decided to start studying his stuff with Expert Secrets.

What does being an expert have to do with direct response marketing? Everything. If you can’t sell yourself and build trust, you’ll have a very hard time selling anything. So learning how to position yourself (or someone else) as an expert is a key part of being a successful marketer.

Due to the length of the book, my notes will come in a few installments. Today I’m covering the introduction to the book and the first secret (on how to become an expert). It's the first 20% of the book. The notes come with quotes from the book as well as my comments and observations.

1. The expert’s journey

As you become an expert, you’ll find yourself moving away from selling a product or service to creating offers and finally to leading a movement. The book is about how to go through this process.

2. Entrepreneur’s role

Ryan Moran once told me, “An entrepreneur is someone who takes personal responsibility for a problem that wasn’t their own.”

Thinking of yourself this way helps develop the right mindset where you focus on value you can provide instead of money you hope to make. Ironically, you’ll make more money when you obsess about solving problems.

3. Product vs movement

The product is just a tool. The movement is what actually changes people.

I find this a very strategic thought. Yes, you can sell, for example, a book. But a book is just a tool that, for most people, won’t produce results in itself. But transform that book into a movement and now we’re talking. David Goggins is a great example of this. His videos and book are tools. But it’s the “stay hard” movement that transforms lives. People are way more motivated to change their lives when they see a movement/community they can join.

4. Three elements of a mass movement

All mass movements:

• have a charismatic leader (expert/guide/Attractive Character),
• offer their audience a new opportunity,
• create a future-based cause that unites the tribe of people they attracted.

The expert offers someone a new opportunity and then guides them to a result with a future-based cause.

5. We’re all in a relationship business

One of my early mentors, Dan Kennedy, taught me that “we are all in a relationship business, not a product business.” He explained to me that people may come into your value ladder because of a product, but they stay because of their relationship with you, the Attractive Character.

Jay Abraham once said, “People are silently begging to be led,” and I believe that’s very true. We are in the business of attracting our dream customers and then leading them to the results that we can get for them.

6. Five phases to become an expert

You have to go through five phases to become an expert: dreamer, reporter, framework creator, servant, and, finally, expert/guide.

7. Develop passion (phase 1 of becoming an expert)

Recently I read a post on Instagram from my friend Tom Bilyeu entitled “How to Develop Passion,” but it could easily have been titled “How to Become an Expert.” In this post he listed five things to develop your passion or expertise.

1. Go experiment with a ton of stuff.

2. Identify things that spark your interest.

3. Engage deeply with those things.

4. As you engage, if it goes from interest to true fascination, go down the path of gaining mastery.

5. Fascination + Mastery = Passion

I relate to that a lot. I’ve been exposing myself to new passions and industries recently to see what sparks my interest the most. I find that with some things my fire quickly fizzles out but with some my engagement doesn't go away so quickly. By focusing on those things that spark the most interest, you can make it easier to become an expert. After all, you’ll need to study this stuff for a long time and if in the beginning you’re already bored, you probably won’t last long.

8. We dismiss our unique abilities

Another problem that a lot of people suffer from is that our own unique abilities are things that come second nature to us, so they don’t seem that amazing, and we dismiss them. My guess is that your superpower won’t seem like that big of a deal to you. It will be something that comes naturally: something so simple that it couldn’t possibly be that important. If you’re an amazing cook, it’s not that big of a deal for you. But to someone who can’t cook, it’s a huge deal.

Maybe you’re good at playing piano, fixing motorcycles, building chicken coops, dancing, or something else. Look at what comes easily to you and what you love to geek out on, and chances are that’s where your superpower is hiding, just waiting to be developed and shared with the world.

Interesting thought that is probably most useful to share with your friends and family to ask them what your superpower is.

I asked my girlfriend and she said that according to her, my superpowers are:

• analytical thinking (curiously, many people tell me this, particularly my coaches),
• good with numbers (I like numbers but I'm not good at math),
• learning languages,
• thirst for knowledge,
• sensitive to other people's needs,
• responsibility.

I was surprised to hear some of these as these definitely don't feel like superpowers yet my girlfriend said she doesn't know any people who have these abilities developed to such an extent.

9. Become a reporter (phase 2 of becoming an expert)

Your teachability index is how teachable you are at any given time. As a kid your index is high, but after you think you know something, if you’re like most people your index drops to zero and you stop learning. This is the worst possible thing that can happen to an expert.

The next phase in your expert evolution is to start learning everything about your topic from multiple points of view. We need to keep your teachability index high so you are open to new ideas that you will need to create your own frameworks. The best way to do this is for your Attractive Character to take on the identity of the reporter and interview everyone you can get access to who is a few chapters ahead of where you are right now.

Three ways to find people who will help you in your pursuit to become a reporter are going to live events, starting your own show or podcast, and launching a summit funnel.

10. Become a framework creator (phase 3 of becoming an expert)

A framework is a pattern of how to achieve a certain result. A product or service is a part of the framework but not the framework in itself.

Russell provides a clear example:

If I were a dentist, the result people would want from me is straight, white teeth. Sure, my service may be part of that, but what is my framework for getting and keeping a beautiful smile? If I were a dentist, I would build out a framework which may include daily brushing, certain types of toothpastes, whitening strips, tongue scrapers for good breath, supplements to strengthen enamel, checkups twice a year, etc. Do you see how by switching from a product (teeth cleaning) to a framework, I position myself differently than every other dentist, I am giving people a replicable process for success, and I could then potentially sell a lot of other products that would help serve my clients at a higher level?

Damn, imagine how much more you'd trust your dentist if you had such a rich relationship. Most dentists don't care about their patients once they leave their clinic.

11. How to create a framework

The first step is to create your framework hypothesis:

Your job now as the expert is to become a framework creator. You do this by taking the information you’ve learned from tons of different sources and other people’s frameworks, looking at it, and organizing it into your own personal hypothesis for the perfect framework. During this step you are doing what Bruce Lee meant when he said, “Research your own experience, absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is essentially your own.”

The second step is to test it on yourself to make sure it works.

The third step is to give it a name. Example:

HOOK, STORY, OFFER:

My Three-Step System for Grabbing Your Dream Customer’s Attention and Getting Them to Pay You What You’re Worth!

12. Become a servant (phase 4 of becoming an expert)

Work for free serving your future dream clients. This lets you fine-tune your framework and prove that what you’re teaching works.

Russell emphasizes that the goal with any kind of business is not to lead with, “How can I sell my product?” Instead, you want to ask, “How can I serve people?”

13. Become an expert (phase 5 of becoming an expert)

Start helping people immediately after going through the first four phases. Your results are your certification. You don’t have to be the world’s greatest expert. All you need is to be one chapter ahead of the people you’re helping.

14. Tips to make your platform a success

Publish daily for at least a year. During the process, you’ll find your voice and the audience will have time to find you. You must be always publishing if you want to become and stay relevant.

Document the journey. It’s better to talk about the process than give actual advice. As Russell says, people who are willing to discuss their journeys instead of trying to front themselves as the “next big thing” are going to win.

Test your material like a stand-up comic. This way you’ll refine your message, find your voice, and attract your dream customers.

Be unique in a polarizing way but not too crazy. Think Bulletproof Coffee (polarizing and unique but not crazy) vs “eating” the sun (crazy).

Master persuasion.

“People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies.”

Care a lot. Choose your ideal clients correctly so that you’ll have people you’d be willing to serve for free because that’s how much you care about them. But don’t serve them for free because then they won’t pay attention (people don’t value free stuff) and because you need to be efficient with your time (to help more people).

15. Your moral obligation

Jay Abraham said, “If you truly believe that what you have is useful and valuable to your clients, then you have a moral obligation to try to serve them in every way possible.”

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Agreed. This is why next on my reading list are Russell Brunson's books, starting with Expert Secrets.

I'll also review Jay Abraham's stuff who loves JVs.

The best book on this topic though it’s quite rare and hard to get is imo Rainmaker, by Russ Alan Prince. It’s the only empirical study I know that addresses this matter with hard cold numbers.

The book is actually about how financial consultants build million dollar practices… and centers around 1200 of them. The answer is through referrals by building strategic partnerships with relevant centers of influence: in their case, accountants and attorneys who work with the wealthy. The book then details, empirically, HOW they build these partnerships, getting accountants and attorneys to refer them to droves of wealthy clients… and ofc the principles can be applied to any other advice business.

I like Brunson’s books - Expert Secrets is more a positioning & storyselling book, Traffic Secrets is much more about this topic though!

 

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[Speed112]

Because of the topic. It's associated with gurus, scammers, and on forums, with people who want to take advantage of the community. So it makes me uncomfortable as I don't want to be portrayed as such.

We need more people like this to bring direct response back into the light.

Actually I've been struggling with this a bit recently, as I worked for many years in the financial or health niches where things can get pretty sketchy and I always had to make sure I wasn't crossing any lines. Lost a few clients because of it. Those people don't give a F*ck about pushing too far.

So then you end up in a less initiated niche and you encounter a whole bunch of people whose only experience with direct response is hyper-aggressive salesmen, email spam, questionable claims, unfulfilled guarantees, horrible customer service, and whatever else.

You immediately lose a ton of trust, simply by association.

So I'm looking to re-brand and move away from the "true" labels by focusing more on the results and transformation.

The way I get the results is my own personal take on marketing and influence, which is ethical and sound. Yes, I employ all the direct-response principles, but avoid the opaque black hat techniques that paint "salesmen" of all types in a bad light. IT IS essentially, my own. So why associate with the bad actors? All it does is cripple my ability to serve and help others.

I do wonder how much this has held me back over the years.

Because look... most people, even if they're the CEO of some 8 figure company, probably have no idea what direct response implies. They might barely know marketing or sales and to them, "advertising" can be a swearword. And that's because they only remember the BAD salesmen.

People have a negativity bias.

And the truly good salesmen. The experts. They are not perceived as salesmen by the person they're selling to. They're a fellow businessman, a friend, a consultant, a trusted confidant. Definitely not a direct-response copywriter. They have their framework. They have their platform. They have their brand. People go to them!

But they're still salesmen, and they still employ direct response, and they do it without being sleazy or scammy... Yet people think it's something else.

So, actually @MTF since you seem to be struggling with this as well. How do you reconcile your moral obligation with the aversion to actually executing direct response in this context?

Isn't "doing your best to serve" equivalent to "doing your best to sell"?

As long as you stand by your principles and cause no harm, shouldn't you do everything you can to get people on board of your hype train?

 

[MTF]

I'm about to finish Expert Secrets and I have mixed feelings whether I should post my notes...

The more pages I read, the more... sleazy (?) I feel. Russell emphasizes that if you have stuff you know can help your clients, you have a moral obligation to sell it to them. But I can't help but feel he's extremely pushy in that 80s car salesman style. He brags about how many people he sold to and doesn't really seem to be that interested in helping people but more about squeezing as much as he can from the funnels he has.

This is also in response to that discussion above, @Speed112, @Black_Dragon43 and @Andy Black. This is a great example of a person I wouldn't want to become and why I don't feel comfortable doing anything more than simply leaving some notes here on the forum.

I know that this will sound illogical but I don't feel comfortable recommending books where the author is so pushy I'd hate to be around him. He's so focused on selling that he says outright that, for example, if you have a webinar, you shouldn't teach anything useful, just the "what" (without any "how") because that will increase your conversion rates. Okay, maybe it will, but you wasted time of people who expected to learn something actionable from the webinar alone.

The best business relationships I've had so far (these are usually coach-student where I am the student) the coach was never salesy. In fact, sometimes they even tell me NOT to buy something or are okay rescheduling/postponing our sessions if for some reason they or I am not in the best shape/state to benefit the most from the class. This makes me trust them more instead of feeling like they only want to push me through their funnel and make as much money as possible.

I don't think I'll be reading other Brunson's books as I don't want to become such a marketer, even if on paper it's so "sexy" (stuff like making a million dollars in an hour from a stage presentation). As far as I remember, Jay Abraham never felt me this way and he's very invested into his strategy of preeminence and being the client's most trusted advisor (this also means telling people when NOT to buy).

 

[Speed112]

maybe you could consider selling summaries of books?

This is a very sound point. There are three stages in the pursuit and communication of knowledge:

Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis.

Great copy lies in the Synthesis stage, where you can take existing knowledge and more efficiently communicate it to people. Time is the most valuable resource, so the endeavor is valuable as well.

And MTF does appear to be quite adept at it.

Something like this could get more eyeballs though "Make More Sales With Direct Response Marketing".

I think the title is fine as it is. I clicked on it immediately as it came up, and it seems to have gained traction.

"How to" and "Process Thread" don't fit well together imo.

This is true, though.

 

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[Andy Black]

Because of the topic. It's associated with gurus, scammers, and on forums, with people who want to take advantage of the community. So it makes me uncomfortable as I don't want to be portrayed as such.

I often wrestle with this.


1) When I'm stuck I ask myself "What best serves the people I can help?"

Does me worrying about coming across as a wannabe guru help them? Or do I serve them better posting that video to YouTube?

Should I worry about the occasional forum member complaining that I'm trying to build my personal brand in the forum, or should I not gaf and just keep helping people?


2) Also... you're documenting your journey learning Direct Response Marketing, you're not saying "Signup here to learn the direct response secrets the gurus don't tell you".


3) Finally, what if people wanted to subscribe so they receive your issues hot off the press, *and* direct to their inbox?

Think of it as *allowing* people to signup.

Heck, I'd signup to follow along. Your writing and summaries are great. More importantly, they save me time. I might have Expert Secrets somewhere, but I've no interest in reading it. I'd rather skim your summary.

The same can be said for your "Learning Web3.0" thread on the inside. There's value in allowing people to follow-along as you figure stuff out. Not least because you're doing a lot of the grunt work for them, but also because of how well you analyse things and write it up.

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

Following

 

[MTF]

The real deal maker is CREDIBILITY and you’ve got 0 unless you have a brand or a list of your own, AND hungry traffic.

Agreed. This is why next on my reading list are Russell Brunson's books, starting with Expert Secrets.

I'll also review Jay Abraham's stuff who loves JVs.

 

[MTF]

@Andy Black, @Mathuin, @Speed112 how about "Grow Your Business With Direct Response Marketing - Strategies, Book Summaries, and Case Studies"?

I think of it as a progress thread since I'll be sharing my own process but I agree it may be better to omit this part and just focus on the benefit. The first part alone ("Grow Your Business With Direct Response Marketing") is a little lackluster, though, so I think that the "Strategies, Book Summaries, and Case Studies" adds some relevant details. Can be also "Summaries" on its own without "Book" if it's clear enough.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Because of the topic. It's associated with gurus, scammers, and on forums, with people who want to take advantage of the community. So it makes me uncomfortable as I don't want to be portrayed as such.

Haha, I was just talking with @Speed112 today about this… and I told him that my politically incorrect approach is call me a guru and a bad person, but just give me the money first!!

I think people are leaving a lot of money on the table by allowing themselves to be manipulated by guilt/fear, and nowadays people are very afraid of selling. I have no problem selling, when I have something to sell, it’s, as I call it, “balls to the wall”, give me the dough, I just don’t care what you think about me

 

[Andy Black]

I'm about to finish Expert Secrets and I have mixed feelings whether I should post my notes...

The more pages I read, the more... sleazy (?) I feel. Russell emphasizes that if you have stuff you know can help your clients, you have a moral obligation to sell it to them. But I can't help but feel he's extremely pushy in that 80s car salesman style. He brags about how many people he sold to and doesn't really seem to be that interested in helping people but more about squeezing as much as he can from the funnels he has.

This is also in response to that discussion above, @Speed112, @Black_Dragon43 and @Andy Black. This is a great example of a person I wouldn't want to become and why I don't feel comfortable doing anything more than simply leaving some notes here on the forum.

I know that this will sound illogical but I don't feel comfortable recommending books where the author is so pushy I'd hate to be around him. He's so focused on selling that he says outright that, for example, if you have a webinar, you shouldn't teach anything useful, just the "what" (without any "how") because that will increase your conversion rates. Okay, maybe it will, but you wasted time of people who expected to learn something actionable from the webinar alone.

The best business relationships I've had so far (these are usually coach-student where I am the student) the coach was never salesy. In fact, sometimes they even tell me NOT to buy something or are okay rescheduling/postponing our sessions if for some reason they or I am not in the best shape/state to benefit the most from the class. This makes me trust them more instead of feeling like they only want to push me through their funnel and make as much money as possible.

I don't think I'll be reading other Brunson's books as I don't want to become such a marketer, even if on paper it's so "sexy" (stuff like making a million dollars in an hour from a stage presentation). As far as I remember, Jay Abraham never felt me this way and he's very invested into his strategy of preeminence and being the client's most trusted advisor (this also means telling people when NOT to buy).

Interesting you say that. I didn’t finish Russell’s books for that reason. He’s smart, but not a role model for me. I listened to his podcasts for a while but zoned out when he talked about creating a cult-ure.

I did a bit of coaching recently and one of the coachees said he’d been told to look for someone with the heart of a teacher. I think that’s a good litmus test.

I don’t think you’re automatically a sleazy marketer just because you give people the option to signup to get updates though.

 

[Andy Black]

For me, direct response is all about getting someone who wants to take action to the right page, then making it super easy for them to take action.

i.e. I focus on getting the right person to the page in the first place.

Someone searches “blacksmiths dublin”.

The ad headline says “Dublin Blacksmith”.

The landing page says

Looking for a blacksmith in Dublin?

• We’re blacksmiths.
• We serve Dublin.
• Contact us today to see how we can help your army.

<Tap-to-Call>
<Request-a-Callback>


Red flags for me are when people talk about traffic, and about landing page conversion rates.

When they do that they’re forgetting it’s all about the visitor.

(Oh, and another red flag for me is when someone talks about “secrets”.)

I don’t know if you ever read this thread @MTF:

• The biggest landing page mistake

 

[MTF]

For me, direct response is all about getting someone who wants to take action to the right page, then making it super easy for them to take action.

i.e. I focus on getting the right person to the page in the first place.

Someone searches “blacksmiths dublin”.

The ad headline says “Dublin Blacksmith”.

The landing page says

Looking for a blacksmith in Dublin?

• We’re blacksmiths.
• We serve Dublin.
• Contact us today to see how we can help your army.

<Tap-to-Call>
<Request-a-Callback>


Red flags for me are when people talk about traffic, and about landing page conversion rates.

When they do that they’re forgetting it’s all about the visitor.

(Oh, and another red flag for me is when someone talks about “secrets”.)

I don’t know if you ever read this thread @MTF:

• The biggest landing page mistake

Thank you for sharing that, I enjoyed reading your landing page thread and I love how simply you described the goal of a landing page.

I absolutely loathe those webinars where you're constantly teased with the solution, have to go through a million pieces of social proof and aggrandizing "authority-building", and then get aggressively sold to for half an hour when the actual information they share could be condensed in a 2 minute Youtube video.

Yeah that's my point. I mean, I don't mind good ads but it feels like those webinars only work for sketchy niches where you're selling BS products for desperate people (so most of fitness, weight loss, spirituality, make money, etc.)

What you should see from Russel's book and approach is not necessarily his technique, but the steps and experiences through which he takes the prospect, from acquisition to conversion. You don't have to be salesy and pushy to fulfill the conversion requirements and perform direct response.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that his book gets way too dense. There's one framework, then five steps, then five steps of one of the steps, then another framework, then that framework fits into another. It gets super confusing and complicated quickly. So I, for example, wasn't actually sold to try ClickFunnels (I tried it a few years ago and found it complicated). His process didn't actually take me from acquisition to conversion but the other way lol.

This, plus then he completely lost me when he said he runs live webinars weekly (or at least used to). It feels like the success of his business is dependent on him performing a key, active role. That's not what I personally aspire to.

Yes - and Halbert, Kennedy and so on did exactly the same thing. Tell people WHAT they’re going to get and WHY it’s important for them, but don’t give them any hows. If you read Halbert, for example, he tells you stuff similar to “You’ll discover inside 3 simple steps to take advantage of new loopholes so that you can pay $0 in tax (you heard that right) if you’re making over $300,000 in income every year! (Page 7 of the report)”

I enjoyed Gary Halbert's letters a lot and I don't think he was that pushy. Also, in his newsletters he provided a ton of "how to" value (and they were equivalent to Russell's book in that they were a paid product).

I need to review some Jay Abraham stuff and see how he approaches it but as far as I remember, he approaches this in a very different manner (in a way that maybe you'll describe as being a sucker), yet is still extremely successful. He has tons of free "how to" stuff and sells in addition to that. Russell seems to have a lot of free stuff but all of this is just selling masquerading as something useful (while he has NO intention to teach a non-client anything).

Of course, it depends on what you personally prefer. My approach might be different.

And to be honest, when I’m selling I do the same. Why would I give the how away for free? I’m an expert. My knowledge is valuable. I spent years discovering these things. You gotta pay up to get the inside scoop, no? If you don’t believe me, f*ck YOU, let those who believe me benefit.

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough but I don't oppose selling. I oppose selling masquerading as teaching.

Imagine if I were to go to a kickboxing gym for a free session (the equivalent of a free webinar) or an initial session for a reduced price (lead magnet/tripwire offer). I'd expect to receive actual instructions, practice with the coach, and take something from the class I can possibly use myself. If the class only espoused the benefits of kickboxing but never gave me any specific "how to," then I would feel misled. If the coach said "pay me to learn anything useful from me" I'd be like "well, I'm not interested then." Not because I don't value his knowledge but because of his unhelpful attitude.

Again, I understand your approach, too but it personally puts me off.

My question to all of you guys is:

Should you sell in a way that doesn't work on you and/or that you don't like? Even if these tactics really work well on anyone, should every marketer use them, even when they feel it's incongruent with them?

I think my thoughts are rather clear in this matter

 

[MTF]

Issue #4: Russell Brunson’s Expert Secrets Part 2: Rest of the Book

As I mentioned in my previous posts, after reading the entire book I have mixed feelings about it. Still, putting aside the stuff that doesn't resonate with me, there are still some valuable insights in the rest of the book that I wanted to share. I'm covering the other 80% of the book but only picked the best of the best thoughts for me personally so this issue is relatively short.

1. When sharing a teaching framework with your students, to make them value it more, tell them how you learned it (mention all the pain, suffering, frustrations, etc.). They need to feel the emotions you felt when you struggled with it.

2. When picking your niche, ask yourself:

• Would people in this submarket be excited about the new opportunity/frameworks you will be presenting them?
• Are the people in this market irrationally passionate? > to determine, make sure there are existing communities, inside vocabulary, events, and other experts.
• Are these people willing and able to spend money on information?

3. The category king usually eats up to 70-80% of the category's profits, so create your own category instead of competing in a red ocean (full of competitors).

4. For proper market positioning, do your homework. Find 20 or 30 other experts who are already in your market, consume everything they have to offer, see what they're teaching, and figure out where you can carve your own unique spot in that ecosystem.

5. Don't sell improvement offers. Create a new opportunity to set yourself apart from the competition.

Our goal is not to fix what’s not working. Our goal is to replace what’s not working with something altogether different.

Most often, when people start thinking about the product or service they want to offer, they start by looking around at what is already out there and try to “build a better mousetrap.” When you do that, you are not offering consumers a new opportunity; you are presenting them an improvement offer. When you do this, you are just one of the sharks swimming into someone else’s blue ocean, and your best-case scenario is to fight over the scraps.

People are excited by new opportunities. Improvement offers don't inspire.

6. Value needs to be 10x the price.

If you’re selling a product for $997, then the value needs to be at least $9,997. If your value isn’t 10 times higher than your price, then it’s time to go back to the drawing board and figure out other ways you can package your frameworks or make new tools that will increase the value of what you’re offering.

7. Help your customers experience an identity shift. Create a name of your tribe that will make them want to belong, a manifesto they can believe in, and offer awards to give them status in your tribe.

8. Get people to believe only one thing.

The entire presentation is designed to get them to believe just one thing: that your new opportunity is the key to them getting the result they desire the most. That’s it. If you try to get someone to believe in more than one thing, your sales will suffer.

9. Your opportunity has to be the key to what they desire the most.

If I can get someone to truly believe that the new opportunity or category is the key to what they desire the most, and they can get it only through my vehicle or frameworks, then they have no other options but to buy. This is the key to launching your movement. Belief.

Here is what I used for ClickFunnels:

If I can make people believe that funnels are the key to online business success and are attainable only through ClickFunnels, then all other objections and concerns become irrelevant and they have to give me money.

When someone believes they have to have a funnel (and they do), and that I present the only way they can get one, then they have to buy ClickFunnels. There is no other option.

 

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[Andy Black]

Good for you getting back into marketing @MTF. I think this will really help your other endeavours.

I’m following as I love direct response and your write ups are always amazing. Hmm… maybe you could consider selling summaries of books?

Now then… your title. Could you come up with something better than “How To Learn Direct Response Marketing - Progress Thread”?

 

[Andy Black]

Book summaries are a commodity

Lol.

Don't forget you're saving people time. "Fast beats free".

Why? I think it's simple and explains what the thread is about. Unless I'm missing an error in it. If you think I should rename it, I'll come up with a different title.

On my phone I don't see all of the title "How To Learn Direct Response Marketing"
This would fit better: "Learning Direct Response Marketing".

Something like this could get more eyeballs though "Make More Sales With Direct Response Marketing".

 

[Mathuin]

This would fit better: "Learning Direct Response Marketing".

Something like this could get more eyeballs though "Make More Sales With Direct Response Marketing".

I was thinking the same thing. "How to" and "Process Thread" don't fit well together imo.

 

[Speed112]

@Andy Black, @Mathuin, @Speed112 how about "Grow Your Business With Direct Response Marketing - Strategies, Book Summaries, and Case Studies"?

I think of it as a progress thread since I'll be sharing my own process but I agree it may be better to omit this part and just focus on the benefit. The first part alone ("Grow Your Business With Direct Response Marketing") is a little lackluster, though, so I think that the "Strategies, Book Summaries, and Case Studies" adds some relevant details. Can be also "Summaries" on its own without "Book" if it's clear enough.

How about just Growing With...?

One great thing about direct response is that it shifts your mindset for the better. You learn how to listen, how to empathize, how to connect with other people's pain. You start seeing opportunities everywhere.

Copywriting is like a catalyst that instills growth.

Not just in your business, but in you as a person.

All of my interpersonal relationships, whether they are friends, business, or romantic, benefit immensely from my direct response experience. They're all great, even though I'm really bad at maintaining a consistent investment in them sometimes.

Because all relationships are built on trust and communication. Direct Response is just a very optimized mechanism for communicating and building trust.

That is, if what you learn isn't just what you need to do when. But also Why you need to do it.

That Why, which is what gives direct response its effectiveness, is what makes you a genuine, helpful person that people love to interact with.

I grow as a person with every written word. How about you?

Edit:

I like that format. Looks great to me. And I love learning

 

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[Speed112]

Love this stuff.

If you saw the masterclasses I ran with @Black_Dragon43 they were initially supposed to be that type of webinar:

you shouldn't teach anything useful, just the "what" (without any "how") because that will increase your conversion rates

but we decided that no, that's not what we're trying to do... we're trying to teach people how to solve their problem and make this a valuable experience whether or not they end up buying something after.

I absolutely loathe those webinars where you're constantly teased with the solution, have to go through a million pieces of social proof and aggrandizing "authority-building", and then get aggressively sold to for half an hour when the actual information they share could be condensed in a 2 minute Youtube video.

Yes, they convert like crazy, and it's clear how, but I really don't understand why! Are people so desperate for the secret sauce?

I just finished outlining the marketing strategy for a client today. Some people might tell me that I should keep as much knowledge hidden as I can get away with, so that I can upsell them consulting for $300/hour to hold their hands and drip-feed them information while they go through the process. Sure, I do that, but only when it's necessary. I very much prefer teaching them why I recommend what I recommend and how it works, and making their decision to work directly with me an informed, consensual decision, rather than one based on hope and a "just trust me bro, I got this" promise.

Here's what I had to say about Conversion:

"Once people are satisfied with the project and trust in the fulfillment of its promise, all they need to do is make the leap. This is when and where the purchase happens. Great nurturing can naturally lead the conversion event to happen, which is why it is very important as a preamble, but is often insufficient. A good portion of the prospects need a helping hand. The promise that you'll be there to catch them when they jump...

Which is an offer that they cannot refuse.

The goal of this stage is to instill another emotional state where the person is ready to take action, and then focus it on a particular call to action which leads to the desired response. You accomplish this by reducing any friction you can between the buying decision and the action, and then asking for the obvious. To act.

The strength of the offer is the vehicle of conversion, and a bit of sales effort is the driver."

This is my impression of direct response and its purpose. Notice the attitude there... "strong offer, and a bit of sales". Many people convert on their own without any need of a sales effort at all, just from previous nurturing, brand authority/trust, and social proof.

And what you are really trying to accomplish here is simply to reduce or eliminate friction.

@Andy Black is totally right.

It's all about the visitor, and how easy it is for them to act. Your goal is not to push them towards acting, but to lift the barriers leading to it. Sometimes those are limiting beliefs. Other times it's a lack of information.

And sometimes all they need is a button with a call to action. Don't overthink it.

What you should see from Russel's book and approach is not necessarily his technique, but the steps and experiences through which he takes the prospect, from acquisition to conversion. You don't have to be salesy and pushy to fulfill the conversion requirements and perform direct response.

You just need to make acting feel easier and more attractive than not acting.

Russel seems to be very good at doing that, but maybe not at teaching it to others.

Let us know what you think anyway! Your insight is valuable.

 

[Speed112]

Should you sell in a way that doesn't work on you and/or that you don't like? Even if these tactics really work well on anyone, should every marketer use them, even when they feel it's incongruent with them?

I don't think so. You can do it if you feel it's necessary, but if they make you miserable it's only going to make you less effective in the long run. Also, they don't work well on anyone. They might work well on a larger proportion of your audience, but it can also mean the smaller proportion that it doesn't work on has their needs unfulfilled and you could be losing out. It's hard to say and it depends on the product, market, and salesman.

There are different salesperson archetypes and ways of doing things. And, while a master salesman might be able to emulate multiple of them to better mold themselves to the person they're talking to, you don't need to do that to be successful. Focusing on the type you have most affinity with is perfectly fine.

@Andy Black for example, is most definitely a relationship-builder. You seem to fit that archetype as well, judging from your attitude on educating.

@Black_Dragon43 is the challenger type, most likely, which you could equate with being "pushy".

You've also got the problem-solver type, the hustler, and whatever else. There are many ways of looking at it, but there are clearly stark differences in approach, and usually, it's hard for the intuitive types to relate with the more cerebral ones. Same with the prospects.

Some people need time and space to process. Others will never act unless they are put under enough pressure to commit. Some need hand-holding and tutorials. Others need concepts and reasoning.

I think the key here is to realize that you will only ever resonate with about 15% of your niche. That's your audience. Unless you're a sales god, in which case you can maybe reach 50% and speak to millions.

"An above average market penetration rate for consumer goods is estimated to be between 2% and 6%. A good penetration rate for business products is between 10% and 40%."

Those numbers are most likely the same for salesmen. 2-6% B2C, 10-40% B2B.

So those really skilled pushy aggressive salesmen who go balls to the walls with their selling and convert like crazy... still only convert 20-30% of people, fail to close 20-30% and completely alienate 40-60% of people. Same for the non-pushy roundabout approach.

I think it's important to be aware of, and understand all the different types so you can mix and match things based on the situation. But focus on the stuff that works for you.

 

[Speed112]

Interesting. I wouldn't guess that even the best copy can capture so little of the audience. Obviously, financially it doesn't matter if it's a big niche. Just interesting that we're working with minority of the target audience.

This also makes it sensible to pick the part of the audience you want to appeal to and write copy in a way that will appeal to them.

I assume that people in more "questionable" niches need to be more pushy but there's no such need if you're in a category of one.

I was just looking at a Doberman Dan interview and it went a little bit into this...

Do the top A-listers always write great sales letters that make a great ROI or can they even still sometimes go wrong?

Doberman Dan: Most of the guys that have been positioned as the best of the best and are the copywriting heroes, most of them, their pieces fail more times than work.

A great example is Agora, one of the largest direct marketing companies in the world. They have the sharpest direct marketing minds working for them. They have these nerdy account engineer guys with pocket protectors which have these crazy computer programs which can predict stuff that seems impossible to predict as far as numbers go. Their managers are the best in the world, their marketing directors are the best in the world, they’ve got decades of experience and they hire the best copywriters in the world. Here’s their track record…

Out of every 10 projects they try, on average 7 of them are bombs and are abandoned because they just show no life they’re not even worth pursuing.

Of the remaining 3, to use a baseball term, 2 are base hits. They’re tweakable, they could be improved but nothing to write home about.

One possibly is a home run and is a big hit. That’s out of 10 and that’s with the best talent in the world, with more money than God to work with to test these projects. The best people in the world and the best copywriters in the world that is their average track record. So why should the rest of us expect any better?

You could resurrect Gary Halbert, Gene Schwartz, Robert Collier and Caples and combine their minds with the greatest living copywriters in the world now Jim Rutz, Gary Bencivenga, Clayton Makepeace, Arthur Johnson, David Deutsch, you could combine all of their minds together and write the greatest piece of copy ever written and that can still bomb because the copy is a very small part.

Usually in most freelance arrangements the most important parts are completely outside of the copywriters control. The only thing a copywriter is told to do is to write the copy. The copy really is just a very small percentage of the success of the promotion, maybe 20%.

Out of the great people listed there... they each have vastly different styles. They all do direct response, though.

The importance of copy cannot be understated. But its effectiveness is not guaranteed. The issue is people want and need confidence. They hire an expert because they want to pass on the responsibility. So in order to make them hire you, you have to show absolute confidence in your ability to deliver...

It just takes a while. And you need more than just direct response.

Without positioning, the right product/market fit, and finding the niche and segment you can communicate well with, it's probably going to be very difficult.

titbits

Omg. You're the first person I've seen use the correct version of the word in years. Years!

No wonder you publish books.

Edit:

Here's a quote from Kick-a$$ Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel by the great John Carlton.



That's the strength of a top-tier ad. It connects the salesman with the buyer like they're soulmates.

You can realize better the marginality of where direct-response works by looking at the high-performing newspaper ads of yore. They're always highly specific and targeted, so most people would just turn the page. But those who don't... hoboi they'll buy.

 

[Andy Black]

So how do you reach out indirectly? Do you mean content marketing or just hanging out on social media and helping people for free?

One way is to post stuff online and see who raises their hand. You can then message them and it's not a cold outbound message.

One example is me messaging everyone who follows me in the forum (or gave me rep when that was a thing). I've sent over 3,000 messages since 2014. Instead of it being weird, people are often amazed that I've messaged them unexpectedly.

I wrote about that years ago here:

• HOT! - MINDSET - Learnings from 700+ PMs with fellow forum members

And it inspired this more recent thread:

• GOLD! - Don’t lurk, do this instead

I wrote about posting on Facebook to get people to raise their hand here:

• MARKETING - Just start already

 

[Speed112]

Ha that's interesting. For me, it's because of a couple of things:

1. The word "dump" is IMO negative. I know that it's a "brain dump" but still, my initial reaction is seeing the word "dump" and thinking "oh, the guy tells me outright his content is trash."

2. Newbies don't know who you are. So if they see "Andy's Braindump" they don't know why they should check it out. Seems very random. You're losing these people, at least until they stumble upon your other content.

3. "Inbound" is a quite technical word which many people don't get. I think you like simple explanations and short, memorable one-liners. "Inbound" is alienating marketing slang.

I agree with this stuff. To me "X's Whatever Braindump" sounds like a disorganized mess that probably takes a lot of effort to process and there's no obvious benefit to doing that. If I wouldn't know that Gold = Most likely great value and that Andy is generally very good at soft sales stuff, or if I didn't know what Inbound meant, I would very easily scroll past that.

It doesn't evoke curiosity or capture attention and it doesn't answer what's in it for me.

But that's fine if you don't want curious eyes, but motivated readers.

So how do you reach out indirectly? Do you mean content marketing or just hanging out on social media and helping people for free?

Here's an example. You're writing a book on a particular topic. You think this book is really valuable to a particular audience. Let's say it's a book on How to Master Trout Fishing. You don't know anyone who likes fishing trout, but you'd love to reach out to them.

Instead of going out of your way to find fishermen at the fish market, yanking on their sleeve, and asking them "hey do you like trout fishing? I've got a book on it!" you find someone who's already got their ear, a lure-seller for example, and teach them how to fish trout. They will then share that knowledge with the fishermen and they'll reach out to you if interested. You can leave the lure-seller some impressive business cards, maybe incentivize them with a commission if they send people to you, and things work themselves out.

In more relevant terms... You can showcase your expertise on podcasts, on other people's platforms, through their own content channels. Joint ventures, collabs, affiliate deals. And, well, simply contributing in certain communities like this forum is a form of it. We're all engaging in this process right now to a certain extent.

"Influencer" has kinda become a bad word, but in the past the real influencers, those who held the keys to influencing your audience, were the other "trusted advisors". Lawyers, accountants, financial planners. By getting good with key holders of influence, you can share their reach with your own expertise.

 

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[Mathuin]

@Andy Black, @Mathuin, @Speed112 how about "Grow Your Business With Direct Response Marketing - Strategies, Book Summaries, and Case Studies"?

I think of it as a progress thread since I'll be sharing my own process but I agree it may be better to omit this part and just focus on the benefit. The first part alone ("Grow Your Business With Direct Response Marketing") is a little lackluster, though, so I think that the "Strategies, Book Summaries, and Case Studies" adds some relevant details. Can be also "Summaries" on its own without "Book" if it's clear enough.

Sounds good imo