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My perspective on Marketing

Marketing, social media, advertising

Johnny boy

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The first thing to happen before any business takes place is you must capture someone's attention. Before someone buys from you or pays you, they must first hear about you. When thinking about business, I like to think of it as monetizing an audience. When most people think of "monetizing an audience", they think of selling ebooks to their instagram followers or blog subscribers, or allowing ads on their youtube videos. When you realize all business is just monetizing an audience you start to think much differently.

So that's where we'll start. With the simple idea that all business is monetizing an audience.

Your audience is whoever buys from you. Like I said earlier, you must capture their attention. Every business needs to know who buys from them. That is part of how you know to solve their problem in the first place and satisfy a need. But back to the idea about an audience..

Whoever buys from you can be limited in a number of ways. A local service business can only sell to people in their town. A fitness brand can sell to people anywhere but only is bought by people interested in fitness. Thinking in that way, every audience has one thing that unites them and that needs to be highly defined. The local business that washes windows in Seattle is not a window washing business in a marketing sense...it is a Seattle business. That is because they cannot wash windows in Pensacola or San Diego, only Seattle, which is very specific limitation to their audience than the fact that they wash windows. 30% of people may want their windows washed, but what percentage of people live in Seattle? That's the point. If they make an instagram page and post pictures of windows being washed, would they grow their business? Nobody wants to watch that crap, and if some people do, there's a 0.1% chance they are also in Seattle.

So, each business has an audience, which is defined by a limiting characteristic that allows for focus. Now, once we identify these things, we can go to the next part. Getting their attention...

Knowing that the local window washing business can only sell services to people in seattle. They realize that an instagram and facebook page all about windows and washing them was really a stupid idea. They decide instead to start a podcast about everything cool in seattle, and they bring on the most influential people in Seattle to be interviewed on the show. They focus all of their energy on making it an entertaining show that can entertain and capture the attention of all Seattle people. They don't use their time to talk about window washing. They deliver value to the audience and give them amazing and entertaining content that is all based around Seattle. Every once in a while, they mention they are a window washing company, and the thousands of people who enjoy their content hear that and many people reach out to them to do business.

Every business has an audience, which is defined by a limiting characteristic that allows for focus. In order to eventually create a transaction, you must get their attention. You do this by delivering value to them, which can usually be in the form of content. You get to know people by giving them what they want, and then you sell them something that you had all along on occasion when it's appropriate.

Every heard of the show "hot ones"? They sell their own hot sauce. How would YOU do trying to create your own hot sauce brand? It's easy for them. They have a show about hot sauce that brings on celebrities and is highly entertaining in many peoples' opinions. They have 5.9 million subscribers and a focused product in each one of their videos to sell to them. The marketing costs? They just film people eating wings at a table and put it on youtube.

You can pay for your customers through ads, or you can be the thing they wanted to watch or read in the first place...

And when you have a relationship built up, they come to you first.

If you are going to use a realtor to buy a house, you will likely use a family friend or a relative who is a competent realtor before you randomly call up some brokerage. That's because you knew them for reasons other than when you needed a house. That is marketing.

If you sell things to local people, you need to become famous in your town. If you sell things to interest based people, you need to become famous within that interest group. If you have a wide selection of possible customers, you have more to gain by being generally famous.

There's a reason Dan Bilzarian is "growing" a massive weed company so quickly... and it's much smarter for him to monetize his audience in a highly profitable way rather than just doing sponsorships and posting other peoples' ads or selling "merch"...

If I were to start a weed company, I would try to be more like Dan Bilzarian than posting pictures and videos of marijuana on social media.

I was working with an accounting firm in San Francisco and the owner mentioned the best clients were always large businesses but she had trouble reaching out to them because large companies has secretaries that filter out sales calls. I asked if she could perform services to people in any location or only locally and she said local only. I told her to start a podcast about all things San Francisco and to invite on large business owners frequently. They'd be happy to feel "mini-famous" by being on a podcast and it would be a hyper-personal way to build a relationship and mention your accounting services as a side note.

I was working with a new apparel brand who sold trendy, women's clothing. I told her she needed to make content that the people who would buy her clothes would want to follow. She mentioned she would but "what else?" I said to reach out to everyone who has the attention of her potential audience already (like makeup tutorial influencers on youtube and instagram) and create affiliate programs so they would get paid when their followers bought her clothes. Raise the prices a couple bucks and she'll never pay upfront for sales and marketing.

I have a local lawn care business. When I open multiple locations, each location's manager will be titled a "marketing manager" and their job will be to build an audience and build relationships in creative ways within the community. They will all be the face of the brand for the city in which they operate. They will be instructed via a marketing handbook created by me that has their schedule planned out for each year and how to do every single step. It will involve renting out a venue to host a party and inviting all of the people who go to the local church to the party for free, and personally meeting each and every person. It will include hosting a simple youtube show or podcast about the things going on in their city. My company's interest isn't "lawn care", its the city in which we operate, and the marketing should only be focused on that one area. I would have just as much success if each new location had a completely different name, but was ran the same way. It's about the local audience, not the "interest" based category of your business.

I am frequently regarded as a salesman. I really don't take pride in sales. Sales is squeezing the most juice out of one fruit. It's about being the best on a small scale. It's trying your hardest to get one girl to date you. For years I never could articulate that I enjoyed the idea of marketing much more. As competitive as I seem, I'm not. I don't focus on saving my money because it seems like small thinking. I don't run fast to get anywhere. I don't try to get one girl to like me. I don't like optimization and working hard and getting up early. Not because I'm lazy, but because focusing on the small stuff like a 5% increase just distracts you from the few simple major actions that will bring 80% of your results. I'm a marketer. I want 500 lemons to squeeze lazily. I want 500 girls to ask out with a "U up?" text. I want to sit back and not convince anyone and sound like a salesman. I'd rather have people busting down my door and I sell whenever I feel like it. I don't like chasing or optimizing. I like big margins and low effort. Sales is the closing ratio, marketing is how many people you get to talk to.
 
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Xeon

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GOLD GOLD GOLD. :moneybag:

Would you say that it would take a long time to see profits from this kind of marketing (aka content marketing)? I assume one would need to put in quite a lot of $$$ initially to get the thing going. Maybe run a bit of paid ads in the short term simultaneously while waiting for that long-term strategy to take off?
I was thinking that one would also need to put in $$$ to market the content marketing (e.g: if you put up a podcast about Seattle, no one would know so you still have to get the word out)
 

Johnny boy

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GOLD GOLD GOLD. :moneybag:

Would you say that it would take a long time to see profits from this kind of marketing (aka content marketing)? I assume one would need to put in quite a lot of $$$ initially to get the thing going. Maybe run a bit of paid ads in the short term simultaneously while waiting for that long-term strategy to take off?
I was thinking that one would also need to put in $$$ to market the content marketing (e.g: if you put up a podcast about Seattle, no one would know so you still have to get the word out)

Do everything. Marketing is usually cheap. It’s the romance novelist creating an Instagram page of shirtless dudes and getting thousands of female followers to advertise a link of her book for free to, instead of her blasting it up on google adwords when people search for “romance novel” and hoping it has a good ROI.

A good case study in marketing besides “hot ones” is the Instagram page “your dads america”. They sell 80’s vintage clothes and items and have the best instagram content.

Also...big point here. It can be near instant success if your content goes viral...
 

Xeon

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Do everything. Marketing is usually cheap. It’s the romance novelist creating an Instagram page of shirtless dudes and getting thousands of female followers to advertise a link of her book for free to, instead of her blasting it up on google adwords when people search for “romance novel” and hoping it has a good ROI.

A good case study in marketing besides “hot ones” is the Instagram page “your dads america”. They sell 80’s vintage clothes and items and have the best instagram content.

Also...big point here. It can be near instant success if your content goes viral...

Thank you!
 
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DeepScripted

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Spot on advice! I am in the process to test my first product, and my thought was a 180 degree from your suggestion. Now, I feel... It's the scarcity mindset, self sabotaging and putting limit on myself and staying within my comfort zone. I was literally thinking how to make my listing better which pictures and keywords, but you just changed my perspective. We should be thinking big, and then a little bigger. Being very new to selling and business (it's difficult to get the right mindset) but slower and surely I will get there. Thank you for your post.
 

Charnell

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Excellent post!

If you want a great case study on this, check out Casper. They're the mattress company.

But they consider themselves a media company first. Instead of trying to run expensive ad campaigns, they created a satellite website all about sleep and answering any question possible about sleep. Then ran their own ads on their own satellite website.

Peek inside Casper's $300M content marketing universe
 
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Joe Cassandra

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Love your idea about becoming "famous" in your city. My wife and I are opening a local business in a few months, and will definitely be using this idea.

I don't agree that this type of content marketing is the only way to go. You didn't say that, but there was a mood that paid advertising isn't as good.

Paid is good because it gets results fast.

Content marketing (as you're suggesting) is an awesome long-term play, but you need that time on your side. Someone who quit their job and needs to make $1,000 this month to pay rent should not be spending their time podcasting or blogging.

--------
For the company we're starting (my 3rd business), we'll start heavily with paid to build sales and awareness, which then will be funneled back into more paid advertising.

After that is running, then we will go with your ideas here to build that long-term value to the community.

Your ideas about 'best of San Francisco" and such is definitely a good one. Because you're giving potential customers what they want.

For me, in Atlanta, it might be:
- Stories about new restaurants we try and recommend
- recommendations for contractors, realtors, etc.
- where we get some of the designs around our house

After that, we can drop hints about our business (real estate) and go from there.

Good stuff :)
 

Pat D. Rick

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Awesome post, thanks man.

Reminds me of a story I once read about a hotel in the caribbean. I can't remember the details so let's just call it the fastlane-hotel.
While every other hotel had to struggle to get bookings, the fastlane-hotel was always about 95% fully booked (which apparently is a lot in the hotel business).
A look on their website revealed why it was so successful. Besides a way easier booking process, the fastlane-hotel also offered a boatload of content relevant to caribbean tourists. Such as which places to visit in the evening, best restaurants in the area and other fun activities.

Now that makes me think about how I can apply these things to my own business...
 

Johnny boy

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To anyone who says this is a content marketing strategy and works long term but less short term..

The idea is that you need to be clear about WHO you’re selling to and WHERE you can reach them and then putting yourself there. It works with ads too. Like the example of turning already existing influencers into your affiliates. That is paid advertising. And it can ramp up quickly. You can get 500 influencers to agree to a contract and suddenly you can have tons of sales. The MAIN point behind all of it is putting yourself in the shoes of your customer and think of the best ways to get their eyes and ears on your business. It’s not a guide for being a YouTuber. It’s my perspective on what I think is the blueprint for creating relevant awareness.
 
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DeepScripted

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To anyone who says this is a content marketing strategy and works long term but less short term..

The idea is that you need to be clear about WHO you’re selling to and WHERE you can reach them and then putting yourself there. It works with ads too. Like the example of turning already existing influencers into your affiliates. That is paid advertising. And it can ramp up quickly. You can get 500 influencers to agree to a contract and suddenly you can have tons of sales. The MAIN point behind all of it is putting yourself in the shoes of your customer and think of the best ways to get their eyes and ears on your business. It’s not a guide for being a YouTuber. It’s my perspective on what I think is the blueprint for creating relevant awareness.

I have found 4 different demographics where my product can be very useful. Can you please help me with following?

1. Should I use my personal Facebook account to join/advertise product? Or setup a product page and does everything through it. I haven’t done this before, so if you can refer me to any how to get started articles/post that would be helpful.

2. Even though the product is essentially the same, different niches can be targeted with different packaging. Would creating 4 different Facebook product pages be a good idea?

Thanks for your help. Really liking this marketing strategy. Work done upfront but very high conversion probability when introducing product to people.


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Johnny boy

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I have found 4 different demographics where my product can be very useful. Can you please help me with following?

1. Should I use my personal Facebook account to join/advertise product? Or setup a product page and does everything through it. I haven’t done this before, so if you can refer me to any how to get started articles/post that would be helpful.

2. Even though the product is essentially the same, different niches can be targeted with different packaging. Would creating 4 different Facebook product pages be a good idea?

Thanks for your help. Really liking this marketing strategy. Work done upfront but very high conversion probability when introducing product to people.


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1. What’s the product?
2. What are you goals? Do you want to make some extra cash or build a large business worth millions?

Everything is based around those two questions.
 

GoodluckChuck

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I was hesitant to read this because the title was generic but I'm glad I did.

It's very smart to think outside the normal box of tricks used by most marketers and do things that draw the attention of the target audience.

The key is that you actually are getting attention, maybe by far more people than will buy your product. It's kind of like flipping the average marketing strategy upside down.

Normally people try to segment their audience and then try and get their attention. Doing it in reverse is not only less competitive, but it opens the door for many possibilities that are beyond the initial plan. You may find that your audience wants something different than your original offer and end up with a much better deal.

It's timely for me to read this as I'm reading a book called Absolutely Value that runs contrary to normal marketing thought.

The information age is changing the landscape in which consumers make buying decisions. To add to that, getting attention from a lot of people has never been easier.

It just takes some creativity and a focus on value from the consumer perspective.

Thanks for the cool thoughts
 
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DeepScripted

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1. What’s the product?
2. What are you goals? Do you want to make some extra cash or build a large business worth millions?

Everything is based around those two questions.

1. Niche cleaning product.

2. Built a big business around it. Although, I’m skeptical because everything gets copied so quickly now with people with more capital and connections. Being a newbie, that’s one of my concern as well.
Once the product hits market, it won’t be long before others can find sources too.


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Johnny boy

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1. Niche cleaning product.

2. Built a big business around it. Although, I’m skeptical because everything gets copied so quickly now with people with more capital and connections. Being a newbie, that’s one of my concern as well.
Once the product hits market, it won’t be long before others can find sources too.


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well then this is more obvious than ever




what's the thing that stops other companies from stealing your product and copying it? not a trademark or copyright or patent or anything legal. What is the biggest thing that prevents them from stealing away your business? I'll let you guess.
 

DeepScripted

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well then this is more obvious than ever




what's the thing that stops other companies from stealing your product and copying it? not a trademark or copyright or patent or anything legal. What is the biggest thing that prevents them from stealing away your business? I'll let you guess.

Loyal customer base. Fans who rave and crave for my product.


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Johnny boy

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Loyal customer base. Fans who rave and crave for my product.


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It's brand. Own their eyes and ears through marketing and control the "ads".

How would a rival hot sauce brand compete with "hot ones"? They've gotta spend tons of money to advertise to get an equivalent amount of eyeballs on them and it might not even be profitable at that point.

Many people can grow weed. "It's just a plant, dude". But people buy Dan Bilzarian's weed because he owns their eyes and ears.

No company can take your customers away if they are paying attention to you, unless youtube, facebook and instagram start selling their own brand of cleaning products...

It's not about someone finding your supplier. That's going to happen. It's about them knowing about you in the first place instead of whoever else finds your supplier.
 

DeepScripted

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It's brand. Own their eyes and ears through marketing and control the "ads".

How would a rival hot sauce brand compete with "hot ones"? They've gotta spend tons of money to advertise to get an equivalent amount of eyeballs on them and it might not even be profitable at that point.

Many people can grow weed. "It's just a plant, dude". But people buy Dan Bilzarian's weed because he owns their eyes and ears.

No company can take your customers away if they are paying attention to you, unless youtube, facebook and instagram start selling their own brand of cleaning products...

It's not about someone finding your supplier. That's going to happen. It's about them knowing about you in the first place instead of whoever else finds your supplier.

Pure Gold. Thank you for putting it in perspective for me. Any references/book/article/post you’d recommend to get started for a brand new brand-builder?


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Exactly how I have been taking on marketing. I have a painting company and a majority of my customers come to me because I am just "the guy" to go to.

If you want to know how to do this for FREE. Just join local facebook groups and provide content. Let people like you and now you are the one they recommend. I have loads of people I have connected with and now they recommend me to everyone.

Facebook makes local business so easy.
 
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Xeon

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Itizn

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Agreed 100%

Building the audience is half the battle.
Monetizing is the other.

Depending on one's personality, one of those halves will be much more difficult than the other.
 

Johnny boy

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Agreed 100%

Building the audience is half the battle.
Monetizing is the other.

Depending on one's personality, one of those halves will be much more difficult than the other.
and it doesn't necessarily mean "building an audience" like in the sense of having a social media account, you may sell B2B and a daily vlog might be a little silly. It's all about asking "who's got my money??" and figuring out the best way to get in front of their eyeballs one way or another.
 
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Black_Dragon43

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This is pretty much the Grant Cardone / Gary Vee strategy. It isn’t new, but very well explained. Stop focusing on your product, and focus on what your audience cares about (jab jab jab) and then every now and then sell them your product (right hook).

I’m not the biggest fan, since this isn’t how I’ve built my business so far, but it’s a very powerful strategy regardless of my personal tastes.

@MJ DeMarco - I personally feel this deserves GOLD indeed.

Well done @Johnny boy !:fistbump:
 

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