Last night I was up until 2:41am and I realised something… unique marketing ideas don’t work. Well not as well as we’d like them to work anyway. This was brought on by rereading Seth Godin’s classic Purple Cow.
Seth was talking about how marketing is not an afterthought… but an integral part of product design. Now I’d heard that before but sometimes all it takes is a little change in perspective to see the big picture. The big picture being that while most marketing sucks… so do most products.
The ideal solution
I teach in my 12 Hour Sales Booster course that the ideal way to start a business is first find your market and then create a product from what that market wants. This is always difficult for most business owners as they’re generally already in business. So instead I focus on how they need to market their products and services.
However I forget to point out that marketing should also be created before the product. Yes - you heard me right - you should have your marketing thought out long before even creating the product. This is something I do in practice but didn’t actually realise I was doing.
How the Marketing Outlaw was created
An example is this website you are on right now. I first came up with the Marketing Outlaw name and what it stood for… then I created the website and Guide to Great Marketing to see if it resonated with people. Only when I knew I was on to something worthwhile did I actually create my first product.
This meant I already knew about my target market and what they wanted. So creating a product became second nature. It also allowed me to create a product that has very high conversion rates.
What do I mean by building marketing into the product
This is where we come back to being unique. Unique marketing is actually about having a unique product. It’s no good creating a boring product and trying to slap some unique marketing ideas on top of it.
We see this all the time - particularly in TV commercials - where the ad is creative and entertaining to cover the fact that the product is not. Unfortunately for these creative marketers the ads don’t result in more sales. However - on the bright side - no one is measuring the results anyway…
Finding the “Otaku”
Otaku is a Japanese word that describes “something that’s more than a hobby but a little less than an obsession” (Purple Cow). This is why I stayed up until 2:41am last night reading… because marketing is my otaku. The reason you’re listening to me is because I’ve dedicated myself to studying marketing and making money for businesses.
Now otaku is important to your business for two huge reasons:
- The only way to become the best in the world at your chosen profession is to be obsessed with it
- And if you don’t have clients that are also obsessed with it… your business will never be remarkable
Being remarkable
Simply put… you want to create something so unique and different that it’s worth talking about. You want to create raving fans that will rave about you to other people. That’s how your business will really start to take off.
Now this is easy to say but very hard to do. You really have to have something special going on so people will talk about it. Not that I’m saying you shouldn’t try but it involves that dirty word - failure - and I believe there is a learning curve that is hard to avoid.
The learning curve of marketing
If you want to have a successful business you must first learn how direct response marketing works. That’s what we talk about here… how to spend $1 and get $1 back plus a new client. This is the fundamental skill in creating any business.
Then as your business grows you’ll learn more about your markets wants and desires. This gives you a higher probability of creating something remarkable for them. It’s still not easy and there will be failures but by this point failure won’t be the evil word it once was.
My last product failure was a few weeks ago
While I was at the World Internet Summit I noticed that all the “gurus” were selling thousand dollar coaching programs but no one was really focusing on the low price market. This makes sense as seminars like this is where it’s easiest to sell the high-priced products and why should they shoot low. But I thought I’d take a stab at it.
So I spent at hour creating a sales letter for a $900 product that focused on them getting their first sale online. Enough people took the sales letter but I only received one sign-up on the website. Big deal… so I don’t run the course now (and I’m actually a little relieved as it was probably more effort than it was worth).
The difference between success and failure
There is a thin line between success and failure. The only way you hit a home run is to swing for the fences - sure you’re going to strike out - but in business you only need one home run to make it all worthwhile. Going with my metaphor the most strikeouts in baseball history usually match names who are known for the most home runs as well.
I may have failed with that product but the 12 Hour Sales Booster currently has a 100% conversion rate from the 2 week trial to the full course. Now I’m sure that’ll go down but it’s sure off to a good start. And if people didn’t like the product I’d simply create something else.
What you do next
Find what both you and other similar people are passionate about… this is your market. Ensure your business is unique from the start and then add unique marketing ideas to the mix. It’s a winning combination for success.
