CAN MY STRATEGY GET YOU MORE CUSTOMERS?
Hey guys, Brad here and let me dive right into it because I don't like to waste time, and I doubt you do either...
The last few weeks I’ve heard the same thing from MULTIPLE sources:
Declining Conversions
Legal Costs Overrunning Other Expenses
Higher Than Normal Customer Churn Rates
We’re Making Serious Changes… We Hope They Work
Ad Costs Increasing
These aren't just small publishers.
These are big ad agencies, million dollar spenders, and everyone in between.
They’re trying to adapt to the market changes to address crashing conversion rates. It’s a matter of understanding that the market changes and if you do not change with/around it, then you will be left scrambling and playing catch-up.
Look around yourself now...
How many people do you know cutting down on spending?
They’re cutting because their products aren’t selling as well as they once were. They’re cutting because they have a salary bill they want to make and HOPE the same processes they’ve used the last few years work ONE more time. Declining conversions, lack of engagement, increasing costs…seems overwhelming, but it’s actually a GREAT THING!!
How can PAIN be good?
Easy… it forces you to adapt.
For me, this has been the best part of marketing in our space for so long… SO MUCH INNOVATION!!
And when I work with clients to help them innovate and THRIVE I follow a pretty good strategy that’s kept me and my family fed well for a number of years.
So what’s the strategy!?!
Over the last 15 years I’ve been a part of many multi-million dollar launches and businesses (Ino.com, Trading Concepts, Simpler Trading, Theo Trade, to name a few) .
So, I really know what works and how to manage growth around that ‘what works’.
I’ve helped launch major products and newsletters, created lead generation offers that brought in over 100k leads inside a month, and each and every time I can say that my method proved to be VERY fruitful.
It's a three phase plan that will get you moving toward improved conversions, better customer engagement, and a skill set that will keep your online business ticking for years to come!
PHASE ONE
GOLD IN THEM HILLS!
Chances are you already have products. You probably already have tools, a guru (or two), newsletter(s), and content that you’re producing on a regular basis.
This process is hard. Maybe the hardest part of my strategy, but if you want to stay ahead of the market and you don’t want to BUY new assets, you’re going to need to dig out some fresh products from your own mine.
So I start by asking myself questions:
How are those assets being deployed now?
Are the writers spending more time on now stale ideas?
Is the software being used fully, or just some parts?
Is this newsletter really right for today’s market?
Should we stream on TwitchTV instead of YouTube? (no don’t do this!)
It’s hard to look at assets in a different way when YOU might be the asset, but if you’re dealing with declining conversions then you have to ask yourself hard questions.
Another technique that I’m SURE most people do NOT deploy:
Call colleagues!
If you don’t have work colleagues who you can honestly bounce ideas and thoughts off of, you need to change that right now.
Make some friends and be real. It’s a unique way to get the opinion and thoughts from someone outside your company (or in your own brain), but with a general idea of what you’re working with.
Is it risky? Of course, someone could steal your product ideas or thoughts.
But more than likely what will happen (because this has happened to me) is they will say something or mention one little thing and since you already have a ‘gold mining’ mindset, a little nugget of an idea is all you need.
If you don’t have friends or a creative mind to create new products/ideas, give me a shout and we can brainstorm through some assets if you want to.
PHASE TWO
FOUND GOLD…NOW WHAT?
You’ve taken a look at your products, your assets and you think there’s a way for you to use it as a NEW idea/product.
But how?
EASY! Just create an entirely new marketing strategy around the new asset!
Kidding.
That process is pretty straightforward in my opinion.
First, talk to your customers.
Second, help your customers.
Third, just start.
First, you should call your customers.
Weird right?
Just call them. Have conversations with them. Where are they spending their time? How is their life/work going? What’s working for them? What’s NOT working for them anymore?
Second, after having a few conversations, what’s the best way for them to USE the new asset to their advantage?
When you start from a place of helping the customer you will automatically be ahead of the game because happy customers are…RETURNING CUSTOMERS!
Do they spend more time on their phone, so perhaps you change how much of your marketing budget is spent on desktop display ads?
Are they trading less because of XYZ? How does your product solve that?
I’ve heard time and time again, “this is what every trader needs.”
But time and time again, people don’t buy. Don’t get yourself stuck into a situation where you think you know what’s best for the customer…find out for SURE.
Third, just do it.
We know there are some basics around selling that we can stick to:
Great sales
pages
Clear and clean
squeeze pages
Great customer
follow up
But going deeper on the product creation fresh for market there are some practical examples with which we can expand.
Re-skinning a newsletter is low hanging fruit. Maybe it’s just getting stale under the old title/name, and you’ve been wanting to add more videos to it (or whatever), so NOW might be a good time for revamp and revive.
Build a new squeeze page for a different platform and if necessary, get someone to help you get ads on those channels.
You will also need to rethink your ‘thank you’ pages as well depending on audience, where they came from, and also how you’ll stay in front of them where they are…easy.
But what if you sell software? Can you break apart some of the most used parts and sell them individually via short YouTube clips in a 30 second VSL??
Probably…so make sure you have a good PHASE ONE of my strategy.
Another point to hit that’s over looked!
…Look around at others outside your niche and what’s being sold online to YOU and if your newsletter focused, check out some educational software companies and vice versa, purely as an exercise.
You will ALWAYS need IDEAS on how to deliver your new products/services, so don’t get stale.
NOTE:
You will probably integrate features from previous efforts, but not in the same way as before. It’s not a ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’ situation…
It’s seeing what parts of a previous strategy or method would/COULD work the best, delivering the new asset to the customer.
More than likely there will be parts you can and should use again, but make sure it’s unique as you’ll want to test real changes.
Questions to get you going!
Should you drive more traffic to your Podcast because you’re seeing more customers come from that source instead of the VSL?
Maybe you change your software from a big sale up front to a lower cost, more engaged subscription?
Maybe you invite YouTube viewers to engage with you more when you’re live?
LOTS of ideas and things to consider, I’m not sure what YOU will do, but this is the process I follow.
PHASE THREE
STRATEGIC TESTING
This is NOT ‘pain free’ testing.
The truth is, sometimes the testing phase can be VERY painful.
And confusing.
If you’re shifting your front end offer from a $99 per year to a $997 per year and the sales pitch comes on day 15 instead of day ZERO…its going to cause an adjustment in the business.
KPI targets are going to shift, so adjust and plan accordingly (by ‘plan accordingly’ I mean make sure you have some budget with which to test.)
Testing new ad sources with your new processes will be one you can hopefully jump into because you have a good network of people who can place ads all over for you.
This testing phase will be one that will need to be closely managed in order to ensure that you’re not over spending, or underspending (Alec I’m talking to you!).
NOTE:
It’s not always painful.
Remember, you can utilize existing assets (remember the first point?) to test new products or strategies. Those assets are also YOUR connections, your channels, and your insights on where best to spend.
You probably already have an email list…hit them again if they’ve not bought.
YouTube channels need dusting off…probably!
You get my point.
START TESTING MY STRATEGY!
RUN, REVIEW, REPEAT
It’s a simple and time tested process:
There’s a lot of nuance in there, however it’s the process…ask any marketer who’s been around for 15+ years.
Your Action Plan
(For My Strategy)
1
Gold In Them Hills!!
Identify assets.
2
Found Gold... Now What?
Get Creative.
3
Strategic Testing
Test Wisely.
Brain Storming Session?
As I mentioned above, if you want to brainstorm some ideas, let’s jump on a call!
I’d prefer to help you before you go from a declining situation to a DIRE one…
Especially if a quick call would help you jump start your next idea.
I’ve got nothing to sell, I like to brainstorm for fun, and if there’s a way I can help then we can figure that out on a call.
Heck, I bet inside an hour we can…
Send me a quick email today, and I’ll put you into a time slot.
Talk soon,
P.S. Since I’m not on social media anymore, here’s a recent picture of me and the family:
