Nick Graff

Nick Graff I help entrepreneurs create their marketing plan. I have created a free quiz to help you get started: nickgraff.com/quiz I used to sell Real Estate.

When one of my ads did well, I got excited about marketing. When the market crashed in 2009, I had to decide between Real Estate & marketing... and I chose marketing. I learned digital marketing & got hired by a dozen small business owners to help them with their lead generation & customer acquisition. It got addictive when I helped one of my clients make more than $1 for every $1 he put into adve

rtising. He was building his database full of free leads (which usually ran about $10 in his industry) and free customers (which usually ran about $50 in his industry). Literally... he was getting free customers. Now if he raised his budget 10x, he would get 10x as many customers, for free.... and if he raised it 100x, he would would get 100x as many customers, for free. It's the ultimate way to grow a business. You get free customers, at any scale you want, and then you use almost-free email marketing to follow-up with your prospects & customer & make as many offers as you want... resulting in big margins. But the problem is, it's expensive to build... and it requires patience. So I advise clients to make something else pay for it. If you only have so many resources to go around, running a big experiment may not be a wise thing to do. But what if you had some gold in your business, that just need to be mined out... and what if I could point you to exactly where it is? Would you then be able to raise the cash to hire an expert to build a free customer acquisition machine? Let me give you an example...

Say you had a large email list that has gone cold. What if you knew how to re-engage them & make the right offer? You could raise cash pretty quick. There are dozens of big opportunities like this, hiding in your business. And I would like to help you uncover them. But I know that most entrepreneurs are not interested in forking over cash to someone they have never met. So I did the next best thing...

I built a quiz... and made it free. All you do is answer 11 questions and five minutes from now you will know exactly what to do. These are the same questions I would ask you in a paid strategy call. To take the quiz, visit https://nickgraff.com/quiz

30/12/2020

Most marketers talk about features & benefits.

Professional marketers talk about their customers.

The job of a business is to help customers shift from the undesired condition you found them in, to a desired condition they envision.

The job of a marketer is to articulate that shift.

The better you are at casting a vision of how bright their future looks, the more valuable your product is to them.

For example, you go in to see the Doctor because you have a condition that feels life threatening. The Doctor tells you that you have an extreme flu & prescribes you some medication. How much are you willing to pay for that diagnosis? A lot, right?

Contrast that with this experience...

Say you own a golf course & a golfer goes online and finds bad reviews about your golf course, so they pick another one.

Here is a better experience for the customer...

They go online & find a deal on Groupon, at your golf course.

Here is the best experience for the customer...

They go online, see glowing testimonials about your course, balk at paying full price, so they do some more research and find your compelling offer that includes a "swing audit" or a bucket of balls.

Then they try out your course, your team does a great job of making them feel welcome and exceeding their expectations (like Disney).

On their way out, you wash their clubs & hand them a free ticket to your gourmet buffet the day of the Masters.

You track your numbers and know that enough of them will become loyal customers without you even asking... because they love the golf course, they love your community & they love being appreciated.

They don't even consider any other golf courses now.

Every bit of that included marketing. Every bit of that is architected by you. Notice how the better the customer experience, the more profitable it is for you.

And if you are nervous about the buffet, etc.... here is proof that you can make money "giving things away"...

Car Wash...

You know those $3 car washes?

Have you ever asked yourself how they make any money?

The $3 wash is a loss leader & we all know it.

But when you get to the checkout machine, you are "marketed" all kinds of upgrades.

They know that a certain number of people will upgrade, which is where they make their profit.

You can do something similar by giving free items (putting lessons, etc) or low cost items (low cost, high quality hot dogs, etc) to your customers just to experience your brand.

Once they see how great your course is, you can sell them full price items, which more than pay for the loss of the free & low cost items.

It's a numbers game.

Or how about the gym...

Have you ever noticed that a gym membership is really cheap?

Of course the $9/mo ones are insanely cheap, but even paying $50/mo+ is still very cheap.

You don't have to spend thousands on equipment & you get 30 days of high quality machines, towels, TVs, showers, etc.

That seems like it would cost more than you pay. So how do they make any money?

They depend on the people who pay but never use the gym. If they have 100 members and only 10 of them are coming on a regular basis, that turns it into a winner. They know their numbers.

Or how about Google...

Why is Google's search engine free? Why is Gmail free? Why is YouTube free? Why is Google News free? Why is Google Maps free?

Because they charge us advertisers for clicks. It's a great model because all 3 parties win... but especially Google... the one who is giving away free & low cost items.

And they are one of the most profitable companies in history.

As a marketer, your job is to engineer the process from "prospect not knowing who your brand is" to "loyal customer that is excited to pay full price & tell their friends to as well".

And the best way to do that is by giving them value before asking for money.

It's like dating... you don't ask a girl to buy you a drink, you buy her a drink. And if you architect the rest of the process well, you end up married.

If you architect your marketing system right, your customer ends up loyal.

30/12/2020

It’s a common myth that emailing your list more than once a week is bad.

I think emailing less than once a day is bad.

Here is why...

Let's say you own a golf course and you want to sell your "stress relief" package.

It's a 1 year program.

You sell them a season-long league designed to get their minds off the stresses of life.

It also includes a weekly massage (say your friend is a masseuse) and a daily exercise program (say your other friend is a personal trainer).

They are taking care of themselves physically, relationally & emotionally.

That is worth ALOT of money.

And a package like that is expensive.

But what if you only charged them half of what it was worth?

What if your masseuse & personal trainer friends wanted more customers and were willing to work out a bargain package deal with you.

And what if you held it when your golf course was a little slower so it didn’t reduce existing revenue?

You could create the package however you want, but the point is, they are paying for stress relief more than for golf.

And since they think "wow! this is a good deal!"... doesn't that mean that you are ADDING value to their lives?

That should be the point of all your products, to help your customers achieve a goal or solve a problem.

Then the more you sell, the more value you add to their lives.

30/12/2020

If you want to generate high quality & a high quantity of leads, you need to design your lead magnets with specificity.

If you build your email list with a generic lead magnet, you attract a wide audience.

This means that you know nothing about your audience other than that they came from the channel you used to target them.

The key to successful marketing is giving the right thing, to the right person, at the right time.

How can you do that if you know nothing about the person?

Make it specific.

For example, if you owned a golf course, you could create a "distance practice checklist".

Now when they request it, you know something about the person.

You can safely assume that they are interested in practice, distance & checklists.

So now you are building a segment of your list, instead of a generic list.

Here is where it gets good…

You decide that it is time to raise prices.

But you don't know the right price until you run enough traffic to a few different offers.

With a generic list, you send an email blast off to a third of your list.

Group 1 gets the $50 price.

Group 2 gets the $60 price.

Group 3 gets the $70 price.

After factoring in conversion rate, you determine that the best price is $60.

So now you publish the new price on your website and run ads.

Your $70 customers say "hey, why did you just tell me the new price is $70 & now you are telling everyone else $60... am I on your naughty list?".

So you give them all refunds... your team spends hours on the phone... hours parsing data... and you have to coordinate with everyone involved in your marketing efforts.

That could have all been avoided with a specific lead magnet.

Here is why…

Over the last 2 years, you ran 15 different campaigns to test 15 different lead magnets.

1 of the lead magnets was about putting.

1 was about distance.

1 was about dining.

1 was about weddings.

And so on.

Rather than put them all on one list and trap yourself into a generic promotion like "price"... you can do a specific promotion like "distance".

Your lead magnet was a "distance practice checklist".

You assume they are interested in practice, distance & checklists, which means that they are likely to respond favorably to a paid offer about practice, distance or productivity.

With your generic list, you have to make a bunch of generic offers so you don't upset people...

The only problem is... that upsets people.

You talk about price, you talk about your golf course, you talk about your food... but you have no idea if they are interested in hearing about these topics.

But 2 years from now, if you have 15 specific lead magnets, you can make at least 15 new offers before you have to worry about offending anyone on your list.

Let’s say that 2 years from now, your close friend opens a gym near your golf course. You would like to recommend his gym to your customers.

So you pull up your database of 10,000 prospects & customers (that chose to be on your email list) and ask yourself "who would like to hear about a gym? who would not get offended by my recommendation? who is most likely to buy a gym membership".

And you answer yourself....

"Ooh, i know... everyone who plays in our Tuesday morning walking league would love to hear about this... and, everyone who attended that clinic we did with that dietitian would love to hear about this... and it just makes sense to email everyone in the same town that the gym is in".

So you select 3 segments with 1,000 solid prospects for your buddy, send an email & everyone is happy. You are building bridges for buyers & sellers. You are the good guy. Nobody is mad at you.

Or you could send a blast to all 10,000 on your list & get feedback like this...

"I thought you said that you would never want to promote a gym; when I asked you to help me promote my gym a few years ago"

"Don't you remember? I am handicapped."

"I am not a customer, I am not a prospect, I don't even live in the area... take me off your list!"

Sound familiar?

How would you like to dramatically reduce those instances?

You need specific lead magnets so you can send specific offers to specific people and get higher conversion rates, at higher prices, with fewer unsubscribes.

30/12/2020

You may have the best product in the market & your prospect may need your product, but that does not mean that they want it from you.

Customers want a good experience. They want to know they can trust the brands they buy from.

They want to support brands who are aligned with their personal mission in life.

Just like a spouse.

Would you marry someone who opposed your views on religion & politics?

No... you would start to envision a life of pain.

And that is the same thing your prospects are doing when you are saying "Buy Buy Buy" or "Me Me Me".

It is a bad first impression. They envision a customer relationship of pain. Like you are a snake oil salesman. So they run.

They don't want to support a self-centered brand... even if you are actually market-centered... what matters is that they THINK you are self-centered.

They want to support a brand that speaks to their goals... so communicate that you put their needs and desires before your own.

How do you craft a market-centered brand?

By engineering the sequence of events.

You start by envisioning the ideal customer.

You envision products & services that WOW them.

Then you design a journey, from start to finish... like the journey that a guy goes through to get a girl to marry him…

What does your first brand impression look like?... think 'meeting a girl for the first time'.

How do you engage prospects with your brand?... think 'sharing a story that impresses her'.

How do you get them onto your email list?... think 'getting a first date'.

How do you get them to make a small commitment to you (AKA reciprocity)? ... think 'first kiss'.

How do you WOW prospects & deliver more than you promised?... think 'dropping off flowers at her work'.

How do you sell your product?... think 'getting down on 1 knee'... you have done so much work to get to this point, you expect them to say yes.

How do you get them to buy again & again & again?... think 'date night with your wife'.

You just keep adding value... you just keep thinking about your customers needs, before your own.

Your prospects become customers... your customers become loyal customers... your loyal customers become brand evangelists.

This is the way to build a brand that lasts for generations... and consistently grows in profit over time.

Sequencing!

30/12/2020

One of the primary reasons a prospect decides not to buy is because they don't believe in themselves.

Let’s say you own a golf course.

Let’s also say that you personally have been through all kinds of weight loss programs and none of them worked.

You start to wonder if you are the reason. Self-doubt creeps in and when the next diet company comes along you are highly guarded.

But you know that weight is a problem in America and you know that golf is 1 potential solution.

So you decide to sell golf to the greater local market as a weight loss method.

You offer a 1 month program where they walk 18 holes a day at sunrise.

They lose 10 pounds without any changes to their diet and they now have hope that your concept is real.

These people you are trying to attract may have no interest in golf, but they are very interested in health.

But you know this is going to be a doozy because losing weight is hard enough to sell and then you have to multiply it by the cost & the time it takes to play golf.

But you are determined because you care about your local community and you believe that it can be a win-win promotion that will set you apart from your competition.

So you look for ideas and get discouraged because there are none.

There are no golf courses doing this.

THAT IS GREAT!!!

This means that if you do figure it out, you will be "first to market"... which is the #1 rule in "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Al Ries & Jack Trout.

This is the Uber of ideas.

Uber came into a market with an idea. They thought that people would be interested in a new way to think about taxis.

eBay had their own concept.

Amazon had their own concept.

These companies succeeded in large part because they were the first there.

Good luck trying to be the 2nd one there... ask Jet.com what it's like to compete against Amazon.

If you are the first to market with this new concept of losing weight by playing golf, you could become the busiest golf course in the area... because people are playing there because they want to lose weight, not because they are getting ready for a competition (like most golf courses think).

In fact, you could take over the country, in terms of golf.

What if your concept was wildly successful locally?

Couldn't you copy & paste that model into a new market & buy another golf course?

Could you franchise it?

Could you sell a digital product to other golf courses on how you did it?

Yes!

But maybe no!

You have to experiment... you have to be the one in your market who is willing to spend time, money & energy on a campaign that is likely to fail.

And you have to have faith that it could take a dozen attempts at these big ideas before you find 1 that is profitable.

That is one reason I love marketing so much.

You can test your ideas with little risk & cost.

You don't have to spend millions of dollars on a golf course and hope that it is profitable.

You can spend thousands on a dozen marketing campaigns and see which one the market nibbles on.

THEN you can buy a golf course... or fix yours up.

30/12/2020

Why make business decisions based on data?

Because business decisions based on emotion, gut, masterminding, etc. are more risky.

That is a good way to start... but not a good way to grow.

Let's pretend like you are starting over from scratch…

You have a goal to make a profit.

You build a marketing campaign to get some sales.

You spend $1,000 on ads and you sell $1,000 worth of goods.

So you want to know what went wrong... it seems like a failure because your goal was to make a profit.

So you make a hypothesis and try another campaign.

This one makes a little money.

Then the next one loses a little money.

Meanwhile, customers are buying other things, so you end up making some profit.

But, you know you could do better.

So you try another marketing campaign... and another... and another... and then BAM, you hit pay dirt.

You found the winner. This campaign is driving a ton of sales at a huge profit.

But a few months later it fizzles out... and you are back to square 1.

So how can you avoid this roller coaster?

With data.

You measure each element of each campaign.

You see how many clicks this page got vs. that page.

You see how many leads were generated with this campaign vs. that campaign.

You see how many sales were made with this offer vs. that offer.

And you compare that to the time of day, day of week, advertising channel used, who wrote the copy, etc..

Now you have factual information that you can parse... and this data can be used in the future.

Now you can combine your gut, etc with the facts.

The facts are that customers liked this headline better than that one.

And they liked this offer better than that one.

You can see beyond a shadow of a doubt that your market is more hungry for a specific piece of your campaign... which tells you what motivates them... and what doesn't motivate them.

Let's say you own a golf course:

One of your headlines reads "10 Pictures of Our Course" and the other one says "10 Pictures of Our Members"...

If 1% of viewers clicked on "10 Pictures of Our Course" and 2% of viewers clicked on "10 Pictures of Our Members"... with all else being equal, you know that twice as many people in your market are interested in your "members" over your "course".

That not only saves you a ton of money next time you run this campaign, it could also change the way you market.

In the past you went on gut and you saw the end result... but that's about all you know.

Now…

You ask yourself "why are twice as many people interested in our members? Is it because they are curious about the wealthy? Is it because they want to see if they would fit in? Is it because they are social butterflies?".

"And why aren't they interested in our course? Is it because of all the other ads they see about golf courses? Is it because they want to hear about themselves? Is it because they have already played our course?".

Now you create content to test your hypothesis.

Then you run a split test.

The original campaign vs. your new campaign.

If the 2nd campaign outperforms the first one, the assumption was correct.

If not, try another piece of content.

Making decisions based on data is like saying that your goal is to serve the market because you are building your business around what customers actually want... not what you think they want.

Whoever understands the market best, wins.

30/12/2020

Headlines make or break ads.

Imagine you are on your smartphone and you see 5 headlines...

You scan all 5 and pick the 1 that is most interesting, and are unlikely to go back to the other 4.

This is what happens to prospects in your market when they do a search or scroll through a news feed.

So you have to stand out.

You have to put some real thought into your headlines.

It’s not uncommon for a pro ad writer to write 100 headlines before deciding on 1.

The reason…

Because it forces him/her to think about all of the angles.

And many times, the winning headline comes from the last 20 headlines.

The advertiser picks a few that he/she believes are the most compelling & run the same amount of advertising to each.

The one that gets the most readership, wins.

Then they take that headline and scales the campaign up.

But I know you are busy, so what can you realistically do to improve your headlines?

Focus on the big idea.

What is the revolutionary concept behind your message & overall campaign?

What stimulates them intellectually & emotionally?

What problem are you solving? What goal are you helping them achieve? In what way are you helping them make their life better?

If you include the big benefit of your message in the headline, your headline should be good.

Then when you have a dozen campaigns to compare to each other, see which big idea was best.

This will tell you what the market is craving.

30/12/2020

Groupon is a great service, for the business and the prospect.

Why is it so great for the business?

Normally, you would have to pay for a “lead”. Could cost $1, could cost $100… etc.

And if you wanted a “buyer” handed to you on a silver platter, you can expect that price to go up 10x.

But not with Groupon.

They send you a buyer for free.

And you get paid for it.

Yes, they are a free or discount-priced customer... but they are a buyer... not just a lead... and especially not a cold prospect that has never heard of you.

They are 20x more likely to buy more products & services than a prospect who has never pulled out their credit card.

Big companies are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for these types of customers.

They know that if they spend $100 today to acquire a customer, that the average customer will spend $1,000 over time, for example.

Every business has a different lifetime value (LTV) per customer, but let's say yours was $500...

Would you be willing to spend $100 today if you knew that over the next 3 years, you would get $500 back?

What if the price to acquire the customer was reduced to 0?

That is what Groupon provides you with.

That is what makes Groupon great for you.

But they have a weakness, they have a weak “back-end”.

They don’t provide businesses with “what happens next”.

That is your job to figure out. And if you don’t, Groupon is NOT a great option for you.

The majority of the time I use a Groupon, I have an average or bad experience.

These businesses do not understand lifetime value.

Rather than feeling jaded by me, the “cheap” customer… they should WOW me.

The only time I had a good experience was when my wife & I went in for a massage. They put us in a comfortable room with comfortable robes with a few options to drink & some chocolate covered strawberries.

The massage was great & they made us an offer at the end to join their monthly massage club.

That is the right way to use Groupon, as a business owner.

You get a free buyer… the buyer gets to test you out… and if you pass the test & follow up, they think of you when it’s time to spend more money.

30/12/2020

You know the saying... "it takes 7 touches to get the sale".

If you run 7 ads to 100 people, you will get better results than 1 ad to 700 people.

Same cost, different results.

Why?

Because the first few ads are largely ignored... so the advertiser gives up.

But when they finally read your ad, you have a chance.

And after a few times of reading your ad, they believe it.

It's like human relationships…

You saw your wife for the first time & your heart exploded.

You saw her again and you were too chicken to say anything.

On the 3rd time, you said something, but you were so nervous that you think you made a bad impression.

On the 4th time, she smiles at you and you feel a little more comfortable, so you have a real conversation.

The 5th time, you get her number.

The 6th time, you grab coffee.

The 7th time, she agrees to a date.

It's a process.

But most businesses do the process wrong.

They "ask for a date" the first time they see a prospect.

And again on the 2nd time.

And again on the 3rd time.

And by now the prospect is thinking about calling the police.

So the marketer throws his hands up and says "marketing doesn't work".

What they need to know is that it's just a process.

You have to court your prospects to become customers.

You have to court your customers to become clients.

You have to court your clients to become evangelists.

30/12/2020

Did you know that Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com in 1994 & didn't turn a profit until 2003?

And that Amazon was first called "the largest online shopping retailer in the world" in 2013.

For starters, he was persistent. He had faith in his idea. His faith was so great that he was able to raise billions of dollars from investors from 94' to 03', in the midst of big financial losses.

But I think his success can be summed up in this quote from him...

"We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient."

And I think this can be applied to your situation.

Let’s say you are a golf course owner…

Golf courses get slaughtered by bad economies because golf is not a necessity, it's expensive & it's time consuming.

But that doesn't mean it can't be profitable, even in a bad economy... everyone wants to be entertained.

We have to be patient while we re-orient our business model... but first, we have to put ourselves in our customers' shoes.

If we were broke, what would inspire us to play golf anyways?

Health, relationships & entertainment come to mind.

An addict finds a way to come up with the money & so can a golfer.

The problem is, golf industry leaders are not making golf as attractive as the drug marketers make drugs look.

Illegal drugs are the bad voice on 1 shoulder... golf is the good voice on the other shoulder.

They have to make a choice every day.

Do they want to do something productive today? Or something destructive?

And Satan usually wins because the destructive option is easier & immediately gratifies.

Which means you need to work twice as hard as the drug marketer.

But you have a long-term advantage... the drug marketer loses his best clients, to death.

Meanwhile, the healthy golfer is referring business to you.

You have the privilege of bringing life to people... you sell joy & happiness... the real kind, that makes them feel good afterwards... not the "temporary fix" kind that makes them feel bad afterwards.

And when you make your customers feel great about life, they want to tell all their friends... and they mention you... so ANOTHER breed of prospective golfers are introduced to the sport & your course... with no advertising dollars & a VERY warm introduction.

The thing that Jeff Bezos did so well was focus on the customer.

He figured out a way to make online shopping trustworthy, expedient & cost effective.

How can you focus more on your customers?

30/12/2020

You are probably aware of several of the marketing softwares out there.

But how do you know which tech stack is best for YOUR business?

The answer is…

It depends on who is doing what.

Generally, each teammate is natural at 1 or 2 core competencies within marketing…

Email marketing
Copywriting
Design
Branding
Networking
Programming
Direct mail
Radio
Etc

Each member of the team should be GREAT at what they do.

The email marketer should be FOCUSED on email marketing.

The pay per click advertiser should be FOCUSED on advertising.

The manager should be FOCUSED on managing people.

So the first question is…

What is the strategy?... What marketing tactics help us achieve our mission?

Then…

Who is going to do what?

If you are on a budget, it may be you & only you for a short time. In which case, your tech stack should be an all-in-one solution that is super concentrated on one goal… to get net profit.

All you do is select which sales funnel makes the most sense, change the words, change the images & add/subtract any pages that will help you achieve your sales goal.

If you have more budget & more team, you probably want to get everything custom coded. This allows you to protect your castle. Nobody can see any of your data. With the all-in-one solutions, at least the owner of the company can easily see what makes your marketing effective.

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