Daniel's notes on Marketing Made Simple

Sales Funnel: It doesn't matter what you sell, if you use words to sell your products, a sales funnel will work. A sales funnel is the basic foundation of a good digital marketing plan. Once you create a sales funnel, your advertising can then support your sales funnel. A sales funnel is a way to capture and convert leads.

The five step marketing plan that works: 1. Created a BrandScript. I should have clarified my message. 2. Created a one-liner. I should have distilled that message into a single sentence. 3. Wireframed a landing page. I should have elaborated on that message and brought it to life on a clear and compelling website. 4. Created a lead-generating PDF. I should have used a lead generator to capture emails. 5. Created an email campaign. I should have earned the trust of people who had given me their email address by sending them helpful emails that practically solved their problems.

The truth is relationships are built slowly, Whether we are talking about a romantic relationship, a friendship, or even a relationship with a brand, all relationships move through three stages. And, these stages cannot be rushed. The stages of a relationship are: 1. Curiosity 2. Enlightenment 3. Commitment

Curiosity -> Enlightenment -> Commitment People do not want to be enlightened about you (get to know you more) unless they are curious about you (you have something that can help them survive), and until they are enlightened about how you can help them survive, they will never commit.

That person who went to the same school as you solves the problem of you not feeling alone, that there is somebody who has a similar life journey as yours. We tend to collect people with similar life journeys for that very reason; they make us feel like we have a tribe.

Human beings collect physical, emotional, and social resources that help them survive in the world. Just like the squirrels in my backyard collect nuts, we collect anything we might need to stay alive on this planet. And that's not a bad thing. We are, after all, primates. And primates are terrific at survival.

When it comes to marketing, the header on your website, the subject line of your email, the opening statement of your pro-posal, the title of your lead generator, your entire elevator pitch, the first line of your keynote address, and a thousand other things need to succinctly express one of the ways you help people sur-vive. If they don't, people will not listen.

Do You Get Past a Person's Curiosity Filter? The main thing that made me curious about that expensive sound system was status. More than even a sound system that sounded good, the beautiful equipment was going to make my living room look and feel awesome. People were going to think more of me when they saw that equipment (or so my primate mind believed), and so the pictures on the website were doing a lot of the heavy lifting. I know it all sounds irrational, but very little of what makes us curious is actually rational. People don't buy products, vote for candidates, or join a movement because they are thinking rationally. If you look around, that's pretty obvious.

Most businesses make the enormous mistake of telling their story to their customers, as though their customers are somehow inter-ested. Customers are not interested in your story. They are, rather, interested in being invited into a story that has them surviving and winning in the end.

Curiosity Isn't Enough Curiosity aside, I still wasn't ready to buy the expensive sound system. The sound system was no impulse buy. I needed more information. Without knowing it, I was moving into the second stage of relationships. I wanted the company to enlighten me about how, exactly, their product was going to increase my chances of survival.

Stage 2: Enlightenment This is the process by which your customer begins to trust you. I'm talking about the kind of enlightenment that helps us understand how something works. If you want customers to take the next step in a relationship with your brand, you need to enlighten them about how you can solve their problem and help them survive.

The next phase of your marketing should enlighten them about how your products work to solve their problems. Notice I didn't say that you should enlighten your customers about how your product works. That's hardly important. You should enlighten your customers about how your product works to solve their problem.

Assess the Strength of Your Marketing Campaign: Are you piquing your customers' curiosity with your website, your signage, the first pages of your proposals, and through the talking points your salespeople employ? Are you earning your customers' trust by enlightening them about how you can solve their problems and help them survive? Are you inviting your customers to place an order through a complimentary and direct ask?