How To Get Your First Clients When You're Starting An Agency Or Dramatically Increase The Growth Of Your Business. this Guy has the Answers.
He is by far one of the most brilliant marketers I have ever run across. We talk about a few subjects that are on everybody's mind. Such as, How to get your first clients when you're starting an agency? What do you wish you would have known when you first started that could dramatically increase the growth of your business? What is the difference between blue pill marketing and red pill marketing? I have to admit I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I'm promise Craig explains it to us in this episode.
In this Episode, I am talking with a good friend of mine, Craig Jacobson. He's built multiple businesses and he is the one I call when I am needing any type of marketing advice, because he knows what works!
Takeaways From This Episode:
- Where Do You Go to Get Your First Clients
- Design A Client Path - Lead Them To The Next Level
- How Long Does It Take To Define Your Product?
- What You Should Have Known Then?
- Blue Pill vs Red Pill Marketing -- What!!
Stay tuned. Craig is someone that knows what he is talking about! The only thing he has ever done in his career is marketing. Craig talks about studying marketing in graduate school after studying mathematics and economics as an undergraduate... and then he ran marketing for a bunch of big companies for about 20 years.
Where Do You Go to Get Your First Clients?
To answer that question Craig goes back and takes a look at how someone makes a decision to buy something. They are going to go through a process. Like understanding they have a problem, then they are going to look into their options - different vendors. So in our case, the two things they're going to care about is skill, do you have a demonstration of skill and what do people say about you? Developing trust and having the right skills are the keys to getting customers. Craig goes through what you can do to communicate your ideal customer avatar, show them something that might be a value to them, and then be able to have feedback from a community of people because nobody believes what you say about yourself. They only believe what other people say about you! I think it all boils down to the psychology of the sale. Right?
It's harder in an agency because our product is intangible. You're selling something that looks like hope and performance and money in advance. I'm big into productization right now because it reduces their anxiety and makes people feel satisfied and almost feel like they are buying a tangible product.
I talk about Legos and the meaning of those. I'm not just some weirdo with Legos in my office. Although, I am a little bit weird and I do have Legos in office. There is a reason, it is called the client path.
Design A Client Path - Lead Them To The Next Level
Craig talks about the lifetime value of his customers right now is about $45,000 a year. But it looks like it's $500 a month to start with, then they add another thing and another thing and another thing and pretty soon, it's tasty.
I call it “a client path” and as a matter of fact, I am in the process of launching a new brand and a new product line - It is ReLoad time! I had two major gaps in my product line that needed to be addressed. I was missing a whole group of agency owners. Now, I have something for everyone. My client path is, at the very beginning, you get a book, then you can get a membership for like $7 or $47 a month. That's just if you're kind of kicking tires, right? And as soon as you're ready, you go to the next level. There are six different levels to meet people where they are but not leave them there.
I've now dialed that in, and I'm excited about it. You need to love your product line because that is going to dictate your success or failure for sure.
You Have To Have A Third Eye View
In addition to that, while you're looking at your product line and the journey, you have to have this third eye view on it. Which means looking at your business model and what are you willing to spend to get a customer? What is their initial transaction with you, and what's the lifetime value of that customer? Because marketing only serves a good business model. Is this good for you? Is this a profitable business model? Or should you be changing your model or changing your products?
How Long Does It Take To Define Your Product?
You know, to get it really optimized and looking sharp? Craig and I talk about the process and about how to define your product - to get it really optimized and looking sharp. Normally, within about six months, you can see if your model is being validated by the marketplace. I use a lot of sports analogies. It's like the top seat of the stadium looking at what's going on in the game. Once you figure out the fulfillment process, then you have the big question. Do you actually like those customers?
Do You Actually Like Your Customers?
I've frequently found myself in the position that there are a bunch of people that want something that I can do for them - But I don't actually want a relationship with those people. You will get to this point and that is when you are going to pivot and you have to be smart about it.
Craig is very smart about it, he goes out there and goes whale hunting, he nurtures the right type of relationships. He is not going for a one off sale, he can do that with his eyes closed. He's a pro. Remember, if you focus on the one off sales, then you will have the tendency to get caught in a rut. If that is all you focus on, then in six months or a year later, you will wake up saying, “I really don't want to go to work” - “I don't like dealing with these people”. Because you're just so focused on the transaction. Waking up in the morning and thinking I can't wait to get to work, means you have the right clients.
You have A Niche But You Are Still Talking In Generic Marketing Terms. No No No!
STOP! If you have a Niche, that means you are an expert in that field so act like it! Use their language, use their terminology show them you know what you are talking about. Remember you are wanting to build their trust and show your skills.
That's the big game, knowing how to transmit information and showing them you are a part of their tribe. And, you become an influencer, you start to get asked to speak on stage, it starts to snowball, it just kind of starts to build up triggers.
What You Should Have Known Then That You Know Now?
One big thing Craig wished he would have known when he was first getting started, was the fact that you should be able to turn every vendor into an advocate for you. Everyone that you spend money with should become a big advocate. Don't ever just spend money with someone and just have a transaction. You want to build a relationship that is mutually beneficial for both of you; that is a magnifier for your business. If they're not, you need to go find different companies. He talks about the difference in working for a large company and being an entrepreneur and what he did not learn while earning his MBA.
Blue Pill vs Red Pill Marketing -- What!!
You may remember in the movie The Matrix when, Laurence Fishburne, offers them the option of wanting to go back and see the world the way it was? Or wanting to see the world as it is?
So the Blue Pill Marketing strategy is seeing the world as you want to see it and the Red Pill Marketing Strategy is seeing the world the way it really is. The Red Pill Marketing understands at its core, there is no privacy.
Craig describes Red Pill vs Blue Pill Marketing being similar to how we fight wars, up until war WWII, maybe even Vietnam, we used to fly over a target and then pushed out a lot of bombs.We would carpet bomb. But how do we fight wars today? We fight wars at night in the rain, and we put a latitude and longitude on a particular destination and we put a piece of Ordnance on it. What we do in marketing is the same thing. Figure out where your competitors aren't, be very specific with your message.
Final Thoughts And Getting Ready For The Digital Gold Rush!
I think the most important thing we talked about was the fact that success comes from, controlling your expenses, creating value in this world and being systematic over a long time. Drip, drip, drip and accumulate wealth through the thinking skill and power for your agency.
And it's a great time to be in the digital marketing space! We are getting ready for the next Digital Gold Rush!! Listen and get ready!
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