Digital Marketing Management (Study Notes) 2

Brunsuns secret formula
Question #1: Who Is Your Dream Client? The first question you have to ask yourself is, Who do I actually want to work with? Question

Question #2: Where Can You Find Them?

Question #3: What Bait Will You Use to Attract Them?

Question #4: What Result Do You Want To Give Them?

dentist value ladder
When I walked into the dentist office that morning, I had come in for a free teeth cleaning. And in less than an hour, I walked out paying over two thousand dollars for my whitening kit and my new retainers. This dentist had strategically taken me through a powerful process that I call a Value Ladder. First, he had created bait (free teeth cleaning) that would attract his dream client (me). Second, he provided value to me by cleaning my teeth and noticing that my teeth had become yellow. Because I had received value, I naturally wanted to move forward and get additional value from him.

value ladder
it's the first thing you have to build out before you can start working on any sales funnel. If you look at how we structure it, you'll see that on the left hand axis we have value, and on the bottom axis we show the price (fig. 2.3). Now, on the top right hand corner of this graph, you'll see the big $ sign. This is where you want to take your client. This is where you can provide them the most value— and also charge them the most. Most companies I work with, even if they think they have a Value Ladder, really only have part of one. Almost always, I spend my time working with them on adding products and services to the front of their Value Ladders, as well as the back.

Funnel is key
You need a full range of offers. So instead of trying to convince someone to buy the most expensive offering right away, we build a funnel that will help us to do two things: Provide value to each customer at the unique level of service that he or she can afford. Make money and be profitable while identifying our dream clients who can afford our highest offer.

Above the funnel is a cloud that represents all of my potential customers. At the top of my funnel is the 'bait' that will attract my dream customers. 

congregations
There are congregations for everything you can dream up—from antiques buyers to zipper collectors. Once you understand the core concept of congregations, driving traffic is incredibly easy. Not sure where your congregations are? Just go to Google and type in your keywords plus the word forum or search for groups related to your keywords on Facebook. It might take a little digging, but you'll find your target audience. Now, there are three questions you have to ask yourself to find and really tap into these congregations.

QUESTION #1: WHO IS YOUR TARGET MARKET? To create hyper-targeted messages, you have to know your target market inside and out. Successful businesses get inside of the customer's mind and find out what the individual really cares about. What are their pains and passions? What do they desire? What do they think about, and what do they search for online? When you can find out those tiny details, you can search more specifically and find buyers in not-so-obvious places.

QUESTION #2: WHERE IS YOUR TARGET MARKET CONGREGATING? Remember your target market is made up of real people, so you need to look at their real behavior. Where do they hang out online? Where do they spend their time? What email newsletters might they subscribe to? What blogs do they read? What Facebook groups are they a part of? Are they even on Facebook—or do they prefer Instagram? What keywords are they searching for on Google? What books are they buying on Amazon? Answering these questions can take some time and research, but it's worth taking as much time as you need to develop a clear picture of where your ideal clients are directing their attention.

QUESTION #3: HOW CAN YOU GET A CUSTOMER TO LEAVE THE CONGREGATION AND CHECK OUT YOUR PAGE? You are trying to engage someone who is already checking email, Facebook, and his cell phone at the exact same time. You have to interrupt potential customers long enough for them to click on your ad and visit your website. As you start to think about what type of ads should you be placing—what they should say, what types of images they should use—I recommend going to Google images and searching for 'National Enquirer headlines.' You'll see hundreds of examples that you can model. If you look closely, you'll notice the magazine always uses a strange or unusual picture to grab the eye. Then it uses short, punchy headlines (usually describing something weird, unusual, or shocking) to make you curious enough to buy a copy. The images and headlines interrupt whatever you were thinking about to make you pay attention to the product, a magazine.

3 types of traffic
There are only three types of traffic: Traffic you control Traffic you don't control Traffic you OWN Once you understand how each type of traffic works and how they tie together, you will have the ability to direct the right traffic to the right offers, and convert the highest number possible into buyers and repeat clients. Your one and ONLY goal is to OWN all the traffic you can. That is how you grow your list and increase your sales.

traffic you own
it's the most important. Traffic you own is the BEST kind of traffic. It's your email list or your followers, readers, customers, etc. I call this the traffic that I 'own' because I can send out an email, post a message to my followers, or make a blog post, and I will generate instant traffic. I don't have to buy it from Google or Facebook. I don't have to do any PR or SEO. This is my own distribution channel; I can send out messages anytime I want, with no new marketing costs. I can sell things to these people over and over again, and all of that money comes back as pure profit.

traffic you control
The next type of traffic is traffic you control. You control traffic when you have the ability to tell it where to go. For example, if I purchase an ad on Google, I don't own that traffic (Google does), but I can control it by buying an ad and then sending those who click on that ad anywhere I want. Any kind of paid traffic is traffic you control, including the following: Email ads (solo ads, banners, links, mentions) Pay-per-click ads (Facebook, Google, Yahoo, etc.) Banner ads Native ads Affiliates and joint ventures

the squeeze page
This squeeze page is a very simple page with ONE goal: to convert traffic that you control into traffic that you own. I send all of my paid traffic to a squeeze page, and when the visitors get there, they only have ONE option: give me an email address or leave.

traffic i don't control
There are lots of types of traffic that I don't control, including: Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.) Search traffic (search engine optimization or SEO) Guest blog traffic YouTube Guest interviews

Now, just like traffic that I control, my ONLY goal with traffic that I don't control is also to turn it into traffic that I own. To do this, I try to push all traffic that I don't control back to my blog. If you visit any of my blogs, you'll notice that the top third of my blog is nothing but a glorified squeeze page. When people go there, the only real thing they can do is give me their email addresses. After they do that, they become traffic that I own, and I can put them into my communication funnels.

the attractive character
One of the reasons that Subway does so well is because it focuses marketing tactics around an Attractive Character. People trying to lose weight can relate to Jared. They understand his backstory, and they want to be like him. If this guy could lose all that weight just by eating Subway twice a day, then they can too. This same guy has been bringing in business for Subway for over fifteen years!

THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF THE ATTRACTIVE CHARACTER
1. Backstory. Every good Attractive Character has to have a backstory. It's essential if you want results. You share your backstory because you want people to see where you came from. If they can relate to where you came from, then they will want to follow you to where you are now. If they don't see the backstory, potential customers won't follow you or listen to you. You'll seem untouchable; you won't seem real to them. However, if they see that you were once in a similar situation, then they instantly identify with you and will follow you. Your story has provided a hook. You can then lay out the path, and they will want to follow that path.

2. Attractive Characters Speak in Parables. Parables are little stories, easy to remember, that illustrate a relevant point. If you've been following me for a while, you
know I tell lots of stories, or parables. Here is another example of a parable I use almost every time I sell something. My college wrestling coach's name was Mark Schultz. I had just moved into the dorms and gone to my first practice where I had an awesome time meeting my teammates and the coaches. That night, there was a knock on my door. When I opened it, there stood Coach Schultz. He had brought me a videotape of his own wrestling footage. I thought that was pretty cool, but before he left, he asked me for my wallet. When I gave it to him, he opened it, took all of my money out, and handed me back an empty wallet. I was kind of confused, but too nervous to say anything. He then told me, 'Russell, if I gave you that tape for free, you'd never watch it. But because you've paid for it now, you made an investment.

3. Attractive Characters Share Their Character Flaws. This next element is one that most people really struggle with sharing, but it's one of the most important ones to share because it makes you relatable and real. You need to understand that every believable, three-dimensional Attractive Character has flaws.No one wants to hear about the perfect person—because you can't relate. Yet most of us try to put on a perfect facade for our audiences, thereby alienating the real men and women we are trying to reach. Conversely, as soon as the audience knows you're not perfect, that you have character flaws, then they will start to empathize with you. They'll like you more because you are like them: not perfect.

4. Attractive Characters Harness the Power of Polarity. Another challenge people face when communicating with an audience is trying not to offend anyone. So, instead of being a relatable person, speakers become bland and stay neutral on many topics, only sharing safe things everyone will love. Instead, Attractive Characters are typically very polarizing. They share their opinions on hard matters, and they stick to their guns—no matter how many people disagree with them. They draw a line in the sand. And when they take a stand for what they believe in, they split the audience into three camps: those who agree with them, those who are neutral, and those who will disagree with them. As you start to create that polarization, it will change your 'fair weather fans' into diehard fans who will follow what you say, share your message, and buy from you over and over again.

Your Attractive Character will typically take on one of the following types of identities.

The Leader: The identity of the leader is usually assumed by people whose goal is to lead their audiences from one place to another. Most leaders have a similar backstory to that of their audiences and, therefore, know the hurdles and pitfalls the audience members will likely face on the journey to get ultimate results. Usually the desired result has already been achieved by the leader, and his audience has come looking for help along that same path.

The Adventurer or Crusader: The adventurer is usually someone who is very curious, but he doesn't always have all of the answers. So he sets out on a journey to discover the ultimate truth. He brings back treasures from his journey and shares them with his audience. This identity is very similar to the leader, but instead of leading his audience on a journey to find the result, he is more likely to bring back the answers to give them
.
The Reporter or Evangelist: This identity is often one that people use when they have not yet blazed a trail to share with an audience, but have a desire to. So they put on the hat of the reporter or evangelist and go out to discover the truth. Typically, people who use this identity interview dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people and share those interviews, and all they've learned along the way, with their audience.

The Reluctant Hero: This is my personal identity now, and typically the one that I try to share with my audiences. This is the humble hero who doesn't really want the spotlight or any fuss made over his discoveries. But he knows the information or the secrets he has are so important that he must overcome his shyness and share them with the world. There's a moral duty that compels him to share all he knows. Many of you may feel this way naturally. The spotlight is uncomfortable, but you know you need to be there. If that's you, the reluctant hero is the perfect identity for you. Play the part.

ATTRACTIVE CHARACTER STORYLINES
Loss and Redemption: 'I had everything. I was on top of the world. Life was great. Then ___________ happened. I had to figure my way out of ________________. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I went through __________, and I learned/received ___________. Now I ___________.'

Us vs. Them: You want to use us vs. them stories to polarize your audience. Remember the power of polarity? Using these types of stories will draw your raving fans even closer and give them a rallying cry against the outsiders. I often call out the 'talkers vs. the do-ers' on my list. I want people to make a choice about who they are, because if they're with me, then they will be do-ers, continuing to ascend with me. Before and After: 'First I was ______________. Now I'm ___________.' These are stories of transformation, and they work great in any market.

Amazing Discovery: 'Oh my gosh, you guys ... wait til you hear about this amazing new thing I just discovered! You're not going to believe it, but I hit it out of the park on my first try! I wasn't sure it would work, but it's amazing. You've got to try it!'

Secret Telling: 'I've got a secret ... if you want to find out what it is, you need to do ___________.' This is my favorite type of storyline. My whole company, DotComSecrets, is built around 'secret' storylines. The lure of secrets draws the reader into your funnel and up your Value Ladder.

Third-Person Testimonial:
Sharing other people's successes with your products and programs provides powerful social proof. Get as many third-person testimonials from your customers, clients, and students as you can. Then sprinkle them liberally throughout your stories. Or use them as stand-alone stories and case studies.

the soap opera sequence
In your Soap Opera Sequence, you're going to introduce your Attractive Character and build up an open-ended dramatic story that draws the reader in. There are a few different ways you can do this. For example, I've seen sequences that Andre has built out that have forty or fifty emails! I've never had the time or patience to be able to do that, so instead I built out a simple, five-day Soap Opera Sequence that I send out when someone joins my list. The key to making this sequence work (just like a soap opera) is you have to open and close loops that will drag your reader from one email to the next.

Email #1: Set the Stage. This is the first email, a thank you note, that people receive the minute they sign up for your list.

Email #2: Open with High Drama. Most people mistakenly start their stories at the beginning, but usually stories don't get good until the middle, so it's better to start at the good part, and then you can go back and fill in the backstory after readers are hooked. Once you have their attention with emotional drama, you're going to go back and tell them the backstory.

Email #3: Epiphany. Now it's time to start bringing in the dawn. You have an epiphany. You realize something you hadn't thought of before. Maybe it's something that was right in front of you the whole time. It's the moment that everything turned around for you.

Email #4: Hidden Benefits. In this email, you want to point out benefits the reader is getting by knowing you and following your plan or by using your product. You want to focus on benefits that probably aren't as obvious. Email #5: Urgency and CTA. This is usually the last email in my Soap Opera Sequence. It's NOT the last email I send people, it's just the end of my introduction. The goal is to give the reader one last push to go take action right now. You do that by adding urgency into the equation and then using a call to action (CTA).

emails after a lil bit
The goal is to lead people back to whatever you're selling. It might be your core offer or some other product or service. It might even be someone else's product. Every story needs to relate back to something you're selling. That's the secret. That's how you make money. Soap Opera Sequence emails are set up to be an auto-responder sequence. That means after someone signs up, they get email one on the first day, then email two on the next, etc. Seinfeld emails are different. After someone has completed your SOAP series, they should be moved to a broadcast list where they will only get the Seinfeld email that you send out that day.

5 elements that go into successful online campaign
The first step to reverse engineering existing traffic streams is understanding the five elements that go into any successful online ad campaign.

1. Demographics= When you know your demographics, you know who your target market is and where they are likely to be hanging out online. You know what sites they're on and where they get together to talk to each other.

2. Offer. The offer comes down to what you are selling and at what price point you are selling it, including your upsells and downsells. When I'm researching competitors, I go in and purchase everything they offer me. I will easily spend hundreds of dollars to study their offers and their funnels.

3. Landing Page. This is the page a person lands on right after they click on an ad, and I believe it's the most important page in your entire sales funnel.

4. Traffic Source. Where is your competitor's traffic coming from? What are the specific websites that competitor buys ads on? Is the traffic coming from banner ads or social media or email?

5. Ad Copy. This is the last element of a successful campaign. What do successful ads look like? What makes people click on the ad? What's enticing them to even look at the competitor's ad in the first place? What pictures are competitors using? What does the headline say? What does the body copy look like? Are the competitors using video?

HOW TO REVERSE ENGINEER A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN
Step #1: Where Are Your Competitors (Both Direct AND Indirect)? You have two types of competitors: direct and indirect. A direct competitor is a person or company selling something very similar to yours. In the supplement business, anyone else selling the same type of supplements is my direct competitor. There are also indirect competitors. These are people or companies selling something different than you, but to the same demographic.

Step #2: What Are They Doing? There are a few products on the market that will do what I'm about to show you. At the time of my writing this book, my favorite is called SimilarWeb.com (SW). From here, I can quickly see each of the paid traffic sources that the competitor is using.

pre frame
A pre-frame is simply the state of mind you place someone in as they enter into the next step in your sales funnel. Changing the frame of mind, the mindset, can profoundly change the answer to a question or the experience you have with someone or something. For example, if I want to ask my wife a favor, I might pre-frame her by saying, 'Wow, you are looking beautiful today

Phase 1 of funnel: Determine Traffic Temperature
The first phase to examine is the mindset of the traffic before it reaches your site—or, your traffic temperature. You may not ever think about it, but there are three levels of traffic that come to your website: hot, warm, and cold. Each group needs special treatment and individualized communication. Each needs to come across a different bridge to arrive at your landing page. Yes, that means you may even need three different landing pages, depending on how you're driving traffic. Hot Traffic is made up of people who already know who you are. They're on your email list, they subscribe to your podcast, they read your blog—you have an established relationship with them. Warm Traffic consists of people who don't know you, but they have a relationship with somebody you know. This is where joint venture (JV) partnerships work well. Affiliates or JV partners have relationships with their lists, and they endorse you or your offer to their subscribers. They lend their credibility to you so their followers feel comfortable checking out your offers. To achieve a positive pre-frame, the company that owned the list would add what's called a 'lift letter.' This was just a personal note saying something like, 'Hey, I like this product. I endorse it. This company is great; you won't be sorry if you order from them.' Lift letters increased ('lifted') response dramatically because the person reading it had some sort of relationship with the writer or the company giving the recommendation. One good pre-frame can make a page convert like crazy, but when you try to drive cold traffic to it, it bombs. Cold Traffic is made up of people who have no idea who you are. They don't know what you offer or whether they can trust you. These may be people you find on Facebook or who click on your pay-per-click ads

Phase 2 of funnel: Set Up the Pre-Frame Bridge
A Hot Traffic Bridge is typically very short. You already have a relationship with these people, so you don't have to do a lot of credibility building or pre-framing. You can probably just send out a quick email with a link to your landing page, and that's about it. A Warm Traffic Bridge is a little longer than a hot traffic bridge, but not much. All that traffic needs is a little note of endorsement from a person they trust; then they'll be in the right frame of mind to go to the landing page. This is where the lift letter or personal email from a JV partner comes in. This bridge could be an email, but it could also be a video, article, or some other communication from the list owner, endorsing you and your product. This is a huge mistake, and I see businesses make this misstep online all the time. They talk to cold traffic in the wrong language, and nobody buys. To fix this, you need to make your offer more general. Talk in terms that cold traffic will understand. But for cold traffic, you often need a whole separate page that they go through (the bridge page) before they hit the offer page. As I just explained, this separate, pre-frame page educates people, enabling them to better appreciate the offer and making them more likely to convert. Blogs are another great way to pre-frame an offer.

Phase 3 of funnel: Qualify Subscribers
The whole goal here is to take all the traffic—hot, warm, and cold— and find out who is willing to give us an email address in exchange for more information. (This is known as subscribing to a list.) If people aren't willing to give their email addresses at this point, they are highly unlikely to give me money later. Qualifying subscribers is done through an opt-in or squeeze page that offers something of value in return for contact information. This is typically the very frontend of your Value Ladder.

Phase 4 funnel: qualify buyers
Don't wait a day or a week. Qualify buyers right away. A buyer is a buyer is a buyer. If someone is willing to buy from you once, they'll continue to buy from you as long as you keep offering value. So as soon as someone fills out their name and email address and clicks the submit button, they should land on a page that offers something to buy. Offer them something of value that will hook them. It's typically a little higher up your Value Ladder, and this is where I'm usually selling my 'bait,' which is something your dream clients will really love. It should be priced so low that it's an absolute no-brainer for them to buy. You want to qualify every buyer on the list, so don't put up any barriers. I usually use a 'free-plus-shipping' offer or something in the five to seven dollar range. The offer is extremely cheap because I want all the buyers to go for it. Once I've identified who the buyers are, then I can market to them differently. I can pick up the phone and talk to them; I can send them a postcard or add them to a separate email sequence. At this point, I have two lists: subscribers and buyers. Each list is unique and gets treated differently.

Phase 5 of funnel: Identify hyperactive buyers
After you've identified the buyers, you want to identify the hyperactive buyers. These are the people who are in some kind of pain right now and will buy more than one thing at a time. So think about what you can upsell or downsell after your initial offer. If you've bought any of my products, you know I always have a chain of upsells and downsells. That's because I want to identify my hyperactive buyers

Funnel Phase 6: Age and Ascend the Relationship
During this step, you want to age and ascend the relationship. Remember your Value Ladder? This is where that ladder of products and services really becomes important. If you've followed the five phases of the funnel up to here, you've already moved people through the first level or two (or three) on your Value Ladder. Now, you're going to continue to provide value and help people with whatever you offer. Allow some time to pass. How much time is up to you; whatever feels logical for your product is best. Let them dig into whatever products they've already purchased, and give them enough time to see the value you give. You're going to ascend them up the ladder over a longer period of time, eventually moving them to the very top level.

Funnel Phase 7 : Change the Selling Environment
Typically, it's difficult to sell super-expensive products or services online. Not many people are going to read a sales letter and click the buy button for a fifteen thousand dollar product. Some might, but usually you have to change the selling environment if you want to sell high-ticket products. The most common ways to change the environment are to sell the pricier items over the phone, through direct mail, or at a live event or seminar.

Pre Framed bridge strategy
Agitate the problem your business solves for them. Use the quiz questions to help them remember how much they hate weeds in their lawn or being rejected by women. If you require people to opt-in (give you an email address) to get their quiz results, you've killed two birds with one stone.

Articles: I love to use articles as a pre-frame for cold traffic coming from a banner ad. These can be articles on your website, but I find they're more effective if they appear on someone else's site. It's like a third-party endorsement. News: Anything that's news or is perceived as news commands more attention than other reading matter. If your pre-frame is attached somehow to a current news story, you'll automatically receive a bump in attention for as long as that story continues to dominate the news. Blogs: A blog post can be used to pre-frame most any topic. Videos: YouTube videos make great pre-frame material, especially for testimonials. The video should agitate the problem for the viewer or educate them on some process or idea. Again, have the video appear on someone else's channel and drive traffic there. Email: Pre-framing with email works well when you buy a solo ad or use JV partners to endorse you to their lists. No matter whose list you're mailing to, you're essentially borrowing their credibility to pre-frame you as a great person or to pre-frame your offer as a great solution. Presell Pages: Sometimes you have to educate people before you sell to them. A presell page tells a story. It's a longer article used to give background information or education that prospects might need.

qualifying subscribers strategy
Pop-Ups, But recently new types of pop-ups have been created that aren't as easily blocked, and we're finding that these pop-ups are becoming a good tool for building a list in many situations. Squeeze Page: The squeeze page is the simplest way to qualify subscribers. It was developed as a way to increase subscribers without using pop-ups. It's a simple opt-in page that requires people to give you their email addresses to get access to something on the next page. Squeeze Pop: The squeeze pop is a way to get people to join your list via a button on your blog or other web pages. When they click on that button, up pops a squeeze-page-style pop-up. If a visitor gives you their email address, they are taken to the next page. Squeeze pop buttons are great because you can place them in a ton of places, places where you traditionally wouldn't be able to get opt-ins, like articles and blog posts. Free-Plus-Shipping, Two-Step Form: This type of web form takes advantage of buyer psychology and combines the 'qualify subscribers' and 'qualify buyers' steps into one sequence. Step one qualifies subscribers by asking for contact information (including email addresses). Step two qualifies buyers by asking for credit card information, usually to cover shipping costs. That is how my company structures most of our free-plus-shipping offers. Free Account: Signing people up for a free account works especially well with software and membership programs. Exit Pop: An exit pop is, not surprisingly, a last-chance pop-up after people click away from your site. It asks if they're sure they really want to leave without subscribing.

qualifying buyers strategy
Free-Plus-Shipping: This is my favorite way to qualify buyers (as you'll see in Secret #13). If you create a great product and give it away for free, it is the perfect bait and gets one of your products into the hands of a new customer. Trial: A very low-cost trial offer is a great way to get people to raise their hands and tell you that they're buyers. The easiest and most popular trial is offered for one dollar. Tripwire: Tripwires are smaller offers used to get buyers in the door. They are often a 'splinter' of your core product. For example, you might pull out one module or one of the training sessions and offer it for a huge discount. Self-Liquidating Offers (SLO): These types of offers are usually a little more expensive—between thirty-seven and ninety-seven dollars. Often times, with free-plus-shipping, trials, and tripwire offers, you may actually lose money initially, although through your upsells you can often break even. With a selfliquidating offer, on the other hand, the goal is to have the frontend product liquidate your ad costs so that your upsells can become pure profit. Straight Sale: This is just a regular sale of a high-ticket item, from ninetyseven to five thousand dollars or higher. It usually takes a little more selling to convert these offers, so we typically only introduce this option to people who are in our warm market or who have gone through our initial funnels.

Identifying hyperactive buyers
Bumps: These are the little offers we add on to our order forms, and they have completely transformed our business. This concept is very similar to the experience you have in a grocery store checkout line. You see the candy bars, gum, and other little things that are all too easy to throw in with your order. My team does a similar thing with our order-form bumps. One-Time Offers (OTOs): After someone has purchased any of your frontend offers, you can make them a special, onetime offer. The best OTOs are products that will complement the initial purchase. Downsales: If the buyer says no to the OTO, you can downsell them with either a different product or a payment plan option on the original offer. Don't give up just because they said no to paying the full amount all at once. Often we find that up to 20% of people who say no to the special offer will say yes to a payment-plan version on a downsell. Affiliate Recommendations: These recommendations typically happen after buyers finish going through my upsale/downsale sequenece and have landed on the 'thank you' page in my funnel.

7 Phases of funnels
1. Determine traffic temp
2. Set Up the Pre-Frame Bridge
3. Qualify Subscribers
4. Qualify Buyers
5. Identify Hyperactive Buyers
6.Age and Ascend the Relationship
7. Change the Selling Environment

Related Guide:
DMM: Digital Marketing Management (Study Notes) 1