Marketing Made Simple

A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business

Donald Miller,Dr. J.J. Peterson

• Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781400203802
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Business

This guide from New York Timesbestselling author Donald Miller, is a must-have for any marketing professional or small business owner who wants grow their business. It will teach you how to create and implement a sales funnel that will increase traffic and drive sales.

Every day, your company is losing sales simply because you do not have a clear path to attract new customers. You're not alone.

Based on proven principles fromBuilding a StoryBrand, this 5-part checklist is the ultimate resource for marketing professionals and business owners as they cultivate a sales funnel that flows across key customer touchpoints to effectively develop, strengthen, and communicate their brand's story to the marketplace. In this book, you will learn:

• The three stages of customer relationships.
• How to create and implement the one marketing plan you will never regret.
• How to develop a sales funnel that attracts the right customers to your business.
• The power of email and how to create campaigns that result in customer traffic and a growth in brand awareness.
• The keys to wireframing a website that commands attention and generates conversions.

The inability to attract and convert new customers is costing business owners valuable opportunities to grow their brand. This prevents companies, both big and small, from making the sales that are crucial to their survival.WithMarketingMadeSimple, you will learn everything you need to know to take your business to the next level.

Part I

THE THREE STAGES OF RELATIONSHIP

1

THE ONE MARKETING PLAN YOU WILL NEVER REGRET

Twenty years ago I’d just written my first bestselling book. I’d written a book before that but my mother was the only one who bought copies, so that doesn’t count. It took me two tries to write a book people actually wanted to read, and from what I hear, even hitting it big on your second try is pretty rare. More than 99 percent of book writers fail to sell enough copies to make a living. I was lucky.

After writing a bestselling book, I thought, everything else would come easy. I assumed every book I’d release after that would also be a bestseller. I assumed thousands of people would show up every time I gave a speech. And I supposed I could make movies out of my books and become some kind of literary/Hollywood phenomenon.

It turns out that for more than 99 percent of writers who write a bestselling book, none of that other stuff happens.

Writing a bestseller is a huge help, but thousands of bestselling authors have dwindled away their money and influence so that, in the end, they had nothing to show for it. And that’s what nearly happened to me.

Instead of building a platform, I rested on my past success. In my calculation, I wasted about ten years not taking my opportunity as a successful author (and human being) seriously.

If I could go back in time twenty years, this book is the letter I’d write to myself.

I know it sounds strange to say if I could go back twenty years I’d sit down and teach myself a basic marketing plan, but it’s true.

Not having a marketing plan cost me millions of dollars, serious international influence, and the chance to accomplish at least some of my dreams.

Don’t get me wrong. Things have turned out okay, but the only reason things worked out is because I executed this plan.

THE FIVE-STEP MARKETING PLAN THAT WORKS

In short, there are five things I should have done twenty years ago to keep the momentum going. And after I did these five things, I should have done them again and then again and then again.

They are ridiculously pragmatic. Here they are:

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.

This is a book about building a platform and growing a company. I’m going to keep it simple and specific.

Most business books are long on theory and short on application, but J. J. and I are going to tell you exactly what you should do and what order you should do it in so that your marketing works.

THIS PLAN WILL DIG YOU OUT OF A HOLE

I learned to execute this simple marketing plan because I had to.

Twenty years ago, after having sold millions of books, I lost everything.

I put all my money into an investment that failed.

On a bright and cool September morning I got a call saying the investment hadn’t worked and that my life savings was gone.

It was one of the hardest seasons of my life. I felt like I’d squandered everything.

In the weeks following that excruciating loss, I realized I’d not taken responsibility for my career. I’d trusted outside managers, publicists, investors, and publishers to guide me.

I decided then to become the CEO of my own life. I’d make the decisions.

I rebuilt.

Instead of writing another book, sending it to the publisher, and hoping for another bestseller, I self-published my next book and started a little company. I began searching for an inexpensive marketing plan that would work, and after years of experimenting, came up with the plan that is in this book.

Today, my wife and I own a company called Business Made Simple that is tackling the problem of college debt by offering inexpensive online business courses to anybody trying to develop themselves.

Today, only seven years later, we give away more to charity every year than I lost on that Monday morning.

How did all this happen? Following this simple, five-step marketing plan over and over is what built my company and rebuilt my life.

The good news is, you don’t have to lose all your money to build a great company. If you follow the five steps outlined in this book, you’ll grow your brand correctly the first time.

If you work for a large company, this plan will work for every division and every product within each division. Yes, you can use this book to create multiple sales funnels. In fact, I recommend doing exactly that. Once you create your first sales funnel, start working on the next one. Ultimately, your marketing plan will consist of many sales funnels, each selling your products and services to varying demographics.

Regardless of whether you’re a small company creating a few sales funnels or a large company creating hundreds, the plan works.

You do not have to struggle with marketing. You can be confident, proud, and see a return.

If you execute the plan that is in this book, you will succeed.

2

THE ACTUAL STAGES OF A RELATIONSHIP

Why People Have to Get Curious and Enlightened Before They Will Commit

Our five-step marketing plan will invite people into a trusted relationship with your brand. Not only will you sell more products, but customers will start thinking of you, your salespeople, and even your products as friends who are helping them on their journey.

Understanding the stages of a relationship is important because it helps us understand what our sales funnel has to accomplish.

We all want people to understand how our products can solve their problems so that they will make a purchase. But it turns out, simply asking people to buy our products doesn’t work. At least not right away.

Asking for a sale is a relational proposition. And relationships have rules.

Most of us ask people to buy our products the way a shy, young boy might ask a girl to go on a date. We clumsily walk up to her in the hallway, shake her hand with a strong grip the way our dad taught us, and ask her if she’d like to go to a movie with us and our mom, who just bought a new car. (I’m relating the story for a friend.)

Who knows whether that relationship will work out. Let’s hope so for the kid’s sake. Regardless, though, the kid would do a lot better if he understood how relationships really work. And 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

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.

Every relationship you have ever been in has gone through these three stages. Even relationships you have with brands.

THE JOURNEY EVERY CUSTOMER TAKES

Recently I began exploring high-end audio equipment. Betsy and I live in Nashville and because so many people in this town are in the music industry, we often find ourselves hosting small get-togethers with artists who are working on an album.

After the fifth or sixth impromptu listening party, I realized the tiny Bluetooth speaker in our kitchen wasn’t good enough.

I spent a little time on Google and came across a small company named Oswalds Mill Audio that makes custom audio equipment. The pictures of the speakers and turntables were beautiful. The turntable itself weighed eighty pounds and the speakers looked like steel bullhorns pulled from an old football stadium. Everything was mounted on beautiful hardwood, and the guy in the picture playing the vinyl record was wearing a cool sweater, which is the sign of a guy who knows a lot about how a sound system works. Anyway, there was something different about this sound system and the way the product was talked about on the website that made me curious.

But how? And curious about what?

I’ll tell you whether I bought the sound system in a minute, but first, let’s explore what we need to do to help a customer be more interested in a brand.

Stage 1: Curiosity

Can this person, product, or service help me survive? The first stage of a relationship is curiosity. This is the stage where you meet somebody and you want to know more about them. At a party, this is the person you leave the party hoping for a second interaction with. Perhaps you went to the same school or perhaps they are a few years ahead of you in the same career.

Without knowing it, what’s making you curious about this person is one thing: you sense they can help you survive or thrive.

You might wonder how a person can help you survive just by having gone to the same school as you. The truth is, the filter that decides what helps us survive is incredibly nuanced and particular. Your filter is a...