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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
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What Happens When Your Marketing Campaign Doesn’t Go as Planned Are You In or Out? Have You Met Joe DiGrigoli? The Winning Formula for Content Creation
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Costco’s Mission-Driven Approach
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Simon Sinek’s ‘Start With Why’
HOW AMAZON DOMINATES ITS MARKETPLACE AND HOW YOU CAN USE THE SAME TACTICS TO CRUSH IT IN YOURS
Since you’re likely not in retail, it would be easy to ignore Amazon. Depending on your niche, you may even be tempted to think this article isn’t for you. But if so, you’d be missing the point. Amazon may not be breaking into your space anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean one of your competitors won’t copy their model and bring it to your space. When it comes down to it, what is the Amazon model? One-stop shopping, low prices, free shipping, and adding as much value as possible so that it is literally a bad financial decision not to do business with Amazon. Could this be replicated in your space? In the dental niche, there is a company called Half Dental, whose tagline is “Why pay more?”
In chiropractic, there is a franchise called The Joint (yes, it is a horrible name) that charges $50 per month for unlimited visits. There is always someone who is willing to be the low-price leader. There is always someone who is willing to work for less than you, hoping to make the profit up on volume. What do you do to compete with companies like this? How do you overcome the Amazon effect? Interestingly enough, one place you can look to is Amazon and its business practices for the answer. More on that in a minute.
If you’re in retail, you’re likely aware of the Amazon effect — an ongoing disruption of the retail market. This disruption is affecting prices and sales, and it’s devalued and even bankrupted what were some of the most successful and well-known retailers in the world. One reason Amazon has been successful is their price strategy. They are willing to lose money on a customer for up to five years. Wall Street hasn’t rewarded most publicly traded companies with high- flying stock prices in the past, but they continue to reward Amazon. You may be wondering what this has to do with you. How does the Amazon effect hurt or help your business?
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COVER CONTINUED ... If I were to ask a business owner right now, “Why do your customers choose you?”, most people give me the same answer: “They choose us because we are the best.” Look at the taglines or advertising of many companies. They claim to be the best and smartest, typically with some note in the ad about the amount of experience they have. They talk about how great their service is. “We have the No. 1 dentist in the valley.” “We’ve settled $1 billion in claims for our clients.” What does the customer think when they hear this? They think, “B.S.” It’s not like you’re going to put in your ad that you’re only average. Can you imagine the ad if they did? Just graduated legal school, need experience. If you’re looking to give a young and hungry lawyer a shot, so I can do a little on-the-job training with your case and possibly even life, call today. I’m half the price of the big guys, which means if I win, you save big. All prices negotiable. Call now. 208-555-1212. “If you want to go against any competitor, big or small, IT FIRST STARTS BY BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP to make the customer immune to offers from others.” Even that guy isn’t going to run that ad. So, no one believes you when you say you’re the best. The consumer’s disbelief of advertising is one reason for the rise of online reviews. The theory is, “Even a stranger is more likely to tell me the truth than the business is.” That is probably true, but there have been many news stories about fake reviews, which has hurt their credibility to some extent. HOW DO YOU WIN IN TODAY’S ECONOMY? Nearly every business is in the commodity business. How do you keep from having to play the price war? The good news is, the answer is simple. The bad news is, like everything else, it takes work and effort. But that is also good news, because anything that takes work and effort is unlikely to be quickly or easily copied.
INVESTMENT: All relationships need investment. Almost no small business has a budget to invest in people who are already customers. Once they have your cash, it is almost like businesses forget you exist because they are so busy trying to find the next new customer. This is insanity. We are all great communicators when we want money from our customers. Growth only happens when you have new customers and retention. No business can survive on new customers alone and grow for any period of time. Let’s look at a dating example, which is by far my favorite way to think of new customer relationships — because of the parallels between the two. If you went out on a date three times and ended up making a sale at the end of the third date, and after the date was over, didn’t call again for six months, what are the odds you get another date? The odds in that situation, 99 percent of the time, are zero. So, why do we operate that way in business? We treat our customers as second-class citizens, only calling or writing when we want something. No wonder they aren’t loyal to us. I recently had a dentist tell me they felt they were spending too much on customer retention. But when I did the math of what the newsletter cost per patient, it came out to $7.08 per patient per year. That’s too much money? They spend 35 times that amount to get a new patient in the front door. And that doesn’t even tell the whole story, because, as we know, not every new customer who walks in the front door
Let’s break each section down.
RELATIONSHIP: If you want to go against any competitor, big or small, it first starts by building a relationship to make the customer immune to offers from others. You don’t want customers to shop around, ever. There is only one way to keep them from doing so: relationships. Some people will argue that they can keep a customer from shopping simply by being the low-price leader. That is just not the case, though, because the low-price leader position isn’t defendable. I could undercut your prices right now if I wanted to. A business like Amazon can decide to sell your services below cost to gain market share. ENTERTAINMENT: To get people to consume your message, you need to be entertaining. We live in a world where the next exciting and interesting thing is only a click away. Being entertaining so people want to consume your content is an important step to building a relationship, which will get you maximum profit. EXPERIENCE: Do you want people to talk about you? If so, you have to give them a reason to talk. No longer is it good enough to be good at what you do to get a referral. You have to give people a reason to talk and even a reward for doing so. This can come in the forms of gifts and contests, or by creating an experience for them to share on Facebook, like inviting them out and asking them to bring some friends.
To defeat being a commodity, you need to remember one simple formula: R + E + E + I = More Profit.
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business to get you to buy this service. You get special shopping days with massive discounts, and you can use the dash buttons for easy reordering. In some cities, you can get free delivery of food from participating restaurants. The value you get is amazing.
so easy to hear about a book at a seminar or on a podcast, and with a few clicks, it is at your home or office, sometimes within hours. The second area that really makes Amazon unique is their customer service. Returns are easy and typically free. They don’t hassle you on most things. How often do you hear customer service horror stories about Amazon? Amazon always puts the customer first. In any meeting that Jeff Bezos is in, he insists that there is always a chair at the table left empty, and that chair represents the customer and his needs. Do you care about your customers as much as Amazon does? Are you willing to invest in them and make decisions for them, or are you simply invested in your bottom line? Another area of difference is value. Amazon is always trying to add value. Look at the Amazon Prime membership. It costs $99 per year and gives unlimited free two-day shipping. In an article in a previous edition of this newsletter, I talked about how Amazon loses about $300 million per year on its Prime membership, and that’s just in shipping costs. That loss doesn’t include all the extra features that you get with Prime, like videos on demand. Do they really need to offer free movies and TV shows to get you to buy free shipping? Most people order enough to make the $99 a year a bargain just in shipping. With a Prime membership, you can also borrow books, which is sort of like bastardizing their original
becomes a loyal customer. Many of them come in, use you once, and NEVER come back again.
I mentioned earlier that to overcome the Amazon effect, you could simply study Amazon for the answer. Other than price, what makes Amazon different? “WE LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE THE NEXT EXCITING AND INTERESTING THING IS ONLY A CLICK AWAY. Being entertaining so people want to consume your content is an important step to building a relationship.” The first answer is ease. They make it as easy as possible to do business with them. They have one- click ordering, and your credit card info is saved in your account. They offer free shipping on most items with a minimum order or free shipping on nearly everything with a Prime account. It is so easy to see a product in a store and order it from Amazon. It is
What are you doing to add value to your user experience?
Are you building a relationship with your customers to keep them locked in and focused on you, or are you resting on your quality of service, a hope, and a prayer? On some levels, it sucks that we have to go to such great lengths to be noticed, to keep customers, and to grow. There is so much to do and focus on as a business owner. It’s hard. But with complexity comes opportunity and the knowledge that most people won’t do hard things. Most people don’t figure out complex things. Most people don’t really care about their customers. They care about themselves.
Are you most people?
Actions always speak louder than words, so if you’re not most people, what are you going to do to show it?
MARKETING QUICK TIP – Shaun What Happens When Your Marketing Campaign DOESN’T GO AS PLANNED
group of our top referral partners to join us in Las Vegas, just to thank them for sending others our way and helping us expand our influence. The highlight of this
When faced with building an ongoing marketing campaign, there is one mistake you can never make: thinking that, once you map it all out and press the “launch” button, it’s good to go and you’re done. In fact, nothing is farther from the truth. An expert marketing team knows that, sometimes, you need to pivot. This recently happened to my marketing team. If you’ve been following us for a while, you know that we have worked hard to put together KILLER referral programs for our clients, partners, and prospects. In March of this year, we invited a
trip was a behind-the-wheel racing experience at the Las Vegas Speedway. But once we got home from Vegas, our only thought was, “How do we make it bigger and better next time?”
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RESOURCE OF THE MONTH
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This Opt-In Optimization Tool Asks the Question ARE YOU IN OR OUT?
So, we upped the adventure and turned the adrenaline to full blast. Our current referral program includes the opportunity to sit in the cockpit and fly an aerobatic plane for a mock, laser-tag-style dogfight in the skies above Las Vegas. It is the ULTIMATE Top Gun Experience. There’s still a little kid in me who dreams of being a fighter pilot like Maverick, so I am stoked!
custom pop-up form ready for your website in minutes . It’s that quick and simple. You choose and customize
Most small businesses want print and digital communication for their overall marketing strategy. Like mashed potatoes and gravy, it’s just more effective to use both together. When it comes to the digital side, what marketing tools can you use to turn website visitors into potential customers? After all, on average, about 70 percent of your website visitors will never visit again. OptinMonster, a web plugin, is an extremely helpful resource to increase conversion on your website or app. It allows you to create custom opt-in forms that invite the visitor to interact with you — sign up for your email list, order your e-book, enter a free giveaway, or whatever you’d like. Its simplicity and effectiveness makes it our resource of the month.
a template to your liking, write simple copy, choose simple settings, such as when it will pop up and for whom, and then go online with it. OptinMonster
However, a few months into the program, we received feedback that some of our potential partners were excited to work with us, but there was no way they were getting up in a plane. Basically, the fear of flying was greater than their desire to join the program. In fact, many would love a quick adrenaline fix — but while keeping their feet close to the ground. So, we knew we had to pivot. Now, for our exclusive 2018 referral program, we are giving you the option to choose your own experience. We are still planning on meeting in Las Vegas in May, but we will now broaden your gift to include either the Top Gun experience OR the Las Vegas Speedway experience. We’ve included all the details on this edition’s insert, so please take a look and join by visiting NewsletterPro.com/ topgun . We are incredibly excited to meet with all our amazing referral partners in Vegas again next year, and we would love to have you join us! Just remember, with your own marketing campaigns, you need to be vigilant in tracking your progress and your audience’s response. The world of marketing is always changing, which means we need to do our best to stay aware and keep up. It is especially important in long-term marketing strategies. It’s very rarely a one-and-done scenario. Always evaluate as you go, always improve, and know when to pivot, and you’ll find your campaigns are exponentially more effective. “... WE UPPED THE ADVENTURE and turned the adrenaline to full blast.”
integrates easily with WordPress,
Infusionsoft, Google Analytics, and most other software, and it is mobile-friendly.
When your invite to the customer
When we say simple, this is what we mean: When you use OptinMonster, you can have a
BEATS BY JOE When it comes to meeting metrics, Joe DiGrigoli doesn’t settle for being average. But as much as we all admire Joe’s ability to write 10 articles a day, he isn’t solely focused on having the highest numbers in a month. INTRODUCING YOUR NEW PRO OF THE MONTH
As far as his favorite album goes, Joe has two: Nas’ “Illmatic” and D’Angelo’s “Voodoo.” Joe knows he’s not winning any awards for obscurity with these choices, but they are the albums he’s loved the most. “Illmatic is everything a hip-hop record should be, what Tribe called ‘beats, rhymes, and life.’ Voodoo is simply a masterpiece, a culmination of R&B, funk, soul, and hip-hop all filtered through the sensibilities of a genius.” It may surprise you, but Joe wasn’t interested in reading until high school. The first piece of literature that piqued his interest was reading the poems of Wallace Stevens in 12th grade. From there, he wanted in. In college, Joe studied
“For the most part, I’m more worried that my articles are good than writing a ton. But I do like seeing the numbers go up. What’s most rewarding for me though, is improving. I feel like the more articles you write, the better you get — and the more you learn new things.” What motivates Joe to write stellar articles for his clients you ask? “Intellectual curiosity is my No. 1 driver. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of learning.” To fuel his creative process, Joe listens to music all day long. He finds inspiration from new and old music alike, and when he can vibe along with a great tune, he can write. For Joe, a day without headphones would be a tough day indeed.
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SUCCESS STORY
goes live, OptinMonster reports back interesting data that can also affect your entire marketing strategy. Which pop-ups execute the most conversions? Is it the invitation to download your e-book, or obtain a free quote? Does this wording get more people to sign up for your mailing list, or another wording? OptinMonster will report back with all the stats you need to make your pop-up campaigns as effective as possible.
“For years, I always wanted to do a newsletter. I kept a folder of article ideas in my office, I would tell myself I would learn Microsoft Publisher, and occasionally, I would give it a shot. It never came to fruition, however, until I heard about Shaun Buck and The Newsletter Pro. They make the process easy, and the product looks great. “Even better, it works. I’m always surprised how often I hear about my newsletter from clients. To give you just one example, I once got a call from a customer I hadn’t spoken with in over a decade. She was opening up a new branch and wanted to install a new phone system. As we were talking, she asked if my daughter ended up going to Notre Dame. At first, I was a little confused. How did she even know about that? Then I remembered that I described my daughter’s college admissions process in the newsletter. This customer, whom I had zero contact with for years, had been reading and enjoying my newsletter every month. As I hung up the phone on that call, I realized just how powerful a marketing piece it was. “For a business like mine, where staying top-of-mind is crucial, newsletter marketing is huge. You may only need a phone system once every few years, but when you do, I want you to think of SST Communications and Jim Hoey. When my newsletter hits a customer’s mailbox, they know that if they ever need a phone system, I’m the first guy they’ll turn to.” – Jim Hoey
The interface is clean, simple, and as aggressive as you want it to be. You can set the settings to allow for pop-ups on first- time visitors only, or call for a second pop-up to appear if they move their cursor toward the close button. You have a variety of settings to play with until you find your ideal formula.
If you’re looking to increase conversions on your website, you can learn more about this killer tool by visiting their website, OptinMonster.com.
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literature rather than creative writing because he wanted to spend as much time as he could learning about great books. And you know what they say: Avid readers often make for great writers. When Joe isn’t reading or listening to music, you can find him hanging out with his girlfriend, Kim, going out to eat, checking out new art, playing cards, or dancing. Joe loves working at TNP; it is a place where he gets to learn, have fun, and get better at writing every day. He couldn’t be happier here, and we couldn’t be happier to have him.
Have You Heard the Good News?
James 1:2-4 — Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 1 Corinthians 15:58 — Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Ephesians 6:10 — Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
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MARKETING TOOLBOX
When you create content, your goals should be ... FOR CONTENT CREATION THE WINNING FORMULA
When I was growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, information was a valued possession. It was rare and hard to get. You had to go to the library if you wanted to find information in any vast quantities. In the late ’90s, I got my first computer that had a modem, and with a few chirps, beeps, and other strange noises, I was blazing through the internet at 14.4k speed. At the time, domain names were still $75 per year, and online video was not even on the average person’s radar. Now that the internet has been changing our lives for over 20 years, information has gone from a rare resource to a commodity. It is freely and cheaply available nearly 100 percent of the time. So, that begs the question ... in a world of cheap and free information, how do you stand out? How do you get people to take notice of you? You could Google the answer, and when I did just now, I didn’t get the answers I was looking for, which is all too common a problem with such a vast amount of information. Another problem with free information is that you often get garbage answers. How many times have you clicked on a business article only to find that the “Top 5 Ways to Do XYZ” is a list of the most basic ways to accomplish XYZ? Solving this problem is a big deal, and I guess that’s one reason Google makes the big bucks — they are the best of the worst at this. But all of that still leaves us with the original question. The simple answer to this complicated question is content. You must create content that is unique and adds value to the conversation. This is much easier said than done, though. Content creation is like any skill. It takes time and effort to learn how to write well or sound good on a podcast. There’s not much most of us can do to look good on video, but at least we can make sure we don’t hurt ourselves by looking worse. How do small businesses stand out and get others to take notice of them?
1. ENTERTAINMENT: People want to be entertained, and injecting your
personality into any content you create can be one way to entertain people as well as make your content unique to you.
2. INFORMATION: I’m constantly asking content creators to make sure when they write they have strong points and don’t waste my time. I don’t want to read fluff. I want answers to my questions in a definitive way. 3. CONSISTENCY: So many people start creating content and can’t keep up with a regular schedule. No one wants to read the same information over and over again. Everyone wants something new, so give it to them. 4. TO ACCOMPLISH ONE THING: You should create very focused content with the goal of narrowing in on one subject. So many people record a video or write an article and want to go over 20 different topics, but that’s insane! Make those topics into 20 different articles and videos. 5. TO TELL THEM WHAT’S NEXT: The final goal of content creation should point the consumer of the content to what’s next. This could be more articles, a call to action, etc. One question I often get is, how long should my content be? There is no magic number. The content needs to be as long as necessary to cover the information needed. Of course, there are people who will tell you the best length of time for a video is 3–5 minutes. Inc. magazine wants 700–800- word articles. Entrepreneur wants 600–900-word articles. Everyone has a different opinion of what
the best length or time is. Many will quote stats about drop-off points in videos after five minutes, but the truth of the matter is, the person likely dropped off because they found out they were in the wrong place, you answered their question, or you were boring. People will watch and consume content, but not if you are boring. With the world literally at our fingertips, boring doesn’t work — unless, of course, your target market is members of the Dull Man’s Club (DullMensClub.com). If that is the case, people may consume all of your content, regardless of the boredom factor.
One final note: I often get asked, ”What type of content should a business create?”
That is a much more complicated topic, because it depends on the type of business you’re in, and answering that question here would violate goal No. 4 on our list. But to keep in compliance with goal 5, I will point you to the following article from my blog: NewsletterPro.com/the-content-code.
– Shaun
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• Use numbers 1-9 only • The full grid is 9x9 cells • The full grid is broken into 9 regions, 3x3 cells each • Each region can contain only one of each number 1-9 • Each cell can contain only one number • Each row and column should contain only one of each number 1-9 Sudoku Basics
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3 8
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you break it down, you realize just how much it affects the company’s business model. “OUR MEMBERS” If there’s one thing everyone knows about Costco, it’s that they are membership-based. You might think that would be counterintuitive to growing your business, as it keeps people from simply walking in the door and buying goods. On the contrary, Costco’s membership model is integral to achieving the other components of their mission. Membership offers many benefits. Costco customers are loyal — just ask Jimmy Kimmel. “I go to Costco every weekend,” he says. “It’s my favorite part of the week.” Because they are
When you walk through a Costco store, you won’t find any plush carpeting, fancy displays, or personal shoppers. Heck, you won’t even find aisle markers telling you what you’ll find down a given row. Instead, Costco stores are giant, basically barren warehouses with goods stacked in massive towers. Yet, the company inspires devotion like few other retailers. What’s at the root of that fierce loyalty and the chain’s steady growth? Costco’s mission — and the fact it informs everything they do. This is how the company defines their mission: Costco’s mission is to continually provide our members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices. Every word in this mission is considered, clear, and impactful. When
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products. These days, though, nobody doubts that Kirkland stands for quality.
80 percent of them. And while these members love the low prices they receive, there’s another piece of the puzzle that ensures that membership renewal figures routinely top 90 percent. “QUALITY GOODS AND SERVICES” Junk is junk, no matter the price. Costco may offer rock-bottom prices, but they sell only quality goods. For a new product to make it onto the shelves at one of Costco’s stores, it goes through a thorough vetting process. Even in Costco’s enormous warehouse-style locations, space is at a premium. Putting a substandard product on the shelves doesn’t just mean a better alternative can’t go there. It also hurts the retailer’s reputation as a whole. Most companies’ in-house brand is thought of as a lesser alternative to the big names — not so with Costco’s Kirkland products. Wary of customer skepticism, Kirkland occasionally co-brands its
members rather than simply customers, Costco shoppers are part of a club. This feeling, in turn, promotes a brand loyalty that any company would kill for. Costco’s members are so enthusiastic that even their pizza has a cult following. Frequent member visits also create a large sales volume, which relates directly to another part of Costco’s message. “THE LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICES” There’s no denying that loyalty plays a role in Costco’s success, but one of the things that loyalty is based on is incredible prices. Early in their history, Costco bet that if they lowered markup, they could make up for it in volume. Most supermarkets apply a 25 percent markup, and that number is even higher at other retail establishments. Costco, on the other hand, never marks up a product more than 15 percent.
Costco’s emphasis on high standards also affects their services, and perhaps that’s most apparent in their print magazine, The Costco Connection. It is the third-highest circulated monthly publication in the country, mailing nearly 9 million pieces per month. Sure, that’s a lot of pages to print, but the company knows that direct mail drives business in a way that a digital version never could. In fact, 56 percent of readers end up buying something they come across in the magazine. “CONTINUALLY” The final aspect of Costco’s mission is that they never rest on their laurels. If there’s a way they can improve the experience of their members, they do it. Now that’s what we call living your mission.
Instead of relying on a high markup to create profits, Costco’s memberships generate roughly
BOOK REVIEW Find Your Purpose and Realize Your Potential Simon Sinek’s ‘Start With Why’
purpose, live their lives with intention, and realize their potential and the potential of their business.
Here’s a big question for you: Why do you do what you do?
As Sinek puts it, everybody knows what they do. Whether that means you jumping out of bed and cooking some eggs, or a company selling IT solutions to small businesses, the “what” is easy. Fewer individuals and organizations know how they do what they do — maybe a business offers a unique selling proposition, and maybe an individual keeps a strict, productive schedule. But rarely does a person or organization truly know why they do what they do. Pretty much everyone, Sinek argues, is doing everything backward. Instead of filtering everything we do through a singular purpose (that ever- important “why”), we’re floundering on the surface level, going through the motions without inspiring ourselves, our co-workers, or our customers.
Sure, you wake up, take a shower, get ready for the day, and then head off to work. You deal with your employees (or your boss) and try to make a dollar or two for you and the company. Then, you go home, spend time with your family, maybe watch some TV, manage your personal affairs, and go to bed.
Sinek argues that when we think from the outside in, we may be able to communicate vast amounts of data or selling points to potential prospects or friends, but we can’t drive behavior. What changes the way people think and act is the “why.” If you don’t know the purpose behind your own actions, then obviously, it’s going to be impossible to influence anybody to do anything, much less buy into your business. Sinek argues that his “Golden Circle” — in which we start with why, move to how, and end with what — is simply a codification of the way all great people and organizations have thought through history. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Wright brothers, and Steve Jobs all realized their potential by starting with that simple question: Why do you do what you do?
But again, why ?
What about your business? Why do some companies and organizations drive innovation, reaping massive profits, while others struggle to barely stay afloat? It was questions like these that drove Simon Sinek to write his influential book, “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action,” a vital read for anybody seeking to hone in on their
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