... COVER CONTINUED it. And maybe you should buy the next thing they’re selling, or maybe you shouldn’t. But you should at least be doing everything they’re doing on the list above because those are at least a few of the things these successful people all do. “MY HEAD TRASH KEPT ME FROM TAKING RISKS, KEPT ME FROM INVESTING, KEPT ME FROM MAKING MONEY MOVES, AND KEPT ME FROM THE SUCCESS I SO DESPERATELY WANTED.” Getting back to marketing campaigns, here’s the truth: They are unlikely to work right out of the gate. One of my products, which I sell only to dentists, is a new mover program. Literally in the same week, I had one dentist telling me how amazing it was and another telling me it wasn’t working well. Now, I prefer the former, but I wasn’t worried about the campaign that wasn’t working right. The reality is in that case, for some reason, something’s off. Maybe we need to adjust the demographics on the list, maybe it’s the front desk, maybe the offer needs to be stronger in one area or another. What is important is that we know it’s
functional — we just need to test a few things to make this doctor’s campaign work.
marketing campaign that isn’t working only to find that the business doesn’t answer its phones or that the person on the phone is rude. It’s so common that it should be obvious. The funny thing is when I point this out, most of the time, business owners don’t want to hear it or are unwilling to deal with it. In turn, they cancel and move on to marketing’s next shiny object only to find it doesn’t work either because they don’t have a marketing problem — they have a business problem. About two years ago, we hit a rough spot at The Newsletter Pro. I had to fire two managers, which left only me and one other person on the management team. I was putting in 18–20 hours a day, six and sometimes seven days a week. My wife complained to me about how much I was working. I said, “Mariah, right now, all these issues — all these problems I’m fixing — that’s why I make the money I make. Fixing this is why you and the kids live the life you live. I wish it could be all good times, but if that were the case, anyone could do my job.” The same is true in your business. Building a good marketing foundation, building an amazing team, and dealing with the crap — regardless of how hard and unpalatable it is — that’s why you’re the boss; it’s why you earn what you earn. That’s the truth, nothing held back, no bullshit. If you take it on board and implement it, I promise you’ll make more money. P.S. If you want more truth, if you want to see what really is working instead of shiny objects and not sales pitches, you need to be at my bootcamp in May. I only have a few seats left, as this bootcamp is held in my conference room at my office, not some large hotel. Get more info at NewsletterPro.com/scaleup . –Shaun
If a campaign isn’t working, I will jump in, figure out why, and get it working if the doc is willing to work with me. This is the reality of marketing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, and if it doesn’t but we know it’s a functional campaign, then we simply need to adjust. It isn’t a big deal. The disappointment comes in when either the business isn’t paying attention and too many months or years go by while the campaign isn’t working, or the business wants instant results and gets pissed off and blows up the whole thing. The only thing dumber than that is stopping a campaign that is working just to try something new. That is the height of stupidity. Please don’t ever do that. Whenever you start a new marketing campaign, regardless of the success of the company you’re working with, you need to realize that it may take some time and effort to get it working, both for you and for your business. You also need to realize that, in most cases, the reason marketing fails is that your business is dysfunctional. Yeah, I know that isn’t what you want to hear, but the reality is there is dysfunction in every business, and that includes every guru you’ve ever followed. Most of the time, dysfunction comes either from your head trash or that of your employees. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve researched a
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