James Wedmore, an entrepreneur coach, recently told the story of attending a Mumford & Sons concert.
Before the show started, he wanted a band t-shirt. But as he walked to the merchandise booth, he couldn’t believe his eyes.
Hundreds of people stood in line, and he estimated it would take at least an hour or more.
So he came up with a plan.
Five minutes later, he had purchased a t-shirt from that same booth without jumping line.
How did he do it? A simple lifehack.
James walked to the first person in line and offered to buy their shirt if he could add his order to theirs.
They happily agreed. He gave them the money, and he got his shirt without waiting in line.
To James, the few extra bucks didn’t matter. He valued his time over the cost. In one swoop, he made someone else happy and saved himself the frustration of a long wait.
The Marketing Lifehack
Lifehacks are amazing, whether it’s using frozen grapes to chill wine or squeezing pancake mix through an empty ketchup bottle. It’s the small, genius actions that help you win at life.
Did you know there’s also a marketing “lifehack” that will improve your marketing and save you money?
Many businesses do their marketing like ordering from an a la carte menu. A brochure here… an ad there... a website doing this… an email doing that.
Which means their strategy is all over the place. And it makes for a giant dumpster fire.
When your message and images are inconsistent, customers will get confused. When that happens — news flash — they ain’t gonna buy.
So instead of a shotgun approach, view your marketing like a chain-link fence or a block of legos. Your collateral should fit together seamlessly.
But how?
We’re inspired by Aaron Fletcher’s marketing model (fletchermethod.com). Here’s our take after changing it to match our terminology.
The marketing lifehack is summarized in seven simple steps. When you embrace these actions, you have a proven recipe to revolutionize your business.
#1 Target Audience
Who is your most typical customer?
The temptation is to beat your drum and proudly proclaim, “Everyone is my customer!”
Yeah, don’t do that. It’s a disaster waiting to happen, like trying to dance the Griddy around teenagers. Not gonna end well.
Instead, find the smallest and most viable audience for your services. Even though it feels counterintuitive, it focuses your message like a Death Star laser beam.
There are exceptions. If you’re Apple, with a trillion dollars in the vault, then it’s broad-based marketing all day long. You can blast your message to anyone and everyone.
But for the rest of us who have (much) smaller bank accounts, we must embrace niche marketing. Which means talking to a specific segment. It’s thinking in terms of a slice, not the whole pie, and that’s the only way our budgets can pull their weight.
Pinpointing your target audience is the first and most important step. If you get this wrong, you might as well flush dollars down the loo. And that makes for a very bad day (and terrible for your plumbing).
#2 Slam Dunk Message
What will grab the attention of your audience?
The problem with most marketing? It sounds just like competitors.
The result? Cliche, predictable, boooriiing. But you’re better than that, and it’s time to jump off the copycat carousel.
To have a standout message, you must think like a foreign missionary and learn the unique language and culture of your target audience.
You’ve got to understand people before you reach them. And when you begin fluently speaking their “tongue,” something magical happens: they’ll stop, turn around, and ask, “Hey, how the heck did you know that about me?”
That’s when you know your message works. And it’s like your own personal super power.
#3 Clutter Buster
What makes you different from competitors?
The Beatles sounded different from other '60s bands.
Michael Jordan played basketball at a higher level than other NBA players.
Picasso’s paintings looked more unique than his contemporaries.
So think about your company. Does it stand out from the pack? To do so, it requires busting through the clutter of the same ‘ol industry jargon and offerings.
Study your competitors and ask yourself, “What are they NOT doing?”
When you find that one thing, start doing it. Then shout it from the rooftops. Or put on some tap shoes and dance in the streets like you’re the star of the latest Lin-Manuel Miranda musical. Own it.
Whatever it takes, be the polka-dotted sheep in your herd. Or better yet, the wiener dog at the cat convention.
#4 Going Fishing
Where does your audience hang out?
If they’re age 60 and over, they’re probably not scrolling through Instagram.
If they're twenty-something, they’re not subscribing to a print newspaper.
You gotta know where your “fish” swim and where they don’t. Your perfect customers hang out together — or have similar behaviors — because of their common preferences.
They might be fans of a specific music niche, website, or tv show. Maybe they’re followers of a certain influencer. Or perhaps they’re into competitive soap carving.
Whatever it is, you’ve got to find where they congregate. And when you do, throw a cooler filled with PBR into the back of your truck because you just found the perfect fishing hole, cowboy.
Here’s the principle… don’t start paying for marketing until you know exactly where to drop your rod.
#5 Foot-In-the-Door
How do you gather contact info?
“I want more email spam today!” said no one ever.
People resist giving away their email address. Who wants to be flooded with junk messages and sales pitches?
So how do you build your email list and get people excited about your content?
Start by offering a resource (free or low-cost) that helps solve your target audience’s unique problem. In order to receive it, they need to give you their email. If you speak to their pain point, they’ll happily release their grip.
And it’s not sleazy. Think of it as a WIN-WIN. You offer them something of value and you receive something of value.
Once you have their contact info, you can build the relationship by providing entertaining and educational content.
It’s all about finding common ground. Tell some stories, add pictures of your dog, talk about your struggles, crack some jokes. When you’re authentic and offer sincere help, those email addresses can eventually transform into customers.
#6 Trust The Pros
How do you show your expertise?
Before someone forks over their hard-earned money, they need proof you’re an expert. People want to work with a pro, not an apprentice.
So how do you show you’ve got the right stuff? By creating content that highlights your fancy pants knowledge.
There are lots of options. You can do a blog, vlog, PDF, video tutorial, podcast, or webinar. Heck, create a rap song about your services. Whatever.
Do something on a regular basis that showcases your amazing skill and experience. But how do you know what topics to talk about? Simple. Make a list of the top 25 questions potential customers ask, then answer them with your adorable personality.
Bonus brownie points: When you add content to your website, it helps your search engine rankings, too. Wow, look at you!
#7 Closing The Deal
How do you close the sale?
Have you completed the previous six steps? Congrats! You’re doing better than 99.99% of other businesses.
But you’ve got one last action, and man, you want to get this right. After leading potential customers this far, now’s not the time to drop the ball.
You must get them across the finish line. They have to become CUSTOMERS.
This requires a strategy. And you must be bold, clear, and creative.
Use strong call-to-action buttons such as “Buy” or “Purchase”
Consider tiered pricing options
Create a time-based countdown
Offer free shipping
Give a discount code
Use social proofing such as testimonies and reviews
Provide a limited number of products (only 9 left!)
Ensure your payment process is simple
Remove any excuses for someone to say, “No.” Make the offer so good, so enticing, that they’re salivating from wanting to buy from you.
It’s human psychology. Sometimes we all need that little extra push at the end. In the immortal words of Salt-N-Pepa, “Ah, push it, push it real good!”
Need Help With These 7 Steps For Your Business?
Let us create your 7-step plan for you. We’ll also add in custom marketing recommendations.
Use the button below, and we’ll throw in a sweet 25% discount!
Oh, and here’s an extra lifehack for you: Tell those you love that you love them — more often.
About Me
Hey, I’m Brian, co-founder of Genie Jar Digital. Born a Tar Heel but now a Virginian, I’m a father of five and the husband of one amazing lady. My family has a thing for Golden Retrievers. Given the right circumstances, I can do a mean moonwalk on a slick kitchen floor.
