I once coached a client for a quick, 5-day strategy for marketing his information business.
Now, with all marketing, there’s a saying only admitted by the pros. It goes, “everything works and nothing works.”
In other words, no one walks on water – and even the “gods of marketing” get served a slice of humble pie more often than they care to admit.
I add that as a disclaimer, because when you see the results of this campaign, you’ll want to dive right in. I urge you, however, to start small… Test it… And once it’s proven itself, develop a plan for systematically including it as an integral profit center for your business.
The key to every campaign is testing and tracking.
…I’ll shamelessly continue to remind you of that message for as long as I live.
Moving on…
The product my client was selling was a live virtual workshop (which would be recorded and sold as a future product), priced at a mere $297. It was easily worth double.
Even at just $297… This 5-day strategy produced $131,274.
To put it into perspective, we made them more money in 5 days than all the money they made in the prior month.
We created a stampede… In fact, it created such a buying frenzy that my client and his team literally broke out in laugher with disbelief.
It. Was. Awesome!
To start with, we marketed this product exclusively via email, and drove all traffic to a carefully scripted 15-minute video presentation.
And because it yielded such great results, I want to share the details with you.
Here’s the step-by-step formula we used for the 5-day strategy presentation:
Step 1: LIVE On Camera Introduction
During this intro, immediately start with a hook by answering the questions:
- Why should I pay attention to this video?
- Why is it important that I watch the video right now?
- What is the one big benefit I get for watching the video?
You want to build in a hook at the beginning of the video, something to captivate your audience and pique their curiosity – so they’ll stay to the end and watch the entire video.
Estimated length: 90 seconds – 3 minutes
Step 2: Establish Credibility
Briefly review and display the results of your latest application/use of this product and service. You’re showing these results so your prospects understand that you’re not just the provider of these products/services, you’re also a user.
(This was a big advantage to the Hair Club for Men commercials that ran for years, remember? “I’m not only the President. I’m also a customer.”)
From there, quickly highlight any awards you’ve received, show images denoting credibility (such as you speaking to an audience, books and/or articles you’ve published, endorsements, etc.). Review these very swiftly.
Step 3: Product/Service Review
This is where you want to put the product/service in your customers’ hands (so-to-speak). Essentially, you’re guiding your prospects through a virtual test drive of your product/service in a way that’s educational (not salesy).
Instead of highlighting all the cool navigation features in the new model, just show them how to use it! Share little-known tips and tricks for getting maximum results.
The trick with the product/service review is the educational element – you’re giving people something of value, something that will get them to mentally say, “wow!”
Your review should get prospects excited, and make them feel empowered by obtaining special knowledge and insight.
This section is NOT a sales pitch.
Give tips, ideas, tricks, strategies, systems, and techniques that the majority of your viewers have not heard before.
Estimated length: 7 seconds – 10 minutes
Step 4: The Transition
Right before you go into the sales pitch, you want to transition in a way that makes the sales sequence seem natural.
If you did a good job with Step 3 of the 5-day strategy, you already have people “bought in” to the idea that their lives would be richer, healthier, better, sexier, easier, more free, etc. with your product/service – now they want more of you.
Because you’ve already created interest and desire, you don’t need to “sell” them anything, but instead make them an offer.
A nice transition is, “Of course, there’s much more to this <<PRODUCT>> than I can include in a quick tutorial, so let me share with you an <<additional resource/another way to get the full experience>>…”
Estimated length: 30 seconds
Step 5: The Offer
Now we show the image of the product or service, and immediately let them know that it’s how they can get all the benefits you covered in the video… And more.
Tie the offer in with an emotional benefit: “Now you can complete your bookkeeping with the confidence of knowing exactly how much inventory is sitting in your warehouse, so you don’t accidently make an embarrassing mistake that costs you thousands.”
Review the benefits and the unique advantage your product/service provides for those who take act on your offering.
Review everything your customer will receive and tell them how to order – i.e. “Getting access to the <<PRODUCT>> is as simple as clicking the button below.”
Repeat your call to action 3 times.
Tell them why it’s important to take action now, and why it’s not smart to wait.
Give them an incredible risk-reversal guarantee.
Limit the offer either by quantity, price, or availability.
Finish up with a call to action.
Estimated length: 4-7 minutes.
When it’s time to make the video live, employ these additional tips – we’ve found them to increase conversion rates:
- Hide the “buy now” button under the video until you present your offer. Only hide the “buy now” button the first time someone visits the sales page. On subsequent visits, the “buy now” button should show up right away.
- Display a phone number on the order form.
- Repeat the offer, in bullet pointed text and using an image, on the order form.
- Speak quickly during the presentation.
- Include a FAQ section under the video and under the “buy now” button. Display the FAQ with the buy button.
We hosted the video using Wistia so we could watch and track the amount of time people stayed and watched the entire video. The sales page was created and hosted using LeadPages.
The email sequences went like this:
5 emails over the 5-day strategy, segmented by people who clicked and people who did not click on the emails they received.
On day 5 – while the schematic above calls for 1 email on Day 5 – I chose to send a second “final chance” email. This was a good decision, as an additional surge of orders came with that last call to action.
The themes of the emails are as follows:
- Day 1: The Problem
- Day 2: The Solution (Discussion of Results/Performance)
- Day 3: Examples of the Product in Practical Use (Case Study, etc.)
- Day 4: 24 Hours Left – Highlight What Prospect is Getting
- Day 5: Last Chance
Now that we have a proven campaign, the next step is to systematize it (using automation strategies found inside of Infusionsoft), and sell this product on an evergreen basis… Opening up another profit center, another spoke in our “Money Wheel,” and leveraging our time to build on this strategy for creating even more sales and profits!
As you try this strategy for yourself, please share your results and tips… Now go get ‘em!
Setting suitable objectives and identifying strategies or opportunities are vital to growing a business. Nevertheless, you need to turn your ideas into actions if you want to achieve your end goals. Read about tactical planning in this related piece.
