Every business needs marketing. We all agree on that.
But what is marketing? Is it a team of 13 Facebook experts tweaking landing-page scripts and generating ClickFunnels reports? Or is it one mom saying “come with me!” to her best friend at the book club?
It’s both, of course. And while everyone agrees that word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful force, it’s too passive for most businesses in the Founder and Farmer phases. We can’t afford to wait.
At Two-Brain, we split our marketing into two parts: Affinity and digital.
Sales Without Slime
First, we train entrepreneurs to be good at sales. If you’ve read my book “Help First,” you know that you don’t have to feel like a slimy salesman, but you do have to sell.
Removing barriers to entry, learning how to ask people to pay and simply coaching people to the best result are all skills that can be mastered with practice. But few spend time practicing their sales skills. You should hone your sales skills because they are a marketing multiplier.
For example, let’s say two personal trainers each spend $100 on a Facebook ad. They use one of our templates, so they have pictures and text ready to go. Let’s say each of those ads generates 10 leads for each trainer.
Now, if Trainer #1 is trained in sales, he knows to call potential clients after they fill out their forms. He makes sure they’ve booked appointments and tells them what to expect. He helps ease their transition into they gym. This means seven out of 10 leads show up to talk with him. And because he’s good at the Help First model, he knows how to recommend the service they actually need instead of selling another six-week revolving-door challenge.
Four out of seven convert, purchasing a high-value entry point for $499. His ROI on the Facebook ad is $1,996 with $100 in ad spend—nearly 20X.
If Trainer #2 isn’t trained in sales, she doesn’t call potential clients after they fill out a form on her site, even though they’ve indicated their interest. She doesn’t want to seem “pushy,” so she doesn’t help them over their fear threshold. Three out of 10 leads show up for their appointments, and because the trainer can’t clearly lay out the best paths, only one signs up for an intro package of five sessions for $199. Trainer #2’s ROI on the Facebook ad is $199 with $100 in ad spend, or around 2X.
A 2X return on any marketing investment is still great. But sales training makes it far more rewarding; it’s a multiplier.
Got Any Friends, Family or Co-Workers?
Second, we teach Affinity Marketing. Imagine a bull’s-eye with your best clients in the center dot. Surrounding that dot are the people closest to your best clients (their families). Moving out from center, the next circle represents your best clients’ coworkers, and the third circle represents their friends. As the circles grow in size, they move farther away from center.
The people closest to the center dot are just like your best clients. They can afford your service, they already understand its value, and a person they care about is in love with your service. They know, like and trust you already. It’s your responsibility to help them. The Affinity Marketing process helps entrepreneurs identify these high-affinity clients, create a proposal to help them and then convert them to clients.
These people don’t need filtering; they need someone to say, “Come with me. I’ll show you.” They don’t need an ad; they need a hand. And Affinity Marketing is also a multiplier for the digital marketing to come later because every new client is the center ring of a new bull’s-eye.
Affinity Marketing is also an easy, natural offshoot of regular goal reviews, which is a critical part of your retention plan.
Breadcrumbs
Third, we teach lead nurture. When people indicate interest in your service but aren’t ready to sign up right away, what do you do?
Well, you write them love letters. You make them mixed tapes podcasts and YouTube videos and other presents to show them you care. You tell them how you’re going to solve their problems, and you prove your skill by telling stories of others.
Two-Brain entrepreneurs produce a lot of content in a caring, engaging way because no one gets married on the first date.
And Now, Digital Marketing
Finally, we teach digital marketing. When entrepreneurs enter the Farmer Phase, they must begin selling to strangers. The power of storytelling platforms like Facebook and Instagram are incredible. Consider them the top of your marketing funnel: They’re the way you meet strangers and start a conversation.
Top-of-funnel marketing used to mean billboards and radio ads. Now it means Facebook, YouTube and Google. But in the future, it might mean Strava or Amazon (bank on it) or geofenced micro-targeting.
The Two-Brain Marketing program was built to teach all parts of the sales process: from conversion to Affinity Marketing to lead nurturing to digital lead generation. We share ad copy, budgets, ROI, and wins and losses every single day. It’s a mentorship program, not just another Facebook group and swipe file combo.
And we update our best practices every single week—what else would you expect from Two-Brain?
Here’s our free Affinity Marketing guide:
Affinity Marketing for Gyms
Affinity Marketing Cheat Sheet
Other Articles in This Series
Building a Sales Engine: Selling Without Selling
Building a Sales Engine: Who Sells?
Building a Sales Engine: Hiring a Salesperson
