Forget about marketing hacks, swipe files, or trying to replicate someone else’s “proven launch”…
In this video, I’m going to tell you why most launches flop, the 7 questions you MUST answer correctly before any marketing campaign…
And most importantly…
The #1 thing your customers HAVE to feel – yes, feel – before they will buy from you.
Without this, nothing else on this list matters.
Hey Posse, what’s up? It’s Alex.
Coming at you this week with a tutorial that will seriously change the way you think about marketing…
So pay attention and get ready to take notes because you aren’t going to want to miss a single tip.
But before I get into it, if you want to read more blogs like this one, give me a comment below. My team and I create new content based on what YOU like. So while it seems like a small action that doesn’t matter much, it directly impacts what we put out next…
Now let’s get right into it…
Time to geek out on my FAVORITE topic ever – marketing and marketing psychology…
To start, I want to call out what a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners do wrong when it comes to launches and campaigns…
While there are more than a few reasons why a launch might flop, here are the most common mishaps that I see time and time again…
1. Lack of Market Research
Listen – never create something just for the sake of selling something…
Well, not if your goal is actually to make money. You MUST solve problems first and foremost…
You can identify these problems by doing excellent market research. This is the secret behind the success of any business, product, or service.
If the problem you’re solving isn’t actually something your customers want help with (and are willing to pay for that solution)… they won’t buy it, no matter how great, cheap, or revolutionary it is.
Remember, people don’t buy the product. They buy the OUTCOME of that product.
2. Your Target Audience is “Everyone”
We all know your product or service can probably help TONS of people. But the most effective campaigns are the ones that solve a very specific problem for a specific person.
3. You Have No Budget, No Audience or No Time
Now, I’m not saying you need to have a massive budget in order to have a successful launch, but you DO need an audience.
So, if you don’t have money to spend on ads to build your audience quickly, then you at least need to allow yourself the TIME to build an audience organically.
This is what I did… my first launch was very successful WITHOUT spending a single dollar on paid ads, but that’s because I put in the time to build my audience through content marketing.
If you have no budget, no audience and NO time, it’s going to be harder to have a successful launch unless you can find other traffic sources, like affiliates to promote your product or business to THEIR audiences for a commission.
4. Messaging Misalignment
The #1 rule of marketing… you need to communicate who you are, what you do and how you can help as clearl and concisely as possible.
Confusion is the biggest conversion killer, so if you can’t say it clearly, your customers won’t get it.
Also, pay attention to your customer’s level of awareness with you or your products, if you try to sell too early or too often to people who don’t know, like or trust you yet, your launch is likely to fall flat.
Now listen, if you’re guilty of any of these marketing mishaps, please know it’s not your fault!
There is so much information out there, and it can be really confusing & overwhelming trying to sift through it to figure out what ACTUALLY works and what will move the needle for YOU in your business.
And hey, I’ve definitely missed the mark on my marketing before…
I’d attend masterminds or events and learn all these incredible tactics that worked for other people…
Then I’d try them and NOPE.
But that is the BIGGEST and most important lesson to remember when it comes to marketing…
It is ALL just one giant experiment.
Just because something works for someone, doesn’t mean it will work for you and your audience.
The only way to know for sure is to try it and watch what happens.
So the best marketers in the world are the best marketers in the world because they have tried more stuff, and some of it worked!!
Guess what? A lot of it didn’t…
And no one talks about that!!
Luckily, after being in the industry for over a decade (and helping dozens of businesses scale to 7 and 8 figures), I realized something…
Great marketing can be stupidly simple…
And running a successful campaign can actually be EASY, FUN, and FAST.
In fact, my most successful launches are often the ones where I’m scrappy and messy… rather than the ones I sit on for a year trying to make “perfect” with fancy marketing bells and whistles.
The biggest difference? I don’t focus on “marketing tactics” and instead focus on “customer results”…
In other words, I see a problem, challenge or question my audience needs support with and I create a specific solution for them…
When I do that, my programs practically sell themselves…
And the best part about this is that you don’t have to look at what anyone else is doing for this to work for you…
Marketing tactics are great – but “tactics” don’t create demand or desire. That, my friend, has to be present FIRST before marketing will work…
So to help you massively boost your marketing events, here are 7 questions you must ask FIRST – before you create, launch or SELL anything…
Because the answers will change everything.
And the more clear you get with this, the better your launch will go…
So let’s dive in…
Question #1 – What Do My Customers (REALLY) Want?
This comes back to one of the main reasons new business ideas and product launches fail – because the market demand wasn’t there.
Anyone else remember the launch of the Segway?
When the 2-wheel transportation device first came onto the market in 2002, it was supposed to revolutionize how we move around…
And it was incredibly hyped up. Because why WALK when you can SEGWAY. lol.
The founders predicted that sales would explode to 10,000 units per week…
But that didn’t happen.
Instead, the company sold less than 10,000 units in its first 2 years.
And less than 24,000 units in its first 4 years.
What was supposed to be a game-changer for transportation turned out to be a total flop.
Why?
Because Segway didn’t conduct proper market research.
There was zero demand for the product.
No one really NEEDED a segway – people could walk, bike, or drive to where they needed to go.
Which means there was no unmet need that the product was targeting or solving.
Which is a fatal mistake.
If no one NEEDS what you’re selling, then they aren’t going to buy it – period.
But then you look at the millions of electric scooters that have popped up all around the world…
And the fact that the electric scooter market is expected to grow into a $24.8B industry by 2033 – and you’re like WHAT GIVES?
Why have electric scooters popped off but segways never had a chance…
It’s because electric scooters don’t JUST solve a “transportation” problem (because you could also just drive or Uber) or even just an “environmental” problem because one would argue segways are also an environmentally friendly alternative (or you could just walk or bike)…
Scooters also solve one very SPECIFIC solution the other alternatives don’t…
Convenience… they are light, compact, faster than walking and available on every street corner in major cities.
So…
Before launching anything…
Ask yourself, “What do my customers REALLY want, need, or desire? And WHY?”
Because while they might say “to get from point A to point B” – what is it that they REALLY want?
Another example…
If I ask my audience what they want – they will tell me FREEDOM!!! But if I dig a bit deeper and ask the right questions, I find out that freedom means different things to different people…
Some of my audience want to learn copywriting so they don’t have to go back to work after maternity leave – and they want to stay at home with their kids…
Some want to learn copywriting so they can travel the world and work whenever they please…
Others want to learn copywriting so they have creative freedom and can use their words and voice to make an impact in the lives of others…
So yes, my audience wants FREEDOM… but what they REALLY want is actually so much juicier than that…
And the more specific you can be in your marketing, the more relatable and desirable your product or service becomes.
To answer this question, ASK your audience what matters to them…
- Do surveys
- Create polls
- Or my personal favorite, directly ask them WHAT they want to accomplish and WHAT they need to get there.
Every product I’ve ever created came directly from what my audience told me they wanted…
Alright, the next question you need to ask yourself is…
Question #2 – Why Might They Say NO?
Even if you’re creating the exact thing your audience said they want…
You’re still going to have to put in a bit more work if you want to avoid a flop.
Humans are skeptical by nature.
We actively seek reasons to discredit something, find a reason it won’t work for us or any other reason we can say “no”…
In fact, we look for reasons to FILTER OUT, before we look for reasons to BUY IN.
No matter how amazing your product or service is, you WILL encounter people who feel resistance to buying it.
In the early 2000s, Coca-Cola identified a new market: 20- to 40-year-old men who liked the taste of Coke – but not its calories and carbs.
They also liked the no-calorie aspect of Diet Coke – but not its “taste or feminine image.”
So after correctly identifying the unmet need of this new market, Coca-Cola pitched its brand new product: C2.
Which had half the calories and carbs and all the taste of the original Coke.
Perfect – right?
Wrong.
Men completely rejected the new drink.
They wanted a full-flavor drink that had NO calories or carbs…
Not half the calories and carbs.
Coca-Cola pulled the failed drink from the market and later released Coke Zero – a drink with none of the calories and all of the flavor.
The product was a success.
If Coca-Cola had done a better job of asking the right questions and identifying reasons why men might reject the C2 drink before they launched it, they would have saved themselves millions of dollars.
The more prepared you are to counter and address ANY AND ALL objections, the more successful you’ll be.
Ask yourself “Why might my ideal customer say NO to buying this product or service?”
Alright – so those first 2 questions are really what you need to be asking yourself BEFORE you create your product or service…
Question 1 + Question 2 are going to help you create a product and offer your ideal customer won’t be able to resist…
Questions 3-7 are going to help you position your product in a way that gets them to pull out their credit card faster than you can say “Buy Now”… without saying that…
These questions are based on something I call …
The Emotional Buyers Journey. From the moment a customer discovers you, your product or service, to the moment they pull out their card to purchase, there are 5 core emotions they NEED to feel before saying YES…
The next 5 questions will help you elicit those emotions.
Question #3 – How Can I Make Them Feel UNDERSTOOD?
When a new customer comes to you, they usually come with a problem, issue, or desire that they are struggling with…
And they aren’t going to waste time with you if they don’t get the feeling that you understand exactly what they are feeling.
This is FOUNDATIONAL to any buying experience…
You want your customers to feel like you GET them.
- Share your personal experiences overcoming the same problems, issues, or desires…
- Talk about why you created this product or service in the first place…
- And showcase empathy + compassion for what they are going through.
Next, you want your customers to feel…
Question #4 – How Can I Make Them Feel SAFE?
First, you get them to like you…
Next, you get them to trust you.
They have to trust you – to feel safe – in order to give you their money.
You want your customers to feel like YOU HAVE GOT THEM.
- You have their back.
- You’re qualified.
- You’re legit.
- You are *the* person that can help them.
Next, you want your customers to feel…
Question #5 – How Can I Make Them Feel EMPOWERED?
No matter how much a person WANTS to solve their problems or WANTS to achieve some goal or dream…
Most people encounter a lot of self-doubt.
We tend to think “well, it worked for them, but it will never work for me…”
You really want your customers to feel like they CAN DO IT TOO.
You want to increase believability and show them that they can do it, have bit, create it, or achieve it.
A great way to do this is to share testimonials from previous customers – making sure to share the stories that your ideal customers can see themselves in.
For example…
A lot of people in my target audience want to become freelance copywriters – but they have a full-time job, or they’re stay-at-home, so they are balancing a lot of other obligations and don’t think they have the time to start a side hustle…
That’s why during all of my promotions I always make sure to share a TON of stories from previous students who also worked 9-5s while they were learning and building their business…
Or from moms who only had time to work during naptime & bedtime…
These stories resonate with my audience AND ALSO make them feel like they can do it too.
The next emotion you want your ideal customer to feel is…
Question #6 – How Can I Make Them Feel EXCITED?
There is a damn good reason why people will buy a plane ticket and fly to a different country… just to wait in line for 24+ hours to buy a $150 sweatshirt…
Or why Taylor Swift fans will stay awake until midnight for two whole weeks JUST to hear the title of a track on her next album…
Yep – just the title, no music included!
It all comes down to excitement.
When people are excited, they’re borderline irrational.
And that’s a good thing in marketing.
Excitement means quick decision-making…
Which means less time to rationalize, self-doubt, or convince yourself out of something.
Excited people are easier to sell to.
Which is exactly why you see so many brands “hyping” up their new product or services.
And yes, you can do this too – even if you’re not a wildly popular streetwear brand that charges $1,000 for a t-shirt or a singer with a cult-like fanbase.
You do this by showing them their future.
Paint a picture of what they’re life looks like after working with you, or using your product or service.
What is the big transformation they are seeking and how can you showcase that possibility to get them excited?
But with this, like all things in marketing – it’s important to be HONEST.
Overhyping, exaggerating, or misleading people with empty promises is not cool.
It’s unethical and will always backfire.
So don’t do it.
Alright, the final, and most important feeling you need to get your audience to feel is…
Question #7 – How Can I Inspire Them To COMMIT NOW?
I say this one is the most important because ultimately, it doesn’t matter how well you answer and execute the other 6 questions…
If you can’t elicit a feeling of commitment, a drive to buy from you NOW and not LATER…
Then you won’t be very successful.
You want your audience to feel like “Omg, yes! This is exactly what I need and I need it right NOW!”
You do this by creating a sense of urgency…
Either by highlighting the immediate benefits they can expect to receive, utilizing scarcity (like a limited quantity, a lower price that’s time-sensitive) OR by giving them some other incentive to buy, like a special fast-action bonus.
ANDDD there you have it! The 7 questions you MUST answer correctly before any marketing campaign…
I hope you found this helpful!
If you want to take this thing we’ve got going on to the next level, read this blog where I’ll reveal the EXACT 3-step launch plan that has made me millions.
Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!
