January 13, 2018

Kickstarting the flywheel

If your ideal buyers recognize you as an expert, you will stand out from the crowd and can command premium rates.

This statement implies several things:

You need to know who your ideal buyers are
You need to know what your ideal buyers value
You need to create an offering that delivers this value
Your ideal buyers need to be aware of your offering
Your offering needs to reliably deliver the value

We can flip this around to create a marketing plan for a new endeavor:

Decide who your ideal buyers are
Make a list ideal buyers with email addresses for each person
Set up research calls with your ideal buyers to uncover what they value
Create an offering that delivers the thing that they value
Invite them to beta test the new offering in exchange for feedback, pricing guidance, testimonials, case studies, and/or referrals
Update your marketing materials with prices, testimonials, case studies

At this point, you will have a proof of concept for an offering that your ideal buyers will value, and you’ll have social proof that you can deliver on your claims.

As you repeat this cycle a few times and layer in more marketing activity (e.g., speaking at conferences, appearing on podcasts, writing for industry publications, etc), you will eventually be perceived as an expert by your ideal buyers.

This process can take 12 to 24 months for most people, so it requires dedication and focus to get the flywheel turning.

But once the flywheel is turning, it doesn’t take nearly as much effort to keep it going.

In fact, it’s actually kind of hard to stop it.

Yours,

—J