11 realities of marketing in 2010. Ignore them at your peril.
1. If you sell coffee as a commodity, it's worth 2 cents a cup. If you sell it as a good, it's worth 25 cents a cup. If you sell it as a service it's worth $1.00 a cup. If you sell it as an experience, it's $5.00 a cup. A 250:1 difference between commodity and experience.
2. Meaning: Getting ahead by slashing prices is cutting your own throat. You MUST take a lead from Starbucks and deliver an entire customer experience. Move UPSTREAM, not down.
3. Your marketing plan MUST include Google. Love 'em, hate 'em, Mother's Milk or Big Brother, there is no avoiding this fact.
4. If your marketing plan ONLY includes Google, you're an accident waiting to happen. You must invoke the Unlimited Traffic Technique and elevate your conversions to a level where you can compete on any level playing field. Once accept this reality, you liberate yourself from the mosh pit of misery and mediocrity.
5. If you have a successful affiliate business and it's still standing, congratulations. You still have time to move to higher ground. Time to move NOW.
6. After 3 days in Maui (one of the most intense learning experiences ever) one conclusion everyone reached at the end of day 3 was this: *Regardless of where you buy clicks, if you don't have an Autoresponder sequence, you're leaving 2/3rds of the money on the table.* Social Media is a freaking a waste of time compared to just TEN well-written emails. In my opinion if you don't have AR's in place you're lucky to still be alive.
7. The principle of the Slight Edge says: If you're just 5% better than everyone else you get 50% more of the spoils.
8. There is no such thing as One Single Ideal marketing message, anymore than there is One Single Ideal shrub in the jungle. What you need is a toolbox of effective hooks that work with different kinds of people. That is the premise of the Swiss Army Knife.
9. Market Research is crucial. In 2004 you could afford to sling mud against the wall. Not in 2010. Ask your prospects the right 3 questions and sort the data right and your chances of success in a startup go from 5% to 50% overnight.
10. Most people now are on the defensive. They've shuttered their doors and windows and they're trying to ride out the recession. That's just slow motion suicide. Those who prevail have decided to be 21st century alchemists and every single day they're trying to figure out how to deliver a more awesome customer experience.
11. Today's Pay Per Click landscape is a repeat of high school. My 1984 marketing story: www.perrymarshall.com/1984
Perry Marshall
