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8:11 pm
October 28, 2015
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QuoteOK, so I'm hopefully only days away from launching my funnel. I finally got my album released last June after a very successful crowdfunding campaign, and it's time to start expanding my tribe. I'm going to chronicle my successes and failures here, of course, but first I just wanted to write down some of my recent successes, because I think they shed a light on a few principles that John has taught me, that I think some of us tend to gloss over. Namely the important of the relationship and connection with our tribes.
Now, John talks about this all the time, and I was always aware of it, but it didn't really click until I started a little experiment.
So, first things first. I have a tiny little company that does free walking tours in downtown Reykjavik, Iceland. We take people on a little walk, tell them about the city, the history and interesting things to do, and we tell them as many jokes as we can fit in without being totally obnoxious. We all have a background in comedy, and we mainly focus on making it as much fun as possible. Then we ask for donations at the end, and we usually do very well.
I own the company with my friend, and we have one other guy, so it's really tiny, but it's a real passion project for me. I enjoy it immensely, and I do a very good job of being helpful, funny and insightful, if I do say so myself (well, and several hundred of my closest friends on TripAdvisor will agree).
So, a few weeks ago I decided to try selling my album after the tours. I basically offer people the opportunity to support me by buying the album for about $20, instead of tipping me, and I pull out a CD. I describe the music in a few words and just hold it up. And to my surprise, many take me up on it. I've been selling 5-10 albums per week, sometimes. Of course, some days I sell nothing, but usually I'll sell a bit. Some people even buy the album and add a tip on top of that.
So I'm selling CDs to people who have NEVER HEARD MY MUSIC. How? By charming their socks off. By being fun and engaging. By connecting to them during our time together and starting a relationship. And keep in mind, they've only known me for about 90 minutes when I ask them to buy. Of course, they are about to give me money, anyway, so this is just basically a little souvenir that they're getting extra, but still.
Anyway, this whole experience really made me look at the fan journey in a slightly different way (I was also in the middle of the Copywriting workshop at the time, so it was a perfect storm). I realised that I needed to use the same ingredients that I use on that walking tour when I create the funnel. And that, coupled with all the fantastic lessons from that workshop, has helped me make me a much better marketer, I think. Certainly much more confident.
Well, that's it. I hope this story is at least somewhat inspirational to others. I can't wait to get my funnel up and running. Just a few technical issues to work out, and then I'm off!
Folk on!
Eyvi
1:09 am
June 7, 2011
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Great insight Eyvi.
I had a similar realization years ago when I looked back on what I had been doing to promote myself up until I got my first record deal, and how much it overlapped with what I ended up doing all these years later with online marketing.
This was in 1999 before everyone had email. I was a club promoter and I essentially made it my mission to get as many phone numbers as possible. After a year or so I had about 1000 phone numbers in my little notebook. Then, I would book a show on one of my own nights. I controlled everything so I had an unlimited guest list. I spent 3 - 4 days from 10am until about 6pm calling every number in the book. Some I knew well, some I didn't know very well at all. But I would offer to put everyone on the guest list while stressing that I needed to know soon so I could give the spot away if the person wasn't able to come. Never fibbing or anything like that by saying spots were limited. But certainly a scarcity was perceived. Long story short, I would sell out venues. Often with a line around the block. On one occasion I remember having 450 people on the guest list. And even though most came in for free. Many brought friends, and there were walk ups because the club was jumping. So I still made good money off the night. When I finally showcased for labels, some of the label execs couldn't get into the club because it was over capacity. It wasn't long before I had a record deal.
Years later, it's the same thing but with email and automation. Building a list, building a bond with that list, then using scarcity or time sensitivity to get people off the fence, while using social proof to fan the flames and making my money in the margins.
That really is the biggest thing I hope to drive home with any form of online marketing. It's not a "secret formula". It's just human beings providing value (in our case that usually means entertainment) and putting a price on it. All I'm doing is giving a few little tips to people on how to present themselves in a more effective way.
But the litmus test I always use is, would this work if you had a free retail location with tons of foot traffic. If you could attract people and make a living in a real world space, you can do it online. We just use the internet to scale.
Thanks for posting your story.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
9:36 pm
October 28, 2015
OfflineYeah, man, I listened to that story on the podcast and it resonated with me as well.
The foot traffic thing is another thing as well. I start my tour on a pretty busy square, and I stand there in a bright green jacket with a sign for about 15 minutes before I start, and a lot of people stop and ask me questions, and quite often I'm able to convince people who had no intention of doing a walking tour to come along.
I think the biggest AHA moment of the copywriting course (and again, the story above was a big factor in that realization) was that I needed to stop thinking like I was putting together this big marketing pitch (even though I was) and start using the same tools I use on my walking tours. Provide entertainment and focus on making the whole thing as much fun as possible. So once I put that first, and THEN applied the principles from MMM and the rest of it, it started to click.
So I guess that's what I learned, in a nutshell. Human, entertainer and all that first. Salesman second.
4:19 am
June 7, 2011
Offline
Totally. It's amazing how hard it is to teach people how to be human with their marketing. Something happens inside when we hear marketing, and we subconsciously start copying other marketing we have seen, in an effort to be better at marketing. But it's everything you just said.
The best advice I ever read about marketing was to record your real world pitch meetings and, when one goes great and you make the sale, just transcribe the dialogue, clean it up so it's one sided, and you have your sales letter.
Online marketing within the context of a funnel, is just taking a long form sales letter and breaking it up into a series.
It's as simple as that.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
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