Have you ever had this "inertia" in your life – that causes you to make a certain habit?
Here are some of mine:
- I stick to buying coffee from the same cafe – even if a brand-new, superior one appears in the area.
- I buy groceries from the same brand – again and again.
- I buy the same shoe brand I'm familiar with.
- I habitually choose to fill my cars with the same petrol brand. (Also to collect points)
See, most people (including myself) like to think we're open-minded and can easily change our beliefs when we need to.
But history has shown otherwise:
- People used to dismiss the internet. Economist Paul Krugman, predicted the internet will provide no economic value and be worthless.
- People used to laugh at the Wright Brothers.
- In recent years (and still) people have been skeptical of the blockchain.
- We still have AI haters.
OK back to marketing.
If people are so used to taking a certain action and buying from a usual brand – how do we swing them to our brand?
Answer: "Free samples"
Lead magnets, high-value content offers, and funnels – aren't something new. The internet and technology justs put them in a different light.
Giving away "free samples" allows prospects to try your products and services. If they love it, they'll come back for more.
Two things:
- Of course, not everyone who takes a free sample will reciprocate with business. In fact many just take free samples for the thrill of receiving something for free. See it as cost of marketing.
- And of course, "free samples" looks different for different businesses.
- In marketing consulting, "free samples" are speaking at conferences, workshops, and guidebooks.
- For new drink brands, free samples may mean literally giving away free samples.
- For a fast-food chain (like McDonalds), free sample might look like a loss-leader RM1 ice-cream that brings people into their restaurants.
- For personal training gyms, free sample is usually a free fitness assessment or group classes.
Does your business have "free samples"? And can you get creative with it?
Don't figure it out on your own
Allan Dib quotes in 1-Page Marketing:
Struggling business owners will spend time to save money, whereas successful business owners will spend money to save time. Why is that an important distinction? Because you can always get more money, but you can never get more time.
When I wanted to learn to play tennis – I hired a coach. When I wanted to learn more about business systems and sales, I went to a friend, and he became a coach – providing me with clarity.
One person in particular who has been immensely helpful to me, is King Quah of Saltycustoms. In fact, I found our meetings so useful that I pitched the idea of running a sales workshop with him.
Months later, here we are launching a new workshop, Sales Accelerator – a 2-day workshop where King will impart his years of sales systems, scripts and strategies, used to grow Saltycustoms to a RM18 million per year business.
Pre-sale ends end of tomorrow - 16th Oct 2024
I'll share more about Sales Accelerator tomorrow.
