1 Page Marketing Plan by Alan Dib

Excerpts from the book 

Lack of information isn't the issue holding back the bottom 80% of business owners - it's human behavior and mindset.

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. So you need to ensure the stiff you spend your time on makes the biggest impact.

Leverage is the best kept secret of the rich.

If you want more success, you need to start paying attention to and expand things that give you the most leverage.

By far the biggest leverage point in any business is marketing. If you get 10% better at marketing, this can have an exponential or multiplying effect on your bottom line.

Marketing - that' s where the money is.

The marketing plan ended up being the 20% part of the business planning process that produced 80% of the result.

What is marketing? =>  advertising + promotion + publicity + public relations + sales  i.e marketing == strategy

Understanding the difference between strategy and tactics is absolutely key to marketing success.   Strategy is the big-picture planning you do prior to the tactics.

Tactics without strategy leads to the "bright shiny object syndrome.

A good product or service is a customer-retention tool

To be a successful small business marketer you need laser-like focus on a narrow target market, sometimes called a niche.

Why would we limit on our market?

1. You have a limited amount of money. If you focus  too broadly, your marketing message will become diluted and weak.
2. The other critical factor is relevance. The goal of your ad is for your prospects to say, "Hey that's for me."

Targeting a tight niche allows you to become a big fish in small pond. It allows you to dominate a category or geography in a way that is impossible by being general.

Dominate a niche, then once you own it, do the same with another and then another. But never do so all at once. Doing so dilutes your message and your marketing power.

Remember it's not about "turnover", it's all about the "leftover."

To start marketing on purpose, two vital elements to look at: 

1. What is the purpose of your ad?
2. What does your ad focus on?

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong in modeling something that's already working.

The entire goal of your USP is to answer this question: Why should I buy from you rather than from your nearest competitor?  Two questions to ask 1. Why should they buy?  2. Why should they buy from me?

The uniqueness may be in the way it is packaged, delivered, supported or even sold.

When you confuse them, you lose them.

Good marketing, especially direct response marketing, is always customer and problem/solution focused.

Effective communication formula:  You know [problem]?  Well, what we do is [solution]. In fact, [proof].

What problem are you sure that you could solve for a member of your target market?

OF all the products and services you offer, which do you enjoy delivering the most?

Purchasing is done with emotions and justified with logic after the fact.

Analyzing search engine queries using a tool like Google's AdWords Keyword Planner can be another excellent method.

Create irresistible offers with the below points:  Value, Language, Reason Why, Value stacking, Upsells, Payment plan, Guarantee, Scarcity.

"Me too" business attracts the lowest-common-denominator clients who by necessity shop based on price, as they have nothing else to differentiate you by.

People love authenticity, personality, and opinion. Even if they don't agree with you, they'll respect you for being real and open.

The most compelling words:  Free,  You,  Save, Results, Health, Love, Proven, Money, New, Easy, Safety, Guaranteed, Discovery

The five major motivators of human behavior, especially buying behavior, are:   

1. Fear, 
2. Love,
3. Greed, 
4. Guilt,  and
   
5. Pride

Emotional direct response copy-writing is a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal.

To enter the mind of your prospect is to find out what they blame, and to use a device in your copy known as "the enemy in common."

The title (of your business) should be equal content.

Always choose clarity over cleverness.

What gets measured, gets managed.

What you don't know WILL hurt you.

For a successful marketing campaign, three vial elements are here: 

1. Market, 
2. Message, 
3. Media

Moving people emotionally towards a desired action is what marketing is all about.

All other things being equal, the more money you can spend marketing to high-probability prospects, the better your chances are of converting them to a customer.

You can't substitute good marketing for bad math.

The fundamentals never change.

It takes different "types" to make a business work. Here are the three major types:

1. The entrepreneur:  They make it up.
2. The specialist:  They make it real.
3. The manager:  They make it recural

If someone else can do it 80% as good as you can, then you should delegate it.

The real profit comes from the way you market yourself.

Author's definition of an entrepreneur: " someone who solves peoples' problems at a profit."

The purpose of any new technology in your business is to eliminate friction.

Tell your audience all the effort that goes into delivering your product or service.

No one cares about your logo, company name or some dubious claim about being the leader in your industry.

Systems allow more mortals to run an extraordinary business.

Customers don't find out how good your products and services are until they have bought from you.

It takes a very long time to build up enough business purely on reputation. Smart businesses, on the other hand, go to great lengths to perfect their marketing and sales systems.

Give them a reason to come back.

Help them buy repeatedly with subscriptions

Numbers tell us the whole story

Small hinges swing big doors.

One of the best strategies for getting what you want in business and indeed in life  - just ask.

The bystander effect is a phenomenon that occurs when a large crowd gathers around an ongoing emergency or crime and essentially treats it as a spectator sport.

A brand is the personality of your business.

Knowing and not doing is the same as not knowing.

80% out the door is better than 100% in the drawer.

The best marketing wins every time.