Are you familiar with the 40/40/20 rule?
Essentially: when it comes to the performance of a marketing campaign there are 3 main factors.
40% of the success is due to picking the right Audience.
Another 40% comes from making the right Offer.
And the final 20% is from using the right Message .
(you can also think of this last piece as ‘copywriting’ or ‘persuasion’).
Today we’re going to look at the first part:
Your Audience.
Now don’t ignore this even if you’re more advanced. Because experienced business owners make mistakes with this all the time.
Ramit Sethi runs an 8-figure online education business called I Will Teach You To Be Rich.
His courses are premium quality — always well researched and thoughtfully laid out (I’ve invested in a few and can vouch for them).
Several years ago when Ramit decided he wanted to put together a course on health insurance, he and his team spent $50,000 developing it.
Here’s what happened next, according to Ramit…
“For the health insurance product, this looked like a hit. I was sure there was a demand for this product because I wanted an easier way to figure out health insurance, and I knew that tons of people found it equally painful.
There was only one problem:
Nobody wanted to pay for it!
Finding health insurance is like having dull elbow pain. It’s annoying, but the vast majority of people just go on their way, rationalizing it away (and even getting used to it). With health insurance, almost everyone wants an easier solution … but nobody wants to pay for the answers.
The product was dead before it even launched.”
Choosing the wrong Audience is an expensive mistake.
If you have an idea for a new course, program or service (or you’re trying to figure out why the one you have isn’t selling) the most important first step is to look at your Audience.
Your offer needs to appeal to people who have money AND the willingness to spend it to solve this problem.
That last piece is crucial.
And in the case of the healthcare course, you can see where Ramit went wrong.
Look around your market.
Are there people actively paying to solve this specific problem and achieve this specific desire?
And if so, are they also paying for your type of solution?
If not, that’s a sign you could be in for trouble.
Now once you’ve dialed in the right Audience, it’s time to consider the second part: Your Offer.
Many businesses think they have a Message problem. But more often than not, what they really have is an Offer problem.
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