B R I A N D O W N A R D . C O M

3 MARKETING STRATEGIES THAT WORK RIGHT NOW

Check out the top 3 online marketing strategies that I’m using for my business and my clients right now.

INTRODUCTION

Online marketing is a jungle. It’s hard to know where to go and really easy to get lost.

You could end up spending all your time on the latest and greatest “hack” but if you never actually grow your business, what’s the point of wasting your time and money?

So if you’re like most entrepreneurs and business owners, you’ve got far more important things to do than worry about marketing your business.

That’s why instead of giving you a giant list of ideas, I chose the best, most actionable strategies that I’m using for my business and for my clients to generate more leads and sales fast.

Plus, as a special thank you for being here, I’ve included a little bonus at the very end.

Enjoy!

Brian Downard

#1

FACEBOOK ADS

EFFECTIVENESS TIME TO IMPLEMENTDIFFICULTY

6/10 3+ HOURS PER WEEK

Love it or hate it, Facebook has over 1 billion active daily users. Which means regardless of what you sell, your customers are on Facebook.

Plus, there are over 1 million marketers using Facebook who spend $8 billion per year on ads. Obviously they know something other people don’t…

But because there’s many details involved in advertising on Facebook, this will serve as a brief overview of the platform.

So unlike Google AdWords, you’re not paying to rank for specific keywords, all that matters is your customers’ interests, demographics, etc.

If you’re new to Facebook, I recommend starting with “Boosting” current posts with links to your content, promotions and events. It’s a simple way to get more engagement and clicks quickly.

But before you go all ad happy, make sure that you install what’s called the Facebook “Pixel” on to your website.

The “Pixel” allows Facebook to track what people do outside of Facebook and use that data to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns. That way you know exactly what you’re paying per conversion, not just per click.

Plus, it allows you to build a “Retargeting” list. That’s a list of people who have visited your website but didn’t convert. You can use Facebook to “retarget” them with relevant ads and bring them back to your site.

Okay, next you’ll want to use Facebook’s “Audience” creator so you can make a few custom audiences to advertise to.

4FACEBOOK ADS

Here’s the first 5 audiences you should create:

• Create “custom” audience using your email and phone number list(s)  • Create “lookalike” audiences from your email list(s) • Create “lookalike” audiences from your page fans • Create “retargeting” audience to track website visitors with your Pixel • Create “lookalike” audiences from your retargeting list

You’ll want to create these audiences from day one so Facebook can start adding people to your list over time. Then in a few months, your lists could have millions of people on them that you could advertise to.

Next, to create an ad, you’d use the Facebook Ad Manager or Power Editor, where you choose a campaign objective. From more traffic and subscribers for your blog to more sales leads for your product or service. You can even use GPS tracking to know is people who saw your ad, came into your store. All are just a few clicks away!

5FACEBOOK ADS

Once you choose a goal, it’s time to create your ad design and copy. You can use Canva to create great ads, but crafting compelling copy is a little more difficult.

Luckily you can A/B test ads to see which convert better. Don’t fall victim to trying to create “the perfect ad” just start somewhere and test like crazy!

If you’re not advertising to one of your custom audiences mentioned on the last page, you can also use Facebook’s highly-detailed targeting options to advertise to people based on interested, demographics, who they are connected to and much more.

Again, if you’re just getting started. Don’t stress about things like ad bidding, ad placement and other advanced options. Just let Facebook optimize the campaigns for you.

Depending on your budget, I’d start with anywhere between $500-$3,000 per month on Facebook ads to start and scale up from there. (Some brands literally spend millions of dollars a month on Facebook ads alone.)

Of course like any marketing initiative, you need to use your analytic and measuring tools to make informed decisions on what campaigns are working and which are not.

6FACEBOOK ADS

READ THIS GUIDE ▸

#2

AUTOMATED EMAIL SERIES

EFFECTIVENESS TIME TO IMPLEMENTDIFFICULTY

5/10 3+ DAYS

8AUTOMATED EMAIL SERIES

Okay great, now that you know how to push more people through your sales funnel, but how do you get them to buy?

Chances are, the first time someone visits your website or store, they aren’t going to become a customer right away.

That’s why, writing a series of emails enables you to nurture every single lead you get for years to come, from just a few days of work.

Here’s how it works: • You get someones email address either online or offline • They are added to your email list • Your email service provider sends out a set of scheduled emails

automatically

That’s it! 

Just sign up for a tool like Active Campaign, Drip, Wishpond or even Mailchimp (there’s other great tools out there too) and you’re good to go!

It’s important to note, the best way to sell most things through email isn’t by sending a random email saying “buy our stuff” even if that's the easiest thing to do.

Instead, using email to send a series of connected pieces of content to your subscribers that matches your sales cycle.

You can use these email series to educate your subscribers, help them understand their problems and finally introduce products and services that help solve their problems. See an example on the next page.

9AUTOMATED EMAIL SERIES

If you own a restaurant, sending out a weekly special to new subscribers immediately is probably a smart idea because you have a short sales cycle. On the other hand, if you’re selling high-ticket consulting services, it’s a better idea to build a relationship with content over a few months before you try to pitch subscribers.

Great, now you’ve got an email series the nurture and convert new leads. It’s also a good idea to create an email series that you send to new customers after they make a purchase.

These emails are used to collect feedback, pitch relevant products/services, get online reviews and more. It’s set up the same exact way, just attached to a different email list.

If you sell online, this can be done automatically, but if you sell offline, you’ll need to have someone spend a few minutes each day adding new customer emails to your database.

READ THIS ARTICLE ▸

#3

CONTENT PARTNERSHIPS

EFFECTIVENESS TIME TO IMPLEMENTDIFFICULTY

7/10 10+ DAYS

Partnerships are nothing new, but waiting and hoping that your partners will send you business is not likely to get you very far.

That’s why I decided to create the “Fishnet Formula” in which you create value for your partners first, then offer to collaborate with them on something that gives you instant and/or ongoing access to their audience.

As an example, I’ve worked with a number of businesses in the casual living niche. So instead of trying to cold call individual people, I partnered up with one of the biggest manufacturers in the industry to create a piece of content on marketing a patio furniture store, for their retailers.

It benefits both of us and gets me a warm introduction to the exact businesses I want to work with.

Now that’s just one example. The bigger your partner’s audience is, the more opportunities you’ll have to find customers.

For example, Hubspot regularly publishes eBooks created by their partners. You can guarantee their partners are massively benefiting from that exposure.

11CONTENT PARTNERSHIPS

Remember, the chances of someone giving you immediate access to their audience are very low.

You need to position yourself in a way that you’re giving away tons of value to your partner and their audience to be granted access.

Here’s a few ideas for shifting your relationships from strangers to partners with top brands in your niche.

• Guest post on their blog • Provide a product or service for free • Be a “Poster Boy” for their brand • Ask for their input for an influencer roundup • Host an event an feature them as a speaker, special guest, etc. • Speak at an event they host for free • Create exclusive content for their audience

Now if you’d like to add some rocket fuel to this strategy, use LeadPages or ClickFunnels to create 1-click opt-ins that automatically add a person’s email to your list when clicked, instead of making them manually opt-in.

So when your partner sends an email blast, every click turns into a new subscriber. Learn more by clicking on the button below...

12CONTENT PARTNERSHIPS

READ THIS ARTICLE ▸

BONUS

PERSONALITY QUIZZES

EFFECTIVENESS TIME TO IMPLEMENTDIFFICULTY

7/10 5+ DAYS

Okay so I lied. There’s actually 4 strategies in this guide.

I just wanted to surprise you!

And guess what? I saved the best for last...

I’m sure you’ve seen those “what (blank) matches your personality?” or “what character from (blank) are you?” quizzes online.

Well if you haven’t, they are insanely popular.

In fact, BuzzFeed (one of the most visited websites on earth) says those quizzes vastly outperformed every other type of content they produced.

Why? Because people love self discovery.

Now as a business, this is extremely useful because based on the answers someone gives to your quiz, you can show them a custom sales message. Plus, you can collect their email and followup with them via automated emails based on their results.

It’s like being a doctor, you diagnose then prescribe.

This is wildly effective because instead of having a “one-size fits all” sales pitch. You can create 3-5 pitches and show them to the right people.

For example, a retirement community could create a personality quiz on which type of senior living is right for your elderly family member. So regardless if the results are “independent living” or “assisted living” or anything else, the person taking the quiz is shown a relevant offer.

14PERSONALITY QUIZZES

In a completely different niche like health and fitness, a brand could create something like: “which diet is right for your personality?” similar to what Nutrition Secrets has on their website. Then based on the diet that’s right for you, you’ll see a sales page and get an email with a customized pitch to buy their meal plan:

15PERSONALITY QUIZZES

Aside from being able to generate leads and customize your sales pitch, quizzes are "cold traffic friendly". That means it’s easy to generate cheap clicks and leads using Facebook and Pinterest ads.

So if you’re looking for a more effective way to generate and pitch leads online, quizzes should be the first place you start.

VIEW CASE STUDIES ▸

READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP TO GROW

YOUR BUSINESS?

If you’re interested in any of the strategies you just read about, let’s get in touch so you can get the exact tools and resources you’ll need to get started fast.

WORK WITH ME ▸

B R I A N D O W N A R D . C O M