Take your word-of-mouth marketing to a viral level.
I want to share some ideas with you that will have an impact on your business or brand. It is something I have spent the last year working on and I really hope you get something from this post.
I first listened to Unscripted by MJ DeMarco on the way to Colorado from Houston. This was a 12-hour drive and I still did not finish the book. I took many breaks to think deeply about the message. After reading his first book The Millionaire Fastlane, I was ready for more, and Unscripted MJ Demarco delivered.
In this book, I learned many things including one of the biggest takeaways:
PERCEIVED VALUE; People pay for perceived value.
Savvy marketers know this as well as scammers so they have become near experts. If you are an employee or a business owner, you get rewarded for the actual value you deliver to the world. But to get in the door, you have to “bring something to the table” and people must perceive you as valuable first.
Here are 4 of the best things I learned from the book (my opinion):
1. The Productocracy
The concept boils down to creating a viral system where social proof is used to grow your business on an exponential scale. I believe it’s a model for supercharged word of mouth and business growth.
A productocracy is defined as:
Whereas a meritocracy pulls power to the skilled, a productocracy pulls money to the value creators, businesses who grow organically through peer recommendations and repeat customers, compelled by a distinguished product/service not readily offered elsewhere.
I believe The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ Demarco was an example of a productocracy because I have shared it with at least 10 of my friends. Some people finish it and say it was AMAZING, others start it but do not finish it and some never get the book. The people who really enjoy the book continue to pass along the recommendation.
I am also writing my second blog post about it and am not being financially compensated by the author.
When your product gets on this level, you are on to something.
My first attempt was The Influencer Starter Guide. The second attempt will likely be a course or a better book.
The Influencer Starter Guide was an experiment to create a product that spreads via word of mouth forever. And I may not reach success in this experiment, but I will keep trying until victory.
We live in a world where the internet makes going viral much easier because word of mouth multiplied. Your need for advertising/marketing should decrease when people are spreading your message and your offers like wildfire.
Ask yourself in everything you create:
- Does this have the potential to spread like a wildfire?
- Will this creation help other people get results in their life?
- Can other people use this to improve the quality of their life?
These are just some questions to ponder if you want to apply this idea.
When you help people solve problems and get results in their lives, you become more valuable. When you build a reputation for serving others exceptionally, people will talk, and people will open their wallets/give you their attention if they believe you can help.
2. Start with One and Make the Pudding
When the proof is evident, it becomes easier to grow your business. The hardest part is convincing the first person to try you especially if you do not have proof yet. Remember perceived value and what you can do to your offer to make it perceived as more valuable to your prospect.
- How well can you serve one person?
- What are all the possible services you can offer to this one person to help them get closer to their dreams or goals in life?
- What results can you get this person which can be displayed to the world?
This is a table that has helped me better understand the perceived value and actual value:
Once you have attracted your first customer/reader, building trust is the focal point. Trust is the biggest asset. When results are earned and challenges are overcome, trust is built.
If you want more customers or clients, pudding sells better than you talking and trying to persuade.
When other people are disciples of your product, there is no fake promotion or an affiliate plug. They recommend your product because they want to look good and be seen as helpful to another person. Your customers will feel GREAT about recommending you because they know if this prospect follows though they are highly likely to be very satisfied with your product/service.
Show your followers love and nurture them by giving value consistently. The goal is for other people and the internet to market your ideas 24/7. Offer something they can show off and feel amazing about.
They will feel like they really helped someone else not necessarily because they wanted to “help you out” as a friend. But because you understand value arrays and value skews (below) and you get results or you figure out how to.
3. Value Arrays and Value Skewing
To dominate markets and become a leader in sales you must understand value arrays and how to skew value in a value array.
A value array characterizes all market offers. It helps you understand what the best are doing, what the worst are doing, and everything else in between. It gives you ideas of what you can offer to the market that will actually be unique and needed. Unscripted MJ Demarco reveals how to create your value array from scratch by analyzing the market. Value attributes are best spotted first by looking for the needs that are not being fulfilled and then possibly identifying any desirable add-on features that can be contributed.
Become an avid consumer of the products that are great in your market, but also look from a producer’s perspective. Think about how long it takes to create a product of that caliber. How much market research and how much time refining the product?
Identify all the value attributes in the value array. This article provides an excellent perspective of the book (Unscripted MJ Demarco): Here’s a snippet:
First, examine both your product and its industry with the goal to identify every value attribute, no matter how seemingly insignificant. You don’t know what’s important to your customer, so brainstorming every one is the best practice. (free spreadsheets, a free pdf, a community group, a video playlist, an invitation to chat or coaching, etc.)
The second attribute group is its secondary attributes, which consist of the product’s marketing and delivery to the customer. This would be your website’s design, order processing, photos, company story, customer service, sales copy, reviews, social media posts — anything that could make or break a sale is an attribute.
Wherever you can skew value within a product’s pool of attributes, you stand out and cast a bigger market tent. The bigger the skew, the more attractive your offer becomes to your customer.
– Unscripted MJ Demarco
Consume all the courses you can if you are creating a course. If you are writing a book, then focus on successful books in your niche. Study and spot the gaps, there will always be something. Consume Quora, Reddit, and YouTube videos paying attention to the Comments section where you will learn what else people are interested in and maybe what they would be willing to pay for.
I recorded YouTube videos, added additional resources like spreadsheets, and had chapter summaries as attributes in my value array for The Influencer Starter Guide. The top books I read in my value array study did not have a YouTube video playlist for their book, so I made a 5-video playlist to enhance the value of my book. Since so few of the authors had this attribute, I should have recorded 10 or more videos to skew the value even further in my favor. This idea is learned from Unscripted MJ Demarco.
Developing a productocracy takes work and consistent feedback from your customer to improve. Your mission is to create no-brainer wins for your clients by skewing the value array.
You must be realistic about the time dedication and challenges that will arise while trying to create a productocracy. Consider implementing ideas from The Lean Startup like the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for product development.
My major focus has been on creating a productocracy that thrives less on my time and more on a system/technology.
4. Different from a “Service-ocracy”
I started a digital marketing business with the goal of helping clients grow their digital presence. It is one of my attempts at creating a productocracy.
I created a value array of what other digital marketers were offering, applied a value skew, and have been focused on exceeding expectations for my clients EVERY TIME. I confirm this with multiple calls and an exit survey followed by an additional conversation.
The goal is for my clients to spread the word but since we are doing digital marketing, the RESULTS should spread the word. Right now, results are created through active work. Time is the most valuable asset so this is why I am shifting more to a product-centered focus rather than a service.
I ended up creating a glorified job for myself but am working on the product side now. If I want to earn monthly recurring revenue, whatever I create will have to be valuable to my customers on a monthly basis (like Audible) and will likely be a tool to help people produce more in their lives.
This will be my aim for the rest of 2021. I want to create a working productocracy where clients are enthusiastic about the results they are getting and they are sharing their testimonials and referring their friends to my product. On the next level, I want the people who use my product to get results so amazing that they become a paradigm of my services and their effectiveness.
People who come in on proof or “pudding” need less convincing. They see the results and for the most part, know what you are capable of and they have in mind how you can help them with their problem.
I will finish by sharing this screenshot, where MJ replied to one of my messages on Instagram:
Serve your customers so well that they rave about you online. And when they say thank you, respond! You never know how much it means to them and if it makes a difference in spreading a positive message about you.
The best things to do now are to read Unscripted and join the Fastlane Forum. You will get many ideas and inspiration on how to apply the concepts in this book… this post barely scratches the surface.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think with a Response!