Top 5 Takeaways: 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dibb
We’re midway through 2019, and my resolution for the year was to read more — at least one book a month (not including the Harry Potter series I’m reading with my 8-year-old). So far, so good. I’ve made it through Seth Godin’s This is Marketing, Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead, and Rachel Hollis’ Girl, Stop Apologizing, among others.
The latest book crossed off my list was Allan Dibb’s 1-Page Marketing Plan, which I selected from Brafton‘s blog post 20 Books Every Marketer Should Read in 2019.
The book breaks the 1-page marketing plan into three sections: Before (Prospect); During (Lead); and After (Customer). Each section has three subsequent topics to focus on. For instance, under Before (Prospect), there is My Target Market, My Message to My Target Market, and The Media I Will Use to Reach My Target Market.
The book is a simple, easy to follow format with actionable advice. Below are my top takeaways.
1. No one knows how good you are until after the sale; they only know how good your marketing is.
Prospects can’t know how good your products and services are until they have become clients (have bought from you). If your marketing isn’t good, they will never buy in the first place and find out how good you are. The best marketing will always win.
2. Time > Money
“We can no more afford to spend major time on minor things than we can to spend minor time on major things. Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. Time is the best-kept secret of the rich.”
Money is a renewable resource, but you can never get more time.
Spend money to automate marketing as much as possible.
3. Business value has changed
The acquired customer base (the eyeballs you have access to) is the value of a business today. Businesses must innovate to address this, or they won’t be around in the future.
“Think, Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles; Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.”
4. Don’t underestimate the importance of CRM
“At the absolute center of your marketing infrastructure is your database of customers and prospects, but to manage your database effectively, you really need a customer relationship management (CRM) system. The CRM system is your marketing nerve center. It’s where you manage your goldmine.”
5. Don’t be a commodity. Be an orange.
If you don’t address your clients’ problems, and only focus on your product or service, you will never break out of the commodity business.
“Selling features and benefits is the best way to turn your prospects into price shoppers who view your product as a commodity bought solely on price. Your goal is to be a problem solver and pain reliever and to turn any comparison with your competition into an apples-to-oranges comparison. Remember, people are much more willing to pay for a cure than for prevention. Targeting existing pain rather than promising future pleasure will result in much higher conversion, much higher customer satisfaction and lower price resistance. Look for pain points in your industry and become the source of relief.”
To sum it up
A quick read, the book provided a lot of actionable tips and ideas. I’ll end with one of my favorites – and something a lot of folks struggle with – Dibb’s elevator pitch template:
You know [problem]? What we do is [solution]. In fact, [proof].
To put it to practice, here’s my Dibb-inspired elevator pitch:
You know how businesses are always trying to attract new customers? What I do is work with our professionals to appeal to new prospects through thought leadership. In fact, I recently helped one of our professionals with a publication that I repurposed into a 4-part blog series and supported with social media, which increased our downloads by 300%.