SHOW NOTES

My goal is always to simplify marketing so you can take smart, quick action – because honestly, marketing is NOT as complex as people say. 

The complicated strategies are often just a distraction.

So today, I’m giving you a simple way to think through your marketing… especially if you’re making less than $1M in revenue. 

I’m talking about the Rule of One. 

The “rule of one” means you will focus your marketing efforts + resources on one target market, one product, one conversion tool, and one traffic source… for one year!

And in this episode I’ll break that down step-by-step. 

Now, before you say, “But Emily, this won’t work for me! Here’s why my situation is different”… hear me out!

You are NOT the exception. 

Don’t make the mistake that nearly *every* struggling entrepreneur makes. Don’t spread your interests, your energy, your resources across all kinds of “good ideas.” 

Even if you’re unconvinced, give the “rule of one” 90 days of genuine commitment. 

THEN you can tell me what you think in the comments below!

If you want Team Hirsh support in 2020, head to HelpMyStrategy.com to apply to work with us! We’re always taking applications – but we only take on client accounts we know we can help!

Key Points: 

[2:00] Why you’re not the exception to the rule… 

[3:17] This applies to you *especially* if you’re under $1M in revenue

[4:00] What it means to go deep with 1 target audience

[5:17] The “myth of the value ladder”

[6:55] You can switch your conversion tool – but don’t use more than 1 at the same time

[8:19] Remember, organic growth is slow… 

[11:56] No, this doesn’t sound exciting – but it’s your path to $10M

[13:44] Now, what happens once you hit $1M in revenue? 

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Episode Transcripts:  

Emily Hirsh : I’m Emily Hirsh and this is the Hirsh Marketing Underground Podcast.

Emily Hirsh : Attention innovators, influencers, creators and game changing entrepreneurs, your internet domination begins right here. We are the powerhouse marketers that you’ve been looking for. You’re already making waves in your industry and we’re here to help amplify those waves of change by creating a connection that cuts through the noise. We take everything you’ve built inside your zone of genius and find its audience.

Emily Hirsh : With killer strategy and laser eye for impact we launch multimillion dollar campaigns and skyrocket your reach online. And now we are doing the unheard of. We’re unveiling everything we’ve learned, taking you behind the scenes with the Hirsh Marketing team and giving away the secrets to our client’s success. Stay tuned for top converting strategy, ROI reports and insider knowledge that you won’t find anywhere else. You’re changing the world and we’re the team to help.

Emily Hirsh : Hello everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I am super excited for this episode because I think it’s going to be a very simple way for you to look at your marketing for especially those of you who are under one million in business revenue. It was a conversation I was having at an event a couple of weeks back and I really liked the way we solidified it with very clear … the rule of one is what I’m calling it in marketing.

Emily Hirsh : I think you guys are going to get a ton of value out of this. I love simplifying concepts for you so that you’re able to take that and apply it into your business. I think people way too often over complicate marketing and over complicate what they have to do in their marketing, and I like to keep things simple because oftentimes simple is actually better.

Emily Hirsh : The rule of one in marketing means to me that if you are, especially, this could be if you’re over a million, but especially if you’re under one million, you should be going after and focusing 100% of your marketing efforts on one target market, one product, one conversion tool, one traffic source for one year. Do you like that? Let’s break those down.

Emily Hirsh : This is probably going to stress some of you guys out. And I know that some of you guys will listen to this and go, “Well, here’s why this doesn’t apply to me.” Let me put in the exception here because do you know how I know? I know because I am that person. When I go through content or I talk to a coach or I talk to somebody who’s giving me advice where I go like, “Hmm, let me argue that with you for a second,” and then they have to convince me. So my goal is to convince you in this episode because I am right, I am 100% right. I’ve seen this so many times go into effect and be effective and work and honestly be incredibly powerful. I highly encourage you to consider this in your marketing because I know I’ve done tons of episodes on focus and the importance of focus, but I want you to even solidify and clarify it down to that rule of one.

Emily Hirsh : All this applies if you’re under one million. If you’ve passed a million, you might be able to bend this rule a little bit. It’s only just now where my company’s at three million that I’m really adding in. Let’s see, I’m not doing … Well, you could say different target markets between Ignite and a client, but they really are the same person at different levels. I have added in products, I have added in conversion tools and traffic sources, but I’m at three million run rate. At one million I think it’s a total distraction and it will completely slow you down and slow your growth down. I think this is probably one of, if not the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make because our greatest strength is a bunch of ideas, but it’s also our greatest weakness.

Emily Hirsh : One target market, let’s start there. One target market is maybe easily explainable, but one avatar or ideal person that you’re going after, which means you’re very clear about their income level, their interests, their fears, their dreams come true. All of those things about that person, like the type of business owner, male, female, I mean it can be both male, female, but your clear about who that is and it’s one target market. It’s not four or three or five or two. It’s one single target market that you’re going after, and this will make it so all of your messaging is very, very clear and speaking to that person.

Emily Hirsh : Now, you’re probably going to get some people like let’s say you’re going after one level in business that maybe has similar problems or maybe a level of a consumer and they might have similar problems, but be a little bit different, they’re still going to probably be attracted to your brand and that’s okay. But who you’re talking to in all of your marketing is written for and created in the videos and the content, everything for one single target market in the beginning, below one million in your business and in your marketing, super important.

Emily Hirsh : And then one product. You have one single core offer that is very clear what you’re selling and very clear to your audience, clear to you and it is all you focus on selling. This is where it’s important that you get something that’s not $27 or even $100 because if that’s your focus, it’s going to be pretty hard to be profitable. So I would recommend a minimum of a $500 offer, but ideally a thousand and then obviously you could move into high ticket sales.

Emily Hirsh : This is where I talk about the myth of the value ladder because there’s this concept out there that you need every level. You need the 47 and the 97 and the 297 and the 500 and the thousand. You don’t need that. Maybe someday, in years from now when you’ve perfected all the different levels, you keep adding them in that’s okay, but like to start, not even close. You need one product, one offer for people and that needs to be your focus in everything you do to sell that.

Emily Hirsh : That means all the marketing strategies you create, everything you talk about when you sell, it’s focused on one product. And I know that some of you are going to be like, “Well, but I’m getting people in who are maybe at different levels or they need something else or they’re not quite ready for what I have.” It doesn’t matter. It’s okay. Those people are still in your world, they’re still in your audience and you might have an offer for them later but if they don’t fit your core offer, don’t let it distract you from the power of focusing on selling that one product, one offer.

Emily Hirsh : One target market targeting them with one offer, one product, and then one conversion tool that you focus on. The conversion tool is how are you going to convert them? Is it going to be a webinar? Is it a video series? Is it a lead magnet opt-in? What is really the strategy? The conversion tool is how we’re going to take them from somebody who doesn’t really know about you, doesn’t know about your brand and convert them into a sale. And so what is that conversion tool? You could also say funnel. One single funnel that you’re going to focus all of your efforts on.

Emily Hirsh : Now if you’re, let’s say, offering a product or an offer or a funnel that doesn’t end up working and you try it for three months and it’s not working, it’s okay to shift gears in some cases and be like, “I really think I should go to the webinar route,” but don’t try and do multiple things. The mistake people make here is they try to basically have a challenge and a webinar and then live launch sometimes and have an opt-in and perfect all of them and you just can’t. You won’t and you can’t. I can’t even do that now. We even right now if we’re launching something new, a new funnel, it’s 100% our focus. And so at under a million in revenue on that product, you should have one conversion tool that you focus on. Doesn’t mean you aren’t going to add in more later, but right now you have one.

Emily Hirsh : And then one traffic source that you really focus in on. Obviously in a perfect world, being able to maximize Google ads and YouTube ads and organic social media and Facebook and Instagram would be great, but you’re not going to because each one to do it right requires creating content for that platform. So creating content for YouTube or content for Instagram or content for Facebook and then paid traffic and mastering the paid traffic, and obviously it also requires an investment. Every one you try is going to make it so you have less resources, time and money going into it and that’s why it’s super powerful to choose one.

Emily Hirsh : My opinion is to choose obviously paid Facebook and Instagram ads. I don’t just say that because that’s what we do for people. I say that because one organic traffic could be the next best and I see a lot of people start there, but it’s going to be so slow. If you’re like, “Great, I’m going to get together an offer and this product that I’m going to sell and I’m going to perfect it and then I’m just going to just put it out there and hope people come,” you’ll be waiting here next year at the same time for that.

Emily Hirsh : Organic might sound really great. I actually talked to this woman recently and she’s like, “Well, I’m going to start with the organic and then I’ll move to paid.” And I’m like, “Well what’s your plan with organic because you don’t have a following?” And unfortunately or fortunately with the algorithm you’re not going to go anywhere. So one traffic source.

Emily Hirsh : My recommendation is Facebook and Instagram and I would count that as one, because you can run those in the same ads manager and they’re just different placements that you really perfect. Because each one’s going to require you to create creative for that platform. What you create on Instagram is not what you can do on Google ads. And so you’re going to perfect one. You’re going to get people into that conversion tool, that funnel that you’ve decided on to sell them on that one product. That’s your focus. And you’re going to perfect that method and you’re not going to stop or change or shift gears or move around until that is done and until that’s perfected.

Emily Hirsh : Okay, so one target market, one product, one conversion tool or funnel, one traffic source, and then you’re going to do this for at least a year. So you’re going to heavily focus in on this for at least one year. I say a strategy you can try for 90 days. Let’s say for 90 days you tried an opt-in and it didn’t work at all. It’s okay to shift that opt-in, but your focus is still opt-in. Or let’s say you try a webinar for 90 days, chances are it’s not the fact that webinars don’t work for you; it’s the messaging in your webinar. And so you’re still going to stay focused on that traffic source and that conversion tool to get it working and to get it converting for you for that time period but you get to make changes within that.

Emily Hirsh : I am constantly reminded when we work on a project and I focus a lot in our marketing or sales or we do this with a client, like how much you can do to optimize truly a strategy because once you have the foundation of something working, like let’s say you have a webinar and it’s kind of working, the biggest mistake you can do is say I’m going to go do a whole different funnel. Because if you have the foundation of a webinar working, then the next steps of what you can do is add in nurture sequences and abandoned cart things and just all of these different elements based on actions people are taking in that webinar and the messaging in it, and how do we maximize the conversion on that tool that’s already working for us instead of starting something new.

Emily Hirsh : I know it’s not exciting. I know it’s not exciting to just focus in on that one. I know this because I go through this. I go through wanting new projects or if my team is managing an entire marketing project and I’m just like, “I don’t have anything to do.” I get antsy and I’ll probably go create more problems or create a new funnel. I have to stop myself from doing that and so do you because it will kill your business and your progress and your growth.

Emily Hirsh : Honestly, if you go talk to any person who grew their business over a million, they did this to get there. They grew it over a million with one target market, one product, one conversion tool, or funnel one traffic source for a year plus.

Emily Hirsh : Okay. So look at your business right now and decide and tell me and really analyze it. Have you gotten this clear? Have you broke it down this clear? Because I would bet a lot of you listening haven’t, and I know you’re going to have an argument for me, but try it at least for 90 days because I promise you the momentum and the progress that you’ll make from focusing will always pay off. I’m still learning this today. I still go through this myself. Whenever I focus my team or refocus myself on priorities, it’s always beneficial. It always pays off for me. So I want you guys to look at your business, look at that rule of one in your own marketing and make the changes where you need to make them because this will make or break your success.

Emily Hirsh : It’s a perfect time. We’re going to be going into 2020 soon. So that whole year, what is that one target market for you that you’re going to focus on that one product conversion tool, traffic source for all of 2020.

Emily Hirsh : And then when you get over a million or if you’re over a million, you can start to bend this a little bit, but until then you can’t. Once you’re over a million, if you’re listening and you are over a million, the next thing that you’re going to do is probably not change the target market. Maybe you’ll add in a product, a different product, like an upsell or a downsell from what you’re selling. You’ll probably add in a conversion tool, but you might just keep it in the existing one as an up sell or down sell and you’ll probably add in on different traffic source. Once you’re over a million in revenue, where you’ll probably push the boundaries is either the product or the traffic source, maybe the conversion tool, but I would work it into what you already had that’s working.

Emily Hirsh : So it’s not like you hit a million and you’re like, “Let me go after a whole new market with a whole new product.” That you definitely never want to do. That’s basically let me start a new business and split my time. We don’t ever want to do that. But once you pass that million mark, you’ve proven all these things and you can bend the rules a little bit, but you don’t want to lose that focus. So if you’re there you can start to think about that.

Emily Hirsh : We did that in our company. All I did was offer done for you agency services for years and then we launched our course Ignite and I wanted to do that for over a year. I actually was fortunate enough to have a coach who told me, “Don’t. You’re not ready for it. You’re not out of the delivery of your, of your agency and you haven’t fully maximized that. Once you do that, you can launch this.” And I didn’t go after a new target market when I launched it, just somebody at a different level so we could optimize that. But it still was a lot of work and we had to put a lot of focus into that and it split my attention a little bit. And if my company wasn’t ready for it, it could have broken everything else that was working.

Emily Hirsh : Hopefully this was helpful for you guys. It’s something that we are really huge on with our clients. We have to constantly be that support for our clients and reminding them of this focus. If you’re thinking through your 2020 marketing plan and you want team Hirsh to be a part of it, we would love to chat with you. We are taking applications right now for the end of 2019 and going into 2020. You can go to helpmystrategy.com and apply to work with us today, and I will see you guys all in the next episode.

Emily Hirsh : Thanks for listening to the Hirsh Marketing Underground Podcast. Go behind the scenes of multimillion dollar ad campaigns and strategies, dive deep into the Hirsh process and listen to our most popular episodes over at hirshmarketingunderground.com.

Emily Hirsh : If you loved this episode of the podcast, do me a favor and head over to iTunes to subscribe and leave a review so we can reach more people and change more lives with this content. That’s all for now and I’ll catch you next time.