Lean Marketing

1. Embrace Lean Marketing: Create value, reduce waste

"Lean is a way to do more and more with less and less—less human effort, less equipment, less time, and less space—while coming closer and closer to providing customers with exactly what they want."

Value creation is paramount. Lean marketing focuses on eliminating waste and increasing efficiency in your marketing efforts. This approach ensures that every marketing activity adds value to your target market while optimizing resources.

Reduce friction, increase yield. By embedding marketing throughout the entire product life cycle and customer journey, you create a seamless experience that reduces friction and increases the yield on your marketing activities. This holistic approach turns marketing from a cost center into a value-creating asset for your business.

Key principles of lean marketing:

• Create value for your target market
• Embed marketing throughout the entire customer journey
• Use tools and technology to reduce friction
• Treat marketing as a process, not an event

2. Define your target market with precision

"Specificity sells, and generality repels."

Narrow focus, broader impact. Counterintuitively, selecting a very specific target market is more effective than trying to appeal to everyone. This allows you to tailor your messaging and offerings to a well-defined audience, increasing the likelihood of resonance and conversion.

Multidimensional targeting. Use multiple dimensions to define your target market, such as geography, demography, shared values, industry, desires, problems, and trends. This precision allows you to create highly relevant marketing messages and offers.

Seven dimensions for defining your target market:

1. Location or geography
2. Demography
3. Shared values
4. Industry
5. Desire
6. Problem
7. Trend

3. Understand the core commodities driving human behavior

"Emotion commits the crime, logic does the cover-up."

Tap into fundamental desires. All human behavior is driven by seven core commodities: money and wealth, time and convenience, sex and mating, status and approval, safety and peace of mind, leisure and entertainment, and freedom. Understanding these drivers allows you to create marketing messages that resonate on a deep, emotional level.

Emotional appeal, logical justification. While people make buying decisions based on emotions, they justify them with logic. Craft your marketing to appeal to emotions first, then provide logical reasons to support the decision.

The seven core commodities:

1. Money and wealth
2. Time and convenience
3. Sex and mating
4. Status, fame, and approval
5. Safety, peace of mind, and basic needs
6. Leisure, entertainment, and play
7. Freedom

4. Leverage marketing assets for sustainable growth

"Marketing assets work in a very similar way. They can help you generate leads, prospects, and customers and turn these into revenue and profit for your business."

Build enduring assets. Marketing assets, such as your brand, flagship content, and intellectual property, create a sustainable way to generate leads and customers. Unlike labor-intensive "hunting" activities, these assets work for you continuously, much like financial assets generate passive income.

Compound returns over time. As you improve and upgrade your marketing assets, they generate higher yields, creating a compounding effect on your marketing efforts. This approach turns marketing from an expense into a capital investment with long-term returns.

Examples of marketing assets:

• Flagship content (e.g., books, guides, tools)
• Brand equity and goodwill
• Intellectual property (e.g., trademarks, patents)
• Customer database and relationships
• Content libraries and archives

5. Master the art of compelling copywriting

"If it's not packaged in entertainment, then your message won't get through."

Entertain to engage. The cardinal rule of copywriting is to avoid being boring. Treat your content as infotainment, using entertainment as the carrier for your message. This approach ensures that your audience remains engaged and receptive to your marketing.

Structure for impact. Use proven copywriting techniques to create compelling messages. These include writing clear headlines, using simple language, telling stories, and providing a clear call to action.

Ten copywriting commandments:

1. Thou shalt entertain
2. A confused mind says no
3. Thou shalt write awesome headlines
4. Name it and claim it
5. Ask and you shall receive
6. Emotion commits the crime, logic does the cover-up
7. Write before you write
8. Tell stories
9. Create a dual readership path
10. Summarize before and after

6. Harness AI and technology as marketing force multipliers

"AI is truly the Iron Man suit for marketers, allowing you to do more with less and helping you build a truly lean marketing infrastructure."

Embrace technological advancements. AI and other technologies are powerful tools that can augment and amplify your marketing efforts. By integrating these tools into your marketing processes, you can increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve results.

Augment, not replace. While AI can automate many tasks, it's most effective when used to augment human creativity and decision-making. Use AI as a writing assistant, for research, summarization, and brainstorming, but maintain the human touch in your marketing.

Ways to leverage AI in marketing:

• Content creation and optimization
• Data analysis and insights
• Personalization and targeting
• Automated customer interactions
• Predictive analytics

7. Build a robust marketing infrastructure with CRM systems

"Your customer relationship management (CRM) system is the beating heart of your marketing infrastructure."

Centralize customer data. A CRM system allows you to store, organize, and utilize customer data effectively. This centralized approach enables personalized marketing, improved customer service, and data-driven decision-making.

Automate and optimize. Use your CRM system to automate marketing processes, segment your audience, trigger personalized communications, and track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. This systematic approach ensures consistency and allows for continuous improvement.

Key functions of a marketing CRM system:

1. Storing customer data
2. Tagging and segmentation
3. Triggering automations
4. Sending broadcast messages
5. Reporting and analytics

8. Implement strategic content marketing for organic growth

"Lean Marketing Principle 8: Use content to create a pulling force"

Become a media company. Treat content creation as a core function of your business, not just an add-on. This approach allows you to build a direct connection with your audience, create value, and generate organic interest in your products or services.

Document, don't create. Instead of constantly trying to come up with new content ideas, document your day-to-day business activities. This approach makes content creation easier and provides valuable behind-the-scenes insights for your audience.

Content marketing best practices:

• Choose a primary platform or modality
• Create content consistently
• Be platform-native
• Focus on providing value, not selling
• Use your product or service as a prop, not the main focus

9. Optimize your website for lead generation and conversions

"Your home page is commonly referred to as the 'hero section.' This is typically the most highly trafficked part of your entire website."

Clear messaging and calls to action. Ensure your website clearly communicates what you offer, how it benefits the visitor, and what action they should take next. This clarity increases the likelihood of converting visitors into leads or customers.

Capture and nurture leads. Use content upgrades, lead magnets, and email opt-ins to capture visitor information. Then, use email marketing to nurture these leads over time, providing value and building trust until they're ready to buy.

Key elements of an effective website:

• Clear, compelling hero section
• Easy-to-use navigation
• Mobile responsiveness
• Fast load speed
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Clear calls to action
• Lead capture mechanisms

10. Develop and protect intellectual property as a key asset

"Increasing its value is your main job as an entrepreneur."

Create unique assets. Develop intellectual property such as trademarks, patents, and proprietary processes. These assets increase the value of your business and create barriers to competition.

Document and systematize. Create standard operating procedures (SOPs) to document your unique processes and methodologies. This not only protects your intellectual property but also allows for easier scaling and potential licensing opportunities.

Types of intellectual property to develop:

• Trademarks (e.g., brand names, logos)
• Patents (for unique inventions or processes)
• Copyrights (for original creative works)
• Trade secrets (proprietary information)
• Standard operating procedures (SOPs)

11. Create processes for customer retention and referrals

"Customers who are raving fans are worth far more than just their own lifetime value because they refer others to you and conspire for your success."

Focus on the long-term relationship. Implement processes to onboard, delight, and retain customers. This approach increases customer lifetime value and turns customers into advocates for your business.

Systematize referrals and reviews. Create systems to consistently collect reviews, testimonials, and referrals from satisfied customers. This social proof builds trust with potential customers and helps drive organic growth.

Strategies for customer retention and referrals:

• Implement a strong onboarding process
• Regularly collect and showcase customer feedback
• Create a referral program with incentives
• Provide exceptional customer service
• Continuously add value beyond the initial purchase

Last updated: February 4, 2025