Transcript:
If you’re ready, put your hand up nice and high, and say, “I’m ready!” – [Audience] Ready! – Good, good. Now, there’s a new movie coming up in October called Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs. For those of you who know me, I’m a huge fan of Steve Jobs. I’ve read the book like probably five, six times. So, there’s a new movie coming up called The Man in the Machine called Steve Jobs. Now apparently, there was another Steve Jobs movie a couple years ago, yes? How many have seen that before? Yeah so, but apparently this movie they said that, from the people working at Apple said, “It’s a more accurate representation of Steve.” Actually, they say that when they watch the movie they think it’s Steve. They think it’s not actually acting, they think that’s Steve, so that’s pretty incredible. So, I thought it would be interesting to do maybe a short key note on Steve Jobs, and on marketing, and what makes so successful, and what makes them different from any other companies. And more importantly, how does that apply to you? Would that be of interest? – [Audience] Yes! – And again, this is just from my own perspective, my what? – Perspective. – Perspective. So, it’s just what my observation is, and I will do it in a way that, ’cause you might think well, “I’m not in the computer business. “I’m not in the software business.” You’ll see as I share with you these things can be applicable to you, doesn’t matter what business you’re in, sound good? – Yes! – Okay so, here we go! So, Steve Jobs: The Secret to Apple’s Marketing Genius. Now, when I say Apple, what kinda company, if I asked you the question, “What kind of company is Apple?” what would you say? Yell the answer. What business are they in? – Tech. – Tech, okay. What else? – Lifestyle. – Lifestyle, okay. – Culture. – Culture, okay. – Innovation. – Information? – Innovation! – Innovation, yes. – Cool products. – Cool products, yes. – Design. – Design, okay good, good. – [Woman In Audience] Challenging status quo. – Oh, challenging status quo, very nice, yes? – Style. – Style, okay, very cool. – [Man In Audience] User interaction. – User interaction, how many of you are PC users? Okay, how many of you are Apple? – Yes! – Woo! – Interesting, interesting, how many use both? How do you do both? (audience chuckling) Like, how do you do both? So, I’m gonna share with you a little bit of statistics about Apple, so in case… Of course, you know, is Apple very profitable? – [Audience] Yes! – Everybody say, “Hell yeah!” – [Audience] Hell yeah! – Yeah, but you might not know actually exactly how profitable it is. (chuckles) Unless you own the stocks. Now, we know that there are, nowadays there are a lot of retailers that are struggling in the States, there are thousands and thousands of retailers going out of business, yes or no? – [Audience] Yes. – Are there retailers going out of business in Canada? – Yes! – Name some of them. – Sears. – Sears. – Future? – Future Shop. – Target. – Target. – Zellers. – Zellers? – Mac’s. – Mac’s. – [Woman In Audience] McDonald’s! – McDonald’s, they’re closing some of their shops, yeah, stores, yes. – It’s true! (man drowned out by chattering) – Hmm? – Loblaws Super Stores. – Okay, yeah, okay. – Circuit City. – Circuit City. – Zoni. – Zoni, yes. Now, let me ask you a question: are these small companies or big companies? – [Audience] Big! – So, even big companies are having a tough time with this economy, what is going on? Now, in spite of all that and you look at, people say, “The retail apocalypse.” All these major chains, not just a certain sector, across different. Companies been around a long time, you see them for five, 10, 20 years, and bam! Over night not one store, how many stores? (audience members shouting answers) Hundreds and thousands! Long period of time, short period of time closing down? – Short. – Very short period of time, very short period of time. Now, how does that apply for small business? If big companies are having a tough time, kind of a big elephant, but with small companies what do we have to do, what do we have to be aware of? Looking at this as a small business, what do we have to aware of, yell the answer. – Change. – Change, yes. – Innovation– – Innovation, yes. – [Man in Audience] Emerging technology? – Emerging technology, yes. – [Male In Audience] Customer needs? – Customer needs, be more aware, being able to, yes. – Relationship management. – Relationship management, very good, very good. So, with Apple, and just some statistics I’ve pulled, “Fueled by the popularity of the new iPhone 6 “gave Apple an even bigger lead over other retailers,” how many of you go to an Apple store? Okay. “Over other retailers in productivity “with its stores generating a staggering “$4,798.82 in sales per square foot “on an annualized basis at the end of 2014.” Now, how many of you understand a little bit about retail? That’s how they measure, yes? Earning per square foot, is that a low number, or is that like a high number? – Historically high. – Really high. – It is a crazy, crazy number. A few months ago I was in New York and there’s an Apple store, right? On Fifth Avenue, which is very well known, yes? How many have heard of that one? Yeah, very well known. And I have to check it out, and it was winter, and I checked it out, went into the store. It was winter, and it was snowing, freezing cold, packed, the place was packed. And then later on I went online, I was curiosity, how much that particular store makes, so I went on and actually checked. I don’t how much it’s doing now, but they kind of report approximately, that Fifth Avenue do about $350 million in sales a year. One store. $350 million in sales, amazing. Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 third quarter, and at June 27, 2015, the company posts a quarterly revenue of $49.6 billion, and quarterly net profit of $9.7 billion. They’re getting by. They’re getting by, they’re doing okay. So, is there something to be learned from Apple, yes or no? – Yes. – Yes or no? – Yes! – But the problem is okay, yeah I know, $10 billion, $49 billion in revenue, well how does that apply to my business? I’ll share with you: my observation is they are basically, and by the way, Apple also has over $200 billion in cash reserve. Not 200 million, 200 billion in cash that they don’t know what do with, yet. – [Man in Audience] That’s a lot of money. – That’s a lotta cash, yes? – Yes! – That’s a lotta cash. Because Apple’s model is a little bit different than Google, they do acquisitions, peaceful acquisitions, but Apple doesn’t do a whole lot of that. So, pretty incredible. There are basically five powerful ways, how many ways? – [Audience] Five. – I believe five powerful ways Apple has cultivated loyal, raving fans. Loyal, raving fans. Ready to take notes? Hello? – Yes, master! – Okay, here we go. How many of you have seen people the first day of opening a new iPhone, a new iPad, or whatever, a new product coming out and people line up in front of Apple stores for days sometimes to get the product, yes? – [Audience] Yes. – Okay, so what that tells you: they have got a very big, loyal following, yes? Almost, fanatic following, yes? – Yes! – The question is, why doesn’t people line up to buy Sony products? Why doesn’t people line up to buy Microsoft products? Hmm. Hmm. So, number one: I believe because Apple give people products that are exceptionally good, and put in Dan Lok’s term, AKA, they make cool shit. They make cool shit. Not just good products, exceptionally good products. If you think about it, how many of you use an iPhone? I’m curious. Okay, now if you think about it, with an iPhone it is actually, and people may argue about this, but it is actually an unnecessary expenditure. A few years ago nobody needs an iPhone, we don’t need an iPhone. We need food, we need water, we need shelter, but nobody needs an iPhone. But nowadays you ask people, “Okay, your TV or your iPhone, pick one.” Which one are they gonna say? – [Audience] The iPhone. – What about your iPhone versus your computer, which one? – Computer. (audience chattering) – Computer? iPhone? – iPhone. – iPhone? So, you think about it, so what they are doing, they are selling stuff that people actually don’t really need, but now it’s to a point where we cannot live without. Like wow, my God. How many of you if you lose your phone, you’ll go crazy? (audience chuckling) You’ll be like, “Oh my God,” right? I’ll go nuts, all my contacts, everything, I run a lot of my business from here, so you think about. Give people the exceptionally good, but how do you make products that are good? A better question would be: how good is your product? How good is your service? So ponder on that, how good is your product, how good is your service? And there’s a great quote by Steve Jobs, “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. “A lot of times people don’t know what they want “until you show it to them.” Part of what makes Apple so successful is they can predict, what’s the word? – Predict. – Predict the needs of the marketplace. What do people want? Maybe they don’t even know they want it yet, but how can we create something that’s so exceptional, that’s so extraordinary that when people see it they would be like, “Wow, I didn’t expect that you could, “I thought just the phone, but phone, music, Internet. “It’s not just a phone, hmm,” Steve Jobs. Number two: their products are fun and easy-to-use, AKA, in my terms, they sell cool shit! Not only do they make cool shit, they sell cool shit! Here’s a little article that the iPad really is child’s play, more than half of these babies use Apple’s tablets when they’re just one, one! So, they make it very, very easy to use, very intuitive. One time I was going to my friend’s house having dinner and his son was six years-old, I think, six or seven years-old back then. And then my friend, the dad, was telling him, “Oh, go back to your room, don’t eat candy,” and was just kind of talking to the kid, okay? And the kid was like, listening, listening, and finally the kid was like… (audience chuckling) So, he thinks of Dad as an iPad, right? (audience chuckling) He’s like, “Move on,” right? (Dan and audience laughing) “Don’t wanna hear from you,” like that. I thought that was pretty funny. But how did the kids learn how to do that? Hello? – Swipe, swipe. – That’s it, swipe. From the iPad– – Cool shit. – Yeah, cool shit! The kid’s been using the iPad for two years, since four. Since four, amazing, amazing. So, the question is: how can YOU make your product and services more simple to understand? Is what you’re doing too complex, is your offer to complex? Because complexity is the enemy of execution. Complexity is the enemy of what? – Execution. – Of what? – Execution! – Execution. I always say there’s genius, there’s what? – Genius. – Genius in simplicity. So, how can you make what you do simple? Just two weeks ago I was in a business meeting and there was another entrepreneur talking about one of his ventures, and talk about, basically pitching me on a deal. And he was explaining to me, he gave me a big, like a five-minute elevator pitch, and I said, “I don’t quite get it.” He said, “I need more time, “I need an hour to explain this to you.” I said, “If you need a fucking hour to explain this to me, “we’ve got a problem.” (audience chuckling) How many follow what I’m saying? If you can’t explain what the heck you do, forget five minutes, in one minute, we’ve got a problem, ’cause most people don’t even have one minute, their attention span is so short. One minute, forget about it. And I always say, and there’s a saying, “If you cannot put your business model on a piece of napkin, “you don’t have a business.” You should be able to simplify, articulate what you do very, very simple, in the terms that most people understand. And here’s what Steve Jobs has to say, “Simple can be harder than complex, you have to work hard “to get your thinking clean, to make it simple. “But it’s worth it in the end “because once you get there you can move mountains.” So, whatever you’re offering, how can you make it simple? Your marketing message, how can you simplify it? Whatever you’re offering, how can you simplify it, make it very simple? Now, maybe whatever you’re offering, your product and services, could there be incidents where it is a complex kind of offer, yes or no? – Yes, sir. – So, if it is a complex offer what you wanna do is, do you wanna show them everything that you do, and everything that your product and service is capable of right up front, yes or no? – No. – So, you can take bits and pieces of it that you know that, “You know what? “This is the most compelling piece, let me simplify it, “and let me make it compelling,” and just make that your front end offer, so that they get a taste of what you do, and then show them a little bit more. You show them a little more, you show them a little more versus, “Here’s all these things we can do for you, “here’s what all my company can do for you.” (audience chuckling) When I used to copywriting one of the rules that I’ve learned is when I’m writing my copy, when I’m writing an ad, when I’m crafting my learning page, my marketing message, I picture my prospect as this. (audience laughing) Is my message simple enough that Homer Simpson would get it? Is my message compelling enough, if Homer Simpson is sitting on the couch, drinking beer, and watching TV, that would compel him to take an action and buy? So, I always have that picture in my mind when I’m crafting my message, “Would Homer understand this?” If I know Homer Simpson will understand this, I got something, does that make sense? – Yes. – Okay, so take two minutes, how long? – Two minutes. – Two minutes, discuss among your table just the first couple ideas I’ve shared with you, two minutes, go! (people chattering) (sporadic clapping) – Awesome. So, how does this apply to you? Just yell the answer, how does it apply to you? How does it apply to your business? – [Man in Audience] Can I ask a question? – Yes. – [Man in Audience] You said Steve Jobs said, “It’s really hard to design products “by focus groups because a lot of the time “people don’t know what they want yet.” – Yes. – Well then, how will you figure out a need in the marketplace when people don’t know what they want? – What I do, there’s a couple of things. Of course, now keep in mind what Steve is saying is, he’s such an innovator, he’s predicting in two, three years what people want. As far as I’m concerned, for most entrepreneurs you go where the money is. Meaning: you look at what people are already buying, and then you sell them more of that versus, oh (stammers). Entrepreneurs approach me all the time saying, “I’ve got this idea, I’ve got this product, “nobody has it, it’s revolutionary!” When they say revolutionary, I stop listening. “Nobody’s done this before,” oh shit, not good. It’s not a plus because most of the deals that I was involved with that lost money, is because of those ideas. Because, “Nobody’s even done this before! “Nobody’s ever seen this before, “this is gonna change the industry!” Oh shit. Because it means that it’s gonna take an awful lot of money to educate the marketplace to buy this, and I don’t wanna play that game as a business. It doesn’t matter, six figure, seven figure, eight figure, it’s still a small business as far as I’m concerned. So, I don’t wanna play that game, I wanna go with, “Okay, people are spending money on this. “Well, maybe I can sell something a little bit similar. “Can I sell it cheaper? “Can I make it faster, can I make it bigger? “Can I make it, “put a new shrink wrap to it so it looks different, “but it’s not actually different?” I don’t want a challenge in business. I used to want challenge. “Nobody’s ever done this before? “Let me do it.” Cost me a ton of money. It’s my ego talking. Nowadays, I’m like, “I don’t want a challenge.” The analogy I use all the time, when I shared that with Benson: if I’m gonna fight a boxing match, I don’t wanna fight Mike Tyson. I’m not interested in that. I wanna fight a 10 year-old kid. (audience laughing) I wanna go into the ring, I got my glove, and I push, and he sits, and he cries, I win, yay! (audience laughing) Now, I’m not saying, I don’t beat up kids, that’s not what I’m saying, you follow what I’m saying, right? That’s not what I’m saying, but that’s the analogy, I don’t want a challenge. I wanna know if I’m going into this business, I’m going into this industry, that even though I could be wrong 50%, 60%, and I could have a lot of failures, I could make a lot of mistakes, this thing would still work. I have enough margin that this thing would work, so that’s why I hate low-margin business, because there’s not enough margin for errors. If your business only, “Oh, I’ve got 10% margin,” we’ve got a problem. So I don’t even touch those businesses, I want high margin, I want existing demand, I want lousy competitors. And what I love to see? Competitors, their marketing sucks, their customer service sucks, their product is average, they’re making a shitload of money, I wanna get near that. Because I know I can create something better, I know I can provide better service, I can provide better experience, I can do better marketing, and beat them. I don’t want strong competitors, I’m not interested in that, does that make sense? – Yes. – That’s just my perspective, I’m not saying you cannot do something totally revolutionary, I mean, I support you for that. I’m just saying from a business point-of-view I prefer to go with more of a proven path. Because when you got to the bank, and when you deposit a big check, the teller is not gonna ask you the question: “Did you make this money, was it your original idea? Or, “Sir, I can’t accept this deposit “’cause it’s kinda like, it’s not innovative enough.” They’re not gonna ask that, yes? They only wanna know, “How much? “Okay, great,” poof, right? So nobody’s gonna ask you that question. Number three: “Apple strives to deliver a unique “and outstanding experience from the moment of contact,” AKA they deliver holy-shit moment. They deliver holy-shit moment, it’s an experience. When you go to an Apple store, it’s an experience. When you buy an iPhone, are you actually just buying a phone? What are you buying? – An experience. – An experience, but what are you buying? What other feature does it have? What can you do with an iPhone? – [Woman in Audience] When an old lady like me can use it, it’s great. – When an old lady like you can use it, you’re not that old, Monica. No, but what are you buying? – [Man in Audience] You’re buying into Apple’s ecosystem. – Yeah, Apple ecosystem, very good, yes. You’ll buy access to Internet, yes? You’ll buy access to music, you’ll buy access to music. You buy access to what? – Absolutely everything. – Everything. And so, it’s not just the phone, it’s access now to a whole much bigger Apple ecosystem. Think of what you are doing as a small business, you wanna deliver value and experience more than just your core product and service, this is key. Whatever you’re selling, that thing that you’re selling, that’s good, but you better be able to add value other than, beyond than just the thing that you sell. Because whatever you sell is so limited. You’re a financial planner, you’re a real estate agent, you’re a tech person, you’re an ad person, whatever it might be, here’s what we do. Well, what you do is only, out of the thousands, and thousands people that you meet, only a small percentage, one: need what you sell at any given time, does that make sense? So, if this is all you do, you’re so limited, versus, “Hey, you know what? “This is what I do,” but what you do is not who you are. Write it down, what you do is not who you are. A lot of people say, “Oh, I’m a financial planner.” No, you have a financial planning business, it’s not who you are, you are who you are! What you do is not who you are. It’s like, let me give you an example. People will see me and they will think, “Oh, Danny’s a speaker,” yes? I don’t think of myself as speaker, first of all. I think of myself maybe, maybe more like a teacher. I speak at conferences, but I’m not a speaker. Pay attention to this. I can do marketing, but I’m not a marketer. I can write, written a number of books, but I’m not a writer. I do Internet marketing, but I’m not an Internet marketer. Just ponder on that for a second. Now, what do I mean by that, what do I mean by that? What do I mean by that? – [Man in Audience] There are skills that you use to get somewhere bigger. – That’s it, nothing more than the skillsets I’ve developed over the years, tools on my tool belt. But versus, you talk to people, “Oh, I am a blogger, “I only do blogging,” or, “I’m a Facebook guy, “I only do Facebook advertising, or social media.” No, I do social media, I do blog, I do podcasts, I’m all these things, and I’m none of these things, because that gives me flexibility, it’s only what I do. Who I am, I think, mainly is just an entrepreneur, and I use all these tools, versus you’re so limited, “Okay, this is what I do, I only do this,” does that make sense? – Yes. – So think it, what you do is not who you are. When you buy a Mac you join a community, and you don’t just own a computer, you become part of the entire Apple ecosystem. The entire Apple ecosystem. When you own an Apple product, people have this pride, “Hey, you know what? “I’m cool, Apple is cool. “You use PC, ah shit. “Apple, ooh, I’m cool,” right? Think of this, let me give you an example. And it’s experience, in Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group, we host our meetings here at Vancouver Club, why do I do it at Vancouver Club? How does that tie-in with the experience theory? – [Man in Audience] It’s all of the environment. – About the environment, yes. – [Male In Audience] Ambience. – Hmm? – Ambience. – Ambience, yes. It’s interesting because if we’re talking about success, we are talking about entrepreneur, we wanna impact the world, we wanna create wealth, we wanna provide for our family, we wanna increase our income, what’s a better place than a building that is over 100 years-old? 100 years of history where you have some of the most powerful, wealthiest, influential entrepreneurs, business people as members, there’s no place like this. It’s an experience, yes? – Yes, sir. – I could of done it at McDonald’s. (audience laughing) I could do the same speech, but doing it here would have a different impact, does that make sense? – Yes. – So, with what you do think of how you can create, and craft, and experience an environment that before they even talk to you, before they get in touch with you, now they have, it’s a different experience for them. It’s a different experience for them. People are willing to pay more for the connection with a person of elevated status and perceived celebrity, write this down. People are willing to pay more for the connection with a person of elevated status and perceived celebrity. Going back to: if they do business you, and you have your competitor provide kind of the similar service, similar to what you do, same price, same everything. But if they perceive you as more influential, they perceive you as more well connected, they will prefer to do business with you, does that make sense? – Yes. – And notice I said, “Perceived celebrity.” Perception is reality. Repeat after me, perception is? – Reality. – Reality. Steve Jobs has been positioned as the iconic celebrity in the Apple world, in the computer world, in the tech world. Not just, “Steve Jobs, he’s the CEO.” He’s STEVE JOBS! You think of Bill Gates, is Bill Gates wealthy? He’s probably wealthier than Steve Jobs, but look, look at what they have done. Apple has created precision, I think Steve Jobs way better in the Apple world than Bill Gates versus Microsoft. How many follow what I’m saying? – Yep. – Do you see the difference? So, Apple creates an experience through their retail elements. An interesting story: Apple actually got the idea and first modeled their store after The Gap. The Gap. The CEO of The Gap, and I told you the Fifth Avenue store in New York, how much they’re doing. So actually, The Gap, the CEO of The Gap, was involved with the whole process of creating the store, creating the Apple store. He wanted to make it simple, make it clean, make it kinda high-tech. And you think about it, and funny ’cause Apple people actually used to called themselves Gapple. ‘Cause the store looks like The Gap, Gapple, but they model what works. And the CEO of The GAP, he was phenomenal, and they were involved in the early process, so that’s an experience, as well. They do things, and we’re sold. Number four: Apple has very wisely taken on an overall look at what the computer market is, and figured out what they really want to do with their computers, and built their platform around that, this is critical. So, talking about creating, predicting the needs, right? Where the money is, where the cash is flowing, you wanna precision yourself in front of that. I have a quote coming up, Steve Jobs said, “You can’t just ask customers what they want “and then try to give that to them, “by the time you get it built they’ll want something new.” Now, of course, Steve is referring to the tech world, ’cause things change (snaps) how fast in tech world? Hello? – Really fast! – Very fast, right? Very, very fast, but he’s anticipating the needs. You think of Apple when you buy again, I think one of the most brilliant things they’ve done is iTunes. Because they sell you the phone, they make money on the front end, how many of you buy apps, by the way, A-P-Ps? How many of you buy songs, shows, all that on iTunes? Interesting. So, you don’t just spend the money on the iPhone, but you spend a whole lot more money, yes? It’s funny, I was playing, there’s a game, I don’t play a lot of games, but somehow I downloaded this stupid game, anyway. It’s called The Walking Dead, Walking Dead. Yeah, you play it? Hey man, yes, awesome! Okay, so I told my wife, Jennie, “Hey, you know it’s a free game, right?” Free game, yeah. “Free game”, it’s a free game. I said, “I’m not gonna spend money, don’t worry. “I teach marketing, I get all their tricks. “I know exactly what they’re trying to do, “get you to buy these coins and upgrade. “I can see through all that shit, “I’m not gonna spend a dime.” After playin’ a game, I don’t know, I just spend like 10 minutes a day on it, or something like that, when I’m in the bathroom, just in case you wanna know. (audience laughing) How many take your iPad to the bathroom? Be honest. (audience laughing) I do, I do, anyway, so I’m playin’ the game, and I hit a certain plateau. I was getting killed by these other, you know, the enemies, the walking dead, the zombies. I’m like, “Shit! “Damn, I need to buy some weapons and shit! “I gotta do something about this thing!” (audience laughing) And then, of course, I talk to Jennie, “No, no, you promised you’re not gonna buy, “you’re not gonna buy.” “No, I mean, I just need some gold coins, “a little bit upgrade, you know?” The problem is, 10 bucks, like 10 whatever, they’re little 10, 15 bucks, that’s it, that’s it, promise, promise. Jennie’s smart because my iPhone with the iTune account is hooked-up with her account. If I buy something, she’ll know, she’ll get an email, “Oh, you just made this purchase,” right? Not a smart idea. (audience laughing) So, I was spendin’ 15 bucks, and I was, “Yeah good,” you know, killin’ the zombies and upgrading, “Yeah, this awesome!” After a few more days, “Shit!” Couldn’t get through to the next level. I’m like, “Hey you know, maybe…” Oh, and then Jennie was like, “No, you’re getting sucked into it. “You teach marketing, “you’re not gonna fall for these things? “You know they want you to keep spending money. “It’s a free game, they hook you in, you buy a lot of this.” Promise, promise, last upgrade. I get this, that’s it, it’s a stupid game anyway, I’m not gonna play that long, this and that, right? Lo and behold, back and forth, this and that, I spent about 150 bucks on that stupid, fucking game. (audience laughing) “Free”, “free”, right? No, but I’m smart, I’m smart. So, the first time it’s like 15 bucks, 15 bucks, I’m like, “Fuck it, let’s spend big bucks one time.” So 50, 60, and I did it all in like one day, so I know my wife is gonna yell at me, she’s gonna yell at me once. ‘Cause if I do three transactions in like three separate weeks, that’s three times, right? If you’re gonna kill me, just kill me once. Three transactions, one day, solve the problem. (audience laughing) But seriously, the moral of the story is this type of thing, maybe what you do, what is the front end offer, how can you make it enticing, and how can you build a back end? And then you always sell additional product and services to your customers, make it easy for them to buy. So, iTunes is absolutely brilliant. So, what can you do, here’s a question, to directly leverage your customer base to increase your back end? What can you do to directly leverage your customer base, increase your end? And it may not be your core products and services. I’ll say it again, it may not be your core products and services, it may be somebody else’s core products and services. It’s called a joint venture, it’s called what? – [Audience] A joint venture. – You can promote other people’s product and services, and get a cut, ’cause your most valuable asset is not your service, it’s not your product, it’s your customer base, the people, the loyal following. Let me ask you a question: the new iPhone 6S is coming out, right? How many have a good iPhone right now, like a perfectly good iPhone? How many are gonna get the iPhone 6S? Be honest. A couple people, one person, two people thinking about it. Okay, there ya go. Even predicting myself, I just got this phone a couple months ago. iPhone 6S, don’t really need it. Don’t really need it, but it’s a little bit faster. The camera is a little bit higher resolution. Shit, should I get it, should I not get it? And then the new Apple TV is coming out. Damn, should I get that? And the iPad Pro is coming up, should I get that, too? Hmm… So, does Apple just sell you one thing? No, uh-uh, uh-uh, not at all. So, a Lok-erism: go where the money is flowing, and then just stand in front of it. A simple statement. Go where the money is flowing and then just stand in front of it. Not where you think it’s going, not where you perceive and expect it’s going, where it is going and flowing right now, and you can see people spending money, and then just stand in front of it. Are people spending money on Amazon, yes or no? – [Audience] Yes. – Are people buying more digital products, yes or no? – Yes. – Yeah, are people buying online courses, yes or no? So go where the money is. Number five: Apple is absolutely, absolutely shameless and relentless about self-promotion. AKA they promote they promote the shit out of it! So, they make cool shit, they sell cool shit, they deliver holy-shit experience moment, and they promote the shit out of it. A lot of what we do, if you think about it, you are a personal brand, you’re a what? – A personal story. – You are a Personal brand, regardless if you think you’re one or not, regardless. Let me give you a quote. (marker scratching on paper) Repeat after me, attention. – [Audience] Attention. – Is the new currency. – Is the new currency. – Again, attention. – Attention. – Is the new currency. – Is the new currency. – Once more, twice as loud. Attention! – Attention! – Is! – Is! – The new currency! – The new currency! – Attention is the new currency. Most companies fail because they’re not getting enough attention because of obscurity. Not that their products are not good, not that their service is not good, nobody knows who the fuck they are. The marketplace, there’s so much noise, they don’t even know they exist, they don’t even know. Is there a lot of noise on the Internet? – Yes. – Yeah. – How many Twitters are there every day? Think about it, how many Facebook posts? Because attention is the new currency you can’t grow your company if you’re not getting attention, period. If you’re struggling to get customers, I can almost guarantee you’re not getting enough in the marketplace. You’re not cutting through the clutter, you are not breaking, you’re not standing out in this noise. So, how do you stand out? In Japan, now they actually have this new form of vending machine, what is a vending machine? If you wanna go buy a bottle of Coke, and you go there, and you put in what? Put in what? – Money. – Some coins, right? A couple bucks, cool. Oh, iPhone? Yes. Japan, they actually have this new form of ending machine, you go there you press a button, you stand there and you play a commercial for 60 seconds, two minutes, and then out pops a bottle of Coke. They don’t want your money, they want your attention. Your attention is even more valuable than money. Now, that says something, that’s pretty profound if you think about it. Not so good if you love Coke and you just sit there all day, and then it’s not so good, but you get the idea, yes? – Yep. – So, they promote it. So, shameless, relentless self-promotion, Donald Trump is a good example. How many follow what Donald Trump’s, the presidential, yes. Love the guy, hate the guy, it doesn’t matter! It does not matter, there’s something to be learned from him. Now, is Donald Trump famous, yes or no? – Yes. – Is he well-known? – [Audience] Yes. – Is he still promoting himself? – [Audience] Yes! – More than ever! What does that say? People are always so intelligent, but when is the best time to do marketing. – [Woman in Audience] When you’re crazy busy. – When you don’t need clients, not when you’re desperate and you need clients, “Oh my God, I need to make that sale.” No, when you don’t need clients, when you’re busier than ever, you do more marketing. Not when you’re desperate, that’s not the time to do marketing. Also, you don’t have enough capital, you don’t have enough marketing capital to do so. So, Steve Jobs, I mean, he is, again, a relentless promoter. The speech, every time they announce a new product, millions of people are tuned-in to that. Not just a great speaker. Most companies go out of business because of obscurity, so this visibility, what’s the word? – Visibility. – Is more important than ability. Visibility is important than ability. Now, am I saying that you can sell crappy stuff? No, I’m saying sell good stuff, deliver exceptional service, and stand in front of the money where the money’s flowing, what I’m saying is visibility’s more important than ability. I would consider that in local Vancouver, even on the Internet, I’m relatively well known. Do I stop promoting my brand? Just this year I’ve done over now, I think, 11 books, something like that. Just this year, in the last 12 months I’ve done two more books, in the next six months, I’m gonna publish two more books. In August, while I was on vacation, I launched my podcast Shoulders of Titans. In the next 12 months you’ll see that on my YouTube channel I’ll probably just going out there uploading, producing 300 to 500 videos in the next 12 months. (pen tapping) And that’s what I am doing. Non-stop, domination, promotion, personal branding, because when you have that good things come to you, you don’t have to chase deals. It’s easier when deals come to you than you chase deals. Yes? – Yes. – So, my question to you is: then what you should be doing to promote your brand, your Facebook? I’m talking about social media, I’m talking to you about your blog, I’m talking about all these things. And that’s not even my main business! This is on top of running all the companies, being a partner of the 20-plus companies, this is the side thing, and I do more than probably a lot of the entrepreneurs because I know by pushing that, you gotta cut through the clutter, you got to stand out. By standing out there are bigger opportunities, there are more lucrative opportunities, and you can impact a lot more people, does that make sense? So here’s what you need: you need what I call a PMP, Personal Media Platform, write this down, Personal Media Platform. What is a Personal Media Platform? I’m talking about your blog! How many have a blog right now? Yes, how often do you update your blog? – Once every (drops out). – Once what? Once what? – Once a day. – Once a day, good. How often do you update your blog? How many of you have not updated your blog in a month? Okay. So, your blog, your Facebook, your Twitter, YouTube, iTunes podcast. Where is your platform? Now, what is a platform? A platform is nothing more than a thing, a community, something that you do that serves the greater goods of others, write this down. A platform is not something for yourself, because if it’s all about yourself, it doesn’t work, it’ll only go so far. So, you think of Theresa’s Socialight Conference, is it a platform, yes or no? – Yes. – Yeah, through that platform she’s able to meet also other successful entrepreneurs, like Richard Branson, yes? Bob Proctor, it’s a platform. If today it’s just Theresa alone and she goes and knocks on doors on these big names, is she gonna get that same attention? No, because she has this massive platform. So she created the platform first, then she’s exposed to more opportunities, beginning to meet more influential people. So, how many platforms do you have? If you’re not getting enough business, and your business is not growing as fast as you want, pretty much I can almost guarantee, again, you’re missing this. Either it’s not big enough, it’s not wide enough, it’s not impacting enough people. Just like if today your Facebook, instead of having 1,000 Likes, fans, and you have 100,000 Likes and fans, would that make a difference in your business? – [Audience] Yes. – It’s very simple, but you don’t get attention without this. And this thing, the problem is, it is fucking slow. It is slow, ’cause you’re building a Personal Media Platform, it is slow! Do you just make one blog post and then your phone rings off the hook? Do you just make 10 posts and the phone rings off the hook? No, you gotta keep doing it and it takes time. Sometimes it takes six months, sometimes it takes one year. But when is the best time to start? – Right now. – Now. – You gotta manage, you gotta keep growing it, and that’s why I said, I promise you, write down I’m making this promise. Right now my YouTube Channel has, I don’t know, 1,000, 1200, no, 1,200 subscribers. That’s pathetic, quite frankly. 1,000, on camera, 1,200 subscribers. Let’s have this conversation again a year later and see how many subscribers I have. What did I say, did I say, “Oh, I’m gonna do like, “I don’t know, one video every two months, “and six videos, maybe 10 videos, I don’t know, a year,” did I say that? I said, “300 to 500 fucking videos “in the next 12 months.” That’s the attitude, that’s what it takes. Not, “Oh do I do posts, too?” No, that’s what it takes. ‘Cause your competitor is doing 10, he’s doing 20. I don’t want to win my competitor by a little bit. You do 20, I do 200. You do 100, I do 1,000. Because as I build more and more, and the bigger my Personal Media Platform, easy it is to make money, does that make sense? – Yes. – So, take a moment, take two minutes, yes, Nathan? – [Nathan] What if you’re a smaller business? – Yes, what if you’re a smaller business? Tell me! – [Nathan] Figure out a way to leverage other people’s stuff? – Yes, which you’ve done to a degree, right? Notes and stuff, but what if you’re a small business? (marker scratching on paper) Tell me! (marker scratching on paper) – [Nathan] To look bigger. (marker scratching on paper) – Look bigger, okay. – [Man in Audience] Form partnerships. – Partnerships, what do you mean by that? – [Man in Audience] Leveraging other people’s credibility for a period of time? – Yes. (man in audience speaking out of mic range) – Yes, good, good. So, if you don’t have a platform, is it a good idea to get on other people’s platform? Hello? – Yes! – Yeah, to pull people. So, what I’m doing now, I’m on just this week, I’ve been on two other podcasts being interviewed, because I launched my podcast. So, if I wanna grow my podcast, what’s the best way? I go on other people who has a podcast, who has a following, and then I talk about my podcast, I talk about a vision, I talk about what my podcast is about, and I go there and people, a percentage, “Oh, I like Dan’s message, “I will go subscribe to his podcast, too.” So, I’m leveraging other people’s platform, does that make sense? – Yes. – Yeah, so that’s perfectly fine. How often do you do that? – [Man in Audience] As much as possible. – As… – As much as possible. – As much as possible. When do you stop promoting your personal brand? – Never. – Never. – I just always look at Trump. There’s actually a book about Trump, a lot of people have read The Art of the Deal. There’s actually another book that I like a lot, not very popular, called No Such Thing as Over-Exposure. Not a book written by him, but it’s by a reporter who followed him for a couple years. He was just talking about, the whole premise of the book is basically Trump is a relentless, shameless, non-stop, self-promotion machine, that’s basically what the book is about. That’s what the book’s about. So, a Personal Media Platform, so for a small business, I believe there are five keys, how many keys? – Five. – No sorry, three keys, how many keys? – Three. – Three keys, three keys. Okay, first you wanna be somebody. You wanna be what? – Be somebody. – Be somebody. And then you want to do something. And then you want to be somewhere. Be somebody, do something, be somewhere. How do you be somebody? In this example you have a blog, you’re perceived as an expert. If you have a book, if you’re providing educational videos, you’re somebody. You have a podcast, you have a platform, you’re a somebody. If you’re a speaker, you’re somebody. Do something means taking, yes? – [Man in Audience] Let’s say you have a blog where you have two businesses, is there a way to merge like, let’s say the other business into that blog? Or should keep them separate, separate handles for social media and– – Awesome question, what are the two businesses? – [Man in Audience] For web design and life coaching. – Life coaching, so life coaching and website design. – Right. – Okay, so in this case, you’re doing both, I assume. – Right, yeah. – So you’re a life coach as well as you’re a web designer. – Okay, yeah. – Okay, which business does better? I’m curious. – Which is better? – Yeah, brings in more. – Web design. – Hm? – Web design. – Web design, okay. Think of what I just said. You are not, yeah, you are not what you do, you are not your business. So, look at, if you take me as an example, it’s my brand but all the companies under the umbrella of the personal brand, so… I do e-commerce, I do digital marketing. I have a financial planning business in New Zealand. I do events, I do publishing, I do a membership site, a Niche membership site and we have e-books. So, I’m all these things, all these different businesses, but because my personal brand is strong enough that I could use that to promote all these companies, yes? – [Man in Audience] Okay, so you say, “Be someone, do something, be somewhere,” that’s just like when you’re about us you just say, “This is who I am, this is what do–” – No, no, no, this is the action steps. After this talk, well, now what, how do I apply this? What I say is, “You wanna be somebody.” By being somebody the easiest way to add value to the marketplace, by giving. That’s the (mumbles), notes, right? By giving, by educating the marketplace before I sell anything else, that perceives you as a somebody. And then do something, it’s about taking action every day. Every day, if you just do 10 minutes a day promoting your business, moving your business forward, reaching out, Tweeting, Facebook, something every day, every damn single day, that’s doing something to keep promoting. And then be somewhere, I’m talking about this. Don’t stay at home, go meet somebody, go to these things. You don’t know who you’re gonna meet, you just don’t know who you’re gonna meet. So say, Greg for example met Geoffrey, who would of known? They’re doin’ this massive project together making this, but if Geoffrey or Greg that day was like, “You know what, don’t feel like it, wanna stay home.” He would of missed the opportunity. So, I never, almost I never turn down any of the places. I could be a speaker, I could give back, I could be on podcasts. Most of the time, unless it’s so small, but most of time I say, “Yeah, I’ll do it.” because I want to always do something and be somewhere, because I don’t know where it’s gonna lead to, I cannot predict where that’s gonna lead to. I call that unpredictable miracle. You don’t know. But I know by putting myself out there, just keep promoting my self-branding, do something, be somewhere, something will show up, does that make sense? In my case the problem is too many things show up, so I have to be selective of what I pursue, but it’s the same idea, make sense? Two minutes, discuss among your table what you’ve just learned today. – [Narrator] 10X your finances, 10X your business, 10X your marketing, 10X your life. Hit the subscribe button now!
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