Allan Dib is serial entrepreneur, rebellious marketer and #1 bestselling author. He’s started and grown multiple businesses in various industries including IT, telecommunications and marketing.
As a highly sought-after business coach, consultant, and public speaker, he frequently shares his proven strategies and cutting-edge tactics with people all over the world. He’s passionate about helping businesses find new and innovative ways to leverage marketing and technology to facilitate rapid business growth.
CROWD had the privilege to sit (virtually) with Allan for an in-depth Q&A session.
- What is the most common mistake made by businesses when it comes to marketing strategy?
They simply don’t have one. Many business owners rely on word-of-mouth marketing to get leads, but I want you to start thinking about this type of marketing as a free lunch. It’s nice when it happens but I wouldn’t rely on it. If you need customers through your door now you want to be thinking more strategically.
The other major strategic mistake which small businesses make is to market like big brands. They target everyone in the hope of reaching a wider audience and getting a greater uptake. Mass marketing is all about brand recognition. The problem with this strategy is that it’s costly and works best for brands that are established and have a massive budget and years to get a result. The more niche your target audience the better cut through you’ll get with your message.
- How can a business manage expectations when working on a small budget?
When working on a small budget the first thing you need to set aside is grandiose ideas about mass media. Direct response marketing is the best way for businesses on a tight budget to get a good return on investment. You spend a dollar and get two or three back.
You want to come up with a compelling offer. It can be something your prospect downloads for free or a try before you buy offer. And what you want to do is offer it in exchange for their contact details. Once you have their contact information you can trigger an email sequence. This is something which appears in their inbox at least once a week and delivers entertainment or educates. Your goal is to become a voice of value, to gain their trust. Avoid the desire to sell directly in your email. As long as you keep showing up in their inbox when they’re ready to make a purchase, who’s going to be top of mind? You!
So the key is to start small and measure. You might not get your messaging right the first time around, but that’s the beauty about direct response marketing, you can tweak it for the next email.
- How have you managed to stay on top of the rapidly evolving marketing world?
I am part of a network of like-minded entrepreneurs who I stay in touch with. We discuss trends and our learnings, what’s worked for me, what could be improved and so on. I also keep up with what’s happening in the world of marketing online. But most importantly, I advocate what I know works. I have started, grown and exited numerous successful businesses using the marketing tactics and strategies that I promote. If I haven’t tried and tested it, and know that it works, I won’t advise my clients to implement it.
- Every business has its own unique brand/marketing needs. How can The 1-Page Marketing Plan cover every businesses needs?
What The 1-Page Marketing Plan does really well is to provide a step-by-step framework for marketing success. As entrepreneurs, we tend to want to get straight to selling because that’s where the money is, but if you haven’t given consideration to who your target market really is, what media they consume, how your business will benefit them, where they will be able to get in touch with you and how you will capture their information for starters, you are wasting your time, effort and money.
So while The 1-Page Marketing Plan can’t tell you what your brand messaging is it or how much money to invest in a marketing campaign it does take you through the process of going to market with an offer. It will give a business owner with absolutely no knowledge about marketing the key steps which need to be covered.
- What defines a rebellious marketer?
Someone who doesn’t follow the same boring institutional marketing practices that mostly no longer work. People are tired of being sold to. They don’t care about how many years you’ve been in business or if you won an award 10 years ago. They care about what’s in it for them and a compelling offer.
- Looking at the customer reviews of The 1-Page Marketing Plan, they are glowing, to put it mildly. Why do you think people are connecting to the material so well?
When I speak to many of the people who’ve joined the Successwise Inner Circle community or Marketing & Business Academy the most consistent response which I get is that The 1-Page Marketing Plan provides clarity around marketing. Most entrepreneurs don’t actually understand what marketing is, why it’s necessary for their business or even how to go about creating a plan. The book takes them by the hand and leads them through this process with the end result being clarity and a plan. It’s written in plain language so it’s really easy-to-understand, and it draws on over a decade of marketing mistakes and successes. I’ve tried and tested every bit of advice in this book so I know what works and what doesn’t.
- Where do most people go wrong from planning to implementation of marketing strategy?
What I’ve found is that we as entrepreneurs often think we know what our market wants and where they consume media? We think we’ve hit the nail on the head with our messaging when in fact we couldn’t be further from the truth. What I try to instill in my inner circle community and MBA members is that you need to get to the crux of what is really bothering your prospect.
Take, for example, my wife. She recently hurt her knee. This would mean she’d have to wear sneakers until she was got better. What I never understood was how much this upset her. My wife likes to wear pretty shoes, and having to wear “ugly sneakers” was getting her down. And these are the things that often get overlooked. So a physio might promote strengthening the muscles and getting you fit when perhaps their message should be “Is your injured knee preventing your from wearing the shoes that make you happy?” Now, this is the kind of message which my wife would respond to, not the first one.
So this is what we need to be doing as marketers, we need to be asking the right questions of our prospects in order to connect with them.
I’d also say that a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with knowing which business systems to implement. They get bogged down in trying to do it all themselves, and they wind up exhausted and stressed out. My role as a business coach is to show them which marketing systems to implement, how to delegate and what you should delegate. Business is a team sport and getting your people strategy right is critical.
Get a copy of his book: The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money And Stand Out From The Crowd here.