Nathan Morris: (00:23)

Yeah. So, step one, you got to identify the type of people you want to go out with or in the case of marketing, what type of patient do you want to attract?

Kara Ware: (00:32)

Yeah, okay, like we talked about in our first episode, right? Identifying our niche.

Nathan Morris: (00:37)

Yeah. And then step two, we need to be very interested in the person we are talking to. You know you don’t want to be that person who only talks about themselves, like me in my twenties. And then step three is getting their attention, like a good pickup line. Not something like, “Well, here I am. What are your other two wishes?”

Kara Ware: (00:55)

Oh, gosh. Pick up lines, they’re tricky to get right.

Nathan Morris: (01:01)

Amen. I never did get it right. So the pickup line isn’t asking for a huge commitment, by the way, it’s just trying to get their attention.

Kara Ware: (01:08)

Right, right. A pickup line is like an advertisement, really if we want to think about it. And that’s exactly what we’re going to be talking about today.

Nathan Morris: (01:15)

Right. So today we want to help you start getting your marketing swerve on by understanding what goes on in that first interaction, which is an ad, that leads to you getting that oh so important contact information.

Kara Ware: (01:27)

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Kara Ware: (01:33)

Hello, and welcome to season three of Good Medicine On the Go, I’m Kara Ware, a national board-certified health coach and business advisor.

Nathan Morris: (01:43)

I’m Nathan Morris, a medical doctor who is also certified in functional medicine.

Kara Ware: (01:48)

So remember, this is a season. We write our seasons, like many courses and the episodes build upon one another. So if you haven’t already, be sure to check out episodes one and two of this season and we keep them short and to the point intentionally.

Nathan Morris: (02:04)

Yeah. So last week we learned not to sell functional medicine and not to talk about ourselves in our marketing materials. Instead, we need to join the conversation going on in the prospect’s minds and we can do this by speaking to their pains and what they are suffering from, and the gains of what they actually want.

Kara Ware: (02:19)

Mm-hmm (affirmative), right. They don’t necessarily want functional medicine, they want to feel better.

Nathan Morris: (02:25)

Yeah. In today’s episode, we look at the first step to breaking that inertia.

Kara Ware: (02:30)

Breaking the inertia, that’s often the hardest part of marketing… Or dating.

Nathan Morris: (02:36)

Yeah To do this, we first need to understand the marketing journey and what we refer to as the yes ladder.

Kara Ware: (02:48)

Okay. So let’s take a step back and talk about the marketing journey in its entirety. What do we even mean by marketing journey, Nathan?

Nathan Morris: (02:57)

Yes, I guess it’s time we explain that. The marketing journey is the process of taking someone who’s never heard of you and turning them into a raving fan/patient.

Kara Ware: (03:08)

Yeah. So for instance, a simple basic journey could start with a Facebook ad and then that ad would direct the viewer to your landing page and from there they’d receive an offer may be an ebook or something of value in exchange for their email. And once you’ve got their email, then you’ve got a lead.

Nathan Morris: (03:26)

And then you can nurture that lead. You send them information that interests them and creates more value.

Kara Ware: (03:32)

Yeah, right. And use this as an opportunity to educate them and build trust and rapport and credibility and you start to become their trusted guide.

Nathan Morris: (03:43)

And you start moving them up the yes ladder.

Kara Ware: (03:45)

I love that, the yes ladder. It’s a series of baby steps where a prospect says yes to smaller steps rather than asking them to take a big, massive leap of faith of trusting us and saying yes to a huge commitment, like spending thousands of dollars by becoming a new patient.

Nathan Morris: (04:03)

Yeah, Kara, that is a huge commitment, it’s a lot to ask of somebody, right when you meet them. “Hey come on and spend thousands of dollars.”

Kara Ware: (04:10)

You have no idea who I am, but come on in.

Nathan Morris: (04:13)

No idea who I am, what value I bring, but I want you to spend that money right now. So up next, we speak with Allan Dib, our marketing guru and the author of the One-Page Marketing Plan about the yes ladder.

Allan Dib: (04:26)

What people make mistakes in the sales process with is they try to rush it and get to the final step or talk about the final step. For myself at every stage, I’m only thinking about what’s my next step. So when someone visits my website, I’m not talking about them buying my products or anything like that, the only thing I want them to do is opt-in on my mailing list. When they’re on my mailing list, the only thing I want them to do is to start a conversation via reply email, because I know conversations lead to conversions. When I’m having a conversation, the only thing I want them to do next is to book a discovery call or click on a link or whatever else. So I’m always focused just on that next step, not necessarily on the final step. So it’s a very, very important point.

Kara Ware: (05:10)

Allan that’s an interesting sequence and I want to make sure I heard you correctly. So the number one goal for you is to get their email and then when you get their email, the next step is for them to receive something in their inbox and then you’re really prompting them to direct message you, actually now start corresponding through an email, which most people are comfortable with because there’s a little anonymity to it. And then from that email, then you can move them to a discovery call.

Allan Dib: (05:35)

Exactly, exactly. It’s the greased slide or sometimes it’s called the yes ladder. So you might say yes to something small then to something bigger then to something bigger and move them through that journey rather than, “Hey, let’s take this big, massive leap of faith and trust me and just go for the sale,” which is what a lot of people do.

Kara Ware: (05:56)

Yeah. I really like that step of direct emailing you and starting the conversation in email, even before you’re asking them to call you.

Allan Dib: (06:03)

Absolutely.

Nathan Morris: (06:03)

And that’s kind of almost like one of your outrageous offers when I read the book, I’m like, he’s going to answer the email if I send it to him. And you are because you know that’s your way of opening that conversation. So really getting that conversation, especially in functional medicine, is so hard sometimes because people are like, “Well, they’re going to change my diet. They’re going to change the way I live my life and it’s too big of a step.” So you kind of have to ease, just like you ease them into this business coaching, you kind of have to ease them into slowly.

Kara Ware: (06:35)

So Allan tells us a common marketing mistake is that we rush to the final step, which is making the sale.

Nathan Morris: (06:42)

Exactly. That’s like asking someone to marry you before you had coffee and that’s never a good idea.

Kara Ware: (06:48)

Or a scary.

Nathan Morris: (06:50)

Yeah, a little scary, Kara. Would you like a latte and how about you give me your hand in marriage?

Kara Ware: (06:57)

I just happen to have this diamond ring. So today we’re not talking about the huge commitment we’re talking about the first step in the yes ladder.

Nathan Morris: (07:06)

Yeah, and that’s really the hardest part, Kara. Breaking that inertia, getting the prospect to stop what they’re doing and engage with us. And, “Oh, quit looking at the melons here I am.”

Kara Ware: (07:17)

Wait, who’s looking at the melons?

Nathan Morris: (07:19)

The lady in the grocery store I’m trying to pick up on.

Kara Ware: (07:29)

Okay, back to marketing. So we want our ads to resonate with our prospects so much that they say, “Hey, that’s me.” And then they’re going to be willing to move further up the yes ladder.

Nathan Morris: (07:44)

Yeah, so coming up next, we’ll break down how to create an effective ad that builds connection, grabs their attention, breaks the inertia, and starts the relationship. Right after this.

Speaker 4: (07:59)

This podcast is sponsored by the Atrium Innovations Family of Professional Brands offering evidence-based supplements, advancing scientific research, and providing clinical protocols and technology to empower practitioners globally. Atrium Innovations brands include Pure Encapsulations, the number one trusted and recommended brand by practitioners, Douglas Laboratories, Genestra Brands, and Living Matrix, the fastest growing digital patient management system for functional medicine.

Kara Ware: (08:39)

Most people think that the point of an ad is to sell something, but Allan tells us that’s a huge mistake.

Nathan Morris: (08:46)

Yeah. You know, there are not many, as we mentioned, [inaudible 00:08:49] will marry you on the first date.

Kara Ware: (08:51)

Exactly, exactly. You know, the point of the ad isn’t to sell or to marry you, to your point, it’s to get them interested enough to take that next step. So how do we write an effective ad, Nathan?

Nathan Morris: (09:03)

Well, Kara, it really kind of breaks down into three basic things we need to focus on. Headlines, copy, and a call to action.

Kara Ware: (09:12)

So number one, headlines.

Nathan Morris: (09:15)

Yeah. One of the ways to have an attention-grabbing headline is to speak to their pain. And you can do that both in the ad copy or in the headlines, but I kind of like to put it out there right away in the headlines and join that conversation going on in their head. And we can do this by using what is known as the emotional hot buttons. There really are five. So we want to speak to their fear, love, greed, pride, or guilt.

Kara Ware: (09:39)

Mm-hmm (affirmative), yeah. And Allan tells us if your copy is not pushing one of these buttons, it’s likely too timid and not effective.

Nathan Morris: (09:49)

So Kara let’s give some examples. I love examples. And so let’s use the example of last week and the perimenopausal woman. And I would choose to identify their fear from my experience with many of them in my practice, such as, I’ve heard this statement, “I think I’m losing my mind and no one believes me.” This is great, this is common with hormone changes. Another good headline that goes along with the fear could be something like, “Think you are losing your mind”? It’s estrogen’s fault.” And we can do a slightly different headline if we’re addressing guilt, such as, “Do your kids feel like their mom’s gone missing, we can help get you back to them.”

Kara Ware: (10:26)

Mm-hmm (affirmative), yep. Decisions are made with emotions and justified with logic later. And that’s what Allan wants us to know and wants us to include are these emotional hot buttons as an element in our sales copy.

Nathan Morris: (10:40)

So if we have our headline that grabs their attention and we’ll use, “I think I’m losing my mind and no one believes me.” The number two is we now need good copy below that headline that identifies with their pain and what they hope to gain, which gives them a reason to take the next step. So you may use something like, “Well, at Good Medicine, we know it’s not all in your head and we can help.”

Kara Ware: (11:02)

Yeah. That answers the question, what’s in it for me. And so now I feel, “Hey, these guys understand me and can help me get my mind back. They know what I want.”

Nathan Morris: (11:11)

Exactly, great. So finally, after you’ve got the hook and the copy addressed, then step three, you need a call to action, “Here’s how to learn more to get your mind back.”

Nathan Morris: (11:25)

So let’s just recap it, Kara. Headline, “I think I’m losing my mind and no one believes me.” Effective ad copy, “Well at Good Medicine, we know it’s not all in your head and we can help.” And then the call to action that demands a response, “Here’s how to learn more to get your peace of mind back.”

Kara Ware: (11:41)

Yeah, and the learn more could be clicking to a landing page, for example, where you can offer a value in advance, like an ebook, a questionnaire, or a video series in exchange for their contact information, that email.

Nathan Morris: (11:55)

Yeah. This is the first step in the yes ladder. This is how we attract people who are interested in what we do.

Kara Ware: (12:01)

Yeah and once we’re on that landing page, Allan Dib, told us we need to give three ways to continue the conversation. Whether it’s opting into that email list, like we just said, or even emailing you directly or calling you for that 15-minute call.

Nathan Morris: (12:17)

So one last thing to keep in mind, sometimes we need to exclude some things to create an effective ad. Let’s hear what Allan Dib says about this valuable ad space that we’re going to be paying for and what not to focus on. It was counterintuitive to me like so many things have been this season.

Kara Ware: (12:39)

So you say a logo actually detracts from your message by taking up valuable real estate in your ad. Will you elaborate on that? I think that’s a little shocking.

Allan Dib: (12:49)

Well, I don’t know about you, but I can say pretty positive that I have never ever bought something because I liked someone’s logo. I didn’t buy my car because I liked my car manufacturer’s logo. And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t invest in a nice design, you should absolutely. It’s important that your stuff looks clean, nice design, but your logo is essentially an extension of your own self-aggrandizement, so trying to promote yourself and all of that. And often I find that people pay for an expensive ad and have the premium part of the real estate taken up by their logo or their company name. And really nobody cares about that stuff. If you really have to have it, just shove it in the bottom right corner somewhere. But really people want to know is what’s in it for them, how can you help them? And I’m pretty willing to bet that almost nobody has ever bought anything because of a logo. So really that’s what you want to do is enter that conversation going on in your prospect’s mind.

Kara Ware: (13:51)

And as you said, in advertising, you have precious real estate. Don’t take it up with the logo.

Allan Dib: (13:55)

Exactly.

Nathan Morris: (13:59)

If it’s dating or marketing, the first step is a way to grab your perspective clients’ attention and stand out from the crowd and gain their interest, so they may give us their contact info to set up that first coffee date, if you will. We’re not selling our services just yet.

Kara Ware: (14:16)

Exactly, exactly. And to summarize what we’ve been talking about today, here’s a checklist for creating an effective ad. One, it targets a specific avatar. For us, it was that peri-menopausal woman. Two, it uses compelling headlines that possibly push those emotional hot buttons, that speak to that pain that they’re suffering from. And three, then there’s that copy that speaks to what’s in it for them. And four, it makes that specific call to action. For example, that leads them to that landing page where you offer an ebook, video series, or questionnaire to capture their email.

Nathan Morris: (14:54)

Yeah, Kara. You spelled it out so well, the first step on the yes ladder. And all of this work we did this week leads to an effective ad that leads to conversations and conversations lead to more conversation and eventually trust. That’s truly a relationship that can lead to commitment. Next week, we talk about what you do once you got that so important contact info and how to continue up the yes ladder.

Kara Ware: (15:19)

So we hope you are enjoying this season. Remember you can go to KaraWareCoaching.com/podcast blog posts and resource materials, and also in the show notes, go ahead and click on that link to join our newsletter.

Kara Ware: (15:36)

So thank you for listening as Nathan and I reimagine the functional medicine journey. And I would like to thank our writing team, Kelsey Stafstrom and Paul Larkin, and our audio engineer, Isadore Nieva. Remember if you’d like to support this podcast where you please follow us on your favorite podcast directories and tell a friend.

Nathan Morris: (15:58)

Thanks so much, Kara. I can’t wait for next week.