Ryan Deiss has taken email marketing, sales funnels, and creating and selling products to another level. He is the founder and CEO of DigitalMarketer which is a premier online community for anyone marketing online. Ryan and his team have invested over $15,000,000 on marketing tests, have generated tens of millions of unique visitors, sent over a billion emails, and have run over 3000 split tests.
Today, Ryan shares his marketing expertise as we talk about his book the Invisible Selling Machine which is all about email marketing and is also based on a product that supplies marketing email templates. Ryan shares how a book is a great tool to jumpstart a business and the importance of having a back end in place. He also used a unique webinar concept to test the title and write the book fast. Ryan shares how he and his editor collaborated and then how he edited everything to make sure it was in his voice. He also shares insights into marketing, writing, and being an effective entrepreneur.
You can find Ryan here:
DigitalMarketer
Ryan Deiss LinkedIn
@RyanDeiss Twitter
Ryan Deiss facebook
Invisible Selling Machine
Books by Ryan Deiss
Show Notes
[01:49] Ryan feels that books are timeless because people get it. Ryan wrote The Invisible Selling Machine because he had something to say and there weren't a lot of books about this topic.
[03:27] The book is great as media and a lead generation tool. A book isn't a business, a book jump starts a business.
[04:15] After the book Ryan had the next step which was The Invisible Selling Machine template product. The concept stands alone and that information is the foundation of the book.
[04:59] Even though he had a course on the topic, writing the book took a lot of effort. Ryan had to think through how to teach the concepts.
[06:21] Ryan created a webinar and split tested titles to get the title for the book. The webinar bullet points were on the back of the book.
[07:16] He wanted the story in the webinar to create a foundation and then share the result. Then he wrote a step by step and addressed objections and it turned out to be a good format for a book. Ryan had an editor that helped turn the webinar into the book, then Ryan rewrote a lot of it.
[10:49] How it's important for a book to stand on its own and not just be a disguised sales letter.
[15:15] The importance of turning a glance into a stare with a title and subtitle.
[15:45] How Ryan accidently sent the wrong cover to the editors and how the printer messed up on the first print. He was so disappointed to see his first copies looking so bad. He had 10,000 copies and was able to use them for a free promotion with paid shipping only.
[24:13] Ryan has total control over his book and he uses it for marketing purposes that he controls.
[24:56] His book has produced millions of dollars of revenue for him and he owns all of it. He doesn't want to have to buy from a publisher to use his book as a tripwire. Although, someday he may go the traditional route.
[26:14] One of the biggest issues with using a publisher is the timeline. If you take your advance and put it back into the campaign it would be effective, but 12 to 18 months is a deal killer.
[29:03] The importance of having a funnel in place before you public the book. There needs to be steps in between like additional training or mini-classes.
[30:39] He also made a quick optional upsell video. It was passive, but it performed well.
[32:24] Having a permission based micro commitment upsell.
[33:54] The thank-you page had another video which also gave away free videos. Which are used as a perpetual launch. He is also driving facebook ads to the book which will always sell because of the backend.
[37:02] For immediate revenue it came from the Secret Selling upsell. The 30 and 60 day revenue was trumped by The Machine.
[38:43] Ryan uses that money to put back into the campaign to get subscribers for Digital Marketer Labs. You have to reinvest money if you want to grow.
[40:11] People want new products. With a membership, you can deliver the new without selling the new.
[43:00] People join membership groups to have a community.
[44:57] How Ryan hired key people who are responsible for his membership even a dedicated community manager for the facebook group.
[48:23] How the team tracks campaigns to make sure they are effective. How a $500 buy on facebook ads is a good risk. It's hard for Ryan's team to justify a funnel that goes past 90 days.
[50:47] The importance of the cost of customer acquisition and customer lifetime value. Looking for ways to maximize the value of the customer.
[52:39] The dangers of big companies getting too comfortable and dying a slow death.
[53:13] How Ryan's business isn't a launch centric business.
[54:24] How having subscription revenue and ongoing sales and products is so much safer than the launch model as the sole method of selling.
Links and Resources:
self-publishingschool.com
Spsfreetraining.com
Tim Ferriss
DigitalMarketer
Ryan Deiss LinkedIn
@RyanDeiss Twitter
Ryan Deiss facebook
Invisible Selling Machine
Books by Ryan Deiss
SPS 263 The Game Has Changed: Virtual Events & Building A Knowledge Based Business with Dean Graziosi
SPS 264: Ghostwriting 201: Secrets To A Great Ghostwritten Book with Sean Platt
SPS 261: Email Marketing + How To Build Your Email List with Igor Kheifets
SPS 260 Children’s Books, Pop Ups & Launching A Clothing Line with Princess Booker
SPS 259 Editing 101: Everything You Need To Know Before Hiring An Editor with Qatharina Wanders
SPS 258 $105k From My Book Launch Within 3 Months with Brian Luebben (From Passive To Passionate)
SPS 247 How To Format A Book + Atticus Overview & Deep Dive with Dave Chesson
SPS 256: Understanding AI To Grow Your Business (AI Deep Dive) with Chris Winfield
SPS:255 Brave Thinking & Growing Your Coaching Business with Mary Morrissey
SPS 254 Valuepreneurs, “Funderdome” & Publishing Before Your 60th Birthday with Steve Waddell
SPS 253 The Creative Process, Humor, And Becoming Prolific with Jon Acuff
Sold Out Coach + The Sage, Struggler, And Sherpa with John Meese
SPS 251 The 5 P’s Of Profitable Podcast Guesting with Dustin Riechmann
SPS 250 Network Marketing Lessons + “Go For No” Marketing Your Book with Ray Higdon
SPS 249 Using Your DISC Profile To Write & Publish A Book Successfully with Dr. Robert Rohm (Personality Insights)
SPS 248 The Jerry Springer vs The Oprah Approach To Writing About Tough Life Experiences with Paul Scanlon
SPS 247 Million Dollar Weekend: From $50 & A Weekend To $80M/Year In Sales with Noah Kagan
SPS 246 Using Atomic Habits To Write & Publish A Book, 4M+ Copies In 3 Years with James Clear
SPS 245 SPS Throwback Rich Dad Poor Dad & 46M+ Units Sold of his Self-Published Book (Robert Kiyosaki Interview)
SPS 244: When Faith Fails: Writing About Your Faith As A Christian or Pastor…with Dominic Done
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