If you’re the type of business owner who obsesses over branding, products, and logos instead of obsessing over your market, this might be the most important message you read.
Once upon a time, I JV’d an ecom brand in the hemp niche. We scaled from a single bedroom to a large warehouse and $5M revenue the first year.
Long story short… we were hitting $450k/month and everything looked amazing on paper. Until it didn’t. Over a four month period, revenue plummeted below $75k.
My (correct) opinion why:
It wasn’t the product. It wasn’t the logo.
It was the audience, and chaos. My partner insisted on “rebranding” every other month with new websites and logos. Customers were confused. Confused people don’t buy.
That’s the 40-40-20 rule in action, coined in the 1960’s by Ed Mayer and then popularized by Dan Kennedy.
Here’s the idea…
40% list: Choose the right audience and curate your list. If they jump on bandwagons or are impossible to please, cut them.
40% offer: Make it clear. Mixed messages kill the sale.
20% creatives: Brilliant copy and pretty packages can’t save you from a bad list.
Markets are fickle. Focus your efforts on who actually matters. Second, nail your positioning. And then worry whether your logo is the right shade of yellow.
I’ve got a few spots on my calendar coming up for emails, then I’m probably booked up for the next month.
Spots go quick.