Hi,

It's Sebastian.

Quick one this time.

If you run a local business you need to be using Google ads.

There is no local business that would be hurt by using Google ads. Every local business in existence would benefit from doing Google ads.

Every.

Single.

One.

I guarantee it.

BUT.

If you're using it you do need to know what you're doing.

Because every time I log in to a Google ads account for a new client I see that they're using the dreaded 'Performance Max' campaign.

And every time it's performing miserably. Just abysmal results all around.

There is a time and place for the Performance Max campaign.

If you're not experienced at Google ads... this is not the time nor the place.

So instead, just start with the basics. Just go with search. Test some stuff.

Trust me on this one. Everything will work so much better.

Or ask us to handle it for you. Also a good option.

Anyway, have a great Friday!

Talk soon,

- Sebastian

P.S. My team and I work with (mostly local) businesses that want to do better than they're doing now. If that's you, get in touch and let's see if we're a good match : https://www.thrive-marketing.org

Hi,

It's Sebastian.

Google is bamboozling you. And me. All of us.

Clients that are looking for US are being sent to our competitors.

And I can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

You know how you can Google search: 'business near me'?

So 'restaurant near me'. Or 'hardware store near me'. Or 'plumber near me'.

Once upon a time I assumed Google actually recommended the closest business.

But... it doesn't.

Not even close.

I could be standing NEXT to your business, Google ' near me' annnnnnnddddd it's going to recommend a competitor!

I know. It's nuts.

But don't take my word for this. Try it out yourself.

In the next article I'll show you how you can fix some of this stuff. So you actually show up in Google when people are looking for you.

Stay tuned,

Sebastian

Hi,

It's Sebastian.

Ever been so busy your daily todolist looks like a week list?

That's been my week. Can't complain because it's mostly good stuff BUTTTTTT it would be nice if I was able to write a newsletter more than once a week.

Was thinking about McDonalds recently. Mostly of the fact that it's an actual modern miracle that you can run one of the biggest and most succesful restaurants in the world...

...and the people doing it are a bunch of 16 year olds that can't even clean their own rooms!

Truly wild stuff.

All built on the back of solid SOPs. Standard operating procedures.

(Probably same way they used to build the pyramids)

They didn't 'time-manage' their way into this. They didn't hire the best people either.

They made airtight and rocksolid systems.

Good thing to remember when you feel yourself getting into the weeds too much. Check how well your systems hold up under pressure.

Talk soon,

Sebastian

If you HAD to sell something, if your life was on the line...

...how would you do it?

Discounts? Hell no, seems desperate.

Adding value? Sounds great, but howwww?

Guarantees? Much better, but not the ultimate way

Nothing, and I mean nothing, sells as well as a demonstration.

Doesn't matter where you live, doesn't matter who your target customer is, we humans are hardwired to believe what we see. If we see it? It's real. If we can't see it? It's conceptual. Not real. Fuggazi. Fairy dust.

So.

Whatever you do - you MUST find a way to demonstrate it.

Demo the product. The process. Your expertise.

Something.

Make it real.

Talk soon,

Sebastian

Most marketing advice really really sucks.

I studied marketing for years in school. Then I started my own business. Tried to implement what I learned in school.

It was an unmitigated disaster.

Didn't get clients. Hardly got anyone to even look at the ads.

The ad salesman told me: "yeah, you should run it very often. Veeeeeerrrrrrryyyyy often"

Made sense. The guy got paid every time the ad ran. I'd say the same thing.

Took me a while to figure out that in university they taught me the strategy that companies like Coca Cola use right now.

Just blast your ad and hope for the best.

Only issue is that Coca Cola has a 600 million dollar ad budget. And mine was like 600 dollars.

If you water a strategy down by a factor of one million it doesn't tend to do as well.

Also, Coca Cola has 10,000 people in their marketing department. I had one. Which was me. And I also had to do everything else!

So I started to look into the question of: 'how do big companies get so big?'. You don't go from zero to 600 million budget without doing something right... right?

After a whole lot of research I figured out that they all roughly use the same formula.

They don't start out running mass media 'brand awareness' ads. They start out hammering home a USP and using mostly direct response ads.

Coca Cola started out using coupons, forcing distribution and selling a whole lot of sugar water as a result.

Turns out that big dumb companies start out as small smart companies. Then they hit critical mass, the board of directors takes over, HR comes on, middle management entrenches itself, there's unlimited budget and the stupidness begins.

Now - if you're reading this and you have a $600 million budget - that's awesome. Congratulations, I salute you. Just run any ad, it'll be fine. Wave to me when you fly over Amsterdam in your private jet.

If you're not at that level yet, you probably want to make sure your ads have some ROI. So you should check out my report on USPs. It shows you how small, smart companies grew at rapid rates using clever marketing.

Here's the link: https://thrive-marketing.org/usp-report

Talk soon,

Sebastian

P.S. No P.S. this time. So it's like Schrodingers P.S. If there is a P.S. that says there's no P.S... is there really a P.S.?