The Future of Digital Marketing and Advertising

I talked with Frank Kern recently, one of the most sought after direct response internet marketing consultants on the planet and asked him about his approach to online advertising—something Frank has coined “intent-based branding”.

Mr. Kern created Behavioral Dynamic Response which is an automated marketing method that speeds up the sales cycle by customizing marketing messages based on a prospect’s behavior.

Kern started in the digital space in 1999 selling credit card machines online. After six years of trial and error he achieved his first real online success selling pet training manuals. After his business did $100,000 in a single month, he decided to start teaching people how he was making money online. And that’s how he got his start as a “marketing guru”.

Frank says that the internet appealed to him early on because he could put a dollar in and get a dollar and more out, regularly and consistently.

Frank explains intent-based branding and breaks it down into three very broad steps:

1. Carefully crafted useable content which is very magnetic to the audience you want.

2. Targeted audience views your content.

3. Then you retarget with offers that appeal to them and solves their problems.

Based on this formula, Frank told me about the six questions for anyone advertising to identify and answer to help them shape their online messaging. He then told me how you can take this raw material and shape it into a six-step process for developing an effective online marketing campaign.

Six questions to ask before you make anything online:

1. What are you ultimately going to be selling? What is the ultimate goal of the campaign?

2. Who do you want as your customer?

3. What does that customer want? What is their biggest desire that is relevant to what you are selling?

4. What are their frustrations in relationship to what you are selling?

5. What are their emotions that are associated with these desires or frustrations?

6. What must they believe to be true in order to want to do business with you?

Once you have answered these questions then you can begin to shape an effective campaign.

Steps to create your campaign message:  

1. Tell your audience who you are and what you do.

2. Introduce your audience to the problem or opportunity.

3. Exacerbate and emphasize that emotion while being relatable and empathetic.

4. Make your point.

5. Tell a story and explain a engaging situation that illustrates that point.

6. Give the audience an actionable thing they can use to solve the problem.

7. Wrap up. Close.  

Social media advertising is as much a dialog as a traditional push campaign so direct response becomes more important and front and center. Direct response messaging and advertising is asking the viewer/reader/customer to respond directly to an ad in a measurable/trackable way.

Direct response and branding can be married for the ultimate methodology of advertising.

When asked if he would ever stop advertising or spending money online Frank says there is no way he would ever stop doing advertising.

For an example, he says, “If I spend $500 a week and get $500 back I will keep doing it and expanding it. In the short term, spending and getting the same return is a profit. Those contacts are going to have a “customer life cycle” and have a second sale, etc. and will deepen their relationship and I will then get more from that initial spend”.

Online advertising and internet marketing can be effective if you are delivering great content to the right audience. Do it this way and you will see a return on investment.

And, Frank’s last piece of advice: if you think advertising just costs you money, try not advertising.

Want more great digital marketing and advertising strategies? Go to my upcoming 10X Business Boot Camp October 5-7. 

Be great,

GC

Grant Cardone is a New York Times bestselling author, the #1 sales trainer in the world, and an internationally renowned speaker on leadership, real estate investing, entrepreneurship, social media, and finance. His 5 privately held companies have annual revenues exceeding $100 million. Forbes named Mr. Cardone #1 of the "25 Marketing Influencers to Watch in 2017". Grant’s straight-shooting viewpoints on the economy, the middle class, and business have made him a valuable resource for media seeking commentary and insights on real topics that matter. He regularly appears on Fox News, Fox Business, and MSNBC, and writes for Forbes, Success Magazine, Business Insider, CNBC, and Entrepreneur. He urges his followers and clients to make success their duty, responsibility, and obligation. He currently resides in South Florida with his wife and two daughters