MODULE 2

Inception Marketing

Eric Edmeades
Serial Entrepreneur, International Business Speaker, Author,
Husband and Father.
MODULE 2

WELCOME TO BUSINESS FREEDOM FOUNDATIONS

with Eric Edmeades

Why does marketing seem like such a

DEFINITION
challenge right now?
yy Society has changed from 30 years ago Marketing: Everything that has to do with
»» Brand recognition is harder because bringing revenue into the business, from even
people are inundated with constant before a product is created to after it is sold.
marketing Marketing should begin early with Market
»» People tune out marketing messages Research.
`` Harder to capture attention
Strategic Marketing = Inception Marketing
yy People notice things that are important
to them
»» Sales pitches get generalized out and filtered
»» The more you like or dislike something the more likely you are to notice it
`` Things you don’t care about are overlooked
yy Marketing is similar to networking and dating
»» Marketing can come on too strong  People tune out

1.
Inception marketing cuts through the filter so your message is seen, heard, and felt.

Get Clear, Get Strategic.

Play Chess, Not Darts.

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 2

 Developing an Inceptive Marketing Campaign

STEPS
1. Overall Target Market

2. Ideal Target Markets

3. Research Target Market’s Values

4. Create An Engagement Pitch

5. Deliver An Inceptive Story

6. Set Buying Criteria

7. Make Compelling Offer

STEP 1: Determine Overall Target Market

yy This is not niche marketing

»» Niche markets = scarcity mindset
yy Look at everyone you want to sell to
»» DO NOT qualify them out

Fitness Example:

“Who is your overall target market?”

Fitness Coach: “People interested in fitness.”

“No! You’re setting yourself up to compete with every other fitness person
trying to sell to the same sliver of the market. Your overall target market
is everyone, not just people currently interested in fitness. Don’t wait for
people to be interested in your product--you have a massive opportunity!
Don’t qualify people out of your overall target market unnecessarily.”

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HOMEWORK
Assignment 1
1. Create a description of your Overall Target Market. (E.g., Everyone, people 18-72, women 30-60
depending on product) Remember not to put a psychological filter or limiter on it. Simply talk about a
demographic, geographic, or specific and wide pool of people.

STEP 2: Identify Your Ideal Target Markets


STEP 1 STEP 2

yy Subdivide your Overall Target Market into Ideal Target Markets

»» E.g., if you sell pet supplies and your Overall Target Market is anyone with a pet or anyone thinking of
getting a pet, your Ideal Target Markets could include:
`` Cat owners
`` Dog owners
`` Families with pets
`` Older women with cats
`` Etc.

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 4

 yy The more specific and non-generic your Ideal Target Market, the more likely you will be to capture your
market’s interest
yy Ways to subdivide
»» Socioeconomically
»» Geographically
»» By any type of psychology
yy Once you’ve identified them, you can go after them one at a time strategically so that you can get them
all, as opposed to only focusing on one niche market

2.
Goal: the psychology of your ideal target markets should be so focused that you could send
an email to that group and everyone in that group would see that email or other piece of
marketing as though it were written for them specifically as individuals.

Assignment 2

Identify 3-10 of your potential Ideal Target Markets.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 5

 STEP 3: Research Your Target Market’s Values

 
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

3.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood. - Stephen R. Covey

yy Often we try to sell to others before we take the time to understand them
yy Ask your Ideal Target Markets questions
yy Identify what is going on in their lives
» Not through the lens of what you’re trying to sell to them
» Care about what matters to them
yy This will help you identify which stories you should tell as Inceptive Stories, and what problems and
needs you can help them with in an Engagement Pitch

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Assignment 3
1. Try some market research of your own! Select one of your Ideal Target Markets and do some research to
find out more about them, their lives, and what matters to them. Google may be a starting point, but it’s
far more important to find someone in this market and speak to them directly. Have a conversation and
learn everything you can. Remember: this is not about you or your product or service, this is only about
them and understanding them on a deeper psychological level.

Here are some sample questions to get you started:

yy Who are they? How would they describe/identify themselves?

yy How do they spend their time?
yy What do they love to do?
yy What do they hate to do?
yy What job do they have? What’s their career and educational background?
yy What are their interests?
yy What are their concerns and worries?
yy What are their aspirations and dreams?
yy What was their happiest moment? Scariest? Saddest? Proudest?
yy What have they overcome?
yy What excites them?
yy If they could change something about themselves/their lives/their home/their average day, what would
it be?
yy Why do they love/hate (relevant topic)? What would make their lives easier
in relation to it?

yy

yy

yy

yy

yy

Listen to their stories. Find commonalities amongst your Ideal Target Market. Collect Market Research.

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 7

Notes:
 STEP 4: Create an Engagement Pitch

  

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4

yy Once you know what they are looking for, help them with it!
yy Promise to solve a challenge
» Forward-moving, promising pleasure
» Or take away some pain
yy Ask yourself
» What’s important to this person?
» What challenges are they facing?
» What goals do they have?
yy The challenge: your engagement pitch should have nothing to do with what you sell!
yy If your engagement pitch speaks directly to them, you’re on the right track
yy Next step: deliver on the promise

Assignment 4
Come up with 3 possible Engagement Pitches that might appeal to the Ideal Target Market that you
researched in Assignment 3.

1.

2.

3.

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 9

 STEP 5: Develop an Inceptive Story

   

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

An Inceptive Story:
yy Is entertaining and engaging
yy Has to deliver on the promise you made in your Engagement Pitch
»» Builds your credibility strategically
»» Make sure your inceptive story is knowledgeable
`` Facts, research, statistics
yy Give people value
yy Credibility means people will listen
yy Then move from Credibility to Authority
yy If effective, your story will encourage Reciprocity
»» People will buy from you
»» People will sell for you

Assignment 5
Brainstorm an Inceptive Story that you could share with your Ideal Target Market for one of the Engagement
Pitches that you came up with in Assignment 4.

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 10

 Notes:

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 11

 STEP 6: Set The Buying Criteria

    

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6

At this point, the client should be asking some important questions:

yy “How do I buy the product?”
yy “How much is it?”
yy “Where do I buy it from?”

This is when you teach them who not to buy from by setting strong buying criteria.
yy The list should match what your company offers and lead people to you
»» If it doesn’t, learn from this and make some changes to how you do business
yy The list should also filter out your competitors

Assignment 6
If someone you cared about were buying the product or service you offer, but for some reason they could
not buy it from you, what advice would you give them to make sure they bought well and got the best
possible product or service? Come up with a list of 10 buying criteria.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 12

 6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

STEP 7: Make a Compelling Offer

     

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7

Keys to Making a Compelling Offer:

DEFINITION
1. The value you give must be higher than what
you are asking them to spend
Risk Reversal: taking as much risk away from
2. Risk Reversal
the client as possible.
yy Use social proof
»» Testimonials (written or video) from real Social Proof: evidence that others have used
people and public reviews your product or service and been incredibly
yy Use guarantees or warranties happy with it.

3. Make it clear how to purchase

yy It should be easy to buy your product or service

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 4. Appeal to their emotional and logical reasons to buy

5.
WHY PEOPLE BUY:
1. Emotion
2. Logic
You MUST appeal to both.

5. After the sale, communicate with the clients immediately

yy Reaffirm their emotional and logical reasons for the purchase

yy Follow up

6.
ALL OF THIS WILL LEAD TO:
ÎÎ Higher level of lead flow
ÎÎ Higher conversion percentage

ÎÎ Higher level of repeat business

Assignment 7

VALUE

Do you offer more value with your product or service than you’re asking your client to spend? If not, how
could you offer more value? If so, how do you show this to your clients? How could you add even more?

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 14

RISK REVERSAL

What are you currently doing to reverse the risk for your clients?

What 3 things could you start doing to reverse the risk even more for your clients?

1.

2.

3.

EASE OF PURCHASE

How easy is it to purchase your product? How many steps are actually involved and how could you reduce
that number to make it even easier for your client?

EMOTIONAL & LOGICAL APPEAL

What is your Emotional Appeal to your clients?

What is your Logicall Appeal to your clients?

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 15

RISK REVERSAL

What are you currently doing to reverse the risk for your clients?

What 3 things could you start doing to reverse the risk even more for your clients?

1.

2.

3.

EASE OF PURCHASE

How easy is it to purchase your product? How many steps are actually involved and how could you reduce
that number to make it even easier for your client?

EMOTIONAL & LOGICAL APPEAL

What is your Emotional Appeal to your clients?

BUSINESS FREEDOM Foundations Inception Marketing Pg. 16

 What is your Logical Appeal to your clients?

If you can’t articulate these clearly and succinctly, this may be an area that needs more attention.

FOLLOWING UP

What’s your process for following up with clients after a purchase? How quickly do you get in touch? What
could you do to make this process even better?

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 Notes:

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