How to Design Your Offer Ladder (Ep 32)

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We look at the different stages of where people are in their lives and careers

Welcome to episode 32 of Digital Marketing Made Easy with myself, Dawn McGruer, digital marketing speaker, author, and trainer, and proud founder of Business Consort – Digital & Social Media Academy.

In this episode, we are going to look at how I designed my offer ladder. When we look at offer ladders, it’s one of those topics that in business, I get asked a lot about. When you’re starting out, when you’re in a growth period, when you’re scaling, how do you know that you’ve got the right balance of product services and mix that’s going to really get the growth in your business?

Now, one thing that often goes wrong is that people want to offer much at the front end for free that people get so immersed in the freebies that it becomes a longer cycle to actually get someone to commit and to buy. So how would you build those offerings?

Now, what I did is that, within the academy, we looked at the different stages of where people were in their life and their careers, because as a digital marketing academy, obviously, we’re helping people master the world of online marketing, develop the digital skills, and ultimately, this is all in aid of accelerating their career and growing their business.

So what does this mean? Well, if we start charting out on a piece of paper the ideal client, and we have different clients for different stages. So what I did first of all, is that we worked as a team to kind of really map out and understand, number one, who is our ideal client? Who is our customer avatar or customer persona? Some people call it different things, but ultimately when you look at your ideal client, who are they? They’re not an industry. They’re not a niche. They’re not a sector. They’re a person. So when we start to humanize this person, we can get a real feel for what their needs, wishes, wants, and desires are. And this is all around. When you create a product or service, it’s about solving someone’s pain or problem and giving them what they want.

So if I think about our ideal client, the first thing that we’ll have is we’ll have aspiring digital marketers, amazing people who are on a journey to understand, first of all, is digital marketing the right pathway for them as a career? Do they have what it takes to become an amazing digital marketer? Is digital marketing going to satisfy their needs, wants and wishes in terms of their own life goals and salary expectations? All of these things. Now, once we start to humanize our aspiring marketer, we start to really think about the different things that they would need at the different times of their journey.

Now, again, when we look at our developing digital marketer, someone who is in a digital role and is maybe at a more junior exec level, who’s looking to really push to that next level, get a pay rise, get a promotion, or even get a new job, now we start to understand that what they need is very different to what our aspiring digital marketer wants.

Now, again, in terms of getting them into our world, first of all, capturing their attention and even getting an understanding of we are as a business, how do we get the brand in front of them? And how do we get them engaged with the academy?

Well, if we were to go to either of these markets and just kind of sell, sell, sell, there’ll always be a percentage of people, yeah, who are ready to convert, but we wouldn’t be very successful in our marketing.

Now, even when we look at our third sector, which is our experienced marketer, this could be someone who’s been working in a role for many years, could be board level even, a really high level marketer, but perhaps doesn’t have digital experience. Okay. So again, you can start to see that different stages of the career, different things would motivate them. They’ll have different pains and challenges. So thereby, looking at the way that someone comes into the academy would be different, the entry point. But also our offer ladder and where they would be in that sequence.

We created seven steps to digital marketing success

Now, somebody who is an experienced digital marketer versus an aspiring, would they have crossover? Well, absolutely. They would. So did we create our offers? And how do we show the pathway for our three different audiences so that they can understand quite clearly what we can do for them?

Now, this is where our success pathway came from. So what we’ve actually created is we created seven steps to digital marketing success. And this felt like a really kind of congruent, clear way of showcasing and visualizing, almost like a roadmap, what people needed to do, when and how. Okay. So we always want to bring the information forward.

So let’s start off. What we did is you can find this on our website. If you want to going to follow along with the podcast to really get flow for this, if you’re going to go and create a success path yourself to showcase your solution or your offers or your products or services, then go for it. If you just go to Google, you type in Business Consort. You will see us at the top of the tree at number one in Google, obviously. And if you click on it, it’s digitalandsocialmediaacademy.com. And in that main navigation, you will see success pathway.

Now, if you click on it, you will see a PDF, interactive PDF, that is clickable and interactive in terms of people can go and visit different areas on our site. So it brings all the information together into this seven step pathway. PDF, load it up digitally. Really easy to see, very clear. All right.

So what is number one? Well, we started off, and we thought, well, free resources. That is something that would appeal too lots of different people. So from podcasts, digital marketing made easy, to guides, free workshops. And again, you can go and check these things out because they’ll be equally as beneficial to you as they are, obviously, to people we’re marketing to, because guess what? If you’re listening to this podcast, you’ve got an interesting digital marketing.

So what we did is we decided, right, okay, this element here is ideal for aspiring, developing and professional marketers to develop digital skills through ongoing bite-sized boosts. So we keep updating the information, putting new things on there, getting workshops that are created for different motivations, again for different stages in the career.

Then for stage two, we went in for what we call our bundle, a microproduct. We have the digital marketing made easy bundle, and it’s literally, it starts normally around about 27 pounds, but this bundle is so heavy in value that it would be very difficult for someone not to think, wow. Okay. So this is what you’re looking to create in your offer ladder. When you have free things, you have to think about the different free things for your different markets. Then if you have an entry level product, so for instance, we have one here. It could be 27, 47 97, something that is a no brainer in terms of investment, but it’s so packed with value that literally they couldn’t turn it away.

I mean, for that money, we’re giving away a hundred done-for-you social media templates, a hardback 400 page book delivered to your door, gift wrapped with a message from me, anywhere in the world. Then we’re doing key dates planner. So we put all the key dates and awareness days from all around the globe into a 12, 13 page PDF. Within that PDF, it’s literally every celebratory date. So it could be that it’s national health awareness day, or it could be national mental health awareness day or national education week. All of these things have been brought together to give you inspiration for your social media. It was so that we knew we had to create, because again, it aligns to our audience’s biggest struggles, pains, challenges, and things that they struggle with day to day in terms of social media creation.

Now, in addition to that, we’ve created a 90-day plan. The most sought after, most requested piece of information in my entire 20 years. Everyone comes to me and wants a digital strategy or a marketing plan. And they want this creating, what goes in it, how do they do it? 50% of businesses don’t even have a documented plan or strategy in place. So it was a no brainer for us to create it because we took all the checklists, all the tools, all the templates, and put it into a PDF from the book.

So when I created Dynamic Digital Marketing, and I think this is a big reason why it hit bestseller before it even launched was that it wasn’t just another reference book, another theory. It was a very practical in terms of, this is what you do. These are the steps in order in the priority. And we put a checklist. So all the tools, all of the templates, everything in the order of the 90-day plan and across each channel. So we took all of those fillable templates, well, all the templates and made them fillable, into the PDF. So an amazing marketing deal, match made in heaven.

So you can start to see how you can build your products and services into a bundle. Now we give away bonus training with that. And I would say a high percentage of people who buy that bundle will go on to do something else with us. I’d probably go as far to say that we are over 50% for sure. 50% of people will take action and go on to the next thing, because it’s just amazing value. As I say, it would be very difficult if you create something very powerful that that packs value for someone not to feel engaged that, oh my goodness, if I’ve got this already, so they’ve maybe engaged in your free resources. They’ve gone in with an entry level product. The amazing thing that happens is these people actually spend more money with you because their trust is there. They’ve experienced what you can do, and they’ve experienced your expertise.

Now, number three, we go on to our fast track course, signature course that we created, which is our Dynamic Digital Marketing Model. So yeah, a kind of a solution pathway. It’s a bit similar to this, but in terms of what it is, it’s eight powerful ways to market business online. And we always create our unique branded solution, or a signature solution, in terms of what we offer. Because again, it gives clarity to what that person’s going to get. And if someone comes on the fast track course, they know the eight modules they’re going to cover. And we show that visually with this branded solution.

Now, number three, why that’s important at that stage is that if someone has immersed in free content, they’ve gone to entry level. You need to give your audience something that is the next natural step. And again, this goes up in terms of, obviously, price point of course, because live courses, for us, they start from about 99 pounds a month for 12 months. So there’s an investment there, but are they more likely to invest if they’ve experienced other things? Absolutely.

But the thing is here is that we chart out where this would be in their career. So when you look at your products and services, and you look at different markets, be clearing your pathway for success of what they need to do, how they need to do it, and when they need to do it. Okay?

Now, number four, we go on to our kind of top level. And this is a big mistake that people miss out of their offers is that 80% of offers I look at, 80%, which is huge, there is no high ticket offer. So it means that they might have free, might have entry level. They might have a signature are sort of product or service that they’re selling, but they have to sell a lot of those to get to the big money.

Now it depends what type of business you want. You don’t have to follow the hype online and be seven figure if you don’t want to. Because as with any growth, there is an investment that goes with it. There’s time. There’s staff. Anything you’re growing means that you probably will have to grow resources in some aspect as well. And some people don’t want that.

Now, if you are pushing, say like to the million pound, it would be quite hard to get to the million pound in terms of the volume of people you have to reach, unless you build something in that’s got a higher ticket. So my suggestion here is, is that we have a higher ticket product, which is around about 7,000 pounds. And you think, wow, gosh, that’s really expensive. That’s a huge investment. Well, is it? Because what we are actually giving is more of a job opportunity. We’re giving more of a career. So you have to kind of weigh up for the value.

So when you’re creating your products and services and your offer ladder and your bundles and any of the signature creations that you put out there, think about what it is you do for them. So ours is a certified digital marketing professional program. Now this means that if anybody is looking to actually deliver digital marketing as a service for clients to actually monetize, you imagine the amount of money they could make. So we’re looking at investment here of what? 7,000 pounds. How many clients would they need to service and offer digital marketing to to recoup and also get into profit. Not that many.

Normally on average are clients would have like two to three, maybe maximum of six clients where they’d done a project of some description, and they’ve got their money back and more. Now this here, because it’s a value-based product, in terms of stacking it, in terms of what people can earn, it’s all around thinking about if that person is going to go and create a business, what can they get back? So when you do yours, you have to think about if it’s high ticket, it has to have the value proposition really clearly stated.

And what I mean here is, is that if somebody comes to me and says, all right, okay, I’m looking to start my own business. I’m in a job at the moment. What’s the better way to do this is to train somebody up and give them a digital agency in a box, basically, to say, this is everything you need that took me, what, 10 years to build. But here’s all the tools. Here’s the pitch slides. Here’s everything. Here’s everything you need in a digital marketing toolkit in a box. You’ll be ready to go. Not in a year, not in two years, not in three, but in the next 90 days you can make progress. You could make money. Now these are the sorts of things you have to think about. Very, very important.

Now, number six is all about specialist training, which often we’ll have people who have worked with us before. They’ve gone to other organizations. They’ve done other training, and then they maybe want to upskill or really kind of develop in a specific area. So we have LinkedIn. We have Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads are really popular as with our courses, the reason that I feel our offer ladder is so strong, especially for this side of things, is that when we look at as soon as someone starts to pay money, even at the entry level product, we are not done for. We’re not agents. We are an academy. But we’re done with. Now that’s really interesting because how we offer our services is that we are not going to go and do the digital marketing for them. We do that in the agency with them, and we look at the strategies, etc. But in the academy, how do we empower them? Well, we don’t just say, come and do another course, but what we say is we’ll do it with you.

So for instance, Facebook Ads, one of the hardest things that people find to master in the world of online marketing in terms of putting money out and getting money back in. We say to people, if you want to spend a hundred pounds and get a thousand back, then absolutely do the accelerator with us. But it’s not just an on-demand program. It’s doing ads with someone.

So one of the things that I learned when I was learning ads, when I was learning digital, was that the quickest way of learning and getting the best results was using a strategy where someone showed me, demoed it. And learning is like this. And you probably agree that when someone shows you step by step, and you’re following along with someone, it’s like, you don’t know what you don’t know until you’re doing it. It seems very simple once someone is talking you through. Click this button. Set this up. Do this. Do that. Do that. Do that. Follow along. Set the ad up. Have I done it right? It’s having the accountability. The sense check. Is it correct? Is it going to get the results?

Now again, that for us, has been a very popular option because done with you tends to be the strongest proposition. It’s the most compelling because people struggle with signing in, doing something on their own, but when you actually offer to do it with them, to hold their hand and show them the steps to do it, and you know that they’re going to get guaranteed results, then it’s a very easy item to sell.

Now, if we go onto the other side of things, we have number one free, number two entry level. Number three, we have our signature fast track. And number four, we have our certified digital marketing professional for specifically people who want to offer digital.

Now we have the specialist side of things in terms of the done with you courses. And we have the personal development side. Now from an academy point of view, bearing in mind we are equivalent to universities, to colleges, we offer off-core regulated, degree level, undergraduate qualifications. We do retreats.

Now you might not think that that is sort of the most common thing in terms of our sector, but you know what? That’s what makes it special because a lot of our clients will want to work on their own businesses. So again, a big sector for us is entrepreneurs, business owners, people who want to strategize and energize, work on their wealth success plan. Look at what their business, what their life looks like for them, and bringing that together so that they’re getting growth and achieving their goals, not just for business, but also their dreams in what is their purpose in life, what they’re doing?

So quite often, we’ll have people who’ve come back from maternity or paternity leave. We’ll have people who are changing careers. We’ll have people who are starting their own businesses, growing the businesses, scaling them, selling their businesses, all different stages, but who want that professional development, who want that form of consultancy, that sort of luxury experience where you’re kind of almost masterminding.

We offer luxury retreats

Now last, but not least, is our most popular qualification, which is the only qualification in the world which is digitally focused. Now, again, why is this on our offer ladder? Well, when you start to push slightly out of the norm, you stand out a little bit from the crowd. So my advice is when you’re creating your offer ladder, think about what people really want. What do they really, really want? People love going to retreats. When people say, where’s your retreat? And I say, it’s a luxury boutique hotel in Marrakesh, in the sunshine, instantly it sounds appealing. Private chefs. We have personal trainers that we fly in to do exercise. We have massages. We have cooking lessons, all different things, as well as the business side.

When you build your offer ladder build in incentives

Then people start to see the offer, and it sounds amazing. And it is amazing. So you want to make sure that when you build your offer ladder that you’re building in the incentives, the real nuggets that people go, I want that. Be a product or a service or whatever it is.

Now the last one here, as I say, we’ve got the CIM diploma in professional digital marketing. And what makes this special is that when we built the ladder, we wanted to see what was important to our clients. What was important to our target market? And one of the biggest things, it’s status. You know that if someone does this qualification, they’ll rank in the top 1% of marketers globally. That’s absolutely huge. I mean, that statement in itself.

And then when you think about it, they’re not doing a qualification for any other reason, other than, it’s professional development. They want to accelerate their career. They want to earn what they’re worth. They want to boost their earning potential. Maybe get a new job, maybe get pay rise, maybe get promotion. But it’s the confidence and clarity around having the skills that they can go to job interview. They can start their own business. They can go to their graduation ceremony in Westminster, invite their friends and family, wear the cap and gown, stand on stage, get a certificate. I mean, even when you just visualize that side of things, it’s a very powerful proposition.

So my point here is, is that when you are selling your products and services, and you are building your proposition ladder, you have to think about, not just of the features, but the benefits, and they have to sing. And this is why having a success pathway is a very visual way of getting those messages across. Instead of it just being a stagnant sales page, people can see the end to end. They can see what’s possible. And people can click on these areas, visit different pages on your website, and you start to get people understanding far quicker, what your brand is there for, the power behind that brand and how they can work with you.

So have a look at the success pathway. Have a look at our free resources online. Absolutely check out the workshops we’ve got. We’ve got guides. You all sorts of different things for inspiration, but if you just want to go and check out our offer ladder and look at how to build yours, I would love to know how you get on.

So please, please, please. You can follow me on all the social channels at Dawn McGruer, or you can follow the academy as well, obviously, at Business Consort.

Now a big push for me this year, LinkedIn is my absolute favorite network. I have been leveraging LinkedIn, this powerful network, for so many years that I have really kind of just neglected things like Instagram. So I’m pushing on Instagram at the moment. So I would love for you to come and follow @BusinessConsort and obviously @DawnMcGruer.

Now what I have actually just on, I have recorded 40 reels. You may have seen on my social media 40 reels. I’ve never done a reel in my life. So if you are panicked about Instagram, or Instagram is a tool for you, and you really want to push forward and get to that first 10,000 followers, come and follow the journey @BusinessConsort on Instagram. You will see my first reels. Literally, I did 14 a day, and they are going to all be posted out. So please, please, please come and join the channel. Let me know how you got on with the podcast.

And don’t forget, if you go and rate and review Digital Marketing Made Easy, the podcast by Dawn McGruer, we will give you a special gift. All you’ve got to do, do a rating, do a review, screenshot it, pop it on social media. Do not forget to tag @BusinessConsort. As soon as you do that, the team will be in touch, and they will send you a piece of our free merchandise, our digital marketing superhero hoodies, vests, t-shirts, mugs. You can choose which one you want.

So I hope you enjoyed this week’s episode, and I will see you on the next one. And don’t forget, come and check us out on social media. I’d love to hear how you’ve got on with designing your offer ladder.

It’s Digital Marketing Made Easy.

Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review the podcast. Take a screen and share on social media, and we will send you a special gift to say, thanks. Just remember to tag Business Consort in your post.

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