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Hey, my friend Adam here. In this video, I'm going to help you seriously level up your digital marketing game by showing you the marketing strategies that are actually working right now. Here's the thing. Digital marketing has been made
Learn essential digital marketing strategies for 2026 from Adam Erhart to boost your business with proven tactics and avoid common pitfalls.
Key Takeaways
- Focus on strategy before tactics to avoid wasted effort and poor results.
- Narrow down your target audience with detailed customer avatars for effective marketing.
- Digital marketing allows fast testing, optimization, and precise targeting at a lower cost than traditional marketing.
- A well-structured marketing funnel is key to converting interest into sales consistently.
- Choose marketing channels based on your business model and audience presence, not trends or shiny objects.
Summary
- Digital marketing is simpler than it seems and involves how people discover, trust, and buy from you online.
- Digital marketing offers advantages over traditional marketing including reach, precision targeting, cost efficiency, speed, and real-time tracking.
- Understanding the difference between marketing strategy and tactics is crucial; strategy is the plan, tactics are the execution.
- Adam introduces a five-part marketing master plan: model, market, message, media, and machine.
- The business model must be profitable, enjoyable, and aligned with market demand.
- Defining a specific target market with demographic, geographic, and psychographic details is essential.
- Crafting a message that resonates emotionally with your audience builds trust and converts browsers into buyers.
- Choosing the right media channels should come after clarifying your model, market, and message to avoid wasted effort.
- Building an automated marketing funnel (the machine) transforms strangers into loyal customers.
- The video also covers the importance of balancing organic and paid marketing and matching marketing goals with the right approach.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Digital Marketing and Its Simplicity
- 01:04Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing
- 02:17Advantages of Digital Marketing: Speed and Tracking
- 03:25Strategy vs Tactics: The Foundation of Marketing
- 04:35Creating an Ideal Customer Avatar
- 05:44Avoiding Shiny Object Syndrome in Media Selection
- 06:54Building the Marketing Machine: Funnels and Automation
- 08:01Organic vs Paid Marketing: Choosing the Right Approach
- 09:15Direct Response vs Brand Awareness Campaigns
- 11:35Tailoring Marketing for Products vs Services
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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to seem way more complicated than it actually is. And that's a shame because once you get it, it's actually pretty simple. Digital marketing isn't just about ads or emails. It's how people discover you and trust you and decide to
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buy from you. But most beginners waste months on the wrong platforms or tactics. But after over a decade of building marketing campaigns for brands like Google, Amazon, and Meta, I've realized there are only a few key things you actually need to understand. And
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that's exactly what I'm going to share with you in this short video. So, if you want to avoid the biggest traps and skip the guesswork and finally start seeing real results, then stick around because by the end of this video, you will be a
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better digital marketer. So, let's dive in. So, the first thing I want to share with you is how digital marketing stacks up against traditional marketing. Get ready. This might sound big, but honestly, it's not that deep. And that's
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what makes it kind of cool. Here's the deal. Digital marketing is just marketing done with digital tools.
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That's it. I'm talking SEO. That's how you get found on Google, social media, paid ads on Instagram or Facebook, email, your website. Basically, anything that happens online. Now, compare that to traditional marketing. Things like TV and radio, newspapers, magazines,
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billboards. Basically, anything that's not digital. The truth is that traditional marketing still works. There's no doubt about it. But digital's got some big wins that you need to know.
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Which is why for most businesses most of the time, digital marketing strategies are going to be the ones that you want to focus on. And here's why. First, reach. With digital, you can hit billions of people. Anyone with a phone
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or a laptop is fair game. Second, precision. You don't need or want to try to market to everyone. More on that later. What you really want are the right people, like handpicking the perfect crowd, and digital marketing allows you to do that way easier. Third,
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cost. Digital is way cheaper than, say, a New York Times ad or, yikes, a Super Bowl spot. Those kind of placements are built to try to reach everyone, which means you're going to be paying a ton of money to reach a whole lot of people
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that are simply not your ideal customers. But the real kicker here is speed. Traditional marketing takes forever. You write the marketing message, you design it, you send it to print, and then you wait for it to show up in front of your audience. What this
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means is that there's weeks, maybe even months before you know if your marketing campaign worked or not. But with digital marketing, you can launch an ad or create a new post and have it online in minutes. Almost instantly, you can see
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what works, tweak it if you need to, and get immediate feedback and results. And because all of this is happening online, you've got a digital trail. You can track clicks, costs, conversions, anything right there in real time.
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Compare that to waiting months for, say, a magazine ad that tells you, well, basically nothing. At best, someone might fill out a form or visit your website, bringing you right back to digital anyway. So, yeah, digital's got some pretty clear perks here, but don't
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sleep on traditional, especially after you've already mastered all of the digital platforms, as it does still have its place. The real trick here is to zoom out, focus on the big stuff, strategy fundamentals and understanding what makes people click
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and buy. Get those things right and you can win with digital, traditional, or whatever comes next.
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Okay. Next, let me walk you through a really important distinction that you need to make and understand, which is the difference between marketing strategy and marketing tactics. If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right, but you're still not
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seeing results, this is why. It's because you're focused on tactics before locking in strategy. And here's the facts. Tactics without strategy, that's just noise and a whole lot of motion that's getting you nowhere fast.
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Strategy is the plan. Tactics are the actions used to execute that plan. To get real results, you need to build your foundation first. I call this the marketing master plan, and it's made up of five parts. Part one is the model.
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This is your business setup, what you sell, how you price it, and how it gets delivered. But here's the key. To succeed long-term, your business model needs to be profitable, fun to run, because there's no point in building a
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business that you secretly resent. And you need to be selling something that the market actually wants and is willing to pay for. Now, I appreciate that last part. Sounds pretty obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many businesses mess
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this up by failing to do even just a little bit of market research ahead of time in order to determine whether someone is going to buy and want what they're selling or not. Step two is the market. These are your people. Now,
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please, I'm begging you, when someone asks you who your target market is, do not say everyone or anyone with a credit card. You want to be specific here. In other words, who exactly are they? What do they believe? What do they want? In
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marketing, we try to create something called an ideal customer avatar that's made up of the following three categories. First is demographic details. These are things like age and gender and income and occupation. Next are the geographic details like what
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city, state, province or country they live in. And finally, and most importantly of all, are the psychographic details like what are their values, their attitudes, their beliefs, their lifestyles. You want to dial this in until you can describe your
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target market better than they can describe themselves. Step three is the message. Now that you know who your people are, it's time to speak their language. Do this by talking directly to their struggles. Show them that you understand them. And then show them how
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your business can help solve all of their problems. This is where stories and testimonials and real results turn browsers into believers. Customers don't buy when they understand. They buy when they feel understood. Step four is media. Now, and only now, do you pick
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the channels and platforms that you're going to do your marketing on. YouTube, email, Instagram, podcasting, it all works if it matches your model, market, and message. By far, one of the biggest mistakes that new business owners and marketers make is starting here at media
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first. Picking a platform before they've worked through their model, their market, and their message. Big mistake.
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And this is where shiny object syndrome lives and burns your time and money if you're not prepared for it. After all, there's nothing worse than sinking your time and your money and your energy into a strategy or a platform where none of
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your ideal customers are even present or active. Step five is the machine. This is the part that most people skip, but it's the difference between a hobby and a business. Your machine is your marketing funnel, the system that turns
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strangers into subscribers and subscribers into customers. A marketing funnel is really just a fancy word for the process that a customer goes through from having no idea who you are all the way through to becoming a lifelong loyal
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customer that loves you and loves what you do. Every business has a funnel whether they know it or not. For an online business, the funnel usually looks like traffic, which could be generated from a social media post, an
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ad, or a video, which then takes someone to an opt-in page where they can enter their email to get access to more information. Then an email follow-up series that nurtures that lead by providing value an
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conversion tool in order to make the sale, which could be a sales call, a checkout page, anything that allows your customers to buy. The point is, your machine makes everything repeatable, predictable, and scalable. Think of your machine like a vending machine. People
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put in their attention, maybe through a freebie, a lead magnet, or a webinar, and out comes a sale, a booking, or a new subscriber. It's your behindthescenes system that runs on autopilot, converting interest into income again and again, like magic.
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Money magic. Marketing money magic. And when you put all five parts together, model market message media machine you've got a strategy built to last, a marketing master plan that makes everything else easier. So, what about tactics then? Well, tactics are the
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micro moves. These are things like posting frequency or the style of message or hook you use, the ad tweaks you make, like swapping out images for videos, headlines, subject lines, hashtags, and whether to use them or not, memes, all that kind of stuff.
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Strategy picks the game. Tactics help you play it better. Or here's the simplest way to think about it. Strategy is choosing the right battlefield to fight on. And tactics are how you win that fight. Pick the wrong battlefield.
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And again, doesn't matter how good you are or how good your moves are, you ain't winning cuz you ain't fighting anybody cuz you're all alone. Okay.
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Next, let's talk about organic versus paid media. Because getting this right can both save and make you a whole lot more money.
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So, now that you've got your marketing master plan locked in, well, let's move on to something that trips up a lot of people, which is organic versus paid marketing. get this wrong and you'll either waste a ton of time or you'll
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burn through cash with nothing to show for it. Neither of which is fun, by the way. First up, organic. Organic marketing is anything you post without paying to promote it. Think your YouTube videos, Instagram stories, blog posts, emails, any content you create to
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attract people without putting ad dollars behind it. Now, it's not totally technically free, per se, because you're still investing time and energy and maybe some money in tools or production, but since you're not paying to push it further, it's considered organic. Then
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there's paid marketing. Paid marketing is when you spend money to get your stuff in front of more people. Think Facebook ads, Instagram ads, YouTube ads, Google ads. Pretty much every platform has its own version of its advertising. So, which one's better?
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Organic or paid? Well, the truth is both. I know it's kind of a copout answer, but the fact is that organic is great for building trust and depth, but it's slow. Well, paid is powerful for speed and scale, but it costs money. So,
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really, it comes down to one thing. Do you want to invest time or money? For example, if you're posting three reels a week on Instagram, that's organic and it helps people discover you over time. On the other hand, if you're running a $10
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a day ad campaign to promote your free guide or offer, that's paid and it puts your content in front of your ideal audience. Now, both of them work. You just need to know which lever to pull.
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That said, most businesses should usually start with organic to prove their message, then scale it with paid once they found a proven winner. Because when you combine the two, that's when the real growth starts. Okay, next, let's dive into one of my favorite parts
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of marketing because this is where all of this strategy starts turning into real traction. You're going to love this.
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Okay, so we've talked strategy, media, and organic versus paid. Now, time to talk about one of my favorite topics in all of marketing, direct response marketing versus brand awareness marketing. And this is where a lot of people get mixed up. First, direct
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response marketing. This one's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You're putting out content that asks for a clear action, a direct response. Things like, "Buy now, click here, sign up, book a call, download this." In other words, you're asking someone to do
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something. And the beauty of this is that you can track it. You know what's working and what's not, and you know it almost instantly. Run a Facebook ad and get leads. Send an email and watch for signups. Drop a YouTube video with a
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call to action and track the free trials that you generate. That is direct response. It's fast. It's measurable and it's ROI, return on investment focused.
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Now, flip the script. Brand awareness marketing. This one's all about playing the long game. It's not about clicks today. It's about building trust and credibility and staying top of mind. In other words, your focus here isn't on chasing a sale right away. Instead,
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you're planting seeds. Think reputation, visibility, recognition. Less buy now, more remember me. There are two major challenges, though, when it comes to brand awareness marketing. The first is that you can't always measure it. After all, unlike direct response marketing,
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where we can actually count how many clicks something gets, with brand awareness marketing, well, it's a lot harder to track how well someone remembers you 90, 180, or 365 days down the road. After all, you don't get a
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notification when someone starts trusting your brand. Oh, looks like they trust me now. The second problem is that brand awareness marketing is simply not as effective at making a sale as compared to direct response marketing.
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And a lot of business owners and marketers get sucked into the trap of trying to build a brand at the cost of losing sales today. But here's the biggest trap of all, and it's a big one.
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People run a brand awareness campaign, but expect direct response results. That's a recipe for disappointment. Kind of like baking a cake and getting mad when it tastes like bread. Wrong recipe, wrong expectations. So, what should you do? Well, it's simple. Use the right
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tool for the right job. If you want leads or sales, go direct response. If you want long-term brand love and loyalty, build awareness. That said, and I feel very strongly about this, for most people most of the time, and I'm
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talking like 90% of the people, 90% of the time, you're going to be far better off by focusing almost exclusively on direct response marketing and treating any brand awareness that comes along for the ride as an added bonus. That's how
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you build a business that not only grows fast, but also sticks around long term.
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Okay, next up, let's talk about another topic that steers a lot of people wrong.
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Search versus discovery marketing. Okay, so this is another big one that you need to get right if you want to win at digital marketing. Search versus discovery are two completely different beasts. And the key difference between them comes down to just one single word,
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intent. It all comes down to why someone is on a platform in the first place.
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First up, search marketing. Think Google, Bing, Yahoo, YouTube, any search engine really. YouTube's a bit of a mixed bag, but more on that in a minute.
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People go to a search engine with a mission. They're looking for an answer, a product, a tutorial, a solution. So, when someone types in best protein powder or how to fix a leaking tap, they're not just browsing. They're
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buying or learning or doing. In other words, they have intent. And that intent is your cue as a marketer to show up and solve their problem. And you can do this primarily through SEO, search engine optimization, which helps your content
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rank organically at the top of the search engines, or something like Google ads, the pay-per-click ads that put you at the top instantly. This is high intent, high value, and when done right, converts like crazy. Now, flip to
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discovery marketing. This is your social scroll zone. Think Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, even YouTube, depending on how people are using it. Like I said before, YouTube's a bit of both. If someone types in a question, well, that's search. If they're just browsing the
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homepage or scrolling shorts, that's discovery. In discovery mode, people aren't actively searching. They're killing time. They're chilling out.
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They're maybe open to something cool, but they're not typing in best CRM for startups. This is why when it comes to discovery marketing, your primary job if you want to turn attention into sales is to stop the scroll, entertain, intrigue,
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educate, do whatever you have to do to make them want to know more and then lead them somewhere valuable. Discovery marketing is about earning attention, not capturing intent. So, which one's better, search or discovery? Well, much like with our whole organic versus paid
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discussion, the truth is that both search and discovery are powerful, but they do work differently. With search marketing, you meet people where they're already searching. With discovery marketing, you interrupt the scroll with something worth watching. Use the wrong
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approach at the wrong time, and all you'll do is burn money or waste effort.
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Okay. Next, let's talk about another big one, which is the difference between marketing products and marketing services. If you sell any kind of service, this is one that you're really going to want to pay attention to because most of the marketing advice out
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there wasn't made for you. And following it is losing you sales and costing you clients. So, let's fix that. Now, here's the deal. Most marketing books and courses and how-tos and tutorials were written with selling products in mind,
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not services. You know, products, stuff you can pick up, unbox, touch, taste, hold, that kind of thing. But selling and marketing services is a totally different game. Services are intangible.
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You can't see them. You can't touch them. You can't show them off the same way. And in many cases, people have to pay upfront without ever trying what you offer. Which means if you're running a service-based business and using
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product-based marketing tactics, you're setting yourself up for frustration. Let me break it down, though. With products, you can show what it looks like. You can demo how it works, and you can highlight features and perks. Take this pen for
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example. Well, the lid or the cap here is a feature. The perk or the benefit is that it keeps ink off my clothes when I'm not using it. The clip here on the pen lid, convenience. I can hook it onto
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my notebook or on my pocket if I had one. And those tiny little holes in the top of the lid, they're a safety feature so you don't choke if you accidentally swallow it. True story. The point is, you can see the value. But with
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services, you don't have that luxury. There's no easy way to make a demo video of a life coach fixing your confidence.
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No screenshot for trust. no way to pick up, touch, or hold the emotional end result that someone feels after their car gets fixed or their lawn gets mowed or their window gets cleaned or their taxes get filed on time. You're selling
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something invisible, which means you've got to market it in a completely different way. So, how do you do that?
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Well, the key here is that you don't sell the service, you sell the transformation. In other words, what was your client's life like before working with you and what's life like after?
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Here's a quick example. Let's say you're a business coach. Your client starts off overwhelmed, stuck with no clear plan on how to accomplish their goals. But after working with you, they've got a road map. They've hired their first team
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member and their revenue is finally growing after being stuck at the same income for over 2 years. That's what you market. Not the sessions, not the service, the transformation. First, shine a light on the pain they're in now. Not to be a jerk about it, but to
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show them that you understand where they are and what they're going through. Then, paint a clear, irresistible picture of what's possible on the other side. Products show features. Services sell feelings, outcomes, and results.
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And the more clearly you can describe their problem and the transformation you provide, the more that you become the obvious choice. So selling services is different than selling products. But another factor is who you're selling to, a business or a consumer, which is why
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it's also important to understand the differences in marketing between B2B and B TOC. So let me break that down for you now.
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Okay, let's talk about the difference between B2B and B TOC. Simple terms, but the difference between them is everything. B2B means businessto business. Here you're selling to companies, businesses, organizations. B TOC means business to consumer. Here you're selling directly to regular
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people, customers, consumers. Again, easy to define, but totally different to market to. B2B marketing is usually about fewer customers, bigger deals, longer sales cycles, more decision makers, and usually benefits from logic heavy pitches that focus on ROI, return
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on investment, focus on process, and focuses on outcomes. BTOC, on the other hand, is all about reaching everyday people. It involves simpler, faster buying decisions, and usually benefits from more emotion-driven messaging that focuses on desire, identity, and lifestyle. With B2B marketing, your
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audience is much smaller and more focused. So, you've got to make sure that every pitch counts. With BTOC marketing, you're playing a slightly larger volume game and trying to get in front of more eyeballs more often. That said, quick warning here. If you're
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marketing B toC, that does not give you permission to just start going after anybody with a pulse. You still need to be selective and clearly identify your ideal target market using everything that we talked about before. As a
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general concept here, B2B buyers want to feel smart and safe, and B TOC buyers want to feel seen and excited. And hey, if you're sitting there thinking, "That was great, but how do I actually put this all into action?" I've got you.
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Right now, I'm giving away my entire digital marketing system 100% free. Just check the link in the descriptions below the video to get instant access to the exact tools and templates I use to build campaigns, my plug-and-play automations,
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and a 30-day extended free trial of the same marketing software that I use to run all of it. These are the exact same systems I've used to generate millions in revenue from solo creators to billion-dollar brands like Google,
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Amazon, and Meta. So, if you're ready to stop guessing, start growing, and finally build a marketing system that brings in leads and sales on autopilot, this is your next move. No fluff, just what actually works. So, feel free to
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check that out now if you're interested. And if you're a service-based business, whether you're a coach, consultant, agency owner, or other service professional, I've got another video linked up right here with my top strategies to help you attract clients
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and grow your business. So, feel free to tap or click that now and I'll see you in there in just a
Topics:digital marketingmarketing strategymarketing tacticscustomer avatarmarketing funnelorganic marketingpaid marketingdigital vs traditional marketingmarketing planAdam Erhart
