APRIL 26, 2024

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Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-weekly newsletter for content entrepreneurs.

Help Your Customers Climb the Ladder

In a content business, you always want to retain your audience and turn them into repeat customers. So, you need to build a framework that lets them do just that. An “offer ladder” could be the ideal solution.

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, a previous CEX presenter, shares five things to do to create a ladder for your audience to help them and your bottom line.

1. Think of your audience as members, not customers: In business, sales and marketing teams usually adopt a customer mentality. They focus on how the customer researches, purchases, and refers. However, as a content entrepreneur, you would do better to think of the audience members. It’s all about how to get them to engage, invest, and evangelize.

“A customer wants to buy. Members think about investing in something they believe in,” John says.

2. Start with the Know rung: This step is about free content and outreach partnerships to bring in organic traffic. At least twice a month, John does a webinar for another business to educate and connect with their audience. He shares problem-specific calls to action and the places where they can get more information on what he’s talking about in the webinar.

You could do webinars for others, be a guest on a podcast, or write an article for a site with an audience you want to attract.

3. Add the Like: Once someone raises their hand to indicate interest, most businesses do the upsell. But that’s a rung in this offer ladder. Think “like” and not in the social media sense. Instead, seek to strengthen your connection to the new audience member. John sells workbooks at a nominal price ($17 to $102) and includes a call with an adviser.

4. Get their Trust: After finding value in your free and lower-priced content, the audience member will ask, “What else do you have?” In John’s case, the next level involves self-guided training ($199) and a subscription to their academy – a digital library of sorts – at $49 a month.

The primary purpose of the first three rungs of the offer ladder – Know, Like, and Trust – isn’t revenue. They’re designed to engage the new member and strengthen their connection to the business. It’s all about creating WTP – willingness to pay.

5. Add the Try, Buy, Repeat, and Refer rungs: At the Try rung, you sell something to help the member address their immediate need or problem. In John’s case, the offer is problem-specific coaching ($1.5K to $3K).

Once the member has sampled a higher-priced ticket item, they are more likely to step up to the Buy rung – your premium product offer. For John, that’s membership in a flagship program and network ($7.5K to $10K).

Now, the real magic begins in the member relationship – give them the chance to move up to the Repeat (retention) rung by purchasing or renewing their purchase of your product. (John offers small group, short-term cohorts priced at $5K to $400K.)

Get the paying member to the Refer rung by offering them a value-added service for referring high-quality members. For John, that value-add is a free, invitation-only mastermind group. His participating customers get automatic admission and the ability to invite a few people to join.

Once they become customers, you should double down on the value, giving them the ability and the tool to introduce you to somebody else who needs what they’re getting. The ROI is ridiculous. They become strategic partners, John says.

What would your offer ladder look like? Share with us on LinkedIn.

Helpful Resources:

• ​The Audience vs. Community Royal Rumble​
• ​Work the Workbook​

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