From: alexhormozi
For businesses generating less than $1 million in revenue, a primary challenge is that “nobody knows you exist” [00:00:23]. Addressing this fundamental problem of obscurity is crucial for growth [00:00:30].
Strategies to Combat Obscurity: The Core Four
The first four hours of every day should be dedicated to moving from obscurity to awareness [00:00:32]. This is achieved through the “Core Four” methods, where you pick one and go all in [00:00:47]:
- Outreach (Cold or Warm): Reaching out to people you know or don’t know [00:00:41].
- Content Creation: Making more content [00:00:45].
- Running Ads: Utilizing paid advertising [00:00:45].
Advertising as a “Boom”
Advertising is considered a “boom” – a business order of magnitude change [00:01:01]. While optimizations like increasing close rates or conversion rates are capped at 100%, advertising can realistically 100x the number of people who discover your business [00:01:20]. Small business owners often fall into an “optimization mouse trap,” focusing on small percentage gains rather than massive lead generation [00:01:31].
Marketplace Perception vs. Reality
Many entrepreneurs perceive their marketplace as limited, especially when competitors enter [00:01:45]. However, the market is significantly larger than typically imagined [00:02:06]. For example, a gym owner needing only 200 members can thrive even in a city of one million people with multiple competing gyms [00:02:53]. This highlights that a business is often “a tiny little speck” that most people don’t even know exists [00:03:19].
Shrink Your Competition by Growing
Instead of trying to beat competitors, the strategy is to grow so large that your competition shrinks into irrelevance by comparison [00:03:23]. This involves becoming “so loud that no one else can hear them” [00:05:11]. The alternative is to “kill them with kindness” by not proving them wrong, but by demonstrating kindness, which makes competitors look bad by comparison [00:08:19].
The Power of Repetition
When you feel tired of your own advertising, most people still don’t even know your first name [00:06:40]. It’s a fallacy to think saying something once means everyone has heard it [00:06:53]. People need to be reminded more than they need to be taught [00:07:58].
Clear, Not Clever
Effective communication is paramount. High-converting ads often use language at a low grade level because it lowers the barrier to comprehension [00:10:41]. The rule is “clear not clever” [00:11:25]. Speaking in a broken-down manner helps experts understand easily and beginners understand for the first time [00:11:43]. This principle applies to all communications, including landing pages, ad copy, and content [00:11:30].
To test this, run your emails through a reading grading level app and aim for a fifth-grade minimum, or third-grade if possible [00:14:37]. An example showed a 50% increase in conversion after simplifying email follow-ups [00:14:46].
Proof Over Promise
While a compelling offer is important, proof is even more critical [00:15:38]. Prioritize gathering testimonials, reviews, and feedback, even by working for free initially to get beta users [00:16:39]. The most compelling way to advertise is to “show, don’t sell” [00:17:26]. The messenger is inextricably linked to the message [00:18:06]. It’s better to “do epic stuff first, then talk about what you did” [00:18:17].
The Power of the Hook
The hook is “greater than everything” because no one will see your proof unless you have a good hook [00:19:30]. Obsessing over the first impression (visual and verbal hooks) can drastically increase engagement and conversion rates [00:22:03]. A proven hook formula is “proof, promise, plan” [00:21:20]. Even small changes, like cutting three seconds from a video, can lead to a 19x improvement in views [00:23:20].
Do More of What Works
Growth strategies typically fall into “more, better, or new” [00:23:46]. While entrepreneurs often gravitate towards “new” (shiny object syndrome), the most effective and highest risk-adjusted return strategy is “more” – doubling down on what’s already working [00:24:05]. If a sales person closes at 30%, hiring three more is a 300% improvement, far greater than trying to optimize one person to 40% [00:25:18]. Prioritizing tasks for business success by focusing on more means:
- Increasing daily outreach from 100 to 200 [00:25:51].
- Increasing daily ad spend from 200 [00:25:54].
- Increasing content posts from once to twice a day [00:25:55].
What appears as volatility in sales (e.g., one sale a week) is often a symptom of low volume [00:29:15]. Successful businesses often do a thousand times more than beginners realize [00:30:10].
The Impact of Word-of-Mouth
Negative word-of-mouth is significantly stronger and faster than positive word-of-mouth [00:30:50]. While good experiences are shared with about five people, bad experiences are shared widely [00:31:05]. If costs per lead increase while cost per impression remains stable, it indicates that fewer people are responding, suggesting negative word-of-mouth is working against you [00:31:41].
”Steal” From Yourself
Once something is working, like an ad hook or a process, continue to reuse it [00:34:31]. You will get bored of it far before your customers do [00:34:43]. A proven ratio suggests dedicating 70% of effort to carbon-copying what works, 20% to adjacent variations, and only 10% to entirely new things [00:34:58].
Emotional vs. Logical Buyers (Information Continuum)
Instead of “emotional” vs. “logical” buyers, think of a continuum from low-information buyers (who buy immediately) to high-information buyers (who require more education) [00:37:34]. The pool of low-information buyers is small, while high-information buyers are a magnitude greater [00:38:31]. To scale, you must educate a higher percentage of the audience [00:39:21].
Eugene Schwarz’s five levels of awareness describe how customers move from unaware to most aware [00:39:31]:
- Unaware: Reach with broad curiosity [00:40:11].
- Problem Aware: Target with recognized pain points [00:40:41].
- Solution Aware: Help them select between potential solutions [00:41:00].
- Product Aware: More micro-level awareness [00:41:07].
- Most Aware: Typically existing customers; direct offers work here [00:41:09].
To scale, a 70/30 ratio of “give” (storytelling, education) to “ask” (direct sales) is effective, though returns may take time (e.g., 18 months for New Balance) [00:42:17]. This means focusing 70% of impressions on giving value rather than directly asking for sales [00:43:00].
Marketing Laws
- State the Facts and Tell the Truth: This forces you to change reality by doing “epic stuff” first, then telling a truthful story, rather than exaggerating an underwhelming one [00:48:35]. This is the best long-term strategy [00:49:15].
- Show What Only You Can Show: Identify and highlight something unique about your business, even if it requires slicing data narrowly [00:49:49].
- Say What Only You Can Say: Describe your unique attributes in a way that differentiates you [00:51:32].
The goal is to be “the best in a puddle,” not necessarily the best in the world [00:52:04]. Being the best at something, however niche, is more compelling for advertising [00:52:08].
The Importance of the List (Targeting)
Many businesses fail because they are showing their advertisements to the wrong people [00:54:49]. The first thing to get right in marketing is targeting the correct audience [00:55:00]. Ensure your content and the people in your ads match the avatar you’re trying to attract [00:56:37]. If nothing is converting, it’s typically because the wrong people are seeing it [00:58:30].
Masters Have More Ways to Win
Masters in any field have a higher quality and quantity of metrics they use to measure progress [00:59:13]. Beginners often rely on binary outcomes (sold/didn’t sell, leads/no leads) [01:00:27]. Having detailed milestones and progress markers allows for fixing issues along the way to achieve the desired outcome [01:00:38]. Look for “directional correctness” (moving in the right direction) rather than just binary success [01:02:25]. Masters use more “leading indicators” to success, while beginners focus on “lagging indicators” like churn or revenue [01:02:53].