How to Start Marketing Before Your Offer Is Ready To Sell

Two techniques to save you from wasting time on products that won’t be welcomed by your market.

Image by Nick Fewings on Unsplash.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners often believe the sequence “Idea → Create Offer → Start Marketing.”

It sounds logical, doesn’t it?

Truth is, if you wait till you’ve got a finished product, you’ve waited too long. You need to get some signs of success before committing to production and creation. The correct sequence is

Idea → Start Marketing → Create Offer

There’s a good section in a book published several years ago, with the memorable title of A Year Without Pants. That was pre-pandemic, before the days of widespread telecommuting.

The author worked for the company that made Wordpress.com. They created marketing materials before they implemented features, which raises the question, “How do you write about something that doesn’t exist?”

I encourage my own clients to do 2 things when they launch a new product or service — before creating the program or product itself. First, write the sales page. Second, tell a story about the product from the client’s perspective.

Write the Sales Page

A sales page helps you revisit your purpose. You’re forced to ask these questions:
“Why do prospects need this product?
What problem does it solve?
What benefits does it offer?”

When you start to answer those questions, your entire marketing campaign becomes easier to execute. You might realize that you need to…

… revise the sections, chapters, or stages of your program

… go back and redesign the program because the benefits aren’t visible

…get busy and start selling: you’ve got a winner here!

I once created a program that sounded impressive. When I shared the idea, my colleagues were enthused and urged me to “Go for it!”

But when I finally wrote the sales page I realized that my concept was indeed brilliant, but couldn’t relate to tangible benefits for my readers. I ended up scrapping the project and…