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The Ultimate Marketing Engine: 5 Steps to Ridiculously Consistent Growth
A step-by-step system for creating customers and clients for life. In a world that’s difficult for business professionals to cut through noise to create relationships with their customers, organizations that focus on converting their customers to members and helping them achieve lasting transformation rather than simply offering the transaction of the moment are winning. The Ultimate Marketing Engine teaches you how to develop a system to take every customer from where they are to where they want to be by building on the innovative principles first brought to the marketing world in Duct Tape Marketing and honed over three decades of working with thousands of businesses. In this book, you will This bookintroduces the Customer Success Track, an innovative new approach to marketing strategy that will transform how you view your business, your marketing and how you view every customer. The Ultimate Marketing Engine will help you take control of your marketing while creating ridiculously consistent business growth.
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
224 pages, Paperback
Published September 21, 2021
39 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
John Jantsch
28 books84 followersJohn Jantsch is a small business marketing speaker, marketing consultant, and bestselling author of Duct Tape Marketing, Duct Tape Selling, The Commitment Engine, The Referral Engine, and The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur.
Look for The Ultimate Marketing Engine out Sept 2021.
Look for The Ultimate Marketing Engine out Sept 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 7, 2023
It’s fine. Marketing 101 for small business owners. Basically listen to your best customers and regurgitate what they have to say to attract new, better customers.
November 17, 2024
This is a great practical guide with an interesting view on the customer buying journey:
Creating a marketing engine means helping your customers go from where they are now, to where they want to arrive, to experience the transformation they seek, and to get the best result possible - think about what it takes to help a customer succeed.
Marketing hourglass instead of funnel:
7 behaviours: know, like, trust, try, buy, repeat and refer.
- don’t expect customer to jump from know to buy
- Like, trust and try phase will educate prospective consumer on value of doing business with you, on how it will solve their problems
- As human beings we are wired to talk about and refer companies that surprise and exceed expectations
Think about your customers as members instead
- the goal is to help every member get the transformation they are seeking, not the product you are selling
- Map out journey from prospect to customer to raving fan, you may discover gaps in hand offs from one department to another.
Instead of thinking, how can we get people to buy this new product, ask how can we get 100% of people who eventually buy this new product to tell their friends about it?
The marketing hourglass is the entire region or map of your marketing system, and the CST is the zoomed in view of how you serve your customers
CST = customer success track
Foundation, level-up, organise, stabilise, scale
The CST asks you to look at where you are today, and map out where you want to get to.
The review method: Read through your product reviews and note down the key words and phrases that come up the most (put a tally against them). Turn a simple review into a marketing strategy but developing a core message of difference that offers precisely what your ideal customers value. You may find recurring themes in the reviews the make a great blog post topic, FAQs, email subject lines or ad copy.
- Searching for themes in the negative and positive reviews of your toughest competitors could lead to a sales advantage or spark an idea about something you can do better.
“Trigger problems” - your customers don’t know how to solve their problems, but they usually know how they feel or look. People aren’t necessarily searching for your solution, but a way to address the problem they feel.
Create a problem solving matrix that ties all your trigger problems to your potential solutions
The problem summary statement - once you have worked out the problems that your ideal customers want you to solve, the goal is to craft a one-line message that helps you communicate the core problem you solve.
This should be an impactful declaration that a first-time visitor to your website should encounter - ATF, big and bold.
Marry your ideal customer’s problem with your story, promise or key difference.
“You know how [insert problem]? Well, we [insert difference or promise] e.g. You know what a drag it is to wash your windows? Well, its in our blood, we love washing windows that we even invented a solution that makes them shine. This translated into a one-liner: your pane is our passion.
Sometime the best approach is a clear, straightforward statement.
As you craft it, use the following filters to check you are on track:
1. Instant moment of clarity - land on a phrase that gives the reader an instant understanding of the challenge they are facing
2. Emotional impact - can you create a physical sensation? e.g. loving to do something people hate doing.
3. Promise to solve a problem - here is what we do, which is awesome because we know that solves your problem.
Profitable customers
Think about which segment of your current customer base offers the greatest opportunity for long-term, monthly recurring revenue (MRR).
Rank customers according to most profitable to least profitable - you may be losing money on the bottom 20% of your list.
Building personas:
- What problems are they trying to solve?
- What behaviours help you identify them?
- What objections must you overcome?
- Where do they get their information - books, websites, social platforms?
- What do they look like (demographics, psychographics…)?
Create your core story script
This story will have many uses - tell it in a video on your homepage, as an element of a presentation, as a welcome email in a sequence for new subscribers:
- Define the problem that exists today
- Explain the outside force driving the problem (villain)
- Pain the picture of the reader’s world without the problem
- Explain that a solution exists today (wise mentor)
- Call the reader to take action
Note: the hero of your story may not be aware of their problem, look beyond the surface level pain point - frequently, what actually plagues your hero at their core is something emotional, not practical.
Consider how your story has the potential to influence your prospective customer along the stages of the marketing hourglass:
- Know & like: give them the opportunity to get to know the characters
- Trust & try: know they know their problems, introduce your solution - make case for expertise
- Buy: step-by-step guidance to understand solution on offer (how-to tutorials, customer support)
- Repeat & Refer: if you have told story well and delivered on promise, they likely will return again/refer
Homepage - should clearly outline story front & centre - short, sweet, high level view of the story. Then create other content which is grounded in your story - share across social to email to video…
Creating a core story is one of the most effective ways to connect on an emotional level with customers.
Content Mapping
To create a content roadmap for the marketing hourglass, address the following questions
1. What questions do my prospects and customers have at each stage?
2. What objectives are they trying to achieve at each stage?
3. What content will I need to help power each stage? >> use the content by stage worksheet
Three key channels of content:
- website: blog posts, landing pages, case studies, podcasts
- Shared content: live streams, articles, social media posts
- Content to drive specific outcomes: email follow-up funnels, newsletters, promotions.
Monthly Themes & Campaigns
1. Zoom out and take global view of entire year - plan for seasonal aspects, campaign launches etc. Break down important topics, seasonal themes, key problems customers trying to solve. This document is never really finished and hould be up for review on at least a quarterly basis.
2. Quarterly objectives and priorities - identify the point of your content. What are the three most important goals or priorities you have for the next quarter? (Different to goals for the year e.g. you may have yearly goal to launch a new product, so for this quarter your content goal could be to start building an email list of people interested in the topic related to your new initiative. Another example - you want to launch a coaching program for your customer base, put that in the global plan then create a goal for the quarter to produce 50% of the content that maps to the CST in your plan to help your new coaching customers travel.
3. Carry out quarterly planning process/ goal setting at least a month before the current quarter is over
4. Monthly content calendar - use as a guide for everyone in the business who is involved in creating content. This commits you to a time based plan.
5. Quarterly review - set up KPIs for each piece of content and measure traffic, forms filled out etc.
Must have website elements
Promise - the promise you make to solve your ideal customers greatest problem
Story bits - elements of your core story script: why the problem exists and what life would be like if the problem were solved.
Ideal customers - pictures of real customers, testimonials, results
Trust elements - awards, certifications
Social proof - reviews, testimonials and even Facebook likes
Core offerings - include three or four most profitable offerings front and centre
More content - homepage is your best bet for ranking highly in search engines, so describe your services, ideal customers of the results the customer achieved. Lead customers on a journey (500-800 worlds)
Multiple calls to action - show visitors how to take the park that is best for them (have link to tiktok higher up to check us out?). Make a valuable asset they can receive in exchange for email
Google ranking
Trust and authority are two of the biggest ranking factors - create high quality internal linking between pages so Google elevates you
Content upgrade
Offer something that adds additional value to the related content they are reading e.g. a blog post that lays out the top 16 ways to do xyz May offer a free 16 point checklist to download
Creating a marketing engine means helping your customers go from where they are now, to where they want to arrive, to experience the transformation they seek, and to get the best result possible - think about what it takes to help a customer succeed.
Marketing hourglass instead of funnel:
7 behaviours: know, like, trust, try, buy, repeat and refer.
- don’t expect customer to jump from know to buy
- Like, trust and try phase will educate prospective consumer on value of doing business with you, on how it will solve their problems
- As human beings we are wired to talk about and refer companies that surprise and exceed expectations
Think about your customers as members instead
- the goal is to help every member get the transformation they are seeking, not the product you are selling
- Map out journey from prospect to customer to raving fan, you may discover gaps in hand offs from one department to another.
Instead of thinking, how can we get people to buy this new product, ask how can we get 100% of people who eventually buy this new product to tell their friends about it?
The marketing hourglass is the entire region or map of your marketing system, and the CST is the zoomed in view of how you serve your customers
CST = customer success track
Foundation, level-up, organise, stabilise, scale
The CST asks you to look at where you are today, and map out where you want to get to.
The review method: Read through your product reviews and note down the key words and phrases that come up the most (put a tally against them). Turn a simple review into a marketing strategy but developing a core message of difference that offers precisely what your ideal customers value. You may find recurring themes in the reviews the make a great blog post topic, FAQs, email subject lines or ad copy.
- Searching for themes in the negative and positive reviews of your toughest competitors could lead to a sales advantage or spark an idea about something you can do better.
“Trigger problems” - your customers don’t know how to solve their problems, but they usually know how they feel or look. People aren’t necessarily searching for your solution, but a way to address the problem they feel.
Create a problem solving matrix that ties all your trigger problems to your potential solutions
The problem summary statement - once you have worked out the problems that your ideal customers want you to solve, the goal is to craft a one-line message that helps you communicate the core problem you solve.
This should be an impactful declaration that a first-time visitor to your website should encounter - ATF, big and bold.
Marry your ideal customer’s problem with your story, promise or key difference.
“You know how [insert problem]? Well, we [insert difference or promise] e.g. You know what a drag it is to wash your windows? Well, its in our blood, we love washing windows that we even invented a solution that makes them shine. This translated into a one-liner: your pane is our passion.
Sometime the best approach is a clear, straightforward statement.
As you craft it, use the following filters to check you are on track:
1. Instant moment of clarity - land on a phrase that gives the reader an instant understanding of the challenge they are facing
2. Emotional impact - can you create a physical sensation? e.g. loving to do something people hate doing.
3. Promise to solve a problem - here is what we do, which is awesome because we know that solves your problem.
Profitable customers
Think about which segment of your current customer base offers the greatest opportunity for long-term, monthly recurring revenue (MRR).
Rank customers according to most profitable to least profitable - you may be losing money on the bottom 20% of your list.
Building personas:
- What problems are they trying to solve?
- What behaviours help you identify them?
- What objections must you overcome?
- Where do they get their information - books, websites, social platforms?
- What do they look like (demographics, psychographics…)?
Create your core story script
This story will have many uses - tell it in a video on your homepage, as an element of a presentation, as a welcome email in a sequence for new subscribers:
- Define the problem that exists today
- Explain the outside force driving the problem (villain)
- Pain the picture of the reader’s world without the problem
- Explain that a solution exists today (wise mentor)
- Call the reader to take action
Note: the hero of your story may not be aware of their problem, look beyond the surface level pain point - frequently, what actually plagues your hero at their core is something emotional, not practical.
Consider how your story has the potential to influence your prospective customer along the stages of the marketing hourglass:
- Know & like: give them the opportunity to get to know the characters
- Trust & try: know they know their problems, introduce your solution - make case for expertise
- Buy: step-by-step guidance to understand solution on offer (how-to tutorials, customer support)
- Repeat & Refer: if you have told story well and delivered on promise, they likely will return again/refer
Homepage - should clearly outline story front & centre - short, sweet, high level view of the story. Then create other content which is grounded in your story - share across social to email to video…
Creating a core story is one of the most effective ways to connect on an emotional level with customers.
Content Mapping
To create a content roadmap for the marketing hourglass, address the following questions
1. What questions do my prospects and customers have at each stage?
2. What objectives are they trying to achieve at each stage?
3. What content will I need to help power each stage? >> use the content by stage worksheet
Three key channels of content:
- website: blog posts, landing pages, case studies, podcasts
- Shared content: live streams, articles, social media posts
- Content to drive specific outcomes: email follow-up funnels, newsletters, promotions.
Monthly Themes & Campaigns
1. Zoom out and take global view of entire year - plan for seasonal aspects, campaign launches etc. Break down important topics, seasonal themes, key problems customers trying to solve. This document is never really finished and hould be up for review on at least a quarterly basis.
2. Quarterly objectives and priorities - identify the point of your content. What are the three most important goals or priorities you have for the next quarter? (Different to goals for the year e.g. you may have yearly goal to launch a new product, so for this quarter your content goal could be to start building an email list of people interested in the topic related to your new initiative. Another example - you want to launch a coaching program for your customer base, put that in the global plan then create a goal for the quarter to produce 50% of the content that maps to the CST in your plan to help your new coaching customers travel.
3. Carry out quarterly planning process/ goal setting at least a month before the current quarter is over
4. Monthly content calendar - use as a guide for everyone in the business who is involved in creating content. This commits you to a time based plan.
5. Quarterly review - set up KPIs for each piece of content and measure traffic, forms filled out etc.
Must have website elements
Promise - the promise you make to solve your ideal customers greatest problem
Story bits - elements of your core story script: why the problem exists and what life would be like if the problem were solved.
Ideal customers - pictures of real customers, testimonials, results
Trust elements - awards, certifications
Social proof - reviews, testimonials and even Facebook likes
Core offerings - include three or four most profitable offerings front and centre
More content - homepage is your best bet for ranking highly in search engines, so describe your services, ideal customers of the results the customer achieved. Lead customers on a journey (500-800 worlds)
Multiple calls to action - show visitors how to take the park that is best for them (have link to tiktok higher up to check us out?). Make a valuable asset they can receive in exchange for email
Google ranking
Trust and authority are two of the biggest ranking factors - create high quality internal linking between pages so Google elevates you
Content upgrade
Offer something that adds additional value to the related content they are reading e.g. a blog post that lays out the top 16 ways to do xyz May offer a free 16 point checklist to download
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2021
John Jantsch gets it right: the ultimate marketing engine for your company is a satisfied customer who is giving you referrals. How do you get programmatic about that? Jantsch has 5 steps: Map out where your customers are and where they want to go. Uncover real problems you can solve for them. Narrow your focus to the top 20% of those folks. Attract more customers like these. Scale by paying attention to these customers' ecosystems. (This last is especially critical for continued growth and is often ignored.)
Rinse and repeat, as the cliche has it. Jantsch has captured something important about marketing, sales, and customers, and this book will be useful to most small businesses.
Rinse and repeat, as the cliche has it. Jantsch has captured something important about marketing, sales, and customers, and this book will be useful to most small businesses.
January 12, 2025
Author recommends us to change our mindset about customer. He introduces “customers as members” idea and ask us to build all our marketing based on it. This mindset was interesting for me. He also introduces hourglass and CTS concept for managing better your marketing process. But others part of the book was not so interesting for me. Author refers to his website a lot, I did not like it.
February 3, 2023
Don’t do what I did
I checked this book out from my local library, but I’m going to have to go back and purchase it. It’s got so much to go through that I’m going back through it in stages as I come through the process. Don’t check it out, just go straight to the store!
I checked this book out from my local library, but I’m going to have to go back and purchase it. It’s got so much to go through that I’m going back through it in stages as I come through the process. Don’t check it out, just go straight to the store!
November 6, 2021
Why do we need so many beginner’s books that are so generalized that it helps nobody?
Want to read
September 8, 2022Good book
January 19, 2023
I don't disagree with anything in this book, it just was not super interesting or innovative.
April 19, 2023
A solid starter guide for focusing more on the customer and building relationships.
January 6, 2025
A lot of solid marketing advice which will be helpful for business owners and a helpful refresher for marketers.
January 22, 2025
Got me thinking and lots of resources on website.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews