Podcast episode (The $100 MBA, hosted by Omar Zenhom) explaining how entrepreneurs can build a monthly marketing budget without reallocating existing funds by generating "expansion revenue" from current customers. Tactics include selling low-cost, high-perceived-value offerings to existing users—two-hour masterclasses or Q&A sessions, courses, books, swag (T-shirts, mugs), priority/done-for-you services—and automating offers via email. Omar gives pricing examples (e.g., $19 two-hour session; suggested prices $29–$49), a sample target ($2,000 first-month goal), and notes it may take ~six months to a year of consistency to build a recurring flywheel. Episode includes several sponsor ad reads (Intuit QuickBooks, Dell Tech Day, ClickUp, 1-800-Flowers, USAA).
Questions this episode answers
2022-06-09
$2,000
Two-hour session, priced at $19
Suggested prices include $29, $39, $49
About six months to a year
Chapters
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To find a way to have a marketing budget so you can start running ads, maybe paying some affiliates, investing in content marketing, whatever it may be, this episode is for you. In my 20 years of entrepreneurial experience, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt if you're spending your money wisely on marketing. It will speed speed up your growth. It will help you get more customers faster and become a well known brand in your marketplace quickly. So how do we carve out this marketing budget? So what I advise a lot of entrepreneurs to do is to create a segment in their business to earn revenue, earn more money to pay for that marketing budget, and I tell them to start with a goal in mind for the first month. Say you want to have a budget of $2,000 for marketing in your first month. How are you going to earn $2,000 if you don't have any money to bring in new customers with? Well, it's actually quite simple. You're going to earn the $2,000 from your existing customers. Your existing customers are far more likely to buy from you than new customers. They're sold on your product, they're sold on your service. They trust you. So if you can provide something that they need that they actually will value, there's a good chance you can earn that revenue from your existing customers. This is called expansion revenue. And you can do it in many ways. You don't have to do it with your current product or service. So for example, if you sell a software, you don't necessarily need to sell them more features or upsell them to a higher plan. You can actually sell them something that is not software. You can sell them a book, you could sell them a course. You can sell them live training, you can sell them a live event or Mastermind your mind. And often in my experience I have found that this actually converts higher than trying to sell them something that they're already kind of familiar with or something that they already have, like a better version of their software. Selling them a course or training that show them how to get the most out of the software might be something they're actually more willing to pay for. So what I recommend in terms of implementing this idea for your first month is to keep it simple. Sell them a two hour masterclass, an open Q and A. This doesn't have to be expensive. It could be 29, 39, $49. They get the replay and they get great value on how to best utilize your product or service. They get to ask questions, they get exposure, they get to learn from other people on the call. The perceived value of this masterclass, of this two hour coaching session is incredibly high. I know because I run these. I just ran one last week on how to run paid workshops. It was a two hour session for $19. I sold to my existing customers. There you go. Expansion revenue. Now your expansion revenue idea doesn't need to be content. It could be swag. It could be T shirts, caps, mugs. People are often fans of your product and would love to buy some swag. This is why YouTubers sold swag. Because they know people are fans of their work. They like who they are and would love to support some swag or support the channel. Another great form of expansion revenue to fund your marketing is services. Some people just want things done for them, some people want help quickly. So for example, selling priority support or a done for you service. So they don't actually want to implement using your tool or your product. They want someone to do it for them. Sometimes you don't know that this is what people want until you offer it. And this doesn't cost you anything to send an email out to all your customers and saying, hey, I'd like to provide you a service that helps you with xyz. If you're interested, reply and let me know you got enough interest. Why not start another service attached to your business to give you some expansion revenue? Now once you have this going, you've tried this out your first month, your second month, your third month, you're now generating revenue that you could put aside for marketing. These expansion revenue ideas don't have to go away. They could be a part of your offering every single month. And then you can automate this. Anybody who signs up for your product or service can get an automatic email after some time. After being a customer, offering them your new product or service to enhance their experience. Yes, not everybody's going to sign up, but some will and those some means money. And that's money on the table. You have been leaving without some expansion revenue ideas or products. Now guess what? Now you have these marketing dollars that you could spend to bring in new customers. Whether you're doing Facebook ads or you're going to be getting some help with your YouTube channel to improve your content. And it becomes an automated type of system. So you spend the money to bring in customers. The customers come in, they buy your core product or service, they get offered your expansion revenue product or service. They buy that, they fund your new customers again. Now this cycle is quite powerful. It will take some time for you to get some momentum. For me, it took about six months to a year of being consistent with offering my expansion revenue products or service and keeping that cycle going. And then it became a flywheel to grow my business. I got more on today's topic, but before that, let me give love to.
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Many people hear this advice about building new products or services and offering them to your existing customers and feel like Omar, I don't know, I feel a little bit, I don't know, shy to ask my customers to buy something else from me. I don't want to be too pushy. My reply to that is if you have a way to help your customers, it's your obligation to at least offer it. They don't have to buy it. You're giving them something valuable, right? You're not just taking their money, you're giving them something value in exchange for a reasonable price. And in my experience, most customers are thankful that you are offering these things for them so that they can improve and get better and better utilize what you originally sell or or offer. Thanks so much for listening to the $100 NBA show. If you love what you hear, hit, subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app or on every single App, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, Himalaya Overcast, Apple Podcast or on them all. Go ahead and hit subscribe or follow right now. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. When you're exploring different ideas for products that can be your expansion revenue, go with the idea that just comes easy for you, that you enjoy doing that doesn't require too much work or help from outside business. You want momentum, you want to get started, you want to get going. And often offering something simple, low cost, not overwhelming for your customer is exactly what they need. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode Free Art Friday. I'll see you then. Take care. Of. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a'@usaa.com bundle restrictions apply.
