Ralph Burns – Create Value First, Then Sell

Aug 14, 2022

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BIO: Ralph Burns is the Founder and CEO of Tier 11, a digital marketing agency that utilizes a proprietary system called Customer Acquisition Amplification™ to unlock the online potential of purpose-driven businesses to help them scale and grow.

STORY: Ralph spent $30,000 to build a membership site and got over 10,000 email subscribers, but only two people paid when he launched the site.

LEARNING: Do your research. Create a minimum viable product first to test the market.

“All the traffic in the world doesn’t matter if your offer sucks. You have to have something that people will want to buy.”

Ralph Burns

Guest profile

Ralph Burns is the Founder and CEO of Tier 11, a digital marketing agency that utilizes a proprietary system called Customer Acquisition Amplification™ to unlock the online potential of purpose-driven businesses to help them scale and grow.

Ralph’s 100% virtual agency, with people in 30+ countries and 6 continents, manages a portfolio of social media advertising customer accounts in over 57 industries with an annual spend in excess of $100 million.

His podcast, Perpetual Traffic, has been downloaded well over 8 million times and has helped tens of thousands of people grow their businesses through online traffic and conversion strategies. Ralph splits his time between Boston and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with his wife and two college-aged sons.

Ralph Burns’s digital marketing top tips

Before we get down to Ralph’s worst investment ever, let’s first tap into some of his nuggets of wisdom on successful digital marketing.

Selling a product/service online

According to Ralph, when trying to sell something online, you should first find the customers because you launch your product or service. The best way to do this is to give potential customers something of value in exchange for their contact information or even their time. This is what Ralph refers to as a transitional lead magnet. In essence, this isn’t what you want them to buy, but something free and of very high value that they get in exchange for their name and email.

Leverage the hero’s journey

Ralph says that you should remember that you’re customers’ guide. Understand your ideal customer’s most significant problem standing in the way of achieving their goals and help them solve this problem. Once you do that, you become the trusted adviser who will help them get to the promised land.

According to Ralph, walking your customers through the hero’s journey is important because, typically, people don’t want to buy from strangers. So give them something of value to transition from a stranger and build trust. Then you can put them on a drip campaign that’ll maybe subtly give them even more information and then ask them to make a purchase.

Advertising on Facebook

Ralph believes that Facebook is still a valuable platform for businesses, but for success, you need to connect with your avatar. Understand their biggest problem, then hit them right between the eyes with a message that resonates with them, and they stop the scroll.

How much to pay to acquire a customer

When it comes to advertising on Facebook, the right price point for acquiring a new customer, according to Ralph, depends on many factors. What’s critical is understanding what the economics are and implementing a sales funnel.

Worst investment ever

Ralph worked as a regional director at a big diagnostic company in the medical field. He had all the trappings of success, but he was miserable. Ralph had received The 4-Hour Workweek as a gift from his wife. He read the book and realized people were actually making money online. Ralph was fascinated by the internet and the idea of making money. He started a website, followed the book’s advice, and listened to many podcasts. Ralph built an extensive list of 10,000 email subscribers and, in the process, racked up about $20,000 on his credit card. He spent another $10,000 to build a website and a membership site. He followed the Jeff Walker Product Launch Formula and launched his membership site.

Ralph had a three-day launch. On the first and second days, he made zero sales. On the third day, he made two sales. The product was $67 a month. Out of Ralph’s 10,000-person list, which he had probably spent $20,000 to build, only two people subscribed to his membership site, and they only stayed for a month.

Ralph held onto the business for another three years, just trying to make it work. He didn’t sell anything more than those two memberships that lasted one month.

Lessons learned

Do your research.
Don’t mistake interest in a free lead magnet as interest in actually buying your product.
Launch a minimum viable product first to get some sense from the market as to whether or not they can purchase and to get a proof of concept.

Andrew’s takeaways

Stay with whatever you’re doing, keep trying, keep iterating, and testing.
Create a minimum viable product, figure out what people are willing to pay for, and then pivot.

Actionable advice

Go to the market with a low price, then increase as your product gets popular. The goal is to make buying a no-brainer so that buyers can’t possibly say no to your product.

Ralph’s recommended resources

Read any book by Donald Miller to learn the basics of selling online, such as how much you should pay to acquire a customer, advertising on online platforms, creating a brand story, and more.
Listen to the Perpetual Traffic podcast for more advice from Ralph.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Ralph’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to double sales and double the number of his high-value employees.

Parting words

“You learn way more from your failures than you ever do from your successes.”