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Before & After Grid Examples

Let's say I am selling a new line of baby products. So I'm ACME Baby Products Company, I was a former NASA engineer, who retired from being an astronaut, none of this is true by the way, I don't wanna get- ya know, although you can all believe that I was an astronaut, I'm actually great with that. You know what let's start a rumor that I was an astronaut, okay so I was an astronaut, with NASA, was hired for the astronaut program and I decide I'm gonna start a line of baby products that incorporates all this amazing technology and stuff that I learned and figured out while at NASA. Okay so that's the general business. And our first big product that we're gonna roll out with is this infant bathing tub thing, alright. That's kinda the first product so, customer segments, new moms, certainly new moms, mommy bloggers not necessarily because they would buy it, but they could be a good possible promoter, and then baby retailers. You should actually produce a before and after grid for each cus...

tomer segment. So we write all of our customer segments in, we denote, you could star, you could circle, which particular customer segment we're talking about here. Because the before and after, between a mom or a mommy blogger is very different. You guys agree? That they'd want two totally different things. So we're gonna list all of our segments, and we have a before and after grid for each segment. Can you see that the way how your digital marketing plan is beginning to grow? It started out with a single shoot, a single shoot to value journey. Now beginning to layer onto it additional shoots in the form of the before and after grid, okay? Let's say in this case we're gonna start with new moms, alright so our market is moms, brand new moms, so, before, they have a cold, hard tub. That's what they've got, they have a cold, hard tub. They feel scared and frustrated, anybody in this room ever bathed an infant? It is one of the single most terrifying things in the world you've got this fresh life, and you get really really slippery and soapy, and put under water, like really? Like I remember the first time I had to do it, it was like you want me to do this? Like I dropped a sandwich today... So you're scared and it's frustrating, they're flailing around, they're screaming, they're unhappy, you're unhappy, you're soaking wet, it's terrible. Average day, bath time is terrible, I remember when my kids were young, we would do these calculations like well they only puked on themselves twice today, so can we maybe wait to give a bath tomorrow, you know you start doing this 'cause it's just so fun, ya know it's awful. Status, ask any mom how they feel at any given moment, and time, if they're being honest they're gonna say unappreciated. Right? Good versus evil, moms can't have it all, they have to pick, that's the existential struggle that if I were writing copies to this, that I would identify, now you may be thinking, "what on earth does the baby products have to do with moms and not being able to have it all?" I don't care, it's not about my product, notice we haven't even filled that in. This is about her, it's not about the product. Don't ever make- don't ever do that, don't go there yet, not yet, you can always come back, now we've got a chance to make it about you, we give them what they want, so we can earn the right to tell them what they need. So this is, mom before. Quick question, when you're comin' up with the before, you talk a little bit about, I mean, are you kinda just guessing, or are you assuming that we've done a great deal of testing or development and understanding our customer, what they feel in their average day and things like that? Yes so, I'm married to one of these, and she has lots of friends so I was relatively exposed to it and again this is an example, I don't actually have this business, but the most important thing you can do if you're gonna start a business is to really know your customer and so yeah I'm assuming you know them because you either are them, many of us are building- we built products and started new companies for people at least your founders did because they were that person and they wanted the solution for themselves and then they found other people did too. For you there are the customers, or if they're not you probably know them 'cause you've learned somehow that there's this problem that you've gotta talk to them. There's no replacement, I think you should have a minimum of 25 conversations that a trade show- I'm an introvert by nature, again stranger scammer, Okay I was taught that they want to stab you, and sell you drugs period, right, that's how that works, but I will get up there and I will talk to my customers 'cause I gotta know, I gotta check it, ask some questions, see how they are. But I'm married to a mom, and she earns, so that was easy, but it's a great question. You've gotta get up there, you have to know. But look, it's always a guess in the beginning, right, you're gonna learn this is a living document, it's gonna get better, and better, and better, and richer, and fuller every time. Alright after, so after, she has a warm and squishy tub. 'Cause again we're leveraging that these NASA invented like space age polymer so that the tub is like warm and squishy and just the right size, how does mom feel now, confident and in control. 'Cause the tub is just the right size, the baby isn't cold, warmth, your baby isn't freaking out. And mom feels like- mom's got it together, average day, bath time is now enjoyable, if I'm selling this product, every, every parent has a picture in their mind, because of the Johnson and Johnson ads, telling us how bad- like baby's supposed to be doing a certain thing and like parents are looking down, and it's this sweet precious moment that is so fleeting, it is so fleeting, and that's what I would talk about. I mean if you've had kids, you know, it's freezing at the blink of an eye and then they're done with that, I would talk about that, I would talk about that average day I would tell that story, I would touch on that you deserve to enjoy every second of these precious moments. Status, you're super mom, 'cause while all the other moms are complaining about bath time you just tell them be like- I've got bath time lit. Alright, I've got bath time figured out because I bought this you're the super mom bringing all the cool ideas to your friends here, and the good news is you can have it all. Again, what does this have to do with the bathtub? You've gotta be able to tell a story, gotta be able to connect the dots, but it's- is it like and here's your bathtub you can now whatever crew you want and be the perfect mom and scrapbook and all that, of course not, and people get that. But if you can paint that picture, and position in there, you got it. So we're beginning to build this up, now what do they sell? Soft, squishy tubs, maybe some cozy pacifiers, et cetera. When you have this it begins to form line extension, what product should we come out with next, knowing that we have the ladder of ascension, that's gonna come from understanding where do they wanna be. Gosh, our product doesn't quite get them all the way there but it gets them most the way there, what do we need to bundle with it to get them all the way there? Alright? Let's talk about the dudes now, lawn care, does this work for lawn care? Homeowners, men, fathers, by the way when you do this, you're gonna have to be sexist, you're going to have to pick, you're generally going to have to pick. If you're B to B not as much, but if you're in the consumer's face you're probably gonna have to pick. At least when you're doing your planning, we still don't have gender neutral terms in the English language, we should all switch to speaking Latin and then it'd be solid. Alright so before you have dead grass and weeds, dead grass and weeds, you feel annoyed and exhausted. Ya know talk to most guys, like how do you feel after mowing the lawn, annoyed that I had to do it, and I'm tired. Average day, Saturdays are wasted. Saturday should be my day, wasted. It's wasted, and why is it wasted? Well, 'cause I have to set an alarm this Saturday, you know why I have to set an alarm? It's not that I wanted to get up, I had to get up 'cause if I didn't set an alarm, and start mowing the lawn before the sun came up, I would be dead and I was gonna lose my entire Saturday, so I set an alarm on a Saturday which should be against the law, alright, I set an alarm on Saturday, I woke up, I went out to the garage, I pulled the lawnmower down, right, (vroom vroom vroom), wouldn't start. Why wouldn't it start, let's tell the story together, whey wouldn't it start? No gasoline. No gasoline exactly, that's why it wouldn't start, there's no gasoline so now what do I have to do? I gotta go to a gas station I gotta put the gas tank in my car now my car smells like gas by the way, I'm gonna go fill it up, right there, come back, (glug glug glug glug) now we get going but the sun's hot and my Saturday's wasted, it's gone it's done. It's done, I'm forced to work the land, I'm like are you kidding me? (audience mumbling) I have to work the land, I'm a prisoner of my own castle. Why'd I buy this thing, I work for it it doesn't work for me guys are this pathetic by the way. I would absolutely be speaking to all of your spouses right? But where do most lawn care companies live? You're gonna have the best, brightest, green lawn, weed free- we don't care about that crap we don't care, we don't care, we don't want our car to smell like gas, we don't want to set alarms on Saturday, and we don't want to feel like a prisoner in our own castle. I wanna feel strong, I wanna feel like a man, can your lawn care company make me feel more like a man? Then I pick you! After you've got a gorgeous green lawn, frickin' great. Right, I feel powerful, powerful and rested because someone else mowed my lawn. My Saturday is mine again, now I'm the one kicked back in the hammock annoyed that my neighbor is mowing his lawn and it's loud, but as annoyed as I am, I still feel a tinge of pride that he's doing it and I'm not, right. Status, best lawn on the block, that's pretty good, good versus evil I'm the king of the castle, but I'll tell you this if I had a lawn care company, I would not be selling green lawns, I'd be selling Saturday. You have a landscaping business, you are in the business of Saturday, you sell Saturday you don't sell green lawns, you sell Saturdays. Why because this customer doesn't care about a green lawn, they care about Saturday, got me? They care about Saturday. Now in each one of these is a potential message, and you'll find that in any given one of these you can pluck messages out, but here's the thing, that's fine, maybe one of them is the most powerful one, you stick that at the top of your homepage, right maybe another one, you say this is a great thing, we're gonna have it in an email auto responder, or we're gonna send out a promotion on this, we're just gonna advertise around it. You don't have to just have one, you can have a bunch of 'em. Gotta tell that story, and my guess is- the story that I told you about like waking up in the morning done work, has anybody else experienced that? I remember I experienced that. That was the day that I said, "I will never do this again." Right, hire the lawn care company, Mowing and maintenance obviously, fertilizing, cause fertilizing gets you views, fertilizing- what about sprinkler install and repair? Heck what about holiday lights? Holiday lights are moving, you know that state see how the after begins to inform the line extension? I don't think- I'm giving you an example of a physical product and giving you an example of a service. Don't think that this doesn't apply to your non profit, don't think this doesn't apply to your staff company. Okay, H to H it's not human figuring out what they want. This is a mystery, let's see if you can figure this one out okay, customer segments young families, generally Christian conservatives, before these young families, they're hungry, and they're busy, cause they're hungry and busy. They feel as a result of the choices they're making, guilty and that there's no good dining options. They feel guilty that they're always driving through and serving unhealthy food to their kids but they're hungry and they're busy. They're average day is they pull up at the crackly speaker it's a rude person, the food's greasy, right, the status is they're a bad human and a worse parent. Good versus evil, childhood obesity epidemic, and a dramatic decline in family values. What about after? So again, it's a restaurant just in case you didn't figure that out, so after, now you're full and satisfied. Okay, what we are offering, full and satisfied. The people that are there make you feel positive and energetic, and you feel positive and energetic, you've smiling faces with healthier options, you're a great human, you're an amazing parent, and you're offering healthier fast food, with a side of family values. This particular company sells chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, chicken you get the frickin' idea, what company is it? Chik-Fil-A, Chik-Fil-A is not in the chicken business, Chik-Fil-A is in the guilt reduction business. (laughing) Right? Chik-fil-A understands your mantra, that's why they can be closed on Sundays and still crush the competition 'cause they understand that they are to deliver that after and their competitor isn't. Their competitor is simply able to make people full. But they can't make them feel like a great human and amazing parent. That's why they're winning, everybody's got chicken, they've got a message.