The insider lessons that ONLY my hardcore funnel hackers saw. On this episode Russell talks about some people’s reaction to the birthday launch campaign, and why they should be recognizing it for what it’s worth. Here are some of the amazing things you will hear in this episode:

-- Find out why some people think that the launch was annoying, and why Russell thinks they should be looking at it all differently.

-- Why Russell believes this campaign is going to bring about hundreds of millions of dollars of valuation to Clickfunnels.

-- And why this entire campaign is history in the making, and why you should take advantage of your front row seat.

So listen here to find out why you shouldn’t be annoyed when Russell markets to you, and should instead learn from what he’s doing to have the fastest growing software company probably ever.

But throughout this process it’s funny because obviously all of the naysayers and people who for whatever reasons when events come out, they’re always out on Facebook and they’ve got the loudest opinions, and it cracks me up. I wish I would have listed out a whole bunch of them because it would have been fun to read them and show them to you guys as specific examples, but I’ll give you the gist.

-- ClickFunnels: Everything you need to start market, sell, and deliver your products and services online (without having to hire or rely on a tech team!)

-- DotComSecrets: Get a free copy of the "Underground Playbook For Growing Your Company Online With Sales Funnels."

​-- Expert Secrets: Get a free copy of the "Underground Playbook For Converting Your Online Visitors Into Lifelong Customers."

-- ​Traffic Secrets: Get a free copy of the "Underground Playbook For Filling Your Websites And Funnels With Your Dream Customers.

What’s up everybody? This is Russell Brunson and welcome to the Marketing Secrets podcast.

Alright my friends, I’m in the jeep today and you can probably hear the rumble. The rumble, you can always tell loud days the jeep, quiet days, Tesla. Anyway, so we did the birthday launch this week, I think I did a couple of podcasts talking about it, it’s kind of hard to remember, the whole thing is a big blur. But I wanted to point out the irony of just some of the situation and people and it cracks me up.

So why do people listen to me? Why do you listen to me? Why do you listen to the Marketing Secrets podcast. It’s probably because you want to learn marketing. Why is everyone on Clickfunnels? Probably because you want to sell stuff through funnels. Why would you follow me on Facebook, join our Facebook groups? Probably because you’re like, “Man, this Russell guy knows a thing or two so I’m going to go and learn from said person about the thing he happens to know about.”

So what makes me laugh is in the middle of this launch, which by the way is doing amazing and will increase the value of our company by literally hundreds of millions of dollars in the next 3 or 4 months. Just to put it in perspective, a lot of people brag, “I did a product launch and it made $3 million dollars.” And that’s awesome and amazing, but the rollout of FunnelFlix and these changes, literally will increase the value of Clickfunnels by hundreds of millions. So it’s like, the strategic movements, and again, I hope you guys are watching these things, are big and important and valuable, and I’m hoping you’re paying attention and watching it.

But throughout this process it’s funny because obviously all of the naysayers and people who for whatever reasons when events come out, they’re always out on Facebook and they’ve got the loudest opinions, and it cracks me up. I wish I would have listed out a whole bunch of them because it would have been fun to read them and show them to you guys as specific examples, but I’ll give you the gist.

So one of them I saw was like, something about the lifetime value of Russell’s customers, them sending out the emails about this thing are going to destroy their lifetime value. No, it’s literally doing the opposite, increasing the lifetime value. You know, someone saying, “They’re sending out too many emails, they’re spamming us. I’ve never been part of another software company that sent emails like this, promoting stuff.” All these things about, they didn’t like the promotion, for whatever reason. I get that, maybe it’s not their cup of tea. But it’s like, you came to learn marketing from me. You came to understand these kind of things. This campaign will increase the value of our company by hundreds of millions of dollars.

And instead of being like, “Huh, what could I learn from this process? That was really cool how they generated the buzz and the hype and how they did the announcement and how they transitioned from this announcement to getting everybody to upgrade.” There are so many small messages, and I know for most of you guys, you’re watching and paying attention, but it just blows my mind, the people that are upset.

The one, I laughed so hard, “I’ve never seen any other software company send out emails like this.” And I was like, yeah, but do you see any other software company growing as fast as us. Instead of being annoyed by it be like, ‘man, maybe they know something these other software companies don’t know. Maybe they’re blending of direct response and all these things with software growth is the reason they’re having so much success. Maybe instead of being angry and upset by about it, I should look at like, what are they doing? Why’d they do that? What can I learn from this?’

So I know I’m speaking to the choir because I know you guys are my hard core funnel hackers, you are the ones who care the most about marketing and growth and all these kind of things. But it just blows my mind that I see people who are angry about me marketing to them. And it’s like you literally came to me to learn marketing, and you may pay a thousand or ten thousand dollars for a course, or $300 a month for our software, these things you’re paying for but then when I’m actually doing marketing you get upset.

And it’s like, why would you do that? I’m literally, you have a front seat show to the marketing you’re trying to learn from. You’ll pay me a thousand bucks for a course to learn how to create campaigns, and create buzz and to build your following and things like that and to increase your valuation and make more money, but when I actually do it you get upset. Stop being upset, step back and be like, “oh my gosh, I literally have a front row seat to some of the greatest marketing campaigns ever executed in the history of the market. And that’s the way you guys should be looking at it. I know that you guys do, but it just always blows my mind. I want to tap those people on the shoulder and be like, “You missed it. You missed the whole point. You got annoyed when I marketed to you, when you came to me to learn marketing. Step back for a second and put your feelings on the shelf and be like, ‘oh my gosh, what is happening here?”

For example, I was watching some people who were very intelligent, and probably I’m sure that you are listening to this because if you’re intelligent and you love marketing you’re already listening to this podcast. But some people are breaking down like, “Did you guys notice how Russell didn’t just say, ‘hey everyone, upgrade to $297 and you’ll get this new thing.’ That would have been an improvement offer, here’s Russell improving it. So instead what Russell did in the presentation is created a new opportunity, a new thing called Clickfunnels Platinum. And Platinum was this amazing new thing, new opportunity, not an improvement offer, a new opportunity, and it’s a $697 thing, but then they discounted it to $297, and then they gave it to everybody who had the old offer for free.’

It was showing that the lesson I taught in Expert Secrets about new opportunity, they saw it and then saw how I executed on it. And it’s like, man, I hope that you guys saw that, because if any of you guys have a program you’re trying to get more people into its like, I can go and make an improvement offer. “Hey we made this product better, you should all upgrade.” Or you create a new opportunity, a new thing, and then you give it to the people who are already there. It’s a little nuance that’s the difference between tens of thousands of dollars and tens of millions of dollars.

So it’s like, I hope you guys saw that nuance, because it was little, it was subtle, most people missed it. But those who are listening with the right ears, they saw it and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, look how Russell presented this offer, it was a new opportunity not an improvement offer.’ Because of that it’s different, it’s what causes a buzz and creates the virality and gets these people excited.

And then I just didn’t upsell, people who already had it, I gave it to them for free. So all the sudden it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, the most faithful members get rewarded for already being there.” which causes more community and more stick and more excitement, and more passion for us and the brand and everything. We’re not penalizing existing members, we’re rewarding them. That was a huge shift.

Anyway, there’s so many cool lessons. I should sit down one day and diagram all the stuff that I was doing that hopefully you guys saw. But if not, go back through the campaign, go back through the emails, go watch the stuff that happened and look at it like, this is a marketing campaign. I just sat on the front row of this thing happening in real time. Let me experience it through that lens.

Anyway, I hope that that makes sense for you guys. Go back and watch the presentation, watching the slides, watching the hype, watching the buildup, watching those things. But look at it as if you just paid me ten grand for consulting about how to launch your next campaign, and look it through that lens and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I learning? What am I seeing here?”

I always used to say when I was getting started in this business, I would buy everybody’s products, but rarely did I actually go through the people’s products, I mostly bought it because I wanted to see the process of everything, not just the funnel. I always talk about funnel hacking, and people are like, “Oh yeah, I buy the products, I saw page one is this, page two, page three is this.” That’s part of it, that’s the funnel, but what about everything else? What created the excitement and the buzz to get me into the funnel? What do the ads say? What do the emails say? What was the messaging, the tone that, all those things, the positioning?

And then when I went through the funnel, not just here are the pages of the funnel, but what was the messaging of the funnel? What did they say and why did they say it? What were the hooks and the stories, and how are things positioned? Those are all the things that it’s hard to teach, it’s hard for me to write a book and be like, “Okay, you should be doing this to create buzz.” It’s hard to teach those things, but instead watch it. And you’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m getting the greatest teaching lesson of all time by seeing the process, by understanding it, by learning it.”

Don’t be annoyed because we’re the only software company doing this, be amazed that we’re the only software company doing this, and we happen to be the fastest growing software company probably of all time. At least non-venture backed.

Anyway, I just, I know you guys were paying attention, I know you were watching, but I just wanted to put that out there because it was on my mind today, and I want to congratulate those who are looking for those things. And those who got annoyed by any piece of it, you need to stop and be like, “Look, I came to Russell to learn marketing, and I’m learning the frameworks from the books and from the courses, but I’m seeing the practical application every day in his marketing.” And watch that. That’s something I can’t sell in a book because it’s the art that fits inside the framework. So I’m giving you the framework, here’s the art, pay attention to it. Watch it, enjoy it, be grateful for it, because it is the intangibles that I can’t sell you, that you’re getting for free and have a front row seat to it every single day.

It’s funny, back in the day when I was a kid, I don’t know if you guys remember Bill Phillips and Body For Life and Muscle Media, it was this amazing product and movement and supplement line and company and info products. And I remember I was like a 15, 16 year old kid as this company grew up and I was watching it, and I had this front row seat to it and it was amazing. And now you know, the company is, Bill Phillips sold it 15 years ago and it’s kind of died and collapsed and crushed. But man, I always remember sitting back, and Josh Pizoni was in Fiji with us and Josh was one of Bill Phillips’ employees at the time of this whole thing, when it was growing and happening and I was like, man, when I look back to when I was 15 years old and I remember how I felt. I remember what happened. I remember when the ads came out and the magazine, and the letters, and th supplements, and I remember his supplement guides and reading th supplement guides, and going to GMC and seeing 90% of the store of GMC was EAS supplements and how I felt and I would only buy his.

I try and remember those feelings, but it was 15 years ago. So me trying to remember one of the greatest marketing campaigns I believe in modern history, trying to remember that from 15 years ago, and being so grateful for the marketing lessons I learned as a 15 year old kid, or whatever. And for you guys, it’s like, you’re at the front edge of history, there’ll be a day in the near future, not the near future, a couple of years from now where I’m going to write the book, Bootstrap.com, that’s the next book I’m going to write. And I’m going to write that book and tell you guys these stories and you’re going to read those and be fascinated by them.

Right now you guys are living it. You’re living the bootstrap story, you’re seeing it, you’ve got a front row seat to this stuff, so I just want to make sure you’re paying attention and you’re enjoying it and having a good time with it because someday it’ll be stories I’ll tell you and you know, the marketing grandbabies will come and be like, ‘oh I heard these stories about Clickfunnels and how it grew and what it did’ and you can be like, ‘man, I was there for it. I enjoyed it and saw and learned from it and applied it over here to my business and this is what I did and how I did it, because I saw the marketing that happened here.’

So anyway, you guys have a front row seat to it, it’s unfolding and it’s going to be a cool history lesson in marketing someday, but for right now you guys are there and I hope you’re enjoying the process.

Alright, with that said, I gotta jump in, I got a marketing meeting starting in 2 minutes. Appreciate you all for listening, thank you for participating in the campaign and having fun with it. If you haven’t yet and you’re like, ‘what are you even talking about?” go to facebook and click on my fan page, or my personal page, either one, and you’ll see a link to the actual birthday launch video and the replay. Go watch that, and if you go to upgradenow.com you can see the offer, or if you go to funnelflix.com you can see exactly what FunnelFlix is, which is part of the new opportunity that we offered everybody this week.

Alright, with that said, appreciate you all, thanks for listening and we’ll talk to you soon. Bye everybody.