- Growing Viral
- Posts
- DANIEL PRIESTLY: THE MASTER OF DEMAND GENERATION
DANIEL PRIESTLY: THE MASTER OF DEMAND GENERATION
5 lessons I learned from the king of demand generation...
Niall Ratcliffe
November 17, 2024
In partnership with
Morning!
I’m writing this in my new office setup. I’ve got a fancy ergonomic keyboard at my fingertips, an unusual trackpad for a mouse and a black dark window to stare out of.
It’s safe to say I’m not in Portugal anymore and I clearly didn’t bring the sun with me!
Anyway, last week I got invited to a dinner in Belfast with some very successful people. David Coulthard was there, Mac Lackey too, as well as one of my favourite entrepreneurs and marketers - Daniel Priestly.
Priestly has become quite formidable in the marketing world over the last few years and last week he shared a few new insights with me - today, I’m about to share those insights with you.
Let’s get into it!
Listen to the audio version HERE.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION
BREAKING DOWN THE STRATEGY
4 years ago, I was scrolling LinkedIn when I stumbled upon a guy who seemed to know what he was doing when it came to lead generation.
He was talking about campaign-based marketing, scorecards, and how he was driving millions to his businesses through a really simple strategy. I was intrigued, we’d just started the agency at the time and like all new businesses… we could have done with some extra leads.
So, I went to his profile and started reading more of his stuff. The more I scrolled the more obsessed I was getting.
Everything he said was simple. No complicated nonsense or unrealistic ideas, just solid methods for generating new leads.
Over the next 3 years, I:
Read 3 of his books.
Watched 100s of hours of his content.
And consumed all of his podcast appearances.
He knew what he was doing and I wanted to sponge as much information off him as I could.
His name was Daniel Priestly and today he is a renowned entrepreneur and marketer.
Last week, I got to sit down with Priestly over dinner in Belfast after his keynote and take in all the marketing knowledge I could.
Today, I’m going to share the 5 key lessons I learned from Daniel Priestly.
(This is a lead generation masterclass)
Lesson 1: Focus On 3 Campaigns
Priestly opened his keynote speech in Belfast breaking down the 3 campaigns that all businesses should focus on when it comes to their marketing.
Here’s what they look like:
Campaign 1: One Big Message (Annually)
This campaign is the cornerstone of your marketing strategy. It’s a single, overarching message that ties your entire year’s marketing efforts together.
You want this to be a message that is contrarian and something you will hang your hat on for the entire year.
This could be a brand promise, a unique value proposition, or a major initiative you want to own in the market.
For example:
“The book that will change your life is the one that you write.” - This is the one big message that Priestly said he is using for his company BookMagic.
Everything you do throughout the year should embody this big message.
Campaign 2: Spotlight Campaigns (Quarterly)
These are more focused campaigns that align with your One Big Message. These campaigns need to have a “big” feel to them and really get attention.
Some great examples of quarterly campaigns would be:
Hosting a summit with great speakers.
Launching a new product or service.
Releasing a detailed guide on your service.
The aim of these campaigns is to drive as many email sign-ups (AKA leads) as possible.
The outcome people get from signing up needs to be clear, the landing page needs to convert, and the campaign has to solve a problem your target audience has.
Here are some quick campaigns and stats I’ve collected from our quarterly campaigns over the last 12 months:
Released an in-depth guide: 2000+ downloads.
Released a toolkit for writing stories: 3000+ downloads.
Hosted a webinar where we revealed our marketing system: 350+ attendees.
You’ll get different results depending on how you push it and your target audience - but it’s safe to say these spotlight campaigns work!
Campaign 3: Perfect Repeatable Week (Weekly)
Arguably Priestly’s most famous marketing concept is his “Perfect Repeatable Week”.
The idea is simple, craft the perfect week of marketing that:
A) Gets attention on your brand.
B) Drives new leads to your business.
C) Signs you new clients.
Then repeat it for 52 weeks of the year.
To create a week like this you have to find a set of marketing tactics that work for your business.
For example:
5x LinkedIn posts.
2x Marketing emails.
3000 cold emails.
£1000 on paid ads.
The perfect repeatable week will change drastically for each business, but the concept still stands.
What marketing activities do you need to do this week to have the perfect week?
Now do them for the next 52 weeks.
The key here is to maintain momentum and ensure you’re consistently nurturing your leads ready for your big spotlight campaigns.
Lesson 2: Always Build A Waitlist
The most valuable lesson I’ve ever learned from Priestly is to build a waitlist. In his keynote, he explained that he recently launched BookMagic off the back of a waitlist that performed better than he expected.
The issue is, most people use waitlists too sparingly. Whereas Priestly says you should launch one with every single campaign.
About to run a webinar → Launch a waitlist first.
About to add to your offering → Launch a waitlist.
Coming to the end of the year → Launch a waitlist.
That last idea is one I’m going to steal because Priestly told me that the easiest (and one of the most successful) campaigns his company runs every year is their “Sold out” campaign.
Mid-November every year they run a campaign that says they’re now booked up for the rest of the year then push people to join the waitlist to work with them the year after.
It sounds simple, but it plays on so many psychological triggers…
Being sold out → Gives us FOMO.
Being told “No” → Makes us want to work with them more.
0 commitment → Makes it easier for us to say “Yes”.
So every year his sales team enter January with a big fat list of companies that want to work with them.
Simple, but very clever - just like all Priestly’s strategies.
Lesson 3: Do The Marketing Dance
Priestly is a huge proponent of assessment marketing. This is where you get people to ask a few questions (to assess them) and then push them in a certain direction - usually to book a call with your sales team.
Example in action
I love the concept, but when you look through Priestly’s campaigns it sometimes feels like he almost overdoes it.
Want to sign up to a waitlist? → He makes you answer questions.
Want to register for a webinar? → He makes you answer questions.
Want to join his email list? → He makes you answer questions.
I was never quite sure why he thought it was so important. So, when I got the chance in Belfast, I asked him.
His answer: “You’ve got to do the marketing dance.”
Priestly explained that sometimes to give off a perception that something is valuable you have to add some friction.
They say they want it → You make them answer questions before they get it.
It’s like the tug and pull in romantic relationships, the tease and denial.
No one really wants to date someone who was easy to catch, they want to chase and fight for it. The same goes for marketing.
If they want it, make them work for it, because they’ll value it more when they get it.
Lesson 4: Every Business Needs A KPI
When Priestly first broke onto the online entrepreneur scene it was with the idea that “Every business needs a Key Person of Influence”.
At the time, personal branding wasn’t really a thing and a lot of people laughed at Priestly for talking about it. Quite ironically, companies now spend millions every year on their employee & leadership brands.
But while most people think building a personal brand is just throwing up a few posts on social media, Priestly had a much broader approach to it.
Here’s his 5-step method for becoming a KPI:
Pitch: Craft a compelling pitch that clearly articulates who you are, what you do, and why it matters. Your pitch should resonate with your target audience and leave them wanting to know more.
Publish: Create content that establishes your authority. This could include blogs, articles, books, or videos that showcase your knowledge and perspectives.
Product: Turn your expertise into scalable products (e.g., courses, workshops, or digital tools). These allow you to monetise your knowledge and reach a wider audience.
Profile: Build a strong online and offline presence. Your personal brand should align with your expertise and make you visible across multiple channels.
Partnerships: Collaborate with others in your field to expand your reach, leverage resources, and tap into new opportunities.
It’s not just about getting eyes on you, it’s about becoming that go-to person in your industry.
Lesson 5: You Need To Sell More Products
Now this one I still have a back and forth with, but Priestly is huge on building a value ladder.
He says that so many businesses lose out and don’t manage to scale because they don’t sell enough products. They have their core offering and that’s it.
What Priestly recommends is a product ecosystem with 4 products:
Product 1: Free Product
If you have a great service but aren’t attracting enough people, Priestly says that you have to start offering a free product.
This could be:
A 7-day course.
A video masterclass.
A downloadable guide.
Or anything else you can think of. All it needs to be is a no-brainer offer for them to give their email.
This is how Priestly gets people to step into his product ecosystem so he can target them and slowly push them up his value ladder.
Product 2: Cheap Product or “Product For Prospects”
The second step in Priestly’s value ladder is his “Product for prospects”. This is something that is cheap but gives prospects a chance to make a real commitment to learning from you.
It’s a slippery slope that Priestly is creating here and this step is the one where the wallet gets opened. Often tough to make happen, yet when the wallet opens, it often never shuts.
Product 3: Core Offering
This is your classic service offering, the one that you’re known for and the service that drives the most revenue.
Product 4: Upsell Or “Product For Clients”
Arguably the most overlooked item on Priestly’s value ladder is this “Product for clients” he talks about.
Priestly says that if you want to keep your clients happy for life you have to continue marketing to them. Don’t just supply them your core service, give them another level they can reach for.
This level is essentially an upsell that clients can pay for, it may be:
An extension of services.
An exclusive offer.
Or something seasonal like a Christmas campaign.
What it needs to be depends on your audience, but the main takeaway here is to keep marketing - even after you’ve signed a client.
🌱 THE GREENHOUSE
Things I’ve saved this week that are worth seeing:
TL;DR
1/ Focus On 3 Campaigns
2/ Always Build A Waitlist
3/ Do The Marketing Dance
4/ Everyone Needs To Be A KPI
5/ You Need To Sell More Products
Truthfully, I could have riffed off 100 lessons I’d learned from Priestly and I had to cut so many from this breakdown - so maybe I’ll have to do a part 2.
For now, I hope you learned something from the lead gen and marketing wizard which is Daniel Priestly. I highly recommend reading his book ‘Oversubscribed’ if you haven’t already. So many great lessons in there too.
If you did learn something from this, why not forward it to a friend?
Until next Sunday.
— Niall
WAIT… BEFORE YOU GO
Rate this week's breakdown |
MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT
Get Your Team Booked on 3.8 Million Podcasts Automatically
The best way to advertise isn't Meta or Google – it's appearing on podcasts your customers love.
PodPitch.com automates thousands of weekly emails for you, pitching your team as ideal guests.
Big brands like Feastables use PodPitch.com instead of expensive PR agencies.
If you’ve read this far, why not see how else I can help you: