Four and a half minutes from a call with a business owner who had been offered a program that promised a million views. Yousif Alias has been testing marketing systems since 2013, and he told them straight what views have done for his own business: nothing.
The short version
- 1. Views aren't customers. Yousif has videos with 20 million views that brought in zero leads.
- 2. One system pays him. Out of everything he's tested, running paid ads to targeted people is the one that makes money.
- 3. Never buy hype numbers. No bought views, followers or likes. Only leads and referrals where you know where they came from.
- 4. Word of mouth isn't a plan. Sometimes it works. Most of the time it doesn't, and you can't predict it.
- 5. Give ads time. Ads can work right away and get better in month two or three. Most people who say marketing failed quit too early.
20 million views, zero leads
YouTube views, Instagram views, it doesn't matter to Yousif. He has videos past 20 million views that generated no leads at all. Getting views and likes is one thing. Getting someone to pull out a credit card is another, and only the second one pays the bills.
He's tested hundreds of marketing systems, and the one that makes him money is the paid ad system, running ads to targeted people. If you want slow money, try everything at once and get a little result from each. If you want something you can track and scale, ads are the only thing he's found that works.
Tangible results beat likes
The test he wants you to use is simple. You put 20 dollars in today and you can see what came back: five leads, two booked appointments, or more money tomorrow than you spent. Views and likes never gave him that. His rule is to never buy views, followers, likes or any hype number, and to only go after leads and referrals where you know exactly where they came from.
Word of mouth can't be your system
Plenty of owners tell him word of mouth is how they grow. He knows how it works. Every so often it comes through, and most of the time it doesn't. You need something predictable. If you don't have leads, all you have is a nice name and a nice mission statement, and nobody cares about either.
Time is the real cost
Nobody has ten years to wait on referrals. The people who make a lot of money all say the same thing, and Yousif agrees: money comes and goes, time doesn't. That's why he would rather pay a little to get customers a lot faster.
Most marketing fails because people quit early
Ads can work right away, and they often work better in the second or third month because you keep testing and improving them. When he hears stories about marketing that didn't work, the reason is usually that they didn't run it long enough. That's why he plans for three to six months. And the leads from those months keep paying off, because someone who signed up on your ad six months ago, or six years ago, can still be a conversation today. The money is in the follow up.
That's the why. The full playbook for turning ad spend into paying customers, and what to do with every lead after it comes in, is inside Freedom Club.
Full episode transcript
00:00OK, well, I'll give you my experience, man. Look, I've I've been testing marketing systems and this is what I'm known for. I've been testing marketing systems since 2013. I'm just straight up tell you like views, whatever views like you mean, whether it's YouTube views or Instagram views. I have you I have videos that have hit 20 million views and I generated zero leads from them. It's one thing to get views and likes and stuff. It's another thing to have people pull out their credit card and pay you to learn about what you're offering. And whatever people can show you, it's not the same as people showing you the money like, hey, let's make money.
00:50This is how. Right. Like I've tested three hundred marketing systems. Only one makes me money. You want to guess what which one it is? Well, the main system that's making me the money is the paid ad system, like actually running ads to targeted people. And like I said, fast money, bro, like if you want slow money, do everything at the same time, and then you probably get a little bit of result from everything you do. But if you want real money, something that that's trackable, something that's scalable. Ads is the only way I've found that works. And look, I just see you like my older brother, my older.
01:41Let's say I see like a father figure. I don't want you wasting time with these other nonsense views and likes and stuff. I want you to only waste your time on something that you know, OK, we put 20 bucks today, we're going to get 30 bucks tomorrow. Right. Or we put 20 bucks today, we got five leads, two of them booked an appointment. That's that's tangible results, not views or likes like that never made me money. And I've been in the game for a long time, not just a couple of years. Don't don't ever buy views, don't ever buy followers, don't ever buy likes, don't ever buy hype type numbers.
02:27Only get by leads, referrals, people that can give you like leads that they know where they came from. I know people tell me word of mouth and stuff like that, but I know how word of mouth works, sometimes it works, which is very rare. Most times it doesn't. You know what I mean? And so you need something that's predictable, right? Because when you're in B2B, leads is the game. If you don't have leads, I mean, what do you have? A nice name, a nice looking mission statement. Nobody cares, right? Because nobody have 10 years to wait on somebody's referral or five years to get something, you know, because time is everything.
03:15Right. And the people that make a lot of money, they'll tell you that. They'll tell you time is everything. Money can come and go, but time doesn't. So that's why we we rather pay a little bit of money to save time and get customers a lot faster. Three to six months of ad testing, because the way it works is like ads work right away, but they can work even better in the second or third month. That's why we keep testing them. We keep improving them. Most of the stories I heard about people not making marketing work is because they didn't do it long enough. OK, so doing it long enough is one of the most important pillars in this to work, and that's why there's a three to six months period.
04:04So people, if they sign up on your ad six months ago, you're going to be talking to them today. If they sign up on your ad six years ago, you're going to have chances to talk to them today. And if anybody has told you the money's in the follow up, they're not wrong, they're 100 percent correct.
