A Tribute to Marketing Legend Dan Kennedy

UPDATED May 28, 2024.

Dan Kennedy is healthy and doing well. Russell Brunson has acquired the company Magnetic Marketing and continues the famous ‘No BS Marketing’ series infused with Dan’s wisdom, knowledge, and spirit.

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Blog post from September 17, 2019.

I’ve had several business teachers in my life but only one major marketing mentor. He is in his final days in hospice as you read this. His name is Dan Kennedy.

I studied marketing at university. I read a lot of books and case studies. After graduation I got a job as a marketing consultant at a renowned German company. Later on I transitioned into sales and marketing working for one of America’s Top 5 corporations at that time.

I thought I knew all that is to know about marketing. Fortunately, when I decided to move ‘planets’ and join the entrepreneurial world, I realized how little I knew about this amazingly sophisticated subject.

I will never forget the day I bumped into one of Dan’s recordings on YouTube where he talked about knowing your avatar so intimately well that he / she literally can’t escape buying your product or service when your marketing message hits him/ her. Furthermore, he emphasized the importance of getting your 3M’s (message, market, media) right in order to run successful direct marketing campaigns.

This might sound pretty shallow and theoretical but that was just the opposite for me. The messages I was exposed to over the years were plain vanilla, targeting everybody and reaching almost nobody. Companies I worked for were afraid to deploy the 3Ms in such a way that would allow them to nail down the right audience by specifically excluding the wrong clients. To this day, most big players are afraid to do that.

Dan Kennedy was never afraid of that. He taught me to focus on the audience that is a perfect fit for my business and at the same time to thoroughly exclude the clients I don’t want to work with. Everything else would be a waste of time. A lesson that I immediately took to heart.

After watching a few YouTube videos I joined Dan’s emailing list, which allowed me to gain access to some exclusive materials. I purchased his books on Amazon, I attended his webinars and I went to his GKIC SuperConference.

From day one I was impressed with Dan Kennedy’s depth of marketing wisdom and knowledge, his overall approach to copywriting and the fact that everything he taught was unconventional. I learned from him the exact opposite of what I’ve been taught at university. I was hooked forever.

People who know that I’m a student of Dan Kennedy often ask me which one of his books or programs influenced me the most.

I dissected a lot of his material but I must admit that it’s his high-caliber Mind-Hijacking Advanced program that impacted me the most. So, if your goal is to be a high-performing marketing pro, you need to grab his Mind-Hijacking materials immediately. It’s a must-have for every single pro marketer.

5 Impactful Marketing Lessons I Learned from Dan Kennedy

1. The most important question you should ask when advertising is, “What’s the most that you can/ will spend to acquire a new customer?”

As I’m a huge proponent of advertising, this lesson from Dan was definitely a game changer for me. You see, I was taught like most of you to ask a different question, “What’s the least amount you can spend to acquire a customer?”

And with that perspective my friends, you’re doomed to fail. The greatest product / service or the greatest marketing can’t make up for insufficient capital.

The business that can spend the most to acquire a customer wins.

The capital you’re willing to invest dictates your marketing plan; it determines which media channels you can activate and how much you can spend on marketing tools. You need to think beyond making a profit on the initial sale only. You need to have a strong strategy in place that will enable you to maximize your customer’s value on the back-end. You must be willing to outspend your competitors.

2. WHO is buying matters more than anything!

Who is buying the 8-ounce platinum filet mignon for 240 USD matters a lot more than the filet. Do you really think that a slice of beef costs proportionately more in cost of goods and overhead for the fancy restaurant than is costs Outback to put that steak on the oven? No, it doesn’t. It costs more but not proportionately more.