Chad Kimball

Internet Marketer since 2000

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

Meanwhile, in high-ticket B2B, subscription boxes, DTC, and events, it is common for email to pull in 60%+ of the revenue.

Even nationwide across all industries in the U.S., email marketing is still around 20% of online revenue.

That is not a dead channel.

That is a channel a lot of companies are ignoring while their competitors quietly print money from it.

I’ve personally brought in over $10 million through email marketing.

And I still use it to this day.

Why?

Because it works.

Plain and simple.

Not because email is magic.

Because a good email list is made of people who already know you, already raised their hand, already bought from you, or already showed interest.

That is not cold traffic.

That is an asset.

Don’t be surprised when the boring old inbox keeps outperforming the shiny new thing!

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

I’ve sold millions of dollars worth of products through Google Ads.

And the biggest lesson I’ve learned is this:

Google Ads are not magic.

They are leverage.

If your offer is unclear, your landing page is weak, your tracking is broken, or you do not understand what the customer is actually searching for, Google Ads will expose that very quickly.

But when the system is right?

They can be incredibly powerful.

Because you are not interrupting random people.

You are getting in front of someone at the exact moment they are looking for a solution.

That is why the details matter so much.

Keyword research matters.

Match types matter.

Negative keywords matter.

Landing pages matter.

Conversion tracking matters.

Testing matters.

The ad is just the visible part.

The money is usually made in everything underneath it.

So yes, run Google Ads.

But do not just “run ads.”

Build the system that makes the ads profitable.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

I know I’m dating myself with this meme…

But every time I hear someone describe the massive funnel they’re building, I think:

A bigger funnel is probably not necessary.

I’ve personally brought in millions of dollars with a very simple funnel.

Not 47 steps.

HERE IT IS:

A visitor hits a landing page.

The page offers them something free in exchange for their name, email, and phone number.

After they submit, they go to a page that sells the actual thing.

If they buy, great.

If they don’t buy, they get regular emails and SMS messages for a long time that educate, build trust, answer objections, show proof, and keep inviting them back.

That’s it.

That is the funnel.

And it works for almost any company.

Why?

Because most people do not buy the first time they see an offer.

They need follow-up.

They need repetition.

They need trust.

Before you build a bigger funnel…

build the basic one correctly and you will be surprised at the results!

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

@Richard_YTS I wish I had thought of this. amazing

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

More customers is usually not the first problem to solve.

Sometimes the better move is to keep improving the offer until the advantage is obvious.

Better product.
Better experience.
Better promise.
Better reason to choose you.

The goal is simple:

Build something so clearly valuable that your competitive advantage can be explained in a few sentences.

Marketing gets a lot easier when the thing you’re selling is actually hard to ignore.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

A small YouTube channel can beat a huge one.

When I first started on YouTube, I had a very small following.

But within a few months, that little channel had still brought in over $26k in revenue.

Not because I had a massive audience.

Because I was attracting the right people.

People with a painful problem.
People actively looking for a solution.
People willing to pay when they found one.

And once they clicked through to my website, I had a powerful automated marketing system on the back end that followed up, educated them, built trust, and sold the offer.

That’s the part most creators miss.

The channel doesn’t have to do all the selling.

The channel just needs to attract the right people and send them into the right system.

A big audience is nice.

Buyer intent is better.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

The Cheap Traffic Lie

Cheap traffic is not always cheap.

Expensive traffic is not always expensive.

Here’s the part most people miss:

The business that wins is not the one that pays the least for a customer.

It’s the one that can afford to pay the most.

Because they convert more visitors.

They capture more leads.

They follow up better.

They follow up longer.

They make more from each buyer.

So while everyone else is trying to find cheaper clicks…

The real winners are building better funnels.

That’s how they outspend the competition.

And still make more money.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

@Richard_YTS probably even more than that... if you include the ones people created outside the tool just by researching outliers (like me)

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

@Richard_YTS Would love to see the tech stack behind this

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

@Richard_YTS For anyone paying for thumbnail designs, this ONE feature alone is worth subscribing to 1of10. total no brainer.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

The Buyer Follow-Up Gap

Most companies spend money to get a customer…

then act like the relationship is over.

That’s where a lot of the profit is hiding.

A buyer is not the end of the funnel.

They’re the beginning of the next one.

Welcome emails.
Check-ins.
Education.
Cross-sells.
Upsells.
Win-backs.

The companies that follow up well don’t just get more customers.

They make each customer worth more.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

@Richard_YTS dream come true

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

The Founder Launch Mistake

Most founders don’t launch late because they’re lazy.

They launch late because they spend months perfecting the product…

and give the market 48 hours to care.

That’s why good products flop.

Not because nobody wanted it.

Because nobody was warmed up enough to understand, trust, or buy it when the offer finally went live.

A strong launch starts before the launch.

You have to create curiosity.

You have to educate the market.

You have to show the problem.

You have to give people a reason to pay attention before you ask them to buy.

The sale doesn’t start when the cart opens.

It starts when the audience begins caring.

If you want to understand how to launch the right way, buy the book Launch by Jeff Walker.

It costs around $6.

I’ve sold over $10 million worth of products online using the exact formula he outlines in that book.

It’s one of the best marketing investments you can make.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

The CMO Problem

Most companies don’t need more marketing.

They need someone to decide which marketing actually matters.

Too many businesses are like sheep jumping off a cliff…
chasing every tactic, platform, and trend without a real strategy behind it.

More posts.
More ads.
More random activity.

But no clear direction.

That’s the difference between hiring task-doers… and having CMO-level strategy.

A real strategy helps you focus on the few moves that actually drive growth.

#MarketingStrategy #CMO #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #DigitalMarketing

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

YouTube Channels Need Products

A YouTube channel with no product is a very slow way to make money.

A YouTube channel with a product, funnel, and email list can become a cash machine.

Same views.
Completely different business.

If your business isn't maximizing YouTube yet, now is the time!

Most companies think YouTube is just a content platform.

It’s not.

YouTube can be one of the strongest sales engines in your business… if you have the right backend.

The video gets the attention.
The funnel captures the lead.
The email list follows up.
The product turns the viewer into a buyer.

That’s how you stop hoping the algorithm pays you…

and start building a system that turns views into revenue.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

Pro tip:

If you want people to buy your product, don’t start by telling them to buy your product.

Give them a free sample first.

Let them taste the result before you ask for the sale.

A free lesson.
A checklist.
A short training.
A preview.
A quick win.

Because once people experience the value, buying the full thing feels natural.

That’s why the free sample lady at Costco is undefeated.

Show the value first.
Then make the offer.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

YouTube Views vs YouTube Money

Most YouTubers are trying to get more views.

That’s not the real game.

The real game is turning 500 viewers into 10 buyers.

That only happens when the traffic has somewhere to go:

→ lead capture
→ follow-up
→ offer
→ checkout
→ upsell

That’s how we build funnels that can get 10x the normal ROI from YouTube visitors.

The screenshot below shows what I mean:

Views are nice.

But money comes from what happens after the view.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

A small email list that buys is worth more than a huge audience that claps.

Attention feels good.
Buyers pay bills.

That’s why the goal isn’t just “grow your audience.”

The goal is to build a list of people who actually trust you, hear from you consistently, and buy when you make the right offer.

Vanity metrics don’t pay invoices.

Customers do.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

Either sell something cheap to a lot of people…

or sell something expensive to a small number of people.

But that awkward middle?

That’s where offers usually die.

Too expensive for impulse buyers.
Too cheap to justify real sales calls, support, or fulfillment.

This is why so many businesses get stuck.

They don’t have a traffic problem.

They have an offer-positioning problem.

Pick a lane:

Low-ticket with volume.
High-ticket with depth.

But don’t build your whole business in the mushy middle.

[Chad Kimball @chadtkimball]

Most businesses send paid traffic to pages that were never designed to sell.

Then they blame the ads.

The traffic wasn’t the problem.
The page was leaking.

A good ad can get attention.

But if the page doesn’t capture the lead, explain the offer, build trust, and push people toward the next step…

you’re just paying to send people into a bucket full of holes.

Before you scale traffic, fix the page.

Because better ads won’t save a bad funnel.