Hormozi’s $100M marketing expert blew my mind
7 fun enduring principles
Hey team, it’s Callum!
I hope you’re crushing it.
It’s easy to lose enthusiasm for marketing.
Sometimes you get lost in spreadsheets tracking every data point.
You forget that this can be a lot of fun.
An art form even.
So, if you’ll indulge me?
Today let’s have some fun!
Elevators.
Cake.
Viagra.
What do they all have in common?
To find out, I spent 90 minutes with Tobias Allen, former Director of Marketing at acquisition.com working alongside Alex and Leila Hormozi.
He worked across their $100 million portfolio of companies.
Helped launch Alex’s bestselling business books.
Got 500,000 people on a webinar.
This man is a true marketing genius.
And he’s on a mission to make marketing fun again.
These are 7 of his favourite principles:
1. Elevators & Cake
If you don’t grab attention, you never get the chance to earn it.
Otis Elevators couldn’t sell their product because people were too scared to ride in them.
So they staged a live demo.
At the 1854 World Fair, the founder stood on an elevator, cut the cable with a sword…
And the emergency brake stopped the fall in front of a stunned crowd.
Sales exploded.
Otis became the world leader.
Claude Hopkins had to sell suet — a boring fat used in baking.
He made the world’s largest cake.
Took it on tour across the country.
Created a spectacle.
And used it to build a distribution empire.
That’s not marketing.
That’s showmanship.
Lesson: If your product is boring, your marketing can’t be.
2. The Letterbox
This one is criminally overlooked.
Every business talks about the right message.
Almost no one talks about the right mailbox.
Tobias’ framework? M.A.N. — Money, Authority, Need.
Who actually has money?
Who’s the decision maker?
Who needs what you’re selling?
He gave an example that stuck with me.
Most people try to sell boilers to homeowners.
But the real sale happens with plumbers.
Because when the homeowner says, “Which one should I get?”
It’s the plumber who decides.
Wrong letterbox = wasted marketing.
At acquisition.com, the team used this to shift from chasing mass views…
To chasing the right views.
They realised: Hormozi’s personal content got lots of views on YouTube, but the niche business videos were the ones that converted.
Lesson:
Your content isn’t for everyone.
It’s for the one person who can say yes and pull out their wallet.
3. The Bridge
Every sale is a journey.
From pain to solution.
A to B.
Tobias’ analogy really got me:
You’re not just selling an outcome.
You’re deciding how someone crosses the bridge to achieve it.
Some people want a sports car.
Some want a horse.
Some want champagne and a 5-star view.
Your offer should reflect that.
And if your solution takes 6 months to deliver?
Maybe there’s a VIP path where they can pay 10x to get it in 2 days.
Speed, experience, positioning — you control the vehicle.
Lesson:
Craft your offer based on how your best customer wants to travel, not how you want to sell.
4. Go For The Bullseye
You think you know why your customer is buying?
Think again.
When Cialis entered the erectile dysfunction market?
Viagra had the edge. They targeted men with ads featuring sports cars and hot women.
But Cialis did the market research.
They realised their actual buyer wasn’t craving this.
It was the woman.
She wanted intimacy.
So instead of stilettos and sports cars…
They sold candlelit moments. Connection. Partnership.
They won massive market share with a better bullseye.
Lesson:
Speak to all possible buyers.
Ask “what outcome does my buyer really crave?”
5. We Sell Or Else
This one hit hard.
Tobias hates the “make content, hope for sales” approach.
He sees every funnel, every email, every ad — as a salesperson.
And most of them suck.
They don’t handle objections.
They don’t reinforce trust.
They don’t speak to urgency.
They just… exist.
He said this:
“If you wouldn’t hire that email to close deals on your team, don’t send it.”
Every ad should be part of a sales conversation.
Not an ego stroke.
Lesson:
Don’t just entertain. Sell.
Clearly, confidently, creatively.
Keep “sales bite” throughout the funnel.
6. The Elephant In The Dark Room
You know those people who brag about 8x ROAS?
Yeah.
They’re probably leaving millions on the table.
Tobias calls this “the elephant in the dark room.”
You’re looking at one stat — like opt-in rate or CAC — and thinking you’re crushing it.
But zoom out, and you realise:
You’re not spending enough.
You’re not scaling where you could.
You’re stuck in one part of the funnel while ignoring the rest.
He shared how he’s helped many brands by simply '“turning the light on”.
Lesson:
If you're only looking at one metric, you're not seeing the full picture.
Turn on the lights.
Are things as good, or as bad, As they seem?
7. Hormozi’s Secret
This one’s simple.
Having spent so much time in the trenches with Alex & Leila.
What sets them apart?
Volume. Speed. Relentlessness.
Their success system isn’t about clever ideas.
It’s about doing more reps, faster, and without ego.
Tobias summed it up:
“Volume negates luck.”
While other marketers were still planning their first test,
They’d already run 100.
It’s not about the perfect move.
It’s about moving consistently — and faster than everyone else.
Lesson:
You don’t need more strategy. You need more reps.
Want to go deeper?
We covered waaaaaaaaay more.
It was good fun.
You can Listen to the full episode on Apple and Spotify.
Catch it on YouTube here:
Let me know what you think in the replies + comments?
I read every one.
Have a great week!
Callum
Remember - I am rooting for you.
P.S. My Podcast Agency is opening up 1x Podcast Production slot in August.
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