# Distribution Strategy: Path to 9 Sales/Day Target: ~$90K individual revenue over 12 weeks (May 1 - July 21) Math: 698 sales at $129 = ~58/week = ~8-9/day Assumption: no institutional revenue counted here (that's upside) --- ## Channel 1: Goat Post (Spike, Not Engine) **What:** Goat posts about SHEP Bar Prep to his audience. Single event, not recurring. **Reach:** ~500-1,000 people. Bar prep audience, high intent. **Expected impact:** 100-200 site visits in 48 hours. 10-20 sales from the burst. **Timeline:** Needs to happen first week of May. Confirm exact date at April 28 meeting. **Action items:** - [ ] Confirm post date, platform(s), and format with Goat - [ ] Give Goat a referral code (does he want $25/referral or just goodwill?) - [ ] Prepare a one-pager or screenshot package he can reference - [ ] Have the landing page polished before his post goes live **Limitation:** One-time spike. Buys you a strong first week but doesn't sustain. --- ## Channel 2: TikTok / Bar Prep Content Creators **What:** Identify 3-5 bar prep content creators on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube who review tools, share study tips, or do "study with me" content. Pitch them on trying SHEP and posting about it. **Why it works:** Bar prep TikTok is active. Students trust peer creators more than ads. One creator with 10K followers in the right niche could drive 50-100 signups. **Expected impact:** 5-15 sales per creator post, potentially recurring if they make it a series. **Action items:** - [ ] Search TikTok for "bar prep," "bar exam study," "MEE practice," "law school study with me" - [ ] Identify 5-10 creators with engaged audiences (comments > likes ratio matters more than follower count) - [ ] DM them: free access + $25-30 per referral via their personal code - [ ] Offer them the "diagnostic screenshot" content angle (see Channel 4) - [ ] No script. Let them try it and react. Authenticity is the whole point. **Limitation:** Unpredictable timing. Some will ignore the DM, some will post weeks later. Not a daily engine, but high-leverage individual bets. --- ## Channel 3: Reddit Organic (Slow Burn, Compounds) **What:** u/sheppyrun continues organic helpfulness in r/barexam and r/LawSchool. Never self-promote. Answer essay questions, share writing tips, be genuinely useful. People find SHEP through the profile. **Expected impact:** 2-5 sales/week. Compounds as karma and post history build. **Action items:** - [ ] Post 3-4 helpful comments/week in r/barexam - [ ] When relevant (someone asks about essay practice, grading, retaking), mention the product naturally - [ ] Never link-drop. Let them click through to profile. - [ ] Track which posts drive traffic (UTM on profile link) **Limitation:** Slow. 2-5 sales/week, not per day. But it's free and it compounds. --- ## Channel 4: Shareable Diagnostic Results (Viral Mechanic) **What:** Make the free diagnostic score report so visually compelling that students screenshot and share it. Think Spotify Wrapped for bar prep. **Why it works:** Students already share study progress on social media. A beautiful, personalized breakdown of their essay weaknesses is inherently shareable. Every share is a free impression to other bar takers. **What "so sick they can't resist" looks like:** - Radar/spider chart of the four dimensions (issue spotting, rule statement, application, organization) with color-coded strengths and gaps - A "band" graphic that feels like a rank or achievement - Specific callouts: "Your rule statements are stronger than 70% of practice essays" or "Your weakest area: fact application" - A clear SHEP branding watermark and URL on the image - One-tap share to Instagram stories, Twitter/X, or download to camera roll - "Get your free diagnostic" CTA visible on the shared image **Expected impact:** If 10% of free diagnostic users share, and each share reaches 50-100 people, and 5% of those click through... the math compounds fast. Could be 0 sales (nobody shares) or 50+ sales/week (it catches on). High variance, high upside. **Action items:** - [ ] Design the shareable score card (prioritize mobile screenshot aesthetics) - [ ] Add share buttons or "download your scorecard" to the results page - [ ] Include the SHEP URL and "Get your free diagnostic" on the image - [ ] Test: does the current score breakdown screenshot well on mobile? - [ ] Consider a "share your results" prompt after the diagnostic **Limitation:** Requires engineering/design work. The feature doesn't exist yet. Needs to ship early May to catch the season. --- ## Channel 5: Reddit Ads ($30/day) **What:** Targeted Reddit ads on r/barexam, r/LawSchool, and related subreddits. **Budget:** $30/day = $900/month = ~$2,500 for the season **Why Reddit:** The audience is already there, segmented by interest, and has high purchase intent during bar prep season. Google search ads are also viable but Reddit is cheaper for niche targeting. **Expected impact:** 50-100 clicks/day at $0.30-0.60 CPC. At 3-5% conversion: 2-5 sales/day. **Ad copy direction:** - "Free bar essay diagnostic. Write one essay, get scored on four dimensions." - "Practicing for the July 2026 MEE? Get instant feedback on your essays." - Link to the free diagnostic, not to the pricing page. Let the product convert. **Action items:** - [ ] Set up Reddit Ads account - [ ] Create 2-3 ad variants (test different copy angles) - [ ] Target: r/barexam, r/LawSchool, r/lawschooladmissions (for retakers), interest targeting for "bar exam," "law school" - [ ] Set daily budget at $30, monitor CPC and conversion for first week, adjust - [ ] Track: clicks, free diagnostic starts, free-to-paid conversion rate **Unit economics:** At $30/day spend and 3 sales/day: $10 CAC on $129 product = $119 net. Healthy. **Consider:** Redirect the $1,500 licensing budget to ads instead. That buys 50 days at $30/day, covering May 1 through mid-June. If the ROAS is positive in week 1, increase spend. --- ## Channel 6: Licensing Budget Reallocation ($1,500 to Ads) **What:** The $1,500 originally earmarked for NCBE licensing (which isn't happening before July) gets redirected to paid acquisition. **Why:** Licensed content won't ship this season. The $1,500 sitting idle doesn't generate revenue. Spent on ads at a $10-15 CAC, it could generate 100-150 additional sales ($12,900-$19,350 in revenue). That's a 9-13x return. **Allocation:** - $900 Reddit ads (30 days at $30/day for the first month) - $300 Google Search ads ("bar essay practice," "MEE practice questions," "bar exam writing practice") - $300 reserve for scaling whichever channel performs better in weeks 3-4 **Action items:** - [ ] Decide: redirect licensing budget to ads? (reversible if licensing opportunity appears) - [ ] Set up Google Ads account alongside Reddit - [ ] Run both for 2 weeks, compare CAC and conversion - [ ] Scale the winner --- ## Channel 7: Mini-Goats (Referral Partners + Campus Ambassadors) **What:** Recruit 5-10 people with access to bar taker audiences. Give them a personal referral code. Pay $25-30 per converted sale. **Who:** - 3L friends at other law schools who can share in their group chats - Study group admins (Facebook groups, GroupMe, Discord servers for bar prep) - Anyone with a bar-prep-adjacent audience who wants to earn referral income - Campus ambassadors who physically go to law schools (see Maggie below) **Expected impact:** Each mini-Goat with access to 50-200 people who converts 5-10% = 2-20 sales per person. Five active mini-Goats = 10-100 sales over the season. **Commission structure:** $25-30 cash per converted sale via their referral code **Action items:** - [ ] Create referral code infrastructure in Stripe (unique code per partner) - [ ] Draft a one-paragraph pitch for DM/text: what the product is, what the code does, what they earn - [ ] Identify first 5 recruits: Goat, Maggie, 2-3 3L friends at other schools, 1-2 Reddit connections - [ ] Track conversions per code - [ ] Pay out monthly or after 5+ conversions (their choice) **Limitation:** Requires active recruitment and management. You're building a micro sales force. --- ## Daily Sales Projection by Channel (Steady State, Weeks 3-8) | Channel | Sales/Day | Notes | |---------|----------|-------| | Reddit organic | 0.5-1 | Slow burn, compounds | | Reddit/Google ads ($30/day) | 2-3 | Depends on conversion rate | | Referral chain from existing buyers | 1-2 | 20% referral rate on base | | Mini-Goats and ambassadors | 1-2 | Depends on how many are active | | Creator posts (TikTok, etc.) | 0-2 | Lumpy, not daily | | Shareable diagnostic (viral) | 0-3 | High variance | | **Total** | **4-13** | **Median: ~6-7/day** | Honest assessment: 6-7 individual sales/day is the realistic ceiling without a viral moment or significant ad budget increase. Combined with institutional deals, that gets you to $90K. Pure individual at 6-7/day = $55-65K for the season. --- ## Channel 8: TikTok Bar Prep Creators **What:** Identify 3-5 bar prep content creators on TikTok (and Instagram/YouTube) with engaged bar exam audiences. DM them free access and a personal referral code. **Why it works:** Bar prep TikTok is active and trusted. A 10-20K follower creator in this niche is more influential than a 100K lifestyle creator. Students trust peer reactions over ads. **Expected impact:** 5-15 sales per creator post. High variance — some ignore the DM, some post weeks later. But a single post from the right creator can outperform a week of Reddit organic. **Action items:** - [ ] Search TikTok/Instagram for "bar prep," "bar exam study," "MEE practice," "law school study with me" - [ ] Identify 5-10 creators — comments-to-likes ratio matters more than follower count - [ ] DM: free access + $25-30/referral via their personal code - [ ] No script. Let them try it and react authentically. - [ ] Track which creators drive signups via referral code **Limitation:** Unpredictable timing and not a daily engine. High-leverage individual bets. --- ## Channel 9: Retaker Facebook Groups and Communities **What:** Find and participate in Facebook groups and communities specifically for bar exam retakers. These are distinct from general bar prep spaces — smaller, more personal, more desperate for anything that works. **Why it works:** Retakers are 31% of July examinees with a 30-45% pass rate. They've already spent thousands on full bar courses and are looking for supplements. The founder's story — Fordham Law graduate who passed the February 2026 exam — is a real credential in this room. These communities trust authenticity over polish. **Expected impact:** 5-20 sales per genuine thread or post. Retakers are higher-converting than first-timers because they know exactly what went wrong and are willing to pay to fix a specific thing. **Action items:** - [ ] Search Facebook for "bar exam retakers," "failed bar exam," "bar exam July 2026 retakers" - [ ] Join 3-5 groups, spend one week reading before posting anything - [ ] First post: founder story, not product pitch — "I passed the February 2026 bar after struggling, here's what actually helped" - [ ] Let the product come up naturally when someone asks about essay practice - [ ] Never drop a direct link unprompted — earn the recommendation **Limitation:** Takes time to build trust. Cannot be rushed or it reads as spam. Do not start with a product pitch. --- ## The 9/Day Scenario (What Needs to Go Right) To sustain 9 individual sales/day, you need: 1. Ads running and converting at $10-15 CAC (2-3 sales/day) 2. At least 3 active mini-Goats driving referrals (1-2 sales/day) 3. Shareable diagnostic catching on (2-3 sales/day from organic sharing) 4. Reddit organic + referral chain from existing buyers (2-3 sales/day) All four have to work simultaneously. Possible but not the base case. Plan for 5-7/day and let institutional close the gap.