Archive | April, 2020

Which one would you remember: “Pete and Earl’s Hair Salon for Men,” or “Best Head Salon?” How about “The Best Irrigation Installation and Repair” or “Dirty Boots Irrigation?”

Choosing a memorable name for your business, service or product can actually increase your business, for 3 reasons:

– People can remember it in conversation with others. “Check out the “Stealth Remodeler,” he does work during off-hours so he won’t bother your customers.

– People remember it each time they see it. They might forget a generic name and not realize they’ve seen it over and over again online in forums, on blogs and so forth. But a memorable name they will remember. “Hey, I see that product or service everywhere, it must be good!”

– People can remember it when they need your product or service. “I’ve got to get a new window, so I’ll call the one window place I remember: ‘Peek-a-boo Windows.’” Or, “I need help with my website SEO, I’ll Google ‘Naked SEO’ because I remember their name from an article I read.”

Everything else being equal, the catchy, memorable name will win the business.

The competition for your prospect’s attention is at an all-time high. Simultaneously, the time they have to pay attention to your message is at an all-time low. Combined, these two things make selling harder than ever, which presents its own opportunity…

Make it so easy for your customer to say yes, they practically don’t even have to think about it. How? By making them an offer they cannot refuse. (Cue music from the Godfather.)

Imagine two side-by-side offers. Both are selling programs on how to become an effective public speaker. Both are quite excellent – the prospect would do well to buy either one.

One program sells for $997, or 3 payments of $340. The other program says, “We are so confident you will love this program, we will ship it to you for the mere cost of postage. You pay NOTHING beyond shipping for a full 30 days. If, for any reason, you decide not to keep it, simply send it back and we will not charge you. But we’re confident you will never want to part with it, because it’s that good.”

Which program would you choose – the one where you pay $997 or $340 upfront? Or the one where you pay $12 for shipping and get to try it out before you decide? It’s a no brainer offer.

And you can do this with digital delivery as well. Charge your customers $1 today and the full price or the first payment in 30 days. Let them know you will send them an email 3 days prior to charging their card. Give them two ways to stop payment before it happens. And watch the sales roll in. Yes, a few people will cancel, but most won’t (if your product is solid). And you’ll make far more sales than you would by asking for all the money up front.

Positioned correctly, this technique can convey more confidence in your product than almost anything else. You are essentially saying to your customer that you will prove to them beyond a shadow of doubt just how good your product is, or they don’t pay anything. Now who can refuse an offer like that?

Are there really any good reasons NOT to launch your amazing new product? Take this quiz to find out so you don’t make the same critical mistakes that have destroyed many other businesses and entrepreneurs from the word GO…

Ok, check all that apply:

1. __ Another marketer has just launched a product very similar to yours, and if you launch your product now, you’ll look like a copycat.

2. __ You just got word that another launch for a similar product bombed in a very big way – almost no one bought it. You’ll look like an idiot if you launch your product.

3. __ A big guru in your niche just started the launch process of a very similar product. His first video is out, and once he releases the fourth video everyone on the planet will be promoting his product.

4. __ There are already several free versions of products quite similar to yours – thus there is no reason anyone would buy your product when they can get the same info for free.

Did you pick which scenarios should stop you from launching your product right now?

Okay, let’s see how you did.

Answers:

1. This happens more often than you think. And yes, product creators do pull their product launch when they see someone else has just launched something similar. And you know what? Those product creators are fools. Here’s a true story to illustrate why:

Recently a popular marketer was just about to launch a product he’d worked on for a long time. He had everything in place to launch – all he had to do was press the button to send out the first email.

But someone else launched a VERY similar product that was selling like gangbusters. So he decided not to launch. Which made him sad. So late that night, when he was feeling down, he said, “Screw it!” and hit the launch button. $61,000 in profits later, he was very, VERY happy he had launched his look alike product.

Do not worry about what others are selling. If you’ve done your research into what your customers want, you WILL make sales. And sometimes you’ll make those sales to the exact same people who bought your competitor’s product, too! Don’t wait, don’t hesitate – launch your product.

2. If their product didn’t sell, yours won’t either, right? Wrong. You’ve done your research and you know what your customers want. Your customers trust you. They like you. They buy your stuff.

So of course you’re going to launch your product, because whatever that other marketer did or did not have going on does not affect you. And neither do rumors, so don’t pay any attention to them. Stop second guessing yourself and launch your product.

3. Oh no, you can’t compete with the “big cheese,” can you? Who says you have to? Your customers are YOUR customers. Your affiliates are YOUR affiliates. It’s common for similar products to hit the market at nearly the same time and have both do well. So don’t worry about it. Just launch your product.

Have you noticed a pattern yet? I hope so. Okay, onto the last one…

4. What is the perceived value of “free?” Low. Very low. In fact, no free product can compete with your paid product, because as everyone believes, they get what they pay for. That’s why free is never your competition. So launch your product. Now.

In fact the only real competition you ever have is in your mind. So don’t worry about who is launching what or when they are launching. In fact, stop reading your emails when you’re in product creation mode and just focus on your task – creating the content and products your customers want. Everything else will take care of itself.

Let’s say you run across an affiliate program for a product with recurring payments, such as a membership site or software. Because it’s recurring payments, you sell it once and you get paid over and over again, for months or possibly even years. Everything else being equal, these are always the best types of products to promote because the income just keeps coming and coming.

Naturally you want to make as many sales of these as possible, so the question becomes: Other than your usual methods of promotion, how can you get more subscribers to this affiliate program?

Try an old school method that still works – creating a viral report.

In the report, teach how to do whatever it is that the product does. Teach the method in detail, step-by-step. Leave nothing out. Then at the end, let the reader know that they don’t have to do any of what you just said. Instead, they can get the same results a whole lot faster and easier by subscribing to the affiliate program.

Simple, right? First you show how complicated it is to do it by hand. Then you give them an easy way to get the same result – by subscribing. And you give your affiliate link.

And by the way, this is the ONLY affiliate link you put in the entire report.

Now then, here are few tips to make this work:

– Create a report good enough to sell. This should be high quality.

– Make the report short enough that readers can easily finish it in one sitting. You want every reader to reach the end so they see the affiliate link.

– Whenever possible, focus on telling your reader what to do, but not how to do it. This way they’re more likely to take the easy way out and subscribe to your affiliate program, rather than figure out details for themselves.

– Give your report an absolutely KILLER title that makes people want to read it and share it.

– Leave your name off of your report. This will encourage others to share it with their lists.

– Give anyone and everyone who has the report the right to distribute the report exactly as it is with no alterations. They can use it as a bonus, as a list building incentive and so forth.

– If you’re written a sales page for the report, let others use the sales page and put their own name on it. Yes, they can absolutely charge for the report if they like, so long as they leave your affiliate link in place.

The idea is to get as many people as possible sharing your report. The more your report is distributed around the net, the more chances you have to make sales.

This is a very old school method that can still be quite effective if you follow these steps. And of course you can repeat this method as many times as you like.

Imagine if you have a dozen of these reports, each with an affiliate link to a recurring payment program. You let other marketers give your reports away as bonuses and whatnot. And you let marketers sell them and keep all the profits.

Thousands upon thousands of copies can be distributed using these methods. And even if only 1 out of 100 who get the report subscribe for a few months to your programs, you’ll still make out like a bandit.

Ready to avoid a big mistake and increase your bottom line? Do you have download pages? You know, pages where people pick up their product after buying it from you?…

If so, have you TESTED those download pages? Odds are it never even occurred to you. But why not? You test everything else, so why not test your download pages, too?

Oh-oh, let’s back up.

Any virtual real estate you have – including download pages – can be selling something for you. In fact, download pages can be the PERFECT place for promotion because your customer just made a purchase. This means they’re already in a buying mood. And who buys products? BUYERS do. If you’re not promoting something on your download pages, you are missing out on what might be thousands of dollars of revenue a month, depending on how much traffic those pages get.

So how do you best promote a product on your download page? Forget flashy banners and things that look like ads. Simple is better, which is why adding a link to your list of download links will usually give you the best results. For example, if your down load page has a list of videos, at the end of the list you will place a link in the same font and the same color offering them their customer discount on the product you’re promoting.

But don’t take my word for it – test it out for yourself.

When they click this link they are lead to a slightly altered version of your regular sales page. At the top of the page is a line or two letting them know that because of their purchase, they are entitled to a special discount on this product today.

Of course, you’ll want to remember to give them that discount, too.

So what should you test on your download page? The links you use, the placement of links and the pages you send them to. Remember to promote a product that is in some way directly related to the one they bought for best results.

Making this one simple change can potentially add thousands of dollars to your bottom line each and every year. Now that’s a great return on the investment of your time.

…yet it’s a technique most marketers aren’t even aware of yet. And it’s as easy as turning video PLR snippets into lists and cash. Here’s how it works…

Find some good, solid PLR videos that instruct on how to do something. They should cover the step by step method to achieve a goal. They don’t need to be fancy but they do need good information that people want.

Once you’ve got your videos, watch them to find the “good” parts. These are the little 2-3 minute segments that teach something especially useful most people don’t know. Really you only need one of these segments, but if you find several, that’s even better.

Copy that segment into a file of its own. You can use most any video program to do this. Basically you make a copy of that video, then cut out everything you don’t want, leaving that 2-3 minute segment.

Place that video segment on its own page on your website. Once you’ve gotten this far, you’ve got choices on what to do next – LOTS of choices. You can…

1. Add a lead capture form to build your list. “To get the entire 30 minute video series for free, just let us know where to send it.” Drive traffic to your lead capture page from social media, guest blogging, paid traffic and so forth.

Visitors watch the 2-3 minute segment and quickly learn something valuable. You’ve now earned a level of trust. And they are impressed and curious enough to give their email address in return for the rest of the video series.

Taking this a step further, you can monetize your lead capture page by adding an upsell to the sequence. Once they subscribe, you offer them another, related product. Done right this will make your list building profitable enough to pay for advertising.

And with a self-liquidating offer, you can build your list as fast as you like.

2. Promote your membership site. “This entire videos series is just one of many in my XYZ membership. Click here to get more info / sign up.”

You’ll find it’s much easier to drive traffic to your membership sales page by promoting your free video clip. And you can add this into your autoresponder sequence to make more sales of your membership as well.

3. You can sell the actual PLR series. Placing a clip on a stand-alone page is a great way to promote your product. Be sure to rename the video series and give it an entirely different look with a new cover as well.

Visitors watch the clip, like it, and click the link to get the rest of the video series. This takes them to a short sales page with an attractive price tag.

Guaranteed, you will make more sales using this method than if you simply send them straight to the sales page without letting them view the segment.

4. Give the video series away when they purchase an affiliate product. “Would you like to get this entire video series for free? Simply click his link, purchase ABC product and the video series is yours.

They are then taken to the sales page for ABC product. Of course this works best when the affiliate product is directly related to the video series you’re giving away.

5. Give the video series away when they buy your product. “This entire video series is just one of the bonuses you get when you purchase my product.”

Again, letting them preview the video series greatly increases the perceived value and heightens their desire to see the rest of the video series. Thus it’s a much better enticement to get them to buy your product.

BIG BONUS TIP: This tip alone can put thousands of dollars in your pocket, and it’s super simple. Ready?

For options 2-5, you can add them into your autoresponder sequences to make additional sales on autopilot.

And you can repeat this with as many PLR video products as you like, too.

Just show a teaser video and then offer the full course when they join your list, join your membership, buy your product, etc. It’s such a simple technique, yet very few marketers have caught on to this yet so it’s still wide open. Go for it!

This idea has been proven to work GREAT for insurance agents, and it can work phenomenally well for other businesses as well. Imagine you walk into Joe’s insurance to sell your marketing services. Joe is sitting at his desk, looking bored and sad. “Joe,” you say, “How’s business?”

“Not great, he answers.”

“Joe, I’ll bet you a steak dinner that I can get your phone ringing off the hook in days.”

Joe takes you up on your bet. You then launch an advertising campaign via social media or traditional media, in which Joe offers a big steak or shrimp dinner if he can’t save a customer money on his or her insurance. Because the offer is so attention getting and so bold, the phone does indeed ring off the hook.

Just make sure before you run a promotion like this that Joe can indeed save most people money.

You can do something similar with other trades, too, such as tax preparers, travel agents and even auto repair shops. That’s right – auto repair. The offer might be – “Bring in your estimate from any other shop. If we can’t do the work for less money, we’ll buy you dinner.”

Can you do something like this with online marketing? Why not?

“Follow my step by step system. Show me you did all the steps, and if you aren’t making “x” amount of money in 6 months, the course is one me.”

Or…

“Follow my recommendations, keep an exercise and eating journal for 6 weeks while following the program, and if you haven’t lost 10 pounds, I’ll send you my competitor’s program for free.”

The possibilities are endless. By making an offer no one else is making, you will stand out from the crowd, get noticed and make sales.

The fact is, most people have an expertise that would make a good product others would happily pay for. But some people either don’t feel confident enough to charge for what they know, or they really don’t know enough to charge.

So what kind of product can these folks create? That’s easy – software.

With software, you don’t have to record videos and write PDF’s and give case studies and examples and so forth, other than what you need to sell the software.

All you need to create a software product is basically two things: A good idea and a coder. Coders are easy to come by – just go to any of the freelancing sites and take your pick.

So how do you get a good idea for software? Study your market. See what people need. Make a note when you wish you had software that would do ____, because odds are other people are wishing for the same thing.

Look at the new software introduced in your niche – how could you improve it?

What are the latest, biggest, fastest growing trends? What software can you make to piggyback on these trends?

The fact is, new ideas for software are everywhere if you’re looking for them.

And software generally has a higher perceived value than information. This means you can either charge more than an information product, or keep your price low and get more buyers.

Either way, you’re making sales and building a list of buyers.

All you need now is an idea and the guts to see that idea through.

Let’s say you promote an affiliate product and it does pretty well, earning you some nice sales. The question is, now that you’ve found a product that is selling well to your list, how do you make even more sales? Here are 3 methods:

1. Send another email to those who opened your last email but didn’t click the link, and to those who didn’t open your last email. Offer them the same product, but with an additional 7 days of free email support from you.

This works if you’re familiar with the product, which you should be if you’re promoting it. The addition of real live support can often double your sales or better. And it can be fun making new friends with people on your list.

2. If it’s your product that you’re promoting, send out another promotion to those people on your list who didn’t click the link or open the email, offering the same product with a twist for more money.

The twist might be a special bonus, email support, a coaching call, etc. You can charge more because you’re offering more value. Again, some people will take you up on this offer who wouldn’t otherwise have purchased.

3. Send out the “bugging” email. This is the email that you again send to those who either haven’t opened your other emails or opened them and didn’t click the link.

Admit right up front that you are bugging them with your emails, but you have a very good reason for bugging them. You know this product can make a real difference in their lives. In fact, you’re so sure this product can make a difference that you’re willing to risk your friendship and their patronage just to get them to look at it. Because that is what friends do.

And if you think about it, that IS what friends do. If your friend knows you would be far better off if you only did ___, wouldn’t your friend bug you to do it? Of course. Your email list should be no different. Because you only promote the products you KNOW will help them, and because this product is a life-changer, you’re sending this email.

This technique flat out works – try it.

What NOT to do: Do not be the person who sends that annoying, “Frankly, we’re puzzled why you haven’t bought “x” product yet.” This conveys the message that you think they’re idiots for not buying it and is an instant turn off to any thinking person who receives the email.

Instead, always take the high road of, “I completely understand why you might be skeptical, which is why I’m throwing in free coaching, or which is why I’m offering email support to help you get started, or which is why I keep writing to you.”

By using any one of these 3 techniques, you can double your sales without a lot of effort. This means you can promote half as many products and yet make just as much money, or promote the same number of products and quite possibly double your income.

There is a super simple way to create products people want to buy. It’s so simple, in fact, that you might have heard of this technique and quickly dismissed it. Yet it works like marketing magic just about every time it’s used.

Here’s the secret: Write your sales page BEFORE you create the product.

That’s it. Now here’s why it works:

– The headline and bullet points basically give you an outline of the product to create.

– You don’t have to think of the bullet points yourself – just go to forums and find out what people are asking. Those are your bullet points.

– It is far easier to write the sales letter first and then create the product, rather than the other way around.

– As you write your letter, you can think about what your customer wants to know. Put yourself in their shoes. This almost guarantees a great sales page and product.

– If you outsource the product creation, you can simply hand your writer the sales page and let them create the product from that. You’ll get a far superior product created in less time than if you ask them to do it from scratch.

– There’s no need to hire an expensive copywriter using this method.

Here’s another secret – copywriters use this method all the time when creating their own products. And if they do it, you KNOW it works.

“But if I’m writing the bullet points first, how will I get the information?”

The same way you would doing it the traditional way – research. Either way you’ll be researching your product if you don’t already have the knowledge. But if you’ve already written your sale letter, then you’ll know exactly what information to look for, saving you time.

And if you find some gems of info as you do your research, you can always add those to your product as well as to your sales letter.

Write the sales letter first and you will nearly always produce a product people will want to buy.