Sunday Email Part 9 (Early Edition)
How are you?
It's been a long time since I asked you that. Last week, I was away speaking for Unleash Your Marketing Genius, an event by Stephen Pierce. Just in case if you have no clue who's Stephen, just go to www.winintheniche.com. I'll put up some pictures and talk more about it in the next post.
You Can Smell It... Weeks Ahead
Sometimes, a month ahead. You probably have no clue what I'm talking about - Product launch in the internet marketing world. Here's how it normally works:
The marketer will start to give away a free report or sequences of videos. It might even be several free tele-calls. Whatever. They call it the 'teaser'.
Did you see that coming? (smile)
When I check my mailbox and gotten 7 emails from different marketers giving that same free gift, I've already knew it.
So... who's getting the advantage here?
If you're me, you'll either feel sick with this 'fake' free gift or you'll be excited to see the real product. With all means, I’m not saying that the free gift has no value -- I'm saying that you might feel your intelligence is being insulted. Ouch.
If you'[re a marketer using this method:
You'll probably debate with me that you're giving value or whatever opinion you want to defend. Honestly, even if you're right 100% and I'm wrong, I can't be bothered because I'm not trying to proof anything here. You see, I don't have an ego to feed. Maybe I have. But obviously, not here.
Giving a free gift before a product launch is a brilliant strategy. I use it as well but I think it will no longer be as effective as it is today. I mean, you would have realized that tons of marketers are using it like nobody’s business.
So here's my 2 cents opinion if you're a marketer planning to use this method:
Be honest and tell the truth. In your free gift, don't hide anything. Tell them why you're giving this free gift and what they can expect to buy from you soon. You can be upfront or indirectly, but tell the truth. And guys and girls... for everyone's benefit -- Give real content or useful application. Don't create a free report with 5 pages of content and 10 pages of salesletter. Yeah, real content. Not some camouflage content that leaves the reader nothing more than hanging with more questions.
As a person receiving this free gift:
I think you should study the marketing strategy that took place in front of your computer screen as a real life case study. And this is also where you can see who are the joint venture partners involved. See how they are promoting it and why they are doing so.
If you're the JV partner to promote this:
I wouldn't suggest you to go ahead and give the free gift without any unique twist. Don't follow the herd otherwise you're not going to get a lot of sales. Trust me, I've been there.
Software Sourcecode Crap
The good thing with the 'internet marketing' niche, there are marketers that sell software source code. That's good because you can be a 'software developer' even though you don’t have a knick for software.
But it can turn ugly.
Last month, I bought a software source code package that cost me hundreds of dollars. I thought that was one of my best purchases because the salesletter claims how useful these bunch of source codes can do.
Until I got it.
Man, at least 50% of the software can't work or have serious bugs in them.
I don't need to say how unhappy I am. I mean, I'm not complaining about the price. I just want to buy things that work.
No, it's not Jeremy Burn’s software, if you're thinking of him. (smile)
Lesson learned:
Never buy source code from marketers unless they are real programmers. Better still, if they are programming geeks. You see, programmers are different 'breed' of human when it comes to selling. They are nice people who care about the quality of the software. They'll be focused on creating bug-free source code and best of all, they love their product.
Why My $7 Product Sells
There's a $7 product promotion craze online recently. But most of the time I won't buy any of them. You see, I DON'T MIND PAYING if I know I'm going to get the real stuff. The problem with these $7 product is that... they are not complete.
It's like paying to read a sales pitch to purchase a more expensive product. Ok, I'm exaggerating. :-) But hey, you get my point right?
These marketers think they are smart -- Giving you some 'sweet stuff' and getting you to buy another product by not 'completing' the product's content. That's nice. It would be really nice if the $7 report is complete.
But I'll buy if the salesletter claims to solve a precise problem. Like a report how to get free traffic from youtube.com by getting a lot of viewer votes.
The keyword to sell a $7 (or any low-end product) without getting people to throw apples at you is to give a "complete" product.
Don't sell a report telling how great you can submit articles automatically but you must buy my article submission software or else it won't work. If you do that, be prepared to be jeered and receive hate emails. But if you have an alternative that they can do this without software but slower, hey, that's fine. At least, it's ain't a hardcore sales pitch but some valuable content that works.
That's why, my recent software offering of The PDF Profit Lock was sold so successfully. A lot of my subscribers and customers bought it because it's cheap (but doesn't mean poor quality) and it's a complete product. No upsell or some sort of one-time offer thingy.
It's a cool software that can help you to get free traffic from viral marketing. I urge you to get a copy at www.automateinternetmarketing.com/pdfprofit. And if you're an internet marketer, get the RESALE RIGHTS so that you can sell and make 100% pure profit.
I Said This Recently
There's a Chinese Proverb that goes...
Swift as the wind,
Quiet like the forest,
Conquer like fire,
Steady like mountain.
That's the introduction that I'll normally use when I was invited to speak at internet marketing seminars or events.
You need to build your online business as fast as you can because speed is the essence of success.
Once you made money online, keep it quiet to yourself and laugh your way to the bank. Don't be a silly fool to start telling the whole world how successful is your online business because there's no point to attract competitors. Unless, if you want to be in the 'internet marketing' niche to prove your success and make money there, go ahead. But be prepare to lose your income from your REAL online business.
Having a presence in your niche is not enough. "Conquer like fire"... make sure you dominate it as much as you can.
And most importantly, build it so strong so that it's unshakable and it can create wealth for you even though you're away for a week. Hey, I'm being honest. I don't think any internet marketer's online business will go on auto-pilot if they take one-month break. I know this for a fact because many of my internet 'guru' friends work their ass off.
One more thing about seminar -
One day when you're engage to speak at seminars, I'm sure you'll be on top of your world. Congrats on your success. But never be a name dropper, too much. Once in a while is good because it helps on the reputation.
I mean, you'll probably heard it all the time online in emails that he's a good friend of bla, bla, bla super guru marketer and so on. Like I said, it's fine to mention once in a while, but please stop it if it's getting out of control. If I told you how close my friendship is with Stephen Pierce, don’t I look like a name dropper or something?
I know success by association is powerful. But I'm a strong believer that... If you're good, you're good. People have ears and eyes to know what's going on. They are not stupid. I mean, you and me are not stupid.
Remember -- People are more concern about themselves than you. That's the marketing rule #1. So when you overdo it, instead of trying to convince people how strong your 'success by association' thingy is, you end up to be a name dropper or someone who is full of hot air balloon. You see, you got it but they don't. They're more concern of how they can get the same association like yours instead of hearing your self-ego association.
This goes to another thing I want to emphasize in business life --
Many people got it wrong by reading books or courses because marketing is not fixed. It doesn't means that if you know how to solve X, you can always solve it with method A. Marketing varied from cases to cases and a marketer proves his skill by being able to adapt and come up with business solutions when unexpected problem arise. There's where method B, C and D are developed on the fly.
If someone knows about 'social proof' from A BOOK rather than real life experience, he'll probably disagree with me with my opinion above and unsubscribe from my list.
The key to success is to learn from execution, not theories. I think that's why marketing guru like Jay Abraham can demand a fee up to $5,000 an hour because of the vast experience he have.
If you have been reading the "Sunday Email" series, I'll always ask for your favor to leave a Comment if you find value of what you've read. It'll be most appreciated because I read every single one of them. (smile)
You "Chan" Do It!
-Patric Chan
----
It's been a long time since I asked you that. Last week, I was away speaking for Unleash Your Marketing Genius, an event by Stephen Pierce. Just in case if you have no clue who's Stephen, just go to www.winintheniche.com. I'll put up some pictures and talk more about it in the next post.
You Can Smell It... Weeks Ahead
Sometimes, a month ahead. You probably have no clue what I'm talking about - Product launch in the internet marketing world. Here's how it normally works:
The marketer will start to give away a free report or sequences of videos. It might even be several free tele-calls. Whatever. They call it the 'teaser'.
Did you see that coming? (smile)
When I check my mailbox and gotten 7 emails from different marketers giving that same free gift, I've already knew it.
So... who's getting the advantage here?
If you're me, you'll either feel sick with this 'fake' free gift or you'll be excited to see the real product. With all means, I’m not saying that the free gift has no value -- I'm saying that you might feel your intelligence is being insulted. Ouch.
If you'[re a marketer using this method:
You'll probably debate with me that you're giving value or whatever opinion you want to defend. Honestly, even if you're right 100% and I'm wrong, I can't be bothered because I'm not trying to proof anything here. You see, I don't have an ego to feed. Maybe I have. But obviously, not here.
Giving a free gift before a product launch is a brilliant strategy. I use it as well but I think it will no longer be as effective as it is today. I mean, you would have realized that tons of marketers are using it like nobody’s business.
So here's my 2 cents opinion if you're a marketer planning to use this method:
Be honest and tell the truth. In your free gift, don't hide anything. Tell them why you're giving this free gift and what they can expect to buy from you soon. You can be upfront or indirectly, but tell the truth. And guys and girls... for everyone's benefit -- Give real content or useful application. Don't create a free report with 5 pages of content and 10 pages of salesletter. Yeah, real content. Not some camouflage content that leaves the reader nothing more than hanging with more questions.
As a person receiving this free gift:
I think you should study the marketing strategy that took place in front of your computer screen as a real life case study. And this is also where you can see who are the joint venture partners involved. See how they are promoting it and why they are doing so.
If you're the JV partner to promote this:
I wouldn't suggest you to go ahead and give the free gift without any unique twist. Don't follow the herd otherwise you're not going to get a lot of sales. Trust me, I've been there.
Software Sourcecode Crap
The good thing with the 'internet marketing' niche, there are marketers that sell software source code. That's good because you can be a 'software developer' even though you don’t have a knick for software.
But it can turn ugly.
Last month, I bought a software source code package that cost me hundreds of dollars. I thought that was one of my best purchases because the salesletter claims how useful these bunch of source codes can do.
Until I got it.
Man, at least 50% of the software can't work or have serious bugs in them.
I don't need to say how unhappy I am. I mean, I'm not complaining about the price. I just want to buy things that work.
No, it's not Jeremy Burn’s software, if you're thinking of him. (smile)
Lesson learned:
Never buy source code from marketers unless they are real programmers. Better still, if they are programming geeks. You see, programmers are different 'breed' of human when it comes to selling. They are nice people who care about the quality of the software. They'll be focused on creating bug-free source code and best of all, they love their product.
Why My $7 Product Sells
There's a $7 product promotion craze online recently. But most of the time I won't buy any of them. You see, I DON'T MIND PAYING if I know I'm going to get the real stuff. The problem with these $7 product is that... they are not complete.
It's like paying to read a sales pitch to purchase a more expensive product. Ok, I'm exaggerating. :-) But hey, you get my point right?
These marketers think they are smart -- Giving you some 'sweet stuff' and getting you to buy another product by not 'completing' the product's content. That's nice. It would be really nice if the $7 report is complete.
But I'll buy if the salesletter claims to solve a precise problem. Like a report how to get free traffic from youtube.com by getting a lot of viewer votes.
The keyword to sell a $7 (or any low-end product) without getting people to throw apples at you is to give a "complete" product.
Don't sell a report telling how great you can submit articles automatically but you must buy my article submission software or else it won't work. If you do that, be prepared to be jeered and receive hate emails. But if you have an alternative that they can do this without software but slower, hey, that's fine. At least, it's ain't a hardcore sales pitch but some valuable content that works.
That's why, my recent software offering of The PDF Profit Lock was sold so successfully. A lot of my subscribers and customers bought it because it's cheap (but doesn't mean poor quality) and it's a complete product. No upsell or some sort of one-time offer thingy.
It's a cool software that can help you to get free traffic from viral marketing. I urge you to get a copy at www.automateinternetmarketing.com/pdfprofit. And if you're an internet marketer, get the RESALE RIGHTS so that you can sell and make 100% pure profit.
I Said This Recently
There's a Chinese Proverb that goes...
Swift as the wind,
Quiet like the forest,
Conquer like fire,
Steady like mountain.
That's the introduction that I'll normally use when I was invited to speak at internet marketing seminars or events.
You need to build your online business as fast as you can because speed is the essence of success.
Once you made money online, keep it quiet to yourself and laugh your way to the bank. Don't be a silly fool to start telling the whole world how successful is your online business because there's no point to attract competitors. Unless, if you want to be in the 'internet marketing' niche to prove your success and make money there, go ahead. But be prepare to lose your income from your REAL online business.
Having a presence in your niche is not enough. "Conquer like fire"... make sure you dominate it as much as you can.
And most importantly, build it so strong so that it's unshakable and it can create wealth for you even though you're away for a week. Hey, I'm being honest. I don't think any internet marketer's online business will go on auto-pilot if they take one-month break. I know this for a fact because many of my internet 'guru' friends work their ass off.
One more thing about seminar -
One day when you're engage to speak at seminars, I'm sure you'll be on top of your world. Congrats on your success. But never be a name dropper, too much. Once in a while is good because it helps on the reputation.
I mean, you'll probably heard it all the time online in emails that he's a good friend of bla, bla, bla super guru marketer and so on. Like I said, it's fine to mention once in a while, but please stop it if it's getting out of control. If I told you how close my friendship is with Stephen Pierce, don’t I look like a name dropper or something?
I know success by association is powerful. But I'm a strong believer that... If you're good, you're good. People have ears and eyes to know what's going on. They are not stupid. I mean, you and me are not stupid.
Remember -- People are more concern about themselves than you. That's the marketing rule #1. So when you overdo it, instead of trying to convince people how strong your 'success by association' thingy is, you end up to be a name dropper or someone who is full of hot air balloon. You see, you got it but they don't. They're more concern of how they can get the same association like yours instead of hearing your self-ego association.
This goes to another thing I want to emphasize in business life --
Many people got it wrong by reading books or courses because marketing is not fixed. It doesn't means that if you know how to solve X, you can always solve it with method A. Marketing varied from cases to cases and a marketer proves his skill by being able to adapt and come up with business solutions when unexpected problem arise. There's where method B, C and D are developed on the fly.
If someone knows about 'social proof' from A BOOK rather than real life experience, he'll probably disagree with me with my opinion above and unsubscribe from my list.
The key to success is to learn from execution, not theories. I think that's why marketing guru like Jay Abraham can demand a fee up to $5,000 an hour because of the vast experience he have.
If you have been reading the "Sunday Email" series, I'll always ask for your favor to leave a Comment if you find value of what you've read. It'll be most appreciated because I read every single one of them. (smile)
You "Chan" Do It!
-Patric Chan
----
posted by Patric Chan at 3:54 AM
11 Comments:
Patrick,
I read your entire post. I thought it started off to be a rant, but you ended up making a lot of valid points. I, personally, haven't ran across many 7.00 products that are not complete. Most of the ones I've purchased myself are of good value and I continue to offer them to my lists. I agree with you that the greatest part of marketing comes from taking action and you learn more that way. I appreciate you thoughts, they were worth reading. Take care.
Hi Patric:
It's nice to see someone acknowledge what is going on in internet marketing. I always try to go the opposite direction of the herd irregardless. It may be wrong headed sometimes but once the herd starts moving the competition quickly makes anything unprofitable. Usually the last one's in try to bail out their investment by cutting price. The other side I've seen is the sale of once hot overpriced products who are at the end of their usefullness. These Guru's are milking the cash cow and leaving you with sour milk. Shame on them.
I unsubscribe quicky if these aggressive tactics are used.
Thanks Patric,
Leslie
Well said Patric!
I've recently cut out a lot of emails from folks who just keep promoting their 'buddies' stuff. Most of which was, like you say, a freebie before the 'big launch'.
I like reading your stuff as you seem to, most times, 'wake me up' by reminding me that anyone Chan Do It!
All the best Patric,
Col
Hi Partic,
I've been following your series for a while now. Invariably, you have good common sense in your approach to marketing and ur a success.
Ur analysis of the 7 dollar promos are right on the money as I too have been a victim of those ppl selling incomplete courses. Whats worse, i fell for it a number of times, being 7 bucks, i guess i get the false notion of it being just the price of a small latte.
anyway, pls keep up your good work.
Thanks, Patric,
I think the absolute honesty approach you espouse is the only one new marketers should consider. The "tricks" and NLP and all that take time to develop, if they are ever the "right thing" to do at all.
Thanks for giving us someone who we can trust and for teaching us one can be successful without it being at some unsuspecting someone's expense.
Neil Shattles
www.newbieshock.com
Hey Patric,
I always look forward to your Sun-any-day rants. Its always refreshing to keep it real and I plan on sharing the same philosophy with my readers. I think its good that some of the "old School" (could mean couple years in Internet marketing these days) are indeed giving away gifts but I have seen some very powerful free books/reports popping up and I think we all win that way. Of course its still a pre-launch but Thank goodness the bar is being raised. We spoke many years ago about Anthony Robbins and Neither of us was selling anything but we touched base purely on some positive ideas. So I am very proud of your accomplishments and sometimes I am astonished how people can out-achieve those who are at the heart
of opportunity but they waste it on video games, complaining about J-O-B-S and yet investing in every get rich now scheme they come across...well God Bless them because we will teach them.
Patric,
Thanks for the post. Keep it up
because I love reading them.
I am a bit skeptical with the
software source code sales as well.
I had a few software products before,
installed them and there were, like
you said, bugs in many places.
Now, I'm still cautious about
buying them.
About PDFProfitLock, does it do
rebranding like ViralPDF does as
well?
thanks,
Zamri Nanyan
www.ZamriNanyan.com
Hello Patric, I love your Sunday or wednesday e-mails, or anyday you send them out e-mails. You point out a lot of good things to be aware of! And you my friend have saved me a lot of money, simply by letting me know about scams or unscrupulous people out there marketing. I love your rants and tips, please keep on sending them, I really appreciate your fresh approach to putting it there for all to see and learn from. Thanks, Carol
Hello Patric,
I like your honest write up and always straight to the point.
First of all, not all $7 reports are bad. It is on how the marketeer package the info / details and market it.
Right now, every tom dick and harry also can come out with their product but it is not easy to promote it.
Most popular way is to leverage on JV partners to sell it. I would suggest their customers or JV partners take some of their time to review it before promoting it to their list.
If each of us ( JV partners ) review a product before promoting it, we could at least ensure of the quality.
Just like most of us, we get the same education in school. There are good students and also bad one. They are also going through the same education system but it is really up to the individual to become what he wants.
Same like a $7 product. Could be a good or bad. Depends on the creator.
Ahh .. enough ranting.
Cheers,
David K
Another great post. I for one am tired of all the big launches and yes with the "free reports" that are just sales letters. Although some good ones come through.
I personally have had pretty good luck with $7 reports, can't think of any bad ones. Actually the best thing about these reports in my opinion is how easy just about any one can set up their own for others to sell and spread. The selling mechanism was the best idea.
Hi Patric,
Another valuable post.
I've not posted before, but your comments on "not complete" struck a chord.
About two years ago, I bought an ebook on SEO from a fairly big name (who I obviously can't name). It was a fairly expensive book, I think about $67, yet to put into practice the techniques taught amounted to more than $750 for the basic software.
I contacted the vendor and expressed my concern and eventually he worked out a basic system for me to use the techniques in his book, which would cost me about $250.
I could not afford the money at the time, but needless to say that I will never purchsae from, or be associated with, that vendor again.
To rub salt into the wound, about two months later, I joined a well known membership site as a paid member and a few months later, the above product that I bought was available as a free paid member download.
Oh the beauty of the Internet. You either love it or hate it!
Keep up the good work Patric.
Regards,
Jeff.
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