Entries Tagged 'Other Stuff' ↓

If you’ve read this blog for any time now you probably aren’t believing your eyes. You KNOW I’m an idiot when it comes to graphics. It’s Haaaarrrrrrrd! (In my best whiny valley-girl voice – and yes, I AM dating myself) But no more. Nope. From now on you may bow when you are graced with my presence. From here on out I’m a…

Graphics Guru!

You may kiss my pen.

You don’t believe me do you? Well get a load of this!

See that header baby? check out that course cover. Those are MY doings Pilgrim. Yep. Yep. Yep. Mine. Mine. Mine. All Mine.

So what transformed me?

A program called Ecover Pro

Ecover Pro Demo

I saw this a few weeks ago as I was struggling to get something together for a report I wrote. Yes, the bait piece report to the right which will soon be gone – so if you are not a subscriber yet…

In any case I finally broke down to try it. (First I emailed the seller to see if it would work on my ancient Windows 2000 machine. He assured me it would and it works very well thank you.)

I’m telling you it is just as easy as it was on the demo! I was up and running in minutes. Ron does offer an “upsell” if you want to call it that – it’s lifetime access to his graphics designer. That’s what I used to make my banner and cover. It was very easy to use too. It did take me a while to play with some of the effects but over all it was a snap.

Let’s face it. For ME to put something out that good…

I’ve used some other programs that have better text effects but overall this program is a great value. If you’re a true “graphics guy” you might want to pass this one up, but I don’t think I would even then. Why?

Because once you have the basic flat graphic down it’s very easy to slap that on a nice looking ebook, cd, box… even a membership card.

If nothing else, you should see the demo on the sales page.

Oh, by the way, if you didn’t notice, the sales page for my new Power Testing Profits course which I haven’t even “officially” announced yet – is a special deal – use the coupon code “Save $20″ (between the quotes bloke) to well, save $20. What else? I have limited the number of coupons available so you might want to mosey over there now.

God bless,

Andy

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By “soaps” I mean soap operas or “daytime dramas” as they prefer to be called. If you’re like me you’ll breathe a sigh of relief to discover you don’t have to watch them to learn the lesson they teach. Whew!

My mom watched “her” soaps incessantly Monday-Friday. Can’t remember her ever missing them after she was forced to stop working with debilitating spinal arthritis. More than once I found myself caught in our living room with no where else to go. In such situations, I usually found something to read but strangely enough I managed to pickup a storyline now and then. So what did I learn about branding then? Nothing really.

My real lesson didn’t come until I recently read a story about advertising in the Great Depression. Basically Proctor & Gamble, one of the early sponsors of Soap Operas, er Daytime Dramas, (Gee, wonder how they got that “soap opera” label?) was used as an example of Depression-era advertisers. The point made was that business-wise, the Depression survivors advertised while those who cut back lost market share and some even closed down entirely.

Well, it’s an interesting theory but who knows how true it is? I don’t know anyone who has seriously studied this subject. What I do know is fortunes were made during the Depression. Movies were popular as were other forms of entertainment. Folks who didn’t know if they would eat next week would spend a nickle on a matinee. Well that’s something ain’t it? But that is not the lesson! So what is it?

Maybe it’s obvious to you by now. Once it dawned on me, I can’t believe I missed it.

Proctor & Gamble build their brand through content! They weren’t called “soaps” for nuttin! P&G didn’t just advertise they produced a large number of shows. In other words, they developed the content used to build their brand. And the content really had nothing to do with their product. At least I don’t think they bathed in Ivory or washed with Tide. Nonetheless  P&G built a  multi-billion dollar company partly on this content.

So what does this mean to you?

These days content is making a strong comeback as the Internet seems to sport an insatiable appetite for it.  Youtube is one of the most visited sites on the planet. While lots of folks search out information on everything from the hottest pop star to stuff as mundane as animal crackers, if you’ve any creative bones in your body, now would be a good time to let them cut loose.

Maybe you’ve got an idea for something that is not “commercial” something you do for fun that has a media component. Or maybe you know someone else just itching to “get published”.  Keep in mind, it does not have to be related to a product – it just has to appeal to an audience. Granted the wider appeal the better, but in today’s environment, it’s much easier to find pockets of fans for just about any topic.

God bless,

Andy

P.S. This post was brought to you by Havens Communications. We help businesses find missing or lost customers.  If you need more customers, call Andy Havens for a free no-obligation consultation at 443-254-3703.

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As I’m venturing into Social Networking more, I asked a question on one of the major ones and got a surprising response. The question?

“What part of marketing do you hate the most and how do you deal with it?”

Most of the answers defended the “DYI” (Do It Yourself) attitude. This can be a massive trap for anyone who runs a business or department.

One person wrote ‘delegation is also a potential risk’ (paraphrased).

Well, yeah, delegation IS a potential risk. In business what isn’t a risk? Life is a risk. As one old-timer once told me..

“If you haven’t made any mistakes today it’s because you haven’t done anything.” So make some mistakes.

Back to my question…

As I’m dusting off and polishing my shingle – moving back into copywriting for clients, I need to reconnect with what the needs of prospects and clients really are – from your perspective not mine.

It’s the process I go through when I’m working on a new project. It’s not good enough to “think” I know what customers want. I need to know. But I’ve got a problem. A big problem. The fact is, this problem could affect you too – whether I ever write anything for you or not.

I know my stuff.

I know business. I know copywriting. I know sales. I know this sounds like bragging. Maybe it is. But I’ve absolutely awed some people – people I hold to be very savvy business people in their own right. And I’ve done it right off the top of my head, never even starting to work up a sweat. And that’s a problem. Why?

Because standing too close to a problem can obscure my view.

I’ve seen this happen to my own clients over and over again.  My clients aren’t stupid people. They are smart. They are savvy. Often I find things that are staring them in the face, but they are too close to the situation to see it. They don’t hire me because I am smarter than they are – often I’m not . They hire me for my perspective and my objectivity. They know how difficult it is to be objective when you’ve invested your heart and soul (and everything you own) into your business.

On the other hand, my copywriting clients want my specific knowledge and ability to write a message people will respond to. Maybe they hate writing. Maybe they just know their efforts are better spent elsewhere. Either way – just as I hire a professional to do my taxes, they hire a professional to craft their marketing messages. And they are avoiding the DYI trap.

What about you? Are you feeling trapped? Does it seem like you’re missing “something” but you just can’t put your finger on it? If so then maybe it’s time to bring someone in. Keep in mind, this is not an admission of failure but a show of strength. You are proving you are strong enough (and smart enough) to look for chinks in your armor.

God bless,

Andy

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This is about the dumbest thing but I’m going to make this a sticky just to be sure.

IF I, RECOMMEND, COMMENT ON, OR OTHERWISE STEER YOU TOWARDS A PRODUCT OR SERVICE YOU CAN BET YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR I STAND TO MAKE SOMETHING IF YOU BUY FROM MY LINK.

Okay, if you didn’t know that was for our “g’vment friends”

I’m a tad disgusted with this – like your too stoopid to figure  it out.

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Okay, I admit it, I’ve been distracted the last couple of days. I finally got around to uploading a package I’ve been itching to try, but this is NOT for everyone.

If you market to the Internet Marketing niche or have access to Internet Marketers then you should consider this package. It’s called the Super Sign-up System and it works like this…

First you offer one or more Internet Marketing titles to your visitor – The package has 7 titles available and it’s designed to offer all 7 at once. However I can see some advantage to offering just one to certain markets – more on that in a moment…

So you offer these 7 free high-quality ebooks from a very nice squeeze page to your visitor. Once they bite you send them to a page offering them Master Resale Rights to all 7 ebooks. Should they take you up on this offer, you now offer them the entire super sign-up package as an upsell.

Now for the downside.

Like I said this is not for everybody – I normally do not marketing to Internet Marketers. I just haven’t pursued this niche. BUT I do belong to a a couple of member sites that DOES fit well with this product. As a matter of fact this kind of package that marketers in these sites SHOULD be selling. For example…

ListDotCom allows me to email 5,000 people every other day (I’m a Diamond member)

I kind of ignored this market for a long time because I had a heck of a time getting any response from my mailings. Then it hit me – these folks are interested in IM – ALL of them are. We all want to make money from our ListDotCom memberships but this really the only common thread. Now excuse me for being blunt here but I don’t want anyone to miss this point which is now totally obvious:

ListDotCom members should be offering ONLY Internet Marketing stuff to other members.

Now granted – at best – I expect response to be quite low here even though I’m now giving this market exactly what it screams for – a way to make money from their LDC membership.

I took this experiment a bit further with another membership – Traffic Swarm

Here I’m a free member, but I’ll go Pro if I get the hang of making money from it. Again, this market is extremely narrow – even more so than the IM field. So I split out a title I thought would do well and  I’m sending traffic right to just one title, with a brief promise of 6 more.  We’ll see how that goes.

Now for the rest of the downside – the Super Sign-up system is a bit complicated to set up.  I used XSitePro and I’m glad I did. I’d hate to think of trying to do all this one page at a time.

Not only is it hard to set up but I did not care for the documentation at all. I ended up setting up my own OTO scheme. I used Robert Plank’s Panic OTO script that came with his Sales Page Tactics Volume 3 – it’s near the end – I think number 21 in the list if tactics.

I don’t want to snow anyone – this is not for newbies. If you do decide to try this and get stuck, I’ll help you.  If you want me to set it up for you – let me know – leave a comment on this blog or submit a support ticket. Right now I’ll charge $100 for setting it up. Don’t whine – that’s dirt cheap . If I can find someone to do it for less, I’ll post it here.

Anyway this experiment is in progress. If I don’t post again, you can assume I dropped it or got distracted. I’m very accomplished at that.

Meanwhile this has been a very good experience for me. I’ve got a much better grasp on how this part of the sales process should work.

Oh, by the way if you want to see how the system works – check out the Super Sign-up System.

Follow that link to the end (sign up for the free stuff, order the master rights, and you’ll get an offer for the whole system at a rock bottom price.

I don’t know how long I’ll offer it at this price, I think it’s worth far more. Note the one time offer (OTO) really IS a ONE time offer. Click off and  you won’t see it again.

God bless,

Andy

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In a perfect world – one could look at a sales page – find the glaring error – fix it and wallah! Done. In the world we all live in it’s not that easy.

Some mistakes are hard to find. Worse what works in one market may not work in yours. People change. Circumstances change. The long and the short of any sales question is… there are no pat answers.  But what if the problem has little if anything to do with the sales copy itself?

Sometimes It’s the Process

What!? What the heck is THAT supposed to mean?

Look. Let’s say your on a trip and your gas gauge dips below your comfort level. What do you do? Duh. You find a gas station and fill it up… right?  Well then, that’s what everyone “I” know would do!

Well that’s a sales process. You need gas. You pull up to the gas station. Maybe you pay at the pump like so many of us do. Maybe you pay it all in cash. Whatever you do you don’t usually think about it.

You Just Do It.

Now let’s say your spouse gets a hankerin’ for a new living room suite. Whatever you are likely to do – that is your personal “sales process”. For most of us it means we end up in some furniture store someplace to close the deal.

Again, you work through a process of some sort – first whatever process you and your spouse go through to decide on what to buy and then you work through process to complete the sale. For most it should be at least a two-step process. So what am I getting at?

All Sales Require Some Sort of Process

And each process differs between products AND buyers. Think about this for a moment.

Consider my “Hot Buttons” product. From my standpoint all  you have to do is click on the order button and the rest is automatic. Maybe you want to pay via a direct debit or use your credit card – either one involves a slightly different process but neither variation matters one bit to me. Maybe you want to send me cash. No problem

But to get someone to the point of “click here to order” there can be many, many processes or ways to get someone to this point. And that’s where the fun begins.

• You could just be poking around, find the link and decide this product is just what you need. (Hey! No argument from me)
• Or maybe I decide to promote it and send off a series of emails demonstrating how you can benefit from this ebook.
• Then again, I could write a special report, post a classified ad, or blog about it right here.

Each way starts a process that may or may not entice you to invest in this resource.

No matter what, chances are someone will realize the value in having these “Hot Buttons” at their fingertips and go for it.

Whether you buy or not you go through a process where you evaluate what I’m offering against what you need and decide one way or the other.

Back to my original point – if your product or service is not selling then the process (or processes) you offer prospective customers fails at one or more points.

• It’s not your headline
• Your bullet points are just fine
• The offer is excellent
• Your guarantee is perfect

But, like a bad comedian, your timing is off.

Take another look at that living room suite. Who drives down the road, decides they need a new sofa and stops at the nearest furniture store to buy the first one they like? Well that’s how you buy gas – more or less.

The processes are different. They have to be because each solves a totally different problem.

If someone tried to sell  you furniture by trotting out in the parking lot and posting the price on a big sign you could see from 1/4 mile a way – you’d just stop and buy it right? Of course not.

So I’m suggesting that you take a good look at what your prospective customers expect – the general processes they use to come to a decision – and start from there. Maybe add a method or two. Like right now, I’m wondering why I’m not posting ads to free ad sites… who knows?

Reconsider who your potential buyers are and why they are coming to your place of business now. Maybe they are expecting something totally different. Or maybe they don’t realize you’ve got exactly what they are looking for! It happens.

By they way – last time I offered a special report “Why Johnny Can’t Sell” by Paul Myers. I’d still like you to have a complimentary copy. Don’t let the price fool you – there’s a gold mine of information in this report.

God bless,

Andy

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Short and sweet – I’m putting this here so I can find it later – but fee free to use it if you want.

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