Having Marketing Success…Your 3 Keys

by | Nov 1, 2010 | Blog

Since I’ve gone out on my own my time has been divided up between clients, family, and giving out the below advice over and over! HAHA

Funny but true.

With 5 years under my belt and a network of over 1000 top marketers and traders I’ve learned a few things about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to marketing. I’ve seen first hand people with no experience make millions, and companies with years in the biz go belly up…and it’s all because they either follow or don’t follow the below points.

If you’re marketing for others, marketing for yourself, or not yet marketing the following should be your road map to LONG TERM success!

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1. Stay True to Yourself

You might say; ‘yeah Brad I know that!’. But countless times during the week I receive an email or read a blog post and wonder out loud, ‘why in the heck would they do that??’ I dig around a bit and find out that they sold out for the short term bump. Here are two examples (where the names, products, and full email content has been changed to protect the guilty):

— Email Received–

I wanted to invite you to a webinar from a good friend of mine (FAKE NAME) talking about a strategy he uses with a lot of success…(so good he had to change his name). I’ve tested it and it works!

Q: Why did this person send this crap out for someone that has a fake name with a ‘strategy’ that we all know you haven’t looked at?
A: The fake name person has a ‘big list’ and they want them to blast out for them!

Wow, so you’re willing to promote for someone that could KILL your reputation if people found out the real person, all to get at their leads? Come on.

Think about who you position yourself with as it reflects DIRECTLY on you!!

— Blog Post–

(Gist) Read this article (disguised as an advertisement) for a product/service/investment that I don’t promote or encourage, but I think you’ll like it!

Q: Why, why why!?!?
A: Money, money, money!!

The above blog post could have easily been an email blast as well. They’re using their influence and relationship for a quick buck. This blog has (or had) a lot of readers that trust and rely on the person for honest, insightful market talk. Then they get this blatant advertisement? Give me a break!

The point of both examples is that you need to be true to yourself. If you’re sending something out for someone just to get them to promote you, be truthful with your words as to not lead people astray. And if you’re doing a blog post that’s really an advertisement ADMIT IT! Your people respect you more for saying “hey this is an ad”, then finding out later it was, and they ‘bought into’ whatever that ad was selling them…and they got burned. Who’s to blame?? YOU!

2. Don’t be lazy!

This is one of my favorite topics because it’s really not about MORE work, it’s about SOME work. First of all this is more for those of you who choose to participate in affiliate marketing. If you’re not then skip to point 3 and know that I look down on you…HA!

OK, let me explain…how many times do you receive ‘swipe copy’ from a company you promote for, and simply copy and paste it? I’d venture to say that 90% of the people just copy and paste and pray. This is a good strategy if you have a huge email list or millions of daily blog readers (if you have a huge list or millions of readers go ahead and skip to point 3). But if you’re just copying and pasting, you’re leaving BIG money on the table!!

I watch a lot of marketing in this space, and the people that consistently do the best are the people who take 5 minutes and personalize their marketing messages to their audience! Instead of copying and pasting, they read the piece, analyze how best to tell their audience about it, and put that message IN THEIR OWN VOICE!

Two examples…

–Launch– A small blogger with a list of less then 7000 sold MORE UNITS then a company with over 200,000 on their email list! He didn’t blast 3 times a day, he didn’t lie to his list, and he didn’t trick them…he wrote his own copy. It wasn’t long, it wasn’t super fancy, but it was IN HIS VOICE. I chatted with him last week, and do you know how long it took him to ‘re-write’ that marketing copy? Less then 10 min. You know how much he made from his 7k email list and that extra 10 min a day?? Over $35,000.

He made a ton of cash and BEST OF ALL…he’ll be able to sell to them again!

–Content– A newly formed site asked me to help them share the content they were getting from TheGoldandOilGuy.com (affiliate info here) better with their audience. Before they would take the exact titles, exactly articles, and copy and paste. The traffic was decent, but never really made them stand out. My advice to them was this…”change the headline, write a 2-4 sentence intro, and tell them ‘this is where I read the article’.” That advice took them from 5-8 sales ($500.00+ commissions) to 18-25 sales and OVER $3,000.00 in monthly commissions!

That took them 5 min per article to do…and netted them over 2k increase in revenues.

So the point is this…

Take the content, or marketing material, you’re given and put it in YOUR VOICE. It’ll take less then 10 min per article or marketing copy…and if you can’t spare 10 minutes for an extra 2k…YOU’RE LAZY!! And I don’t want you to be lazy 🙂

3. Frequently ‘Trade Places’…

We’ve all watched the classic movie “Trading Places” with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. There are really too many great quotes to list here, but we as marketers in the ‘trading space’ can take a good lesson from ol’ Valantine and Winthorp. In the movie they traded places in their jobs to see how the other lived (not by their own choice) and it gave them a perspective on each other that lead to a great friendship, fruity drinks on the beach, and huge sailboats. Silly, but think about this…

How often have you ‘traded places’ with the people on your email list or those that read your blog? You’ve probably been writing and emailing them so long that you’ve kinda fallen into a routine. You don’t think about things from THEIR side of the world and just assume how you’re doing it is right…well TAKE A STEP BACK MY FRIEND!!

The economy has changed, people’s priorities have changed, and you need to change with them. If you’re seeing a drop in open rates and communication maybe it’s time to take another look at what you’re sharing with them. Think about ways to connect with them on a (and I HATE to say this) beer summit level. Even if you’re not a beer drinker, you’ve got to put yourself in your readers shoes and ask ‘what would I want to hear from me’?

If you can do this then you should get yourself on a path to pulling better numbers, and (most importantly) connecting with people for a LONG TIME!

I spent the past few days on this, but as always, I might have missed something. Don’t let me get away with it! If you see something to add, change, edit, or just want to get on  your own soapbox please feel free to do so in the comment section!

All my best,
Brad

Is ‘Launch’ Marketing Dead…part 2

by | Aug 21, 2010 | Blog

So let’s pick up right where I left off from the previous post!

* Are those leads buying again and again…or just the once…maybe?

This is a very good question, and from my experience lead conversion drops off every launch cycle as leads wise up and have been burned. There will always be buyers and more then likely those core buyers will buy more then once…but for how long? How long will they ‘fall’ for the dream before saying ‘I’m done’? I think more leads than anyone realizes have fallen into that ‘I’m done’ category because of the economy and because the dream hasn’t worked.

This isn’t a great trend and as the economy continues to crumble…more will fall into that category.

Possible Solution: To avoid this trap will require more communication with leads. Often after a launch the only material they receive is other pre-launch material for affiliates that have pushed for them…kinda a vicious cycle! It’s easily broken with more communication. If the leads hear from the company more than just to pitch them free offers, and to pitch their products, it’s going to lead to more trust. They might believe that ‘hey they really want to help me be a better trader.’ Share interesting articles, share your thoughts on the market, just stay in touch with them so next time you launch they’ll trust you more.

* Will those leads buy other stuff that is recommended to them?

Well…do they? What have you seen? Are leads less interested in other offers because they’ve been hard sold…or more interested in other stuff? In my opinion, if leads are hard sold a ‘dream’ about a product and don’t buy…how much do you think they’ll be open to buying another dream? Or worse, what about the leads that DIDN’T BUY!? If the pitch for ones own product is so hard and dreamy that it ruins all chances of selling anything of anyone else’s then it’s a loss for both sides.

Possible Solution: Don’t sell or ‘free report’ them to death! If the only contact with leads is to tell them about a free offer, or product pitch, at what point will they say ‘ok I’m done opening these emails or reading this blog.’ Give them actual useful insight of your own and quality content so when the time comes for a free offer to be pitched, they’re much more open because they’ve gotten articles and insights from you for free without having to opt-in to anything.

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The biggest key with launch marketing is staying in touch with your leads and building a relationship. If you can give them content that’s earning you affiliate commissions, consider it a MAJOR BONUS! If you give them content without affiliate commissions, consider it the best way to sell them later. Relationships are even more important and if marketers can build that relationship with content, transparency, honesty, and good products then they’ll be able to survive this crappy economy!

So…what do you think?

All my best,
Brad Stafford

P.S. I mentioned ‘content that can earn you affiliate commissions’ … these are the BEST programs to provide you with that:

BigTrends.com: Quality name, long successful history, dedicated support team, quality products, superior content, and high payouts on web AND phone referred sales.  Affiliate info Sign-up here. (etftradr.com which is under the BigTrends.com umbrella)

TheTechnicalTraders.com (TheGoldandOilGuy.com): Successful trader, tireless educator, high converting newsletters, highly educational and technical content marketing, 90% renewal rate on newsletters and products, full-time support staff, and high-end recurring commissions: Affiliate info and Sign-up here.

Is “Launch” Marketing Dead…

by | Aug 20, 2010 | Blog

…Or in need of some changes?

First let me say that this is not a ‘hit piece’ on launch marketing. I’m asking questions to YOU, my loyal reader, and giving you some of my insight so you can give me some feedback into what you’ve personally seen and/or felt about launches in the trading/investing niche.

Second, many of us know the Jeff Walker launch style of marketing: use affiliates to push free offers that all lead up to an event, then opening (and eventual closing) of a product. There’s a time limit and quantity limit on the product and it’s a mad cash grab to get leads buying.

I describe this type of marketing as the “ONE NIGHT STAND” approach. I say this because everything that’s happening with that lead is focused on closing the deal by any means possible. “I’m leaving for Japan in the morning, there’s only ONE of me, blah blah blah.” It works…but is it sustainable?

For years this method has been the bread and butter of many TOP sites. They run the launches well, convert leads, and everyone wins.

But what about in this economy? Are leads wising up to the launch style? Do they know a ‘webinar’ is coming? Do they know that ’10 people returned the course and if you didn’t get it then you have your chance now’?

I think leads are wising up and I think in this economy the leads need to be treated differently.

Let’s take a look at a few questions that I’ve been asking myself…and I’d like your thoughts and opinions as well.

* Is that ‘dream sell’ method the best for the customer?

Even if the product is good, will they really be able to trade like the launch shows? Most of the launch style of marketing is focused on a ‘dream’ of being a great trader ‘if you only BLANK (fill in pitch for product here)’. For the most part these products work, and work well, but if they are oversold and not put into realistic terms does the customer really ‘win’? Or do they feel used and burned like a bad car deal after they can’t make it work?

Thinking about the customer is always important, and for the most part the launch style marketing takes that into account. But with the economy being in shambles and traders sitting on the sidelines, should the style reel it in a bit and say ‘hey this is the product, it’s hard to make it work, but you can do it with our help.’ Or should the ‘dream’ be sold HARDER?

Possible Solution: I think the key will be bringing people back to reality. The reality is that trading is HARD!! The chances they will survive is very slim…fact. But if the sales approach is focusing more on the amount of work needed to learn the system, achieve profits, and maintain success, then the customer will respect that more. Be more transparent, teach them more, provide more, and be honest with what to expect.

* Are those leads buying again and again…or just the once…maybe?

Sorry but I’ve got to end it here! Have a number of calls lined up this afternoon that I can’t miss. I’ll jump back into this tonight and try to get it to you asap!

Best,
Brad Stafford

P.S. My wife/editor told me I need to make my site ‘prettier’ with pictures and videos…what do YOU think? Please respond in the comment section…