Like Most Cliches ... This Is True Every great marketing campaign has, at its core, some compelling image (the Marlboro Man) or phrase ("Don't squeeze the Charmin!") or unforgettable idea. Others derive their power from an irresistible promise. The challenge is to discover what promise or image or phrase or idea works best for a particular product at a particular time. That's not something you can know for sure. You have to employ your best intuition and then test. But once you have figured out how to hook the customer in some way -- and he wants your product -- there is something else you must do: You have to promise that your product will produce results quickly and easily. "Isn't that a cliche?" you ask. Yes. And like most cliches, it's true. "But what if results won't be quick and easy?" Then you have to find a way to make it quick and easy -- even if it means reinventing the product. Ultimately, this will improve both your marketing results and your customers' satisfaction. In today's issue: - Wealthy: Sabotaging the Country by Saving Money
- Healthy: It's Not Easy Being Green
- Wise: Clayton Makepeace Tells Web Marketers to Grow Up
---------------------------------------------- Highly Recommended ---------------------------------------------------- ETR's 10-Pound Confidential Internet Marketing Playbook - When the Internet exploded 10 years ago, Michael Masterson was excited about its potential. But he predicted that it would develop very differently from what most industry experts expected. Since then, he and the rest of the ETR team have been making notes in a private journal. This "Playbook" contains all our best secrets -- everything that's helped us grow so quickly. The Playbook was meant for our eyes only. But now, for a limited time, you can get a peek. Read more ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete." - Jack Welch Twenty years ago, if you had told me that one day I'd be able to reach millions of prospective customers without paying a penny in printing, postage, or lettershop fees ... and without paying through the nose for print space or TV and radio time ... I would have smiled and backed away from you v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. I would have instantly pegged you as a lunatic. But I would have been wrong. Thanks to the Internet, we actually can do it. And that's huge. When I write a direct-mail package, I know my client is going to have to cough up an average of $550 to send it to every 1,000 prospects in his universe. That's $55,000 for 100,000 potential customers. And $550,000 for 1 million. On the Internet, you can post a website with your sales message for 500 bucks. And then blast a million e-mails to drive folks to your site for next to nothing! So, yeah. The Internet is huge and cheap. Just like the hypesters say it is. And, yes, marketing on the 'Net can make you a bundle. I know lots of Internet marketers who make tens of millions -- even a hundred million or more -- every year. But there is a bit more to it than that ... The Web is growing up. It's time Web marketers did too. Frankly, most Web marketers have been spoiled rotten. Sorry guys, but you know it's true! For more than a decade, the fact that your medium was brand-new and your prospects were wide-eyed has allowed you to get rich without having to think much about your sales copy.
So, you've written the copy yourself. Or cheaped out by hiring neophytes to write it. As a result, 99 percent of your copy is so weak it would have long ago sent any direct-response mail marketer into bankruptcy. Now, with the Internet maturing and becoming more competitive, amateur night is over. The costs associated with driving prospects to websites are rising. The average 'Net consumer is growing wiser and more skeptical. And, suddenly, many Web marketers are in the same boat as their peers who use other advertising media -- desperately searching for ways to boost response. This presents a dazzling opportunity for Web marketers! Because if you make the effort to hire a good copywriter, you'll be miles ahead of your competition. And you'll be setting yourself up to skyrocket the amount of money you're making now. The other day, I was studying a series of websites from one of the nation's most successful Internet marketing companies. This company has all the high-tech talent and infrastructure it needs to dominate its industry. It has hundreds of employees who are experts in the nuts and bolts of Web marketing. One word from the prez, and they can conceive a new website before 10:00 a.m. ... have it written by lunch ... and have it designed, programmed, and making sales by quitting time. In short, the owners have built a Ferrari of a company. But instead of paying for high-octane fuel -- compelling sales copy created by proven professionals -- they're pouring cheap kerosene into the gas tank! If they ever try sending their sales copy out via snail mail, they'll be lucky to recoup 10 percent of the money they spend on postage! Nevertheless, on the low-cost Web, their crummy copy generates nearly $100 million a year in sales. And they're laughing all the way to the bank. But just because they're getting rich doesn't mean they're smart. On the contrary, it's proof that ignorance truly is bliss. Because if their copy didn't suck, they'd be making $1 billion a year instead of a lousy $100 million. Unfortunately, the company's copy will probably continue to suck. And the owners will continue to leave 90 percent of their sales on the table. Because they just can't bring themselves to pay a top copywriter a commission on the increased sales he or she could produce for them. So, in hopes of helping any reluctant Web marketers reading this see the error of their ways, allow me to offer this simple, one-second test ... What would YOU rather have? 100 percent of $100 million? Or 90 percent of $1 BILLION? If you said "100 percent of $100 million," you may as well stop reading this. Get your resume in order, and prepare to go to work for someone else. Because your company will soon get its head handed to it on a not-so-silver platter. But if you instantly recognized that paying a top copywriter 10 percent of sales and settling for 90 percent of the increase that stronger copy could bring you is the smarter move ... because IT WOULD MAKE YOU NINE TIMES RICHER ... do this ... Go to the head of the class. And call one of those copywriters. NOW! P.S. Even if you plan to hire copywriters to write your sales copy, you should study copywriting yourself. At the very least, you must be able to recognize great copy when you see it. At Early to Rise's Info-Marketing Bootcamp this November, I'll teach you everything I've learned about copywriting during my decades-long career. And I'll be joined by a dozen other experts in Internet marketing, search engine optimization, social media, and much more. You'll discover everything you need to know about starting and growing your own Internet business. Find out more about Bootcamp here. ---------------------------------------------- Advertisement --------------------------------------------------- This Ancient Chinese Secret Could Change the Course of Your Life… This secret originated in China over 6,000 years ago. Many refer to it as "mystical"… or even "supernatural." But it's not "magic." It can be plainly and clearly explained with scientific principles. Wealth… Stronger relationships… Good fortune… Better health… All can result from applying this one powerful secret to your life, according to mind development expert Paul Scheele and master of this Chinese secret Marie Diamond. Paul and Marie show step by step how you can use this secret to power the four main areas of your life: Success, Relationships, Health, and Spiritual Growth. Get all the details about how you can use this ancient secret to direct the fortune of your life right here. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More from Masterson... Since When Is Saving Money a Bad Thing? The recession is turning Americans into penny pinchers. Seven out of 10 of us are cutting expenses, a Gallup poll says. And we spend only 86 percent of what we used to. Just about every mainstream publication I read -- including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times -- says this is a bad thing. But they are wrong. The point they make is that if Americans cut back on spending and save more, new cars will stay on lots. Contractors will lose jobs. Lawn services will be let go. And stores will go out of business. So what's wrong with that? The fundamental reason for the financial mess we are in is that we have been spending more money than we have. Consumers have been doing it. Businesses have been doing it. And the banks and institutions that hold our money have been gambling it away. The press wants us to believe that trillions of dollars have mysteriously disappeared from our economy because of this lack of spending. But that wealth never existed in the first place. It was an accounting fraud. The land, the buildings, the machinery, and our human capital, however, do still exist. When your business is losing money, you cut expenses and work harder. When families run over their budgets, they do the same thing. So why should it be different with an economy? It's not. Spending more now will only make things worse. But if you take care of yourself, you will be doing more for the economy than the government could ever do. So work more. Save more. Take on an extra job. Start a side business. And spend less money. Pass the Guacamole "Don't eat avocados. They're loaded with fat." That's the claptrap we've heard from health "experts" for years. Avocados do have lots of fat. But it's very healthy fat -- monounsaturated. That is the same fat found in extra virgin olive oil and in abundance in the so-called "Mediterranean diet." Total Health Breakthroughs' Dr. Dharma says that's good news for your brain. Monounsaturated fats help protect neurons. And they've been linked to a reduced risk of Alzheimer's. Avocados also have a lot of vitamins E and A, potassium, and antioxidants -- which help cut your risk cancer and heart disease too. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Fear of failure made me my own worst enemy." "What a good piece about fear -- very succinct and with humor thrown in, to boot. Fear of failure made me my own worst enemy. Now, at 55, I feel energized in the morning, anxious to get something done ... maybe by reading a good book or working on my deck or working at my job (farming). Why??? Because I don't fear the what-ifs of life." Chuck Borgmeier
Freelandville, Indiana ---------------------------------------------- Highly Recommended --------------------------------------------------- "But E-Mail Marketing Bothers People, Right?" - Wrong, says Internet Rant Editor David Cross. As he learned from Michael Masterson, the best time to send an e-mail to a new customer is right after they've bought something from you. And not just some random "How are you?" e-mail. You make a very specific offer. One of David's clients did just this ... and doubled their sales in months. Read more ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Words That Work: Lettershop A lettershop is a business that handles large-volume mailings for direct-mail marketers. Its services include assembling and inserting package contents, addressing, sorting, and delivering the packages to the post office. Example (as used by Clayton Makepeace today): "Twenty years ago, if you had told me that one day I'd be able to reach millions of prospective customers without paying a penny in printing, postage, or lettershop fees ... and without paying through the nose for print space or TV and radio time ... I would have smiled and backed away from you v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We want your feedback! Let us know your thoughts on today's issue. Email us at: AskETR@ETRFeedback.com | 
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