MaryEllen and I were sitting in my office the other day, discussing our upcoming joint speech at ETR's Info-Marketing Bootcamp. We talked about how smart it is for a business to host conferences. As we say in our book Changing the Channel, it can teach you a great deal about your customers that you can't get from surveys or marketing statistics. It is a must, in fact, for any business that "wants to know its customers on a face-to-face basis." We also talked about how conferences have benefited us personally. As attendees, we've met many talented people who gave us ideas we've used to great success. As expert speakers, we've been privileged to open minds to new careers and a new way of life. We try to create those same opportunities at ETR's conferences. Our speakers don't just give their presentations and rush to the airport. They hang out after hours. They answer questions. They ask you questions about your business and make suggestions. If you've been to an ETR Bootcamp, you know that our speakers and our staff are dedicated to making the event an enriching experience for every single attendee. Bootcamp is in just a few weeks. It's a great chance -- maybe the best chance you will ever have -- to get to the next level of financial success. If you're serious about taking charge of your future, be there! ---------------------------------------------- Highly Recommended ---------------------------------------------------- How to Make Fast Profits From Your Own Internet Import Company for Just 48 Cents a Day – Starting in Less Than 24 Hours Right now, corporate America is getting filthy rich off of you. And they do it every time you shell out money for almost any item – large or small. These profits come from the massive mark-ups on imports from places like China, where a widget may cost a buck or two, but sells for $19.95. But now the tables have turned on the corporations - thanks to the Internet and our global economy. And you can be the one reaping windfall profits from the import business. Best part: You can easily run the entire business online, with no employees, no previous experience or knowledge, and with as little as $50 in start-up costs. All you need to do is simply follow a proven, step-by-step plan that is handed to you with this turnkey system. Learn how you can get started right now!
"is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover." Henri Poincare Our sales were hurting. Every one of our distributors was selling three to five times more of our competitor's cheaper, inferior air ionizers than ours. It seemed that consumers decided at the shelf that all ionizers are pretty much the same. So why should they spend 67 percent more on ours? We had the premier ionizer on the market. Our factory employed more than 100 local people. And we sourced parts nationally. We'd enjoyed the top spot and great sales for years. But this upstart had quickly captured the market. They were running their company from a small office with a skeleton staff, doing all of their sourcing and manufacturing in China. Our distributors were begging us to lower our prices. But the only way we could do that would be to cut corners and move our manufacturing operation to, yes, China. We owed it to our customers, our brand, and our community to fight. But how? How could we compete without lowering our prices and, ultimately, closing our factory? Science. We blinded them with science. I started by discussing the problem with GG, who'd designed our ionizers. He knew everything there was to know about air filtration. And he'd recently conducted a study on all the ionizers on the market. He had measured every aspect of ion output -- the concentration of ions at different distances, the range in which a person could experience the benefits, as well as how much ozone each ionizer produced. (It turns out that ozone, in high enough concentrations, is poisonous.) We prepared a research report, backed by GG's safety and performance data, and sent it to the head honchos at our distributors. The report explained why many of the ionizers coming onto the market did not meet their manufacturers' claims and could even be dangerous. We then scheduled a personal visit or conference call with each distributor. Meanwhile, I sent a series of press releases to newspapers and consumer and health-related publications. And I sent clips of the articles the press releases generated to the people we would be talking to. This combined approach worked well. Very well. Over the next few months, our main distributor dropped our "made-in-China" competitor and promoted our ionizers in-store. Our sales returned to levels we'd not seen in years. Our other distributors ordered more of our products and discontinued our competitor's products by selling them off and not reordering. At face value, one company's product claims appear the same as another company's. It's difficult to distinguish product A's benefits from product B's. And given nothing else to compare, consumers will often choose the lowest price. Though our ionizer really was the best one on the market, simply saying that would have been a weak strategy. Our new competitor could have asseverated that theirs was better -- and cheaper to boot. ("My brother is bigger than your brother. Nyah, nyah, nyah!") By bringing in the element of scientific proof, we changed the rules of the fight. And we won the battle. In a squeezed economy, you might assume that lowering your price is the only way to beat the competition. It frequently isn't. And doing so puts you in a difficult position. It compromises your ability to make or service your product and fulfill your orders. In our case, we realized that what had to change wasn't our price, it was our "unique selling proposition" (USP). It had to change from "the best air ionizer" to "the ionizer that cleans the air better than any other air ionizer"... with full scientific proof to back up that claim. In his book Ready, Fire, Aim, Michael Masterson tells us that every successful USP has three characteristics: 1. The appearance of uniqueness. The feature you decide to promote in your USP does not have to be unique to your product, but it has to seem like it is. 2. Usefulness. The appearance of uniqueness is not enough. If the distinguishing feature of the product is not desirable, no one will want it. In deciding on your product's USP, it is better to select some feature that isn't entirely original and make it seem unique than it is to select a feature that is unique but useless. 3. Conceptual simplicity. It's good to remember that you have to sell the USP -- and nothing sells that is difficult to explain. What about your USP? Is it unique, useful, and simple? Does it clearly define what sets you apart from your competition? Can you prove it to your customers and prospects? We did. P.S. For more of my off-the-cuff, contrarian marketing advice, check out my Internet Rant newsletter. I teach you tips and techniques, from my own experience, that will accelerate the growth -- and profits -- of your business. ----------------------------------------------Highly Recommended --------------------------------------------------- "But Marketing Bothers People, Right?" - Wrong, says Internet Rant editor David Cross. As he learned from Michael Masterson, the best time to send a product offer to a new customer is right after they buy from you. And this isn't just some random "how are you?" e-mail. You say something very specific. One of David's clients did just this… and doubled their sales in months. Read more…
Products -- the most successful products -- meet urgent needs and solve important problems. But what solves today's problem won't necessarily solve tomorrow's. We must constantly refine and reinvent to make our products "new." Many of today's Internet entrepreneurs not only believe they can keep selling the same products, they also believe they can keep using the same promotional techniques. That's a serious mistake. And it is especially serious now because the market, as I see it, is already going through a sea change. Having a good understanding of what's working right now gives you the illusion of being in control. You can answer your colleagues' questions. You can correct the technical guys... sometimes. And you are happy that the first promotion you wrote two years ago is still bringing in sales. You are the master! Or so you think. If you want to be in business 10 years from now, you can't be complacent. You need to develop a deep understanding of the selling process. You have to know what works and why. What is essential and what is not. In other words, you have to become an expert in direct marketing. Rate yourself by answering these questions: 1. What is the most important psychological benefit your product offers?
2. What is the most common mistake other marketers make when they sell something similar?
3. How have your customers' needs and desires changed in the recent past?
4. What changes have you made to accommodate those changes? If you answered those questions quickly and confidently, you are doing the right kind of thinking. If you are hesitant about some of them, you've got to spend more time with your marketing hat on. Becoming an expert in direct marketing will teach you how to know your market better than your competitors. It's that deeper knowledge that will save you. Trust me. I've been there. Having trouble falling -- and staying -- asleep? The culprit may be additives in your food. Aspartame, MSG, artificial coloring, nitrates, and even soy contain "excitotoxins."These chemicals can alter brain chemistry and lead to insomnia. Stay away from foods with these additives, says James LaValle, ND, author of Managing Stress for Better Sleep. You'll get a better night's sleep. And you'll lower the risk of damaging your brain's sensitive nerves. And that's not the only reason to avoid these poisons. They can cause many health problems, including obesity, migraines, memory loss, and hearing loss. When writing or reviewing long marketing copy, you've got to get to the point where you find yourself thinking, "Yes! This is good! This is really, really good!" I call it the Eureka Moment. It's the moment when you are so sold by the copy that you want to buy the product -- even though you already have it. Even though you may have created it! The Eureka Moment may seem like a high bar to set. But I have to tell you... I've never seen a breakthrough package that didn't have one.
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"I would certainly recommend it to others." "Before I came to ETR's Info-Marketing Bootcamp, I'd been a student of marketing for many years and had used many of the principles taught there successfully in the past. So I was on the edge, waffling as to whether or not to come, thinking that much of what I would hear would be redundant. "It was a difficult decision, but in the end I decided to come. I knew from prior experience that I would hear maybe one or two nuggets of wisdom that might make a big difference to me in the future. "The speakers blew me away. As I expected, I had heard much of the content before. But in each and every presentation there were a couple of nuggets that were very valuable to me. "It was a good decision to come, and I'm glad I did. I would certainly recommend it to others." Garry Gladstone
Incline Village, NV ---------------------------------------------- Highly Recommended--------------------------------------------------- It's Almost Too Late! - You might have been waiting until the last minute to decide whether to come to our Info-Marketing Bootcamp. Well, guess what? It is the last minute. This could be the event that finally makes your dream come true. It's time to make a decision today...
Today's Words That Work: Asseverate To asseverate (uh-SEV-uh-rate) -- from the Latin for "spoken in earnest" -- is to emphatically declare. Example (as used by David Cross today): "Though our ionizer really was the best one on the market, simply saying that would have been a weak strategy. Our new competitor could have asseverated that theirs was better -- and cheaper to boot."
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