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July 26, 2006
Insider Tip of the Week - 07/26/06
A crash course in effective offline testing
by Bob Serling
It seems a lot more people are starting to heed my
advice to include offline marketing in their overall
marketing mix, particularly with the bizarre rules
changes Google has implemented this week with
Adwords. So let's take a look at a simple, extremely
effective testing procedure you can use to ramp up
the success of all your offline marketing.
Ready? Here we go...
A client called me last week in a panic, "The lead
generation letter bombed," he wailed.
"Bombed how?" I asked. I've been through similar
conversations with clients many times before, so I
know better than to buy into their panic.
"I only got 24 responses and of those, just 4 want
to set up an appointment. I was hoping to get at
least 10 appointments," he replied.
The key to all successful marketing is testing
One of the most valuable features of direct marketing
is the ability to test a variety of components to determine
what works best. Then you kill the losers and run with
the winners. But even though everyone knows they
should be testing, most people just give it lip service.
"How many different lists did you test to get your 24
responses?" I asked the client.
"Just the one. List rental costs are really high these days,"
he answered.
"I know they are, but your costs are much higher if you
test only one list and it fails. Then you've lost all your
money. If you test at least three different lists and just
one of them proves to be a winner, you'll generate
at least a year's worth of business from it, won't you?"
I asked.
"I'm sure that's true. I'm just always looking to save a
buck, you know," he answered. "But I'm not really
saving anything if I lose it all on one list."
Now he was starting to get the picture!
How to conduct multiple tests with the same mailing
"Now, let me ask you one more thing," I said. "Did you
test two different versions of your copy?"
I have to admit, I could have predicted his answer.
"No, I was in a rush to get this thing in the mail and
bringing in the business," he said.
Unfortunately, as I explained to him, he had missed
an opportunity to actually test six different packages
with just one mailing.
Here's how. First, you start with the three different
lists. Second, you split-test by sending 50% of the
people on each list one version of your copy, and
the other 50% a second version.
By doing this, you're actually testing six different
combinations. Your mailing costs are the same,
except for the additional rental fees for the lists.
But the difference in results are almost always
substantial.
Plus, it gets even better. Once you've found the
right list/copy combination, you can have your list
broker profile the successful list (or lists) against other
lists to find those that are the closest matches.
The likelihood of these profiled lists performing well
is far greater than any other lists. Once you test these
new lists, if they prove successful, you're ready to
roll out in style!
====================================
How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html
Posted by Bob Serling at 07:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 19, 2006
Insider Tip of the week - 07/19/06
What's smarter - online marketing, or...
by Bob Serling
Last week, I did a limited attendance teleseminar for
just 100 people on creating and marketing information
products. One of the key points I make to people
interested in creating information products applies to
anyone in any type of business.
Let me give you a quick bit of background information.
The vast majority of clients that I work with - I'd estimate
at least 90% - tell me their main goal is to be a more
effective online marketer. This is a critical mistake!
Don't get me wrong, I have a strong online presence
myself. But the real goal of any business should be to
become an "effective marketer", NOT an "effective
online marketer".
The great "Online Marketing" myth
I don't know how this myth got started, but many people
think they can have an "online marketing business". Let
me clear this up for you once and for all - there is no
such thing as an "online marketing business". Online
marketing is merely one more form of media - just
as direct mail, space advertising, radio and tv are forms
of marketing media.
Let me ask you - would you ever say you want to have
a "television marketing business"? Of course not.
Companies who are savvy enough to make profitable
use of tv also use many other forms of media.
And this brings me back to the original point. FORGET
about being a successful online marketer. Focus instead
on being an effective marketer in whatever media are
most productive for your business.
Two real life examples
Here are a couple of excellent examples of what I
mean. You may have seen some of my emails talking
about how one of the people in my information products
mentoring program sold more than 9,500 copies of
his first information product right out of the gate.
How did he achieve this? By mailing a proposal to a
Fortune 500 company suggesting they purchase his
info product in bulk to provide to all their distributors.
He did not have a web site. Had he taken the time
to build a web site, build an ezine list and online
presence, it would have been a major distraction
that would have prevented him from hitting this
home run.
A second client, who already had an existing web
site, used my advice to change the strategic purpose
of his site. This resulted in an overnight increase in
response of more than 300%. It made good sense
to do this because he already had the infrastructure
in place.
Bottom line, it's counterproductive to predetermine
what marketing media to use. Only by understanding
your market and the best ways to reach them, will
you become the most effective, profitable marketer
you can be.
====================================
How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html
Posted by Bob Serling at 08:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 12, 2006
Insider Tip of the Week - 07/12/06
The inside secret to developing
highly profitable products
by Bob Serling
Regardless of whether you want to develop highly
profitable widgets, information products, new services,
or software, I'm here to tell you something that will
save you a lot of time, money, and heart ache...
The majority of "experts" have it all wrong!
Just thumb through any course or attend any seminar
for your market and you're likely to hear the same piece
of advice - it sounds good, but it's actually deadly. I'm
sure you've heard some version of:
To develop the most effective products, ask your
customers what they want, then create it.
If you buy into this conventional wisdom, you're likely
to be stuck with a major flop once you launch your
shiny new product. You see, it's rare that customers
really know what they want. If they did know, they'd
have already bought it!
Advanced product development made simple
So how do you go about creating an uneven playing
field when developing new products - a playing field
that tilts a huge segment of the market to you and away
from your competitors?
It's easy. Instead of listening to what people tell you they
want... listen to what they're complaining about! That's
where you'll really find out what people are dieing to get
their hands on.
How do you do this? There are two easy ways.
#1: Treat customer complaints like gold
Are you annoyed when you receive an email or letter
complaining about your product or service? Don't be.
There's a powerful vein of gold ripe for the taking
embedded in those complaints.
Keep track of all customer complaints and organize
them in categories. Once you see specific themes
popping up again and again, you have a golden
opportunity for creating a new product (or service)
or improving an existing product and bringing out
an updated model.
#2: Customer reconnaissance
Another way to find out what your customers are
complaining about is to visit discussion lists for your
market area. Yahoo groups has discussion lists for
any area under the sun.
Join these groups and find out what rubs people wrong
about your category of products. You'll find that people
are more than happy to post their laundry lists of
complaints in any given market. Here again, track
these complaints by category - then seize on
opportunities to create new products or improve your
existing products.
Just by following these two simple suggestions, you can
run circles around your competition when it comes to
developing highly profitable new products.
====================================
How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html
Posted by Bob Serling at 10:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 06, 2006
Insider Tip of the Week - 07/06/06
The most important book you've never heard of
by Bob Serling
What is the most important book you've never heard
of - a book that if you only knew about it could
potentially make you wealthy?
It's the book that's hidden inside of you.
You see, based on over two decades of creating and
selling information products, and helping thousands of
people to successfully create their own highly profitable
information products, I know that everyone has at least
one blockbuster dwelling below the surface.
The problem is, most people don't believe this, or
worse, believe it but don't know how to unearth their
gem.
Let me give you a recent example of a "book inside
you" I helped a client uncover to demonstrate precisely
what I mean.
Is creating your own info product rocket science?
Creating your own highly profitable information product
is actually quite easy. But it didn't seem easy to a recent
client I worked with - a true rocket scientist who headed
up the team to successfully put the Mars Rover on the
Red Planet.
When he came to me, he wanted to create a book that
would show people how to make a few hundred dollars,
reasoning that it isn't really possible to make a million
dollars as so many get-rich-quick books claim. I told
him to forget it - that people want to dream big and
wouldn't waste their money on this concept.
He was dejected and told me that was the only idea he
had ever come up with for an information product. I
then asked him about his hobbies and interests, as many
people discover powerful topics in those areas. But
he didn't have any real hobbies!
How could he, he reasoned, when his entire life had
been consumed for the past 5 years heading up the
project for the Mars Rover. "I'm just an engineer with
a love of statistics, but nobody cares abour statistics
other than scientists," he said.
Follow the money
"Really? I asked. If you were to think about online
marketing, what areas require the highest use of data
and statistics? Because that's where we'll find the
real opportunities to make money."
"Tracking user activity on a web site and pay-per-click
marketing, which is a statistical nightmare," he replied.
"Precisely! And since there are already many excellent
tracking software packages, can you think of a way to
use your background to help people get substantially
better results with their pay-per-click marketing?"
"Of course, that would be child's play," he answered
in typical rocket scientist fashion.
And that's how a powerful new information product
was born. Simply by scratching a bit beneath the
surface to find that monster product that's dwelling
within you.
Now that you know what to do, your first step toward
discovering your own best seller, is to begin "scratching".
It's easy to do. Just follow the steps I just showed you
in this example. Examine your hobbies, work, special
interests, and any skills you have. But the trick is to dig
a bit deeper than you normally would, just like I did
with the rocket scientist. That's where you'll find that
hidden gem that could be worth a fortune.
====================================
How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html
Posted by Bob Serling at 10:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack