Hit Me With Your Comments On This Article
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7 Steps To Promos That Work!
How To Find Your Target Folks, Get 'em On Your Email
List, Then Send Out Emails That Get 'em To ACT! …
And What You Can Do Starting Today!
By Marlon Sanders
The formula for making sales online isn't particularly
complex.
1. You find out where you people hang out
2. You find ways to reach 'em with your message
3. You offer 'em somethin' free to get 'em on your list
4. Capture their name and email on your Squeeze page
5. You send emails
6. From emails you send 'em to multiple conversion processes
7. Follow the 3 laws
Let's break this down.
1. Find out where people hang out.
This means you find the forums they hang out in, the blogs they read,
the sites they go to.
That way, you can do your surveys, run banner ads, and find the
folks who have the lists.
2. Find ways to reach 'em with your message.
a. Find out where you can buy banner ads
How about the forums? The blogs? The web sites?
b. Look for text links too
If you can't buy banner ads, look for Google Adsense on pages.
c. Who owns lists and sell products?
You'll know these people because in their sig line on their
forum posts they're offering something FREE. In the article
directories you'll see their articles. And at the end in the
resource box, they offer somethin' free — JUST like you
wanna do.
3. Offer 'em something free to get 'em on your list
Give people something so enticing they HAVE to join your
list.
That can be a free audio, ebook, PDF, video or newsletter.
Or anything else that'll get 'em on your list.
Run banner ads or Adwords ads offering something free. Come
up with a freebie the folks with lists can send out via an
affiliate link, so a cookie gets set.
Write articles with your freebie in the resource box and
submit those articles to the article directories.
4. Capture their name and email on your Squeeze page
My friend Jonathan Mizel coined the term Name Squeeze page.
To PROVE he invented the term, he trademarked it. In case
you've mistakenly read someone else invented it.
Anyway, you offer a freebie on a page where folks get the
freebie if they join your email list. Not so complicated
here.
5. Send emails
This means firing up your autoresponder and loading up
emails.
It means learning to write subject lines, format your emails
and write bullet points that arouse curiousity and get people
to click.
You gotta become a master bullet-point writer.
It also helps if you can spin a good story, just like you do
with your friends over the phone or at the coffee shop.
You mix in value with or between your pitches so your open
rate remains high. A lot of people make the mistake of watching
their unsubscribes alone.
You gotta monitor your OPEN rate. That is crucial. It tells you
if you're getting or losing attention. This is an attention
economy.
6. From emails, send 'em to multiple conversion processes.
In other words, you send an email offering a free video.
The free video gives a pitch for something.
Or you send 'em to a podcast.
Or you send 'em to a free report or a sales letter.
Or you send 'em to live streaming video.
Now, WHAT do you sell?
Initially, sell affiliate products. Make Camtasia or CamStudio
videos that do your pitches.
Or write pre-sell pages that give a little pitch before you
send people to an affiliate link. You know, warm 'em up
first!
WHICH part of this process is the HARDEST for you? Which
part do you need the most help with?
Hit me back on my blog by clicking the COMMENTS at the end
of this article.Â
Do you buy into this process? Or are you following some
other system? If so, what?
Is this so “old hat” you don't wanna hear about it anymore?
Or are you STUCK somewhere?
7. Make an irresistible offer.
So now the person has gone to your audio, video, blog, or
sales letter.
Now you gotta sell 'em something.
With first time prospects, give 'em your best offer.
Probably something cheap or free. Although it depends
on your market.
One of my friends offers a free book then sells a $4,000
software package. When 3% of the people buy it from the
book, the numbers add up.
Others offer a $1 membership offer that goes into recurring
billing after 14 days. That is, after 14 days they're charged
for the membership site unless they cancel.
And they get charged every month. When you have 2900 people
getting charged $37 a month, it adds up.
7. Follow the 3 cardinal laws
a. Protect your business number one
Follow the law. Pay your taxes.
b. Maintain the goodwill of your list
Don't milk your cow so much he/she dries up. Offer value to
your list. Keep that relationship up.
c. Make sales
What you can do TODAY: You start with step one. Go find out where
you target market hangs out at. What blogs do they read? What ezines
do they subscribe to? What web sites do they go to? What forums do
they frequent?
Then, when you find that out, look for banner ads you can buy, blogs
you can run ads on, text links you can buy, pages with Google ads on
'em.
And start looking for the folks who have the lists.
Marlon Sanders
P.S. Here's what I want you to do: Go to my blog and tell me if
there's a step here that hangs you up or you have problems with. Be
as specific as possible:
Just hit COMMENTS below this post.
Is this all old hat to you? Too common sense? Do you want something
newer or sexier? Or what's STOPPING you from following this formula
today?
Here's the thing: My new Promo Dashboard will walk you through most
of these steps and much more.
But I NEED to hear from YOU because I need to know WHAT to put in it
to help YOU the most. I need to hear your feedback on my blog.
———————————————————–
Marlon Sanders is the author of “The Info Product Dashboard.”
If you want to create your own info products, go to:
http://www.productdashboard.com
//////////////////////
REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to use the above
article without omission and including the resource box.
You have the right to insert your reseller URLs for MY
products into the article in place of MY links.
Â
Yes..promoting what I do is the hardest thing. I actually try phoning people to get them interested in a wide range of subjects to no avail. I have not got used to "submitting" to directories yet
[Hi Robert, you have a learning curve ahead of you. The place to start is by studying how other successful web sites are put together. You need a squeeze page that offers a very appealing freebie. Then you start sending emails that send people to audios, videos, blog posts and other selling tools.]
Marlon, I know my site is a mess. I played with it a few times, but my "day job" has kept me away– until now. I already have all your other dashboard products– no matter what offers I get in the mail, these seem the friendliest and the most complete. I think the promo part is what's missing.
I'm going back to the beginning and following all your steps through. I'll let you know how it goes.
Best,
Brien Lee
Marlon,
Liked the simplicity and user friendiliness of the product video.
It seems like a one stop solution for all the complicated stuff that newbies like me find difficult.
Squeeze Pages
eBook in PDF
Audio / Video
Payment collection
Would be really helpful to get on the right track with one of those Promo Dashboards.
In my mind, I have already WON it. Matter of time till it manifests itself.
All I can say is WHOA…..that pizza cool is pretty cool. Will promodashboard teach us how to do something like that? That would be really nice lol…
Desmond
[Desmond, YES. It will. However, you will have to pay $30 or $40 for the player. Don't remember the price. That's too hard to create from scratch. But we'll show how to set it up and how to put the photos on the page. Also, how to do the intro music on the podcast.
Marlon]
I have numerous websites offering newsletters and virtualy no subscribers. This one is my
tall ship holidays. Tall ships are big news. There are events in many ports and most countries seem to have some. (The Russian government just banned them entering UK ports. So there is political might as well!) I l aso have a train site and trains are a big money category whether full size or models.
I am hopeless at submitting articles. I think you covered it in Product Dashboard.
I tried /Adsense and I think others like Miva. The investment lasted a long time , this means the click rate was low. So I picked bad keywords? And I thought that was the simple part. Or they did not want to click on the ad? I do have free offers on most of my sites.
I am considering the Promo dashboard. I am so busy at present with tax issues and a health problem I am getting sorted out.
So its building the list. That bit about monitoring open links is whst I need, I use aweber but did not understand the readers answer to that monitoring question.
A big thanks to you for all this. The most useful site on the Internet I would say for this subject.
[Robert, Promo Dashboard does NOT cover traffic but it DOES discuss getting people to opt in. Good luck with your tax and health issues. Yuk!]
Hey Marlon….does competition matters when one is "launch"ing?
Desmond.
[Desmond, of course. Michael Porter wrote this wonderful book called Competitive Advantage. It's NOT for newbies. But it's a great book. Anyway, yes, of course. That is why in the ideal world you differentiate your value offering and you provide better proof of performance. Either that, or you target topics or groups of people who are underserved (see Red Factor for a lot more on this. Personally, I like to target underserved topics, although you'll have some misses doing that.]
Marlon, I first discovered your genious when I bought Winning the Affiliate Game. That unannouced bonus of yours still makes that one of my better investments.
Your post and video are brilliant. The only thing I would add is … "get other people promoting you."
[Hey Jerry. I believe Winning the Affiliate Game" was done by my friend Declan. Great guy. He's kinda behind the scenes now. Still doing cool stuff but not in the IM limelight.]
The video I just watched was a great example of FREE info …good stuff to push responses.
But, why in the hell did you do the audio on only the left channel? You know there are a lot of out there that used to kill people for a living and we are deaf in the left ear from the muzzle blast from nailing "bad" guys. At least if you are going to screw up could you make the dominant audio channel the RIGHT SIDE!
Rod
[Rod, you crack me up. You know, I have a disabled vet working for me and he heard it fine! Keep up the good work over there at mlmconsultant.com]
Marlin,
I'm still having a problem getting started BUT after watching your Video "How to Promote In 3 Easy Steps" has given me an outline that works. To keep me focused. So when I get distracted by life whatever it may be. I have a place to go back to, to start up again. Instead of over again. And After listening to you I realize I can do this.AND IF I CAN ANYONE CAN. THANKS FOR THE VIDEO AND THANKS FOR THE REALLY BAD STICK-MAN DRAWLING LOL..
EDWARD NAYLOR
[Hi Edward. That's awesome. Thanks for posting. And if after watching the video, you're stuck on anything specific, please post it here so I can make sure it's in the product.]
I'm a newb–straight out of the womb. Everyone else here is at least in kindergarten, but the bottom line is that your points are concise, clear, simple and for me that signals to me that I can do this. So far I just have a myspace blurb, not even my own blog yet (perhaps I am actually still in the womb!!). I haven't even narrowed down which type of marketing list to compile out of my favorite interests. But your explanation gives it to everyone step-by-step. Maybe by next year, this newb will be in high school with a high income! Thank you for your K.I.S.S. approach to internet marketing. It was good getting the Enfamil from you today-SLURRPPP.
[Hey Melissa. I hope the video put things in perspective for you. That really is the formula. Thanks for posting here! And good luck to you.]
Hi Marlon
Just watched the video about promodashboard You've hit it right on target.The info covered in the video is exactly what I need and am going to use and I'm also going to read and do the "7 Steps To Promos That Work!" also.I think your article has very useful information keep up the good work.We need the no b.s.stuff like this that works! Keep it coming.
Ronald
[Hey Ronald. Thanks for the feedback. You know, to me, the video spells it out like it really is.]
To an old fool like me that has had is arse kick about 6 times in 3 years… l
dread looking at my emails to see who has had me.
all this sound so simple, but buttt why
can't l think so simple, where not all
the same are we ?
Yet most stuff l read is repetative same
ole B/S
But daddy long legs yours is logic
[Dave, watch my video tomorrow. I don't know if it'll seem like the same old b.s. or
NOT. If it is, it's b.s. that works.]
Hi Marlon,
Id like to get some more detail about point 3 and in particular how you can give an affiliate of JV partner credit for sending you a subscriber.
Is their a way in which an affiliate link can be used so that a subscriber from listowner A who does nt buy straight away can still get credit if he buys later down the line.
Can you explain the process and the technology behind something like that
Regards
Richard
[Hi Richard. It's called a cookie. What that means is when somebody clicks the link
of your affiliate, in their "windows cookie" folder a little text file is planted on THEIR
computer with the reseller's ID. Usually, that's all that is there. Just the reseller's
ID. Then when the person buys, the computer program goes to that folder, finds
the reseller ID and gives the reseller credit for the sale. Automateyourwebsite.com
has this built in so you don't even have to understand it.]
Hi, Marlon,
The challenge I have at the moment is creating a squeeze page. I am making my first product now, so I'm at the beginning of this "power curve" and my needs are different than many who responded and already are marketing.
Dale
[Hi Dale. I hear ya. We can help you with that. Any particular problem on the squeeze page?]
Hi Marlon…Great article. I think I get stuck with Step 2. Like for me…PPC is my downfall I hate it because I can never get the results im looking for…I see every talk "Owww yeah It's simple" but I dont know I just plain suck at it. Im still working on it tho….I like to think of it as me a science lab. lol
Umm …let's see what else. I think that;s my main problem. The rest I can do.
Thanks again for your helpful articles.
Desmond
[Desmond, you do NOT have to do ppc. I'm not the greatest at it either. Over the years my traffic has come from an affiliate program and that is why I'm a huge believer in one. At the Pat O'brien workshop (unseminar) this weekend, I talked to one guy who has launched products in 30 niches. He basically trains his own affiliates, then does a product launch in the niche, sucks out 20 or 30 g's then turns the promo over to the affiliates and goes on the next niche.]
Hi Marlon,
it was great meeting you and talking with you at UnSeminar5 earlier this evening!
About the article: Love it! Clear, step-by-step, to the point, and eminently useful. I can see a few areas right away that I have to work on (especially in points 2, 6, and 7).
Your comments on the comments themselves are very valuable too. A 12 FREEBIE survey? What a brilliant idea! I will work my way up… Or maybe I'll ask my list(s) what they would have liked and offer to give them the item with the most votes as another freebie 😉
Thanks for all the great info. I'm definitely looking forward to the forthcoming Promo Dashboard! (and hoping that you won't wait too long with creating the Traffic Dashboard to round out the set!)
[Hey Elizabeth…it was great meeting you also and putting a name to a face! Thanks for your feedback here. I'll probably come down again at least awhile today….we'll see after I have coffee and wake up.]
Hi Marlon,
Thanks for the great article and for responding to the comments here.
So far my biggest challenge has been this:
"Give people something so enticing they HAVE to join your list."
I've had 2 different lists but the sign up rate has been pretty low. Perhaps the way I word the offer is not enticing enough?
[Hi, have you tried doing like a 12 freebie survey? That's what I would try. Or keep trying different free report titles or free video titles until something sticks. Look at this page:
http://www.adwordsscientist.com for inspiration. It could also be the quality of the traffic. I don't know your traffic source. The free line has moved the past year. Meaning the bar overall has been raised. So I think you may need to offer a better freebie with more perceived value. The title is also very important.]
Hi Marlon,
Great article, its easy to get caught up in all the hype over the next new product and lose site of the basics. Ron said he was having trouble with the relationship building above, all he has to do is pay attention to what you are doing, providing great useful content.
[Hi William. I know I try to serve my customers well, provide useful content and not promote something unless I believe in it. I appreciate customers who see the value in that. Thanks for being here.]
I don't do that anymore. I let them find me now. I make a video and post it on every video directory for good keyword and then they find me. Also, I write articles that point to my site and sign up page. No more forums and ads. Social sites are great too, if you don't have a sign up form social sites like myspace will help.My freebie is not much, 7 day lessons.I have to work on that.
[Marlon's comment: Hi Katerina, video sites are great for getting listed in Google. But when people click from the search engine, they go BACK to the video site, and are easily distracted by other videos there. The challenge is to get them from YOUR video to your web site. So my question is if you have your metrics. Do you know what percent of people who WATCH your video go to your web site? In terms of articles, do you know how many visitors you're getting on average per article? Not who READ your article but who click on your link in the resource box. I've seen impressive numbers from article marketers but most of them put out a huge number of articles, as in 1 or 2 a day.
If leadconversiononline.com is your domain you send visitors to, I'd turn it into a squeeze page with the opt in above the fold and give something really attractive for opting in.]
Hi Marlon
First – Kudos for walking the walk – adding value to your emails. I can't think of any "guru" that is "consistant" in providing free value in a mewsletter format.
Its not easy. Most gurus if they even bother to try will just take content from their ebook and re-circulate into emails. (A tactic reccomended in IM courses btw).
I think thats fine for non IM and some IM topics, but not every newsletter. With info overload on the same IM topics today, I think gurus need to find content that finds a new wrinkle to leverage.
Ex: I love it when you find a new tip from some expensive seminar you just attended and then lay it out step by step in next weeks NL or a new resource.
With regard to your Newsletter:
I think their is a lesson here for your list and that is the way you structure your newsletter.
Yes, you have a pitch or reference to promo, but it's less bothersome as its part of the overall mix. It's easy to scan contents and focus on topics of interest.
I don't mind an occassional affiliate pitch, but the time is coming IMO when list owners in the IM niche need to step up and really explain the benefits of the product, how it's different and perhaps a few free tips from the product.
When IMers assume that their list is total 100% newbie and the the content is new and fresh – its not a long term relationship. Why? Well, just get on 3 list. After 4-5 weeks it gets old.
Ok , back to promos.
My Issues:
1) Do I give a freebie to build list or charge a small fee to build a list of buyers?. The IM community seems to be split. I plan to a/b test when I am ready.
Lots of variables I am sure to answer this question.
2) Quick hit or do I invest in Relationship Marketing(RM).
I think the IM market is trying to provide turnkey pieces of the puzzle for quick hits or maybe even starters for RM…(pre written reports, reviews, etc)
Yet, if it's a niche you want to spend time on, I think the RM part causes the most challenge because you have to think about the time/effort/content to continously engage the list with relevant info(value) and new products to sell.
In IM its easy and hard. Easy cause their are so many logical followup topics: LEad gen, lead cponversion, etc etc. It's hard cause its so competitve now.
Outside IM, much easier, but is their enough extension/LTV in the selected niche? I guess this is just IM 101. The planning phase – look for good markets with LTV.
If that's true, then what I want:
Is a set of multi media turn key relationship building content. At a generic level, you could outsource content creation, but thats still time consuming for me. If someone (hint hint) repackaged that content for their list, would the content offer enough high value and are the margins there? Perhaps, if it had video, ebooks etc in addition to a text email the value could be created.
If you instructed the outsourcer what you need and how it needs to look. Ex; I need 10 text emails on this topic to look like this, 3 5 minute talking head videos on this topic, grab 3 public domain ebooks etc…
I could then just plug in my squeeze page, sales letter for the next related affiliate product or (my own product).
I know their are turnkey PLR campaigns: The offer, The Capture page, the salespage and the email fu series, but then what?
How do you continue to sell within that same niche. You still need an ongoing set of relationship building content to leverage that niche.
Maybe I just use this content for 85% of the follow up and the rest is personalized by me, thus lowering my effort to stay ontop of a particular niche.
Obstacles:
If someone did offer this, the niche would have to be a proven good niche, but would the topic be of interest me?
Is it competitive? I don't think so because you are not providing the affiliate link. The content is generic enough for us to go out and find any number of affiliate products in that category.
Ex: Health related topics for baby boomers. Its somewhat focused, but any number of products could work.
Or maybe the other Biz Op is to offer an ebook on how to outsoure a systematic set of specific content "for this purpose" (RM). You identify the most effective set of content needed plus look and feel and the connections to get it done.
This way, it does not take much of my time to get the content I need and I get the topics I want to work with…(Hint Hint).
Ok – I am rambling now.
[Rob, those are all GREAT issues you bring up. Here's how I weigh in overall. Offer a freebie to get people ON your list. Then hit 'em with the low-priced offer. Keep the non-buyers separate from the 1st time, low-priced buyers. The non-buyers you keep offering things to get 'em to buy the low-priced offer and get 'em into your funnel.
On the issue of niches, IM is great if you've got the guns. Look at lee-mcintyre.com. He's my favorite up and comer. He's made it in the past year by delivering content to his list and making nice offers. But honestly, I think it's easier in less competitive niches. But yeah, some of 'em may not be enough to support big ticket back ends. But there IS recurring billing web sites. 5,000 or 10,000 people at $10 or $20 a month isn't bad.
Content development. It's hard to use a freelancer. What you CAN do is hire someone virtual full or part time. Lisa did all my stuff for 7 years and she was in Canada. I never even knew nor cared what she looked like. Now, I have people in a small office.
When you're starting you want to BOND with your folks. So I would create content yourself if you have the skills in either writing, audio or video. YOu need to be good at ONE of those.]
Hi Marlon,
Thanks for this valuable reminder with stuff that I needed to hear today, such as all the different ways to get the list interested as well as getting together a sizable list to begin with!!
Your articles keep me grounded in this business.
Thanks again!!
Kate Loving Shenk
[Hi Kate. Do you have a really attractive freebie you're offering people to join your list? And a squeeze page you can send 'em to where the ONLY purpose is for 'em to opt in to get the freebie? If you don't, there's a direction to go in. Depending on your market, the free line has moved and you have to offer MORE to get people to join your email list. You need a really attractive freebie.]
Hi Marlon,
As You did last week, again You have captured my attention with simple truth
as a human being we are truly marketers.
What is amazing to me is that people
want to pretend that they are not aiming
to share something that one must invest in with either Time or Money.
Building Relationships by sharing High
Valued Content is a major objective
for us and has been since December 2001.
[content deleted]
Thanks Marlon for sharing truth, because
we all must Embrace just who we are.Truth
will set everyone free of the chains that
bind in false teaching.
Be Blessed always…Peace!
Marlon, thank you so much for your recent articles. They keep everything simple and basic, and no hype. You are telling us step-by-step exactly what to do. No hype, no "million-dollar" crap, just put-one-foot-in-front-of-the-other instructions on how to be successful online. I wish I had found you three years ago. And yes, you have been very motivational in the past 6-8 months. Thanks again. Keep up the good work!
[Dr. Coyler, I'm delighted to hear that this has helped you. I have VERY strong feelings about the things you've said. It's like people want to build a multi-million dollar business like XYZ hotshot but they don't have a squeeze page, a freebie that people actually want and will opt in for, they don't feel comfortable sending out email broadcasts, they don't know how to create a podcast, how to optimize a video for their web site or Youtube or how to do basic graphics. It just doesn't make sense to me. So anyway, thanks for your feedback and I'm glad to hear it's helping. I'm hoping my new Promo Dashboard will fill in the blanks for lots of people.]
How do you monitor your Open rate?
[Hi, the GOOD NEWS about that it's easy. In Aweber you just paste your text into the html box. And it automatically tracks your open rate. Automateyourwebsite.com has something similar and I think Getresponse does also. Most all autoresponder systems make tracking open rates very easy.]
Hi Marlon,
Thanks for the blog post. You asked what hangs me up… it's the 'pre-sell' landing page. I seem to have a hard time coming up with something other than the same sort of thing thats on the affiliate product landing page. Any suggestions?
thanks,
Art
[Hey Art…so the copy is the issue? Art, I went to costslayer.com. It loaded REALLY slow for me. You might check out your hosting. If you do a reverse dns using domaintools.com you can SEE how many people they got on your server. I bet you got like 3,000 web sites on your server. Just a thought. You can get a dedicated site for $99 a month, although that may be a lot depending on the income of your business.]
Marlon, excellent article. I'll tell you what kills me each and every time I develop a new product or service: the element of time. With multiple projects for clients and multiple sites and products of my own in development, I don't have enough hours in a day to manage the proper promotion and launch of my own stuff.
What would make my life easier is if I could simply give you my product and have you promote it and you took a percentage of the revenue. I would gladly pay for a turn-key promotional service that researched where my audience could be found and then promoted my product for me.
[Hi Steven, my issue with that is that the mark up on service businesses sucks. I'd have to pay $20 to $25 per hour to get talented people. A 10X mark like on info products would make that $250 per hour billed to you. Will you pay that? No. A 5X mark is $125 an hour and you probably wouldn't pay that. Most people wouldn't even wanna pay MY costs! My neighbor in my office runs a geology company. A service biz. His markup is 8%. He loses money on contracts a lot needless to say.]
Hey marlon
For me the biggest hangup is building a relationship with my list. I started a few lists but I was not succesful in making them buy stuff from me. If you could teach a systematic "mechanical" way of how to build a rapport with a list I think you will have a winner.
Ron
[Ron, is there a reason you identified the problem as being your relationship? Sounds to me like you either didn't zero in exactly on what they wanted to buy like I'm trying to do here OR your sales pitch just lacked muster. The relationship with the list part is sending them value. You know, content that is free on a regular basis. Let me know why you identified relationship as the issue. I suspect the issue was your sales process.]
Hi Marlon!
I think that sometimes we forget how simple the process is when faced with the task of getting it all done. Not rocket science, but definitely still work that requires a bit of creativity and persistence.
Point number 7:"don't milk your cow so much that…" I think the majority of emails that I get from marketers have swayed the OTHER way – they've mastered the promotion but not the content sharing. It's time to find the balance between sharing content with readers and promoting products that are actually useful.
Thanks for the reminder about the process – I love how you break things down into bite size pieces that are digestible and reproducible. And of course being reminded about the simplicity of the process doesn't hurt either!
Warmly,
Gail
[Gail, you always have great comments! I appreciate you too. Ummmm, you're right that people hammer their lists a lot. The big launches have a lot of content given but so much pitching too that it's a tad hard to stomach.]