The Only 3 Steps You Need To Make Tons Of Sales Online
Marlon's Marketing Minute
The Only 3 Steps You Need
10:54 a.m. CST
Hi,
Marlon here.
In today's article, I share The Only 3 Steps You Need To Make
Tons Of Sales Online
This is an in-depth article that addresses 5 main problems I see
you may be having:
1. You wanna quit that nasty ol job of yours and think you might
be able to do it if you learn about this online marketing deal.
2. You're a greenhorn trying to learn the ropes
but can't make heads nor tales of all the promises,
claims, screen caps and gurus who pound you with
emails.
3. You've got one or two of my Dashboards or
other products but don't know for sure where to start.
4. You've tried a few things that haven't worked
for you …. yet.
5. You're really serious about this biz, probably
already making sales, maybe a lot of them, and you're
just hoping I give you an actionable piece of info.
I want you to know I personally write my ezine articles and don't
outsource them. They're not all brilliant. A few are. But for
better or worse, the represent my best thinking at the time.
For the price of admission, that's a pretty good deal.
If your inbox looks anything like mine, it's a
dizzying around of slam bam better-than-ever-before
offers.
Which is cool.
They make for a great swipe file. And show you how
it's done.
At the same time, it's so easy to lose your way. I
write from a different perspective. I try to keep you
on the narrow path to success. The simple path. The
proven path.
You're probably reading this for one of 5 reasons:
One — You wanna quit that nasty ol job of yours
and think you might be able to do it if you learn
about this online marketing deal.
Two — You're a greenhorn trying to learn the ropes
but can't make heads nor tales of all the promises,
claims, screen caps and gurus who pound you with
emails.
Three — You've got one or two of my Dashboards or
other products but don't know for sure where to
start.
Four — You've tried a few things that haven't worked
for you …. yet.
Five — You're really serious about this biz, probably
already making sales, maybe a lot of them, and you're
just hoping I give you an actionable piece of info.
Alright, lemme tackle all of those.
Let me break down all the smoke and mirrors into 3
actionable steps for you.
One of the KEY differences between me and others is
that I don't try to razzle dazzle you.
I tell the truth. I keep simple, real and actionable.
So without the razzle dazzle, here's your 3 actionable
steps.
1. Find people who buy lots of stuff over and over,
and preferably in larger dollar amounts.
You've gotta locate people who are already used to
spending money, so it's not that huge of a challenge
to get your share of the pie.
People who are really passionate about things tend
to spend a lot of money on them.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from people is
they can't find their “target market.” My answer is
that I created a whole product to assist you. And
it's called “Push Button Target Market.”
That's the best answer I have to help you. I also
dedicated the whole first row of Promo Dashboard
and Product Dashboard to this topic.
I have people post on my blog. “Marlon, I bought
Promo Dashboard and don't know where to start.”
Here's the secret.
Start on row 1 and icon 1. That's where you start!
I also have people say, “I don't know how to do row
3 icon 4 about XYZ.”
Do all the other icons first and usually by the time
you hit that icon, you WILL know what you need to know
because it was covered in an earlier icon.
You eat an elephant one bite at a time. You don't
need ALL green lights before you leave home. You'll
never have all the answers.
You launch out there and find a few answers as you
go along.
To find your target marketing, all you have to do is
look at what people are buying. Look for ads, banners
and promotions that get repeated over and over.
Look at top products on Clickbank, and so forth.
If you're a passionate person, you may have a hobby
you spend a lot on. Or you may have someone in your
family with an interest who spends a lot on it.
That should be a clue right there.
The easiest way to find a target market is to look
at forums. People with special interests collect in
forums.
You can't sell anything until you've found a group
of people who buy what you're selling. And you need a
way to cost effectively reach them.
If they don't go to forums, read a few known blogs
and go to places where you can easily reach them,
you may have a market (people in the “market” to
buy something). But you don't have a market you
can TARGET.
You have to be able to reach them with advertising
or promotions.
Then look for people who buy seminars, coaching programs,
monthly membership sites. Or really, anything on a repeat
basis. Doesn't really matter.
If you can reach a person and get them to spend $7 to
$17 with you and then over the next 30 days to 90 days
by sending them emails, get them to spend $70 to
$170 with you, that's a good market.
If you can get 1% to 2% to join a $50 to $100 a month
something or the other membership, recurring billing,
something of the month club, this is good.
A lot of people want to sell things that everybody needs.
Nothing wrong with that but it's hyper competitive and
takes a lot of expertise (typically) to sell.
There's a bit of an art to choosing a target market.
But it's not carved in stone. If you pick something
and after 3 months can't get people on your list or
you send out emails and can't get 'em to buy, go to
the next market.
It's really NOT the end of the world.
However, if the people in that market are already
buying from others, there's no reason they won't buy
from you unless the others selling to them are high
level pros.
I mean, if you look at the web sites and you're like
“holy smokes!” That's probably a sign you don't want
to sell to them.
But if you see people making sales with webinars, web
sites or blogs that kinda amateurish, this is what you
want.
Compete with amateurs, not pros.
2. You gotta get 'em on an email list
I know this may be a stretch of the imagination.
But it's HARDER than nails to sell to people who you
can't send promotions to.
In the old days, we did it with direct mail. And those
promotions would show up in your mailbox.
Thing is, it costs quite a bit to print and mail those
letters.
It costs very little to send emails.
The stupid thing people do is build lists of people who
are NOT from step one. See, it doesn't matter if you
have a zillion people on a list who are NOT in your
target market.
That is, they're not buyers of what you're selling.
You need a list of people who are in the market to BUY
what it is that you're selling.
If you got a list and you're sending out emails and not
making any sales, the people probably aren't in the market
for what you're selling.
You didn't get people in your target market ONTO your list.
Makes total sense, right? This is not “marketing genius”
type stuff here.
Here's a screen cap of some of my lists:
http://www.marlonsvideos.com/marketingminute/optins.jpg
I just wanna show you I walk the walk and don't just talk
the talk.
Step 3: Send out emails that give peopel a compelling
reason to give you money in the next 72 hours.
Here's another huge secret: Once you get people on your
email list, send 'em emails 1x per week up to 6x per week.
You don't make sales by NOT sending emails.
Think about it.
My belief is you need to mix in value with those emails to
keep people on your list. That's why it's nice to choose
a target market you have a passion for. It makes it easier
to write thoses content-rich emails.
But if you have no passions, then you know. You just gotta
suck it up and find a market you won't mind creating content
for. And if you can't do that, you'll need to outsource it
(using outsourceplan.com).
See the BIG BENEFIT of the methods I teach? You don't have
to be Einstein to figure them out. They're simple, doable
and actionable.
What good does a method do, regardless of how razzle dazzle
it is, if it's not actionable for you personally?
How do you get people on your email list?
This is covered in rows 3 and 4 of Promo Dashboard if you have
that. If not, the way you do it is by creating a freebie
report, audio or video on a topic you know they'll want.
And you offer that in exchange for their email address.
Plain and simple.
In the biz we call this having a squeeze page, which means
you're squeezing an email address out of 'em. Perhaps a better
term is an “email capture page” or “lead capture page.”
Look, the terms don't matter.
You gotta get em on an email list so you can send em emails
giving them reasons to buy stuff today.
“But Marlon, I don't want to email people. I'm a zero. I can't
write. I can't think. And I have no value to offer anyone.”
Then, my advice to you is to use outsourceplan.com.
The single most effective, simple, practical, doable way to
get sales online is to get people on an email list and send them
emails.
I've VERY aware of cost-per-action models and pay-per-click models
that do NOT require having an email list.
I'm also very aware of the downfalls of those models. They “pitch”
really well and sell zillions for the authors.
And yes, they can work. I even endorse one or two of 'em. Doesn't
change the fact that the best way to make sales online is to get
people on a list and send 'em emails giving them reasons to buy
something from you today.
Doesn't have to be your own product.
It can be someone else's product you promote as an affiliate.
And what you do to get the sale today is tell people that if they
go ahead and snag it from you today you'll give 'em a bonus report,
video or audio you made up on a hot topic.
This is a perfectly good way to make sales online until you get
your own product created, which should take you under a week to do
if you listen to anything I've ever send in Marlon's Marketing
Minute ezine.
Now, in Product Dashboard I stretch that out to 6 weeks because I'm
breaking it down into 20 minutes to 60 minutes a day. And including
a number of things other than just creating the product.
I also broke this down pretty darned well in my “Produce and
Promote” product. Don't ask me the URL because I don't remember it!
In any event, the point is, you send out emails that sell stuff.
You need to learn to write 5-10 page reports in under 3 hours. Or to
do little screen capture videos in 15 minutes that you can give away
as bonuses for buying via your affiliate link.
You need to learn how to churn out little $7, $17, $37 and $47 info
products like candy.
This is not hard.
It's a function of practicing at it until you get good.
You need to learn how to open up Dreamweaver or another html editor,
insert a table, center the table and then type up a sales letter.
(Or you could use Push Button Letters to do the same if you own it).
These are the basics. I can sit here and give you every slam bam
method in the world, that will dazzle you and make you go oooohhhhhh
and aaaaawwwwwwww.
But come on man.
If you can't target a market, get 'em on a little list and send out
emails with a little stupid bonus, then all the advanced tricks and
secrets in the world are going to line your waste paper basket.
And here's the ULTIMATE SECRET.
I'm giving this to you without charging you a dime for it. I should
charge you $100 for it so you'd actually respect it.
But anyway, the secret is……
Drumroll please…..
Having the confidence in yourself, your thoughts, your ideas and your
ability to PRODUCE something of value to others and promote the
benefits of it to them.
If you feel deep inside you have no value and you can't create anything
of value to others, then really. Where do you go from there?
All commerce is based on this formula:
1. Have value
2. Offer it to people who want said value
3. In exchange for something else of value
Step 3 can be barter.
But money is a simpler form of exchange.
If you can't get to step 1: “have value” then there is no step 2 and 3.
What if you feel you have no value to offer to others? Then go to
outsourceplan.com and have others create value for you. That's the
only possible solution I can think of.
But really, if you feel that way you don't understand this very, very
basic, simple and fundamental idea:
“All value is based on helping others solve a problem or get
something they desire and don't have the money, time, energy or
know how to solve or get.”
That's it.
The easiest way to provide value is by selling know how. Others have
problem or want result and need to “know how” to solve the problem
or get the result.
Getting that know how is a function of investing time in finding the
know how.
The know how already exists.
It's simply a function of time and research to find the know how.
Either your OWN time or someone else's.
If you don't have a brain, then rent a brain using outsourceplan.com.
I don't know how I can be any more blunt about it.
Now, once you have value you go to step 3 — Offering the value to
people who want it.
Here's the formula for THAT:
1. Send emails talking about the problem people have or the result
they want.
2. Send them to a blog, podcast, audio, screen capture video or
talking head video telling them how you have the “know how” that
will help them get the result or solve the problem.
This know how can be yours or an affiliate product.
3. Give them a reason to buy the know how from you today instead
of waiting.
A special bonus that is scarce or limited in time is a proven
method.
You can crank these out in under an hour when you learn how to do
it (To beat a dead horse, I show you how to do this in detail in
Promo Dashboard and Produce and Promote).
Basically, you use Open Office to write and save as a PDF or you
do a little mindmap and turn it into screen capture video.
=============================
The Final Fly In The Ointment
=============================
How much time does this take?
You need 30 minutes to an hour a day. You can create a bonus
in under and hour.
You can put up a squeeze page in under an hour once you learn
how.
You can write an email in 10 minutes once you have practice
at it.
So the fly in the ointment is it takes practice which means
making mistakes and running into a few things here and there
that you don't know how to do or are a bit frustrating.
Are you the kind of person who can handle making mistakes without
falling apart over it?
Are you the kind of person who has to have all the lights green
before you leave the house? Or are you the kind who can do a bit
of problem solving along the way?
Are you the kind of person who can solve a problem yourself or
do you need someone else to figure out every little detail for
you?
Look in the mirror and ask yourself those questions.
This method isn't for everyone.
You need the ability to spend 30 minutes a day at least.
You need the willingness to make mistakes and learn from them.
You need to be willing to leave the house before all the lights
are green. And to take action even if you don't have all the
answers. And to problem solve along the way.
Problem solving isn't that hard.
You just write up your problem. Post it in forums. And let others
answer it for you. That's why God created Yahoo Answers as well
as online forums.
So for 7 years — maybe longer — I've probably done an honest 30
minutes or hour of work a day.
It is possible.
To make fast progress it helps if you have 2 or 3 hours a day.
But it's possible to do it on less, even if that isn't an average
result.
Average is you didn't read this far because it was too many words
to read.
If you have read this far, I congratulate you and believe you may
just have the stuff it takes to work my simple little 3-step method.
Step one: Find the folks who spend money buying stuff
Step two: Get 'em on an email list by offering them a freebie
Step three: Send 'em emails giving them a bonus for buying today
You have a very simple choice today.
You can be seduced by emails that sound too cool, too simple, too
easy, too crazy.
And just buy until your bank account is drained and you have piles
and piles and piles of stuff in your house and on your hard drive.
Or you can decide to follow the 3-step formula above.
I'm all for buying stuff. But my mission is to help you stay on
the straight and narrow path to Internet marketing success.
The value I offer people in exchange for their money is to keep
it simple, practical, doable. And, of course, step-by-step.
———————————————————–
Marlon Sanders
The King of Step-By-Step Internet Marketing
Marlon is the author of “The Amazing Formula That
Sells Products Like Crazy”
Check out all my products here:
http://www.marlonsanders.com
(SIGN UP AS A RESELLER, put YOUR reseller URL and ID where
the above link is, post this on your web site and make some
dough for spreading a killer guide everyone will want to
read.)
//////////////////////
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 URL for any
products I mention
============================
Product's For Your Reference
============================
Tinu now sells the Evergreen Traffic System and supports it:
http://trafficreality.com/evergreen/
I should list my other products here but I'm getting this out
way late since it's the holidays. So just go to
marlonsanders.com if you're hunting for something.
Finally, I read all the posts on my blog about Promo Dashboard
before Christmas. I'm working on a report that will address a lot
of the issues you have brought up.
Be watching for it.