I have been awake all night (thanks to some killer jetlag), surfing TV stations and watching infomercials. Basically, that is all that is on in the middle of the night.
And while I inwardly cursed that there was not a halfway decent movie to be found, I was struck by the sudden thought that watching infomercials is actually a brilliant way to learn about information marketing, copywriting, marketing process and tapping into a niche.

Let me explain.

Every infomercial runs to a very tight formula. And it is one that we use in our online marketing to connect with our potential prospect.

It goes a little like this…(and I am going to use the example of weight loss/ exercise equipment to make my point, purely because it is so prolific – let’s call our product the Super Duper Fat Blaster).

Firstly, the viewers attention is caught by a grabby headline…

“Are you tired of that ugly belly fat hanging over your jeans? Do you wish you had a toned and sculpted beach ready bikini body? Are you sick of hiding those unwanted pounds under unflattering and unfashionable clothes? Do you constantly feel lethargic, lacking in energy, and depressed that simple daily routines like playing at the park with your children leave you feeling exhausted?”

Ok, this is both an attention grabber, and a qualifier. If you have never found yourself thinking any of those things, chances are you are going to change channel right now. And that is fine, because the advertiser is not likely to sell you anyway.
If, on the other hand, this describes you and your situation, the screen is more likely than not to have your full and undivided attention right now.

Notice the use of very emotional language and specific, descriptive sentences? This use of emotion is designed to hook the prospect, and encourage them to feel the specific pain of their situation. This is really important in your marketing.
Why?
Because buying behavior is typically triggered by emotion. All buying behavior. So as you are writing copy, you will want to use language which will evoke a powerful emotional response from your prospect.

Humans are wired to respond more to pain, than pleasure. So notice the infomercial did not start with a
“Now you can have flat abs and the lean sexy body of your dreams” kind of headline?

The next step in the infomercial process, is to tell individual “stories”. Typically, there will be a range of people who each tell their own “before” story. You will quickly see, that again, these are quite formulaic in their composition.
Generally, they progress this way…

This was me before I found the Super Duper Fat Blaster. I was unhealthy, overweight, exhausted, unattractive to my husband/wife, constantly depressed by my appearance. There are always highly unflattering “before” pictures as well.

Then I discovered the Super Duper Fat Blaster. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to use. In just 30 minutes a day, 4 days a week, I started to see a difference. I lost my love handles and tummy flab. I could see my thighs toning. Even my husband/wife noticed the difference in me.
My horrible “fat’” clothes started to hang off me, and all of a sudden, I had more energy than I have had for ten years etc”

Next we are shown an “after” photo, which shows the person looking happy, vibrant, slim and healthy.

At this point, the viewer is intrigued by the claims and the product, and is subconsciously starting to imagine themselves undergoing this incredible transformation. They are starting to picture how different their life will look if they can also achieve these results. At this point, the advertiser will give very detailed information about the problem, in more specific and even scientific terms, and will explain how and why Super Duper Fat Blaster cna be used to combat this problem.

Again, there will be more testimonials, from people who have experienced dramatic and life changing results by using the product.

Next, the advertiser will make an offer. Now, usually, everything that is contained in the offer will be laid out in it’s individual elements.

For example…
When you order now, you get the entire boxed set of 18 DVD’s worth “X”, the 80 page low fat recipe book valued at “X”, the sports council approved workout mat valued at “X” and 12 months membership to our exclusive support club valued at “X”. That is a total value of “X”. But if you order in the next thirty minutes, all of this will be yours for the one low payment of “X” (usually a substantially discounted price).

Then, to seal the deal, there is generally a “but wait, there’s more” offer. And it might be something like, order now and you will also receive our daily menu planner, valued at “X” ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!

At this point there is generally a “takeaway” element thrown in. This simply means that the viewer is lead to believe that if they don’t take advantage of the offer NOW, it will be withdrawn from them.

The last, element of the direct sales/ infomercial style of promotion is the guarantee. Here, the advertiser strives to take all risk away from the buyer.
Usually, guarantees are framed along these lines…

If you are not 100% satisfied with your results, within 30 days, we will refund your money, 100%, no questions asked.

Very compelling stuff.

So take some time, do a little research, and watch the way these marketing pieces are put together. You will see a very clear formula emerge, and this is something you will want to emulate in your own marketing pieces.

But beware, these infomercials are extremely compelling and unless you long to become the proud owner of the ShamWOW or ChaLean Extreme, make sure you keep your credit card safely out of reach!

There is an old saying in marketing that goes like this.

“If you try and appeal to everyone in general, you’ll attract no-one in particular”. This is a critical concept to understand before you plan and execute a marketing campaign.

Stop and think about it for just a moment.

Why is it that old school “three foot rule” style marketing strategies are so horribly ineffective offline?

Primarily, they are far too broad. Not everyone you come into contact with is going to be interested in your product or business opportunity. So trying to convince people at random that they should be, is unprofessional, disrepectful, ineffective, and just plain bad manners.

One of the elements of online marketing that makes it so incredibly powerful, is that it affords you the opportunity to research a potential market and market exclusively to it.

A great place to get started, is to consider who your best potential prospects are. Here, it is important that you don’t think in terms of demographics (these are mostly quite broad), but instead, think of niches.

What is a niche?

A niche is a relatively small and specialist, yet profitable, market.

And this is precisely where you want to focus your efforts. Many people think of their market in very broad terms, because coming into the industry, we are usually told that there is a huge market for your company or product. And that may very well be the truth.

But that does not mean that you should be thinking in those very broad terms when you start to plan a marketing campaign. In fact, often the most profitable markets are quite small ones.

We know that if you are in the Network Marketing or MLM industry, the best market to take your message to is people in the same industry. These are people who have a belief in and an understanding of the industry and how the business model works. You don’t have to ‘sell’ them on the concept of this style of business.

Now, while this in itself is a very targeted niche, your marketing will be all the more powerful if you are able to narrow it down even more. And when you work your business online, search engine marketing creates an environment where you are able to do this.

For example, consider choosing people in the industry in your local area. We have found that narrowing our market down to Australia and New Zealand to be an incredibly powerful strategy, given that we are Australian. Even though this is a global business, people still like to feel that they have a ‘local’ person to partner with.

From a cultural perspective, we have a very sound understanding of our own cultural sensibilities, and are able to adapt the approach we take to sponsoring with Australian and New Zealand prospects accordingly. This is very powerful.

If you are living in a country other than your country of origin, you may (if it is appropriate) consider marketing to your home country, especially if the language is different. You will have a definite edge over a business person who is not bi-lingual, and cannot practically access this market.

You can narrow your niche by age group.

e.g. “Baby boomers learn how to harness the power of the Internet to create a full time income working from home”

Your best bet is to start with your ideal prospect in mind, and then develop your campaign accordingly.

We suggest that you get away from your screen, and take a moment to write down a “dream list” with the qualities you are looking for in a prospective client.

Here is an example of our own dream list:

* Has previously run their own business.
* Has a minimum of $20,000 working capital to get started.
* Is looking for a full time business.
* Is independent.
* Is teachable.
* Is creative.
* Flexibility.
* Solution focussed.

This list represents the ideal qualities we are looking for in new consultants. As you write your list, you will probably find that the person you are looking for will ideally be a lot like you. Someone you can relate to, and who can relate to you. Someone with similar aspirations to you.

Then, start to think about who these people are, and where they might be spending time online. This is where you will want to sharpen up your keyword research, and start to get a feel for whether this represents a market that is worth pursuing. It will also give you some ideas regarding where you might advertise after you have formulated your campaign.

And this is the beauty of online marketing. By using the Google Adwords free analytics tools, you can get a feel for what size your prospective market is.

If you are going to target people from a similar background to you, go back and remember how you first found your opportunity by testing keywords that you used yourself. What were you looking for? What keywords did you type in to find your opportunity or product? Where were you looking when you first started a due diligence on your business?

Really spend the time to consider what is going on inside your ideal prospects head.

People tend to overemphasize technology when they go online, and forget about the psychology of marketing. It is to do yourself a major disservice to not take the time to understand the fundamental and time-honored principles of marketing. No amount of widgets and bells and whistles can replace a sound understanding of what prompts people to respond to an ad, video, article or blog post.

When you have decided on your niche, your next step is to decide what you will say to them when you have their attention.

And this is where there is no substitute for high quality, accurate and honest information. Information that will inform and educate them to the point where they are well positioned to ‘convince’ themselves that what you have to offer is right for them.

As entrepreneurs, it is our obligation to stand out in a world of mediocrity. To excel and become the best version of ourselves, we will do more, learn more, be more and give more. There are no shortcuts to this journey, and the path will present you with challenges, set backs, frustrations, roadblocks and rewards beyond your wildest dreams.

I am sitting in the lobby of the Hilton hotel (a stunning and fitting symbol of entrepreneurial excellence) revising the notes I made during the WMI re-launch. In particular, I have read and re-read the notes I took whilst listening to Wayne Allen Root. This is a guy who knows exactly what it takes to get across the line in business.

I don’t intend to get political here. Politics (like sex and religion) is one of those topics that is intensely personal and private. What I appreciate about Wayne, is that he is a passionate advocate for the entrepreneur and small business man. Both Cameron and I have come from small business backgrounds and no-one, in either of our families as far back as we can trace, has ever been anything other than self employed. So Wayne’s passion for the concept of empowerment and recognition for the small business person resonates very strongly for me.

And as a politician, this also makes him an extremely rare bird.

His own life’s journey has been as an entrepreneur (and an extremely successful one at that), and he shared with us what he described as the “rules of engagement” for any aspiring entrepreneur. I have to say, while I don’t neccesarily agree with all of his political views, I do agree with him on this 100%.

Rules of Engagement for Entrepreneurs

1. Be relentless.

Don’t let anything stand in your way. Understand that the word “no” is just the start of a conversation. Believe in yourself.

2. Have passion for what you do.

What you have a passion for will change your life. Live it and breathe it.

3. Opportunity does not knock only once.

Opportunity does not knock at all. Don’t wait for opportunity to come and find you, it will never happen. Look for opportunity in every situation.

4. Embrace change, and be creative.

5. Discover your edge.

What are you good at? What are your strengths? Use your edge to engage your customers. Get your customers excited and deliver what they want. You don’t have to be like someone else, in fact, it is better if you are not.

6. Be a risk taker.

Nothing great is ever achieved without taking a risk. You cannot be a risk taker unless you are fearless. You cannot let the fear of failure hold you back. We all fail. Understand that every failure brings you closer to your goals.

7. Be a positive thinker.

You must be a cock eyed optimist to be a successful entrepreneur.

8. Always be selling.

If you are not selling, you have no business. If you are not selling, you are falling behind. Does this mean you are twisting arms and convincing? Absolutely not. A great sales person matches their customers needs and wants with the appropriate information and product. A great sales person strives for a win-win situation every time.

9. Luck happens by design.

Just like opportunity, luck is not something that “just happens to you”. You are in control of your beliefs, emotions, decisions and actions. You create your own “luck”. Successful people are not just lucky. They are always looking.

10. Get off the couch.

Get away from the TV. And get busy. Don’t just wait for the phone to ring. Make it happen.

11. Be disciplined and dedicated.

Get “addicted” to positive things. Take care of your body. Exercise and nourish it well. There is no excuse for not taking care of your body. We all have to eat, so choose to eat well. Be aware of your thoughts, and stand guard at the gates of your mind.

12. Have a “New Yorker’s” attitude.

Be aggressive and take action. Be tenacious. Get it done today. Understand that “no” means “maybe”. Remember that it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

13. “Screw the critics”.

Critics sit in the back seat, filled with their own fear and judgement. They don’t do anything, they don’t build or create anything, they don’t give anything, and they don’t change anything. Believe in change, and embrace it.

I don’t know about you, but I think that sums things up pretty succinctly. I would love to think that you take these beliefs on board and make them your own. But better still, decide to take action, and live them every day in every aspect of your life.

You will be richer in every sense for it. And let’s face it, knowledge without action is completely useless.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Tan

This conversation, (and headline, incidentally – thanks Cam!) came up yesterday at our morning meeting. Cam and I were discussing the sales pipeline, as we are now starting to see the first ones we have built generate leads, apps and sales.

Now, this is going to be a short post today, and the point of it is to emphasize the importance the sales pipeline plays in your online business.

It is amazing (and scary) how easy it is to make an extremely simple business model difficult and complicated. And I have to give myself a big red cross for doing this very thing for so long.

You see, when we first got started, we just did what the other top earners did; established our own “brand” via an iweb website, customized our autoresponder series, and then ran a very expensive and aggressive Google Adwords campaign. We didn’t question ‘why’ it worked, it just did. And don’t get me wrong, it got us outstanding results.

And so, like a zealot, this is the strategy I advised people to use in their own businesses. Several members of our team did this in part, but they did not put the whole package together. A few of them started out with the exact same Google campaigns that we did (we gave them our best stuff). But their results were not like ours in any way. We had put most of the emphasis on the Adwords campaign, and did not hammer home the importance of the pipeline before they started pulling leads into their system (and to be fair to us, you would be stunned at how many people won’t even try to customize properly – terrible photos, or none at all, “My Story” that is all pitch etc etc)

Why?

Because they had not created a sales pipeline that was highly customized to them, for their prospects to go through.

Then, in July we had our account slapped by Google and as this was the only marketing strategy we had in place, our business was effectively shut down.

In the process of figuring out how we would respond to this challenge, and developing a new sales pipeline (Word Press website), it became so clear to us that the pipeline was everything. I mean it, everything.

I happened to be listening to the original recording of Mike Dillard’s MLM Traffic Formula a couple of weeks ago, and if you have not ever heard this material, I’ll clue you up.

It is about the sales pipeline. It is about the fact that if you don’t have a “traffic formula” (in the form of a well built sales pipeline to send your traffic to), you basically don’t have an online business.

The sales pipeline hosts your landing pages, it contains information about you personally, it should contain well written articles which are relevant to the field you work in, it should contain an FAQ section which gives your prospect the opportunity to make a decision about opting in to your business, it should contain your contact details (we are legitimate business people, and should not be ‘hiding’ behind a website), and any other content that has been useful to you, and that you would like to share with those contemplating a home based business.

Your pipeline should contain links to your favorite, relevant (note the frequency of ‘relevance’ here?) affiliate products, as this will monetize your lead generation activities. Mike Dillard refers to this as a “funded proposal”.

After your prospect has become a lead in your system, you should be communicating with them via your own personalized autoresponder messages. These will build rapport with them over time, and make offers to them (usually of affiliate products).

In the process of integrating these features into your pipeline, you have created a content rich, unique, stand alone website, that will provide you with a great deal of protection should you wish to use Adwords to generate leads for your business.

When you add your own content regularly over time (and this can be videos from a video marketing campaign or articles and blog posts), it improves your organic ranking. We know that the search engines love video, and so do searchers.

When you have a watertight pipeline in place, you can use any form of marketing (online or off) that you like to send traffic to your landing pages. The options are many and varied.

And while I used to preach from the Adwords soapbox exclusively, now I would advise you to mix it up; don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Aim to use a selection of marketing methods such as banner ads, classified ads (online or in offline print media), articles, videos, and social media.

A mix of free and paid is a good idea, and the amount you spend on marketing should be a function of how much time you have to work on the free methods versus where you are positioned in the compensation plan to receive a satisfactory ROI (return on investment).

A little word of caution here though – don’t spread yourself too thin. Perhaps aim for one paid method (e.g. Adwords or classified ads) and one or two complimentary free methods (e.g. articles and videos). If you try and do all of them, you will not master any of them, and cannot expect to see the results you would want for your efforts.

So as you work on your business, pay particular attention to your pipeline, it is your business.

If you would like to see an example of a very tight sales and marketing pipeline, take a look at ours

www.MLMHomeTruths.com.au

This is an example of the type of system we are building for those on our team who want to outsource this task to us.

I will be flying to Houston, Texas today for the WMI 5th birthday event, and will return on the 3rd of February. I will keep you updated while I am away, and look forward to sharing with you the details of the re-launch.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Tan

Okay, so yesterday I got off on a tangent in the middle of my niche marketing piece and started on the importance of your ‘story’ in the marketing process. I made the commitment then to go into depth about this today. And I promise, I will not inflict any more Julie Andrews moments on you

In order to understand why you use your story at all in your marketing, it is probably easiest to consider the process in an offline context first. Because ultimately, the principles that underpin both on and offline marketing are the same.

If you owned a business offline, you would most likely have a shop front or office. When you advertised for clients or customers to visit your business, it is very likely that you would, at some stage, have the opportunity to meet that person face to face.

Now, for some business models, that is not necessarily the case. For example, if you owned a McDonalds (or similar) franchise, there would be no expectation on the part of the customer, to meet the owner. After all, they just want their super sized Mcgreasy meal pronto. They don’t care who you are, or what kind of person you are.

On the other hand, if you are a professional, or in an industry that sells higher value goods or services, chances are that your potential clients or customers will want to do business with you personally. They will want to be reassured that you have the knowledge, experience or expertize that your advertising suggests you do. They will want to get to know you, and get a feel for whether or not they can trust you, before they commit to any type of commercial transaction or partnership.

Testimonials will also help to facilitate this development of trust. Having other people endorse the claims you make about yourself is what we call “social proof” in marketing. And it is very powerful.

Now, when your potential prospect or customer visits you in your business, they will get to see you face to face. They will be able to shake your hand, look you in the eye, talk with you, and in general, get a sense of who you are, and what you are about.

This is where you have the opportunity to build some rapport with your prospect, deliver them the information they need to make an informed decision about you, your product or service, and buy from you.

When you meet people in the context of an offline business, you will be sure to ‘put your best foot forward’. By this I mean, you will make sure you are dressed appropriately for the context of the situation.

For example, if you are an accountant, you will not turn up to your office dressed in a T-shirt, boardshorts and flip flop shoes. In that instant, you would have shot your own credibility in the foot.

You are more likely to be wearing smart business attire, or even a suit and tie, if you are in the market for higher income individuals. Because this dress code denotes respectability. We expect to see people who perform at a higher level presented in this way.

It is kind of an unwritten rule. It is a form of ‘social intelligence’ to be able to understand how to present yourself in a given situation. And it is probably even more important online.

Why?

Because when people are surfing online, they are impatient. They jump all around different websites, and will only stay on a site if it delivers what they are looking for. You literally only have a split second to make an impression, to compel them to stay and learn more about you.

Trust me, if they don’t like the look of you, they are gone.

Now, I realize that I seem to have wandered off topic a little here, but bear with me. Using your image in conjunction with your story is an incredibly powerful (and mandatory) combination, and you will want to have one “profile” or “signature” photo that you will use in your marketing, on landing pages, or the home page of your website, on emails etc.

It is the online equivalent of meeting a prospect, face to face offline.

So, your image should be a demonstration that firstly, you are a real person. Legitimate business people should not be ‘hiding’ behind their landing page or website. Your prospect will want to see who they are potentially going to be partnering with in a business.

It is important that you are dressed appropriately. Nothing with a ‘busy’ or fussy pattern that detracts attention from your face.

Your prospects will want to see your eyes (looking into another person’s eyes is one way we unconsciously establish whether or not they are trustworthy), so no sunglasses, or a hat or cap that shades your face.

Smile. This is huge, and I know that many people are uncomfortable about having a photo taken, but it is important that you are smiling (right up to your eyes) in your profile photo.

Try to pose in such a way that you appear relaxed, confident and approachable. For tips on how to take a great photo, go into the CCpro back office and watch the videos under the Account tab -> website settings -> How to take a great photo.

Back to your story.

When you tell your story, you are basically allowing your prospect to get to know a little more about you. So you will want to cover things like a little of your childhood and background and your career to date.

As you write, it is important to develop the aspects of your life that you were unhappy about, that were perhaps causing you ‘pain’. Now this all sounds a little negative, but the truth is that we all make changes in our lives on the basis of some type of ‘pain’ we are feeling.

And when you think about it, no-one is ever compelled to make life changing decisions if they are perfectly happy, are they?

So start to tap into the aspects of your life that you weren’t happy with, and which prompted you to start looking for opportunities to change.

e.g. “I was so tired of working in my 60 hour a week job. I no longer loved what I did, and I never got to see my growing family. I hated being the only mum/dad in my child’s class who could never go and watch them at sport/ dancing/ school etc etc….time was slipping by, and I knew that I was trading it for money. I felt like a failure as a parent and I just didn’t want to do it any more”

By outlining the ‘pain’ of the experience, you are also giving your prospect something to relate to. If they have had any experience in their life that is even a little bit similar, on an unconscious level, they will be thinking “this person is just like me”. They will begin to form a connection with you.

And this is where having identified your niche well in the first instance is important. People who are more like you are going to be able to relate more easily to you. They will begin to see themselves in your shoes.

Now, there is a fine line between tapping into the pain and wallowing in it. You don’t want to be laboring the point about how terrible things were for you, as you run the risk of either boring or depressing your prospect. Or worse, coming across as a victim. And that is the last thing you want.

So after you have identified the aspects of your life that you wanted to improve, you then use a simple sentence that I believe is incredibly powerful. It goes like this…

“And I decided that I wanted my life to be different”.

Now this is a key concept to grasp. Being decisive requires personal vision, clarity of thinking, and the courage to follow through and make changes. And these are all characteristics of leaders.

In that one sentence, you are announcing

I am a leader.

I don’t tolerate circumstances that cause me discomfort.

I make decisions, and follow through with change.

And that is what we are all looking for. A leader. Someone to show us the way.

From this point you might talk about your journey of change ( a good example is if you had an experience with another business opportunity that did not work well because of poor marketing training).

A small but important side note here – do not blame other people for the negative aspects of your life. This is definitely not what a leader does. If you have had a particularly difficult situation, you might summarize it by saying “that was a very painful/ difficult experience for me at the time, but what I learnt from it was….”

When you get to the part in your story about how you found CCPro you must follow this rule. Ignore it at your peril…

Do not pitch!!!!

By all means, expand on some of the things you are learning.

e.g. “Now I am learning how to leverage social media like Twitter, Face Book and My Space to generate leads to my business” or “Now I am being trained by the same video marketing guru who works personally with Tony Robbins and Paula Abdul and promotes them online”

(PS that is Mike Koenig – if you are not making the most of his training in the back office may I suggest that you are wasting your monthly membership – his keyword research tips alone are gold).

The second thing that you will never do is try to be flashy or impressive. It is not necessary, and it is not the point. It also screams “scammer” at one hundred decibels.

By following the structure I have outlined you will be showing your prospects that

1. You are a real person.

2. You are nice, and possibly a little (or lot) like them in your circumstances.

3. You are decisive (which is a leadership quality).

4. You can show them how to get what they want as well.

When you combine a well presented personal picture with a story that your ideal prospect can relate to, you will be streets in front of the average marketer, online or off.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Tan

Indulge me for just a moment as I enjoy a nostalgic little stroll down memory lane with a “Sound of Music” moment. Do you remember that song?

“Let’s start at the very beginning,

It’s a very good place to start.

When you read you begin with A-B-C

When you sing you begin with do-re-mi…”

Now, at this point I either have your attention, and you will read on because you have been attracted by my headline and introductory paragraph and are interested in what I have to say. Or else you are bored out of your mind already and have logged right back out again because you believe I have overdosed on Christmas pudding and brandy custard and gone completely mental.

Hopefully, it will be the former

And so to the first point I wanted to make. When you start a marketing campaign, you want to engage principles of attraction marketing, and attract your ideal prospects to you, rather than chasing down everyone you come into contact with, or who clicks on your ad, article or video (trust me when I say you do not want unqualified prospects racking up a huge Google bill for you).

We are always being told that this is a “numbers game”, which is true to a point, but at the end of the day, the quality of your leads will have a far greater impact on the bottom line in your business than the quantity, especially if you are paying for them (e.g. with Adwords, classifieds or banner advertising).

I want to suggest that before you unleash any marketing strategy, you have a very clear picture in your mind of your ideal prospect, and the niche where that person resides in the first instance.

Understanding niche marketing is the second key to successful marketing, online or off.

Think about it for a moment.

Not everyone is going to be interested in what you have to offer, so it makes perfect sense not to waste your time and energy (and money) trying to appeal to everyone.

“If you attempt to appeal to everyone in general, you’ll attract no-one in particular” – I’m not sure who said that, but they were on the money.

I recommend that you take the time before you get started, to write down potential niches to market to.

Now, here is a hot tip for you. We have marketed exclusively and very successfully to the MLM and Network Marketing niche in our own business.

The reasons why are these:

* Mike Dillard (network and online marketing guru) suggests that this is our most powerful niche. If the top person in our industry recommends this as a strategy, we are very happy to use it.
* People who are already in the industry are usually struggling, particularly if they do not know how to market online at best, or in a professional and leveraged way at worst.
* People who are already in the industry are “sold” on the business model. This in itself is a powerful qualifier.
* It is a vast market, with 79 million people in the USA alone looking at starting a home based business in the next twelve months. Plenty of fish swimming in that pond, in other words.

We would also recommend that you take this strategy a step further, and drill down even deeper into this niche. There are well over 250 network and multi level marketing companies out there, which makes for a very broad field.

So we suggest you target specific companies in your marketing, and not the entire industry in general. You would do well to start with the ‘top tier’ companies, rather than go after the companies which have a lower investment level to buy in.

Why?

Because ideally, your prospect and potential business associate will have some working capital to invest in their own business. Our experience has been that those prospects who are looking around the lower end companies simply do not have the money to get started and maintain their membership commitments.

It may seem that I am laboring this point, but this is a foundation principle in an industry like ours.

If you are so inclined (and this will depend entirely on your own circumstances), you can go even deeper into your chosen niche, and break it down even further by location, and even demographic.

For example, you may be a single, female “baby boomer” living in Australia. Perhaps you have come into the industry from a corporate style of career.

In your marketing, and when you write your story, these are the elements you will want to emphasize.

Why?

Because people who are more like you, are more likely to relate to you.

Writing your story is an element of marketing in this industry which is very much overlooked and underestimated.

In fact, it is so important that I will dedicate an entire post to it (note to self – jot that down for tomorrow).

But to cut a long story short, your goal should never be to impress (in fact, if you are trying to be impressive, you will be more likely to come off looking tragic).

The sole aim of putting your story out there, is to give prospects an opportunity to “get to know” you, and to give them something to relate to. I will go into a lot more detail about this tomorrow.

Having determined who you want to speak to, the next stage will be to complete your keyword research to get a feel for whether this will indeed be a profitable market for you to explore.

Mike Koenig’s keyword research training in the back office is where you will want to head for this. Get ready to do a little sorting and sifting now, to identify which keywords may be ‘money words’ for you.

Be aware, that if you are going to use Adwords, there are very tight restrictions in place in terms of using trademarked company names.

However, no such restraints exist if you are using free marketing methods. I will say this though.

Always uphold a professional and ethical image in all of your marketing.

Do not get online and rubbish other companies or products. This is an unnecessary technique that fortunately, has well and truly had its day.

When you have attracted the attention of your prospect, you will want to make your message to them sufficiently compelling for them to take the next step in your process.

I suggest here that you go into the back office and check out David Schwind’s copy-writing training. David is a top earner in our company, and as luck would have it, a world class copywriter.

When you are writing copy, you will want to pay particular attention to the headline, as this will be what “hooks” your prospect to continue to read your message in the first instance. We have dedicated a great deal of space to that very topic in our own online marketing manual, and you can find the link to it on this site.

So, in terms of your marketing strategy, start at the very beginning. It is the only place to start.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Tan

When we first got started in this brave new world of building an Internet business, apart from feeling completely overwhelmed by information, I also recall feeling totally mystified by the whole notion of search marketing.

As far as I could see, driving traffic to our landing pages was simply a matter of writing a clever and compelling ad, which our ideal prospect would click on. Not that I even knew who that person would be at the time either. Surely it would be a good thing for anyone and everyone to go to our landing page?

I didn’t understand the importance of defining our niche, and then drilling down into it as tightly as possible so that only the most motivated and highly qualified people were clicking on our ads. Obviously, it did not take too long for me to cotton on that less tire kickers and more genuine prospects are key in Pay Per Click advertising. Opening our business credit card statement alerted me to this fact in a big hurry (if memory serves, it was in the same ball park as the national debt of Ireland).

I was beginning to think that metrics and analytics were only a small part of the equation. An in house clairvoyant would also have made a handy addition to our business. So much of the way search engines worked remained a huge mystery to me. Thanks goodness Cam had a very good handle on it and was in charge of our PPC campaign.

Over time, with experience and study, I started to see that understanding the function of search engines was very clearly the only way to get anywhere in an Internet business, and an alarming number of people joining our team had no idea that they were going to be using search engine marketing to build their own business.

They simply did not know what search engine marketing was (or even what search engines are). I have lost track of the number of new consultants who made comments to me like “I still have no idea how I will be making money in this business”.

So indulge me now while I run through a little “Search Engine 101″ style post. Now, I hasten to add that this is not going to be exactly the same content as I have posted before on the subject.

Why?

Because the major search engines (and I will refer to Google in particular here) are changing and evolving on a regular basis, and following the most recent compliance changes for search advertisers introduced by Google in July 2009, there are some key pieces of information you must know if you plan to use PPC in your own business.

The principles of search engine marketing are relevant to everyone, regardless of how you are marketing, but there are some changes which are extremely important for those using (or planning to use) PPC.

The primary function of the search engine (any search engine) is to search for information on the Internet. OK, easy and logical so far, right?

The search takes place when the searcher goes online, and types ‘keywords’ that are relevant to what they are looking for into the search field. So, say I am looking for a legitimate and profitable top tier, home based business. I might type those keywords into the search field.

E.g. “legitimate and profitable top tier, home based business”

The act of typing those keywords into the search field, is the the online equivalent of walking into a gigantic library, and handing the librarian a piece of paper with those same words on it, for her to go and find the most popular books on that subject and bring them to me to read.

The search engine uses a program called a “spider” to crawl the web, and retrieve the information that it can find and read that is relevant to searchers queries. The search engine then indexes the information that is retrieved, so that it can present it to the searcher at the speed of thought.

Pretty nifty huh?

Now, understand that this is only one facet of this process. So far, there are only two participants in this relationship – the search engine, and the searcher.

This is where things get interesting (and tricky, depending on your perspective). This is where the third party enters the equation.

You see, search engines like Google are also commercial enterprises. And in order for any business to be profitable, there must be money changing hands for goods, products or services, yes? And the searcher doesn’t pay.

This is where we join the fray. As advertisers, we pay (if we are using PPC) Google to show our ads to the people who are searching for them.

And this is where Google’s priorities and loyalties become very clearly defined.

Don’t believe that because you are paying your way, Google will necessarily allow you to publish any old thing online. Google has a highly vested interest in keeping the searcher happy, in preference to keeping the advertiser happy. Seems odd? Surely Google would want to make the relationship with its advertisers the priority?

Therein lies the genius of Google. If searchers are finding high quality, relevant information every time they search, they will continue to use the search engine. If there are more people using a particular search engine, advertisers will want to use the same search engine to advertise their business. I mean, there is no point opening any type of business in an environment where no-one is likely to find you.

Google is king when it comes to market share, with a whopping 83.5%. The rest is split amongst the remaining 10,000 or so search engines. So it is an astute business decision to primarily run with Google. This is where people are searching for information (your prospects among them).

Post July 2009, Google and the Federal Trade Commision took a sledgehammer to the home based business industry, due to large numbers of complaints by consumers about “get rich quick” schemes and “money making” scams.

As a result, all advertisers in our field have been under immense scrutiny, with many having their ads ‘slapped’ or their accounts suspended or disabled by Google. This can be a devastating thing for a business, if you do not know what to do to move forward.

Many people were blindsided by this turn of events. But it is, in fact one of those dark clouds with a silver lining.

This action by Google will clean up the web, so to speak. It will rid the Internet of scammers and online vermin and leave the way clear for legitimate business people, who are ethical in their approach.

This is where paid search advertisers will need to engage best business practices to advertise effectively using Google.

By that, I mean undertaking thorough keyword research, identifying your niche, and then giving searchers the information they are looking for, straight up front. No more “opt in and then you’ll get your information” tactics on your landing page. If Google sees you engage in that practice, you will be slapped so hard your head will spin.

If a searcher clicks on your ad because it promises them specific information, best you make sure that is what they get when they hit your landing page.

Anything that screams “get rich quick”, “work from home” or “make money from home” will be under very close scrutiny, and it is advised that you do not use these keywords in your ads, if you are using PPC.

Also be aware of the company you keep, because even if your campaign is compliant, if it appears in the company of other business people who are using the hypey, “get rich quick”, “money making scheme” style of ads and websites, you will very likely be penalized by association.

So, in a nutshell, Google is looking for and rewarding those online advertisers who are using best business practices.

Be scrupulously honest and transparent. Deliver relevant, high quality information in the first instance. Avoid hype, income claims and promises of “getting rich quick” (this is a bare faced lie anyway, as we all should be aware by now).

Publish your contact details, don’t ‘hide’ behind your website. A legitimate business person should be stepping up and announcing to their prospect “Your search ends here, I’m your man / woman”.

By the way, if you are uncomfortable about doing this, you have some demons to address before you launch into your business. I mean, if you don’t buy you, no-one else will either.

So learn to think like the spider. It will lead you to the fly, and help you define yourself online and simplify your business.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Tan

At the very beginning of a new year, Cam and I like to spend some time reflecting on the year that was, and as a business strategy, sifting through the practices we are going to move forward with and develop further, and those we will discard.

Right now we are sorting through the mountains of resources we have purchased throughout the year, and identifying those containing the information which will best assist us in our plans to build our business.

And I have to say, this can be both exciting and frustrating. I don’t know about you, but I have a pile of ebooks that I have printed out sitting on my desk, and I can barely see over them. They all profess to contain “little known secrets”, “insider tactics” and “killer strategies” to generate more leads than we can handle for our business.

The truth is, they all do. When you absorb that information, implement it on a consistent basis and master it over time, that is.

But here’s the rub. I have started to read all of these books (probably about halfway through all of them). I have become passionate and excited about the concepts they contain. I have filled hundreds of pages of my notebook with ideas, flow charts and checklists to integrate those strategies into our business. For some concepts, I have even begun the process of setting up various accounts and profiles on line, struck a couple of hitches, and stuck the whole idea in the “too hard” basket…..and that’s where the process stops. Sound familiar?

Information overload. It’s a double edged sword.

Information will fire your imagination and inspire you to be creative and develop your home business. Too much information all at once can interrupt your focus. And when you hesitate and become distracted, you end up treading water and eventually becoming swamped rather than moving forward.

Standing still guarantees a lack of activity in your business. Inevitably frustration will creep in, followed very closely by doubt. This is where people start to look outward to aportion blame.

This is a real danger time in your business.

It is counter-intuitive and uncomfortable, but this is the time when we must look inward, and examine our own beliefs, behavior, and actions.

So, how to overcome being overwhelmed by information overload?

We have found that the best way to do this is to first develop a detailed overview of your business, and then narrow your focus and start building your business one step at a time.

The following guide will help you to create an overview, and when you have the big picture in mind, you can “work backwards” to break it down into ‘bite sized’ pieces and develop a daily method of operation which will start to move your business forward.

1. Take a large blank sheet of paper and a pencil, and get away from your screen.

This is important because physically writing down your business plan will engage the creative centre of your brain. Removing yourself from your screen will also remove potential distractions (you know what I am talking about – your friends commenting on Face Book, surfing MSN for pics of the latest celeb to step out in public sans underwear, amusing You Tube videos of pigs on roller skates etc etc).

2. Start writing (or drawing – whichever ‘feels’ most comfortable – be intuitive and creative here – there are no right answers or perfect plans).

Now, think about what your ideal business will look like. I’ll give you an example here to give you some ideas.

* CCPro Black Box sales
* WMI membership sales
* Affiliate sales

3. Next, take each bullet point and start to break it down into individual components and tasks.

* CCPro Black Box Sale

To do list:

System set up

Activate account

Write “My Story”

Collect one “signature” photo and some leisure style photos for my “About Me” page

For each of these tasks, go to the CCPro back office and find the training material which corresponds to actioning each of these tasks. Also refer to our team training site for ideas and additional material.

Make sure you complete your set up before you move onto the next step – stay focused.

Develop Marketing Plan

Go through CCPro marketing modules and review each marketing method. Get an idea of what is involved in each method and choose on the basis of your budget, time you have available to market, your positioning in the compensation plan (ROI is important here) and what you feel you would be good at, and would enjoy. This is important because you are going to be doing a lot of it.

Choose two methods (we suggest one free and one paid), and complete the training associated with it in the back office.

E.g.

Video marketing – sign up for Traffic Geyser, complete Mike Koenig training in CCPro back office, purchase camera, make 10x10x4 list of topics, write them down, practice with camera, keyword research on topics, start filming, post to Traffic Geyser, research, write, film and post one video every day.

Banner advertising – complete CCPro training on banner advertising, set budget, complete David Schwind training re copy writing, write ads, turn tracking on, post ads.

Allocate a time frame to work through these tasks each day. And hold yourself accountable to it.

After you have selected the methods you are going to market with, tune out all other methods and offers. The only way you will master anything is to remain focused, as exclusively as possible on your chosen marketing methods.

Think about putting together your plan so that it resembles the ‘branches’ of a tree. If you can see it diagramatically, it often helps you to prioritize each task.

Work through each point in turn, until you have an action plan for each ‘branch’ of your business. Now, it is important to remember that your set up and marketing should always be your number one priority.

There is no point trying to develop a comprehensive knowledge of the workings of the WMI comp plan until you have people to talk to. And even then, there are sufficient resources available for you to direct people to without “telling and selling” anyway.

Remember, marketing is your main responsibility. Stay focused on this at all times.

To further help you develop your daily method of operation consider this:

100% of your energy and focus should be directed at your set up, when you first get started. Identify the components of this process that you can outsource. For example, if you are not tech savvy, and you don’t have a lot of time to develop the skill, consider outsourcing this aspect of your business. This will free you up to focus on learning how to market.

After your system is up and running, your time allocation should be split roughly each day like this:

* 85% marketing training and execution
* 10% personal development
* 5% administration style tasks (book keeping etc) – less is more here – definitely something to consider outsourcing. You must always dedicate yourself to income producing activities in preference to “busy” work that does not generate sales.

The amount of time you have to dedicate to your business should pretty much be split to that ratio.

As far as the personal development goes, you can give your day the most incredible kick start by listening to John Jackson’s daily wake up calls. This will only require 15 minutes of your time. John is particularly gifted at motivating you to remain focused. This will be a powerful investment in your business.

So to summarize:

Develop a detailed business plan.

Create a daily method of operation.

Before you go to bed each night, write down no more than five things you will achieve in your business the following day.

Make sure you complete the actions on your list. If for any reason you cannot finish everything on your list, carry it forward to the next day.

Review what you have achieved in your business on a weekly basis. Be ready to adapt your plan if necessary. Often, when our plans are waylaid, thwarted or held up, we tend to abandon them altogether. This will be like death to your business.

Be prepared to spend as much time as you need to create a comprehensive plan in the first instance, but also understand that life happens, circumstances change, you will encounter obstacles, challenges and frustration in your business. But you must be ready to go with it.

This is the same strategy we use to develop our business, and we find it a highly effective way to stay on track, and get things done.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

TanRoller skating pigs should not break your focus. Top tips to help you stay on track in your Online Business.

You are probably quite weary of the endless emails that flood your inbox on a daily basis now that you operate in the world of online marketing. Anyone with a product to sell claims to have discovered the “secret”, the “key”, or the “hidden truth” to online marketing success.

I know I am. And I must confess, I have found myself spending more hours than I am proud to admit, surfing around marketing websites, and signing up to learn about these latest, greatest, “must have or I am doomed to failure” autoresponder series and courses (that I never complete, incidentally). And a stroke inducing glance at my credit card statement confirms that I have also thrown a lot of money at such courses as well.

So, this week I have ‘bitten the bullet’, and unsubscribed from basically all of the courses I had signed up to. Mostly, they have done nothing but distract and confuse me. I have made a profound realization.

And I’m here to tell you, the truth about being successful in an Internet business is a lot less complex than you have been led to believe. Regardless of what you have been told, the success or otherwise of your business comes back to humble (or should I say mighty?) keywords.

If it helps to make sense of it, consider the keyword as the thought in your prospect’s mind, when they go online to search. Now, before you even start to consider this, there are a couple of things that you will want to have defined for yourself.

Firstly, who is your ideal prospect? There is an old marketing adage that says “If you are trying to appeal to everyone in general, you’ll get no-one in particular”. And never a truer word was spoken. The very first thing you are going to want to do, is think about your ideal prospect (or your niche).

Niche marketing is the process of finding and serving one or more small yet profitable markets. Niche marketers design custom-made products or services for the markets that meet specific needs.

Now, in the Network Marketing or Direct Sales industry we suggest that the most powerful niche for you to target in your online business in the first instance, is other network marketers. There are a couple of very important reasons why this is the case.

The first, is that these are most often people who are already involved in the industry, so obviously, they already have a degree of knowledge about, and a belief in the business model.

The second is that nine out of ten of them are very likely struggling to market their business in a way that is professional and leveraged. As online marketing educators, we are able to teach them to build their business online in a way that is both of these things. Not to mention far more enjoyable than the “old school” offline methods most of them have learnt. I actually have a cringe inducing recollection of being taught how to “market” at an MLM training event, that involved sitting at the train station at peak commute time, and handing out “biz opp” flyers to disgruntled commuters whilst pretending to be waiting for the train. The words “professional entrepreneur” don’t spring to mind as much as “creepy stalker”.

Now don’t think for a moment that you are (or should be) limited to this niche. The brilliant thing about working online, is that if have a notion about a potential niche to market to, you can basically take the guesswork out of the equation by completing thorough keyword research.

And you might find that narrowing down your niche by geographic location is very effective as well. For example, if you are a living outside of your country of origin, you may consider creating marketing campaigns specifically for that country. Certainly, if it is a non-English speaking country, you will have a massive advantage over marketers who only speak English.

So, a great way to start thinking about the keywords that apply to this niche, is to very simply brainstorm keywords you think your ideal prospect might be using to search for what you have to offer.

Next, take your list of potential keywords, and go to Google’s keyword tool to get an idea of both advertiser competition and search volume for those words for the past month, and year.

Now at this point, I am going to direct you to Mike Koenig’s training in the Pro back office (again) about advanced keyword research (no point re-inventing the wheel after all). I also want to bring your attention to training coming up by Shelby Larson, about SEO. The details of the next call are listed in the Pro back office. This is going to be incredible training, make sure you listen to the recording of the call if you are not able to attend the live call.

This is foundation stuff. It does not matter how clever your article, ad or video is, or how many widgets you have thrown onto your blog, if no-one is going to see it. And if the search engines can’t find it, because you have not used relevant keywords, trust me, no-one is going to see it.

Now, bear in mind that the use of relevant keywords your niche is using to search, should continue on through each step of your sales pipeline. What I mean by that, is if you use a specific set of keywords in say, a Google ad e.g. “Online Marketing System”, the next place your searcher is taken to, after they click on the display URL in your ad should also contain the phrase “Online Marketing System”. It will create a logical and consistent transition for your searcher from one place to the next. This is very important.

People are generally quite fearful when they are searching for information online. No-one wants to be scammed, ripped off, or made to feel foolish. So it is your job to create a keyword ‘chain’ which logically takes them from one place to the next in a predictable manner. They should not get any surprises when they hit your landing page.

So, invest the time in learning about how to complete thorough keyword research on your niche. I promise, if you neglect this element of your business, you are going to spend a great deal of time feeling very frustrated, and spinning your wheels.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Tan

I was speaking with one of our consultants today about the best free lead generation strategies available to online business people (in my opinion at least – I’m sure that if you asked a dozen different online marketers, you would get a dozen different responses about this).

And I have to tell you that one of my favorite, is article marketing (especially in combination with video marketing – very powerful). But our consultant was pretty iffy about using this strategy in her own business. Her argument was that she was “too new and inexperienced to have anything of value to write about”.

Now, this is a pretty standard response I get when I make this suggestion to new people. But my reasons for recommending this type of lead generation strategy form the basis of a plan that is so cunning you could whack a tail on it and call it a weasel.

Let me explain.

My first reason for recommending this strategy is that it is FREE (hellooo, do we not all love free?). The only thing you will need to undertake this is time, and an understanding of how spell check works.

Your article is a piece of content which stays out on the web forever and a day, and when you archive your written material to your blog or personal website, you are building up the content on your blog, which is an essential SEO strategy.

Next, this is a great way to learn about and understand the power of keywords. In order for your article to be found by your particular niche, you will have had to complete very thorough keyword research. This is a skill which is critical to master, regardless of what marketing methods you use, and if you miss the mark on a particular search term, at least it has only cost you your time.

Third, it is particularly easy to record a video about your article, and post it at the same time. Think about it for a moment. You have done one piece of keyword research, but posted two separate pieces of content off one piece of work. A very clever way to manage your time if it is a premium.

Often, when people seem a little nervous or uncertain when they create a video for marketing purposes, it is because they are not entirely confident about their chosen subject matter. If you create a video about an article you have just researched and written, you should (unless you were half asleep when you wrote it), feel very confident about your subject matter.

And when a potential customer or business partner views your video, they are more likely to go further into your business if they believe that you are confident about your topic. Remember, people are looking to do business with those they believe to have a certain level of expertise in their field.

And so to the topics you should cover in your article marketing (and coincidentally, the next part of my cunning plan .

Writing articles based on your own training is a great place to start.

I strongly suggest that as you embark on your training, you write down the key points as you go. My reasons for this recommendation are twofold.

As I have explained before, when you engage your hands in something physical as you read or listen, it triggers the creative centre of your brain. And your unconscious mind will go to work and start turning over the problem or challenge before it.

Forgive me as I go off on a little rant here, but too often, when I am speaking with people about the training they are doing, I get a very definite sense that they are simply going through the motions (e.g. they literally rip through the recommended reading), just so they can tick it off their list. They are not actively and consciously participating in the learning process.

How do you do this? By getting away from your screen, and any other distractions, taking a pencil or highlighter, and making notes as you read or listen (if it is a training call). It is important that you think about what you are learning in the context of your own business. Think about how you will apply what you are learning in your own system. And write it down.

Now, when you do this, a couple of things happen. Your understanding of what you have read will be deeper. Nothing consolidates understanding faster than having to pass information on to other people.

Secondly, you will have started to put together a business plan to work to, that is specific to you in your own business.

Some other topics to consider are the most common questions people ask about your business, and the answers to accompany them. Before you argue that no-one has asked you about your business yet, think back to the questions you had about it before you started. Write them down, answer them if you know the answers, research the answers if you don’t, and create an article and video (or series of videos if necessary) about them. This will also place you on the front foot when you do get asked these questions by a real prospect.

Then create a series of articles about what people should be aware of about your business, but don’t ask. Another powerful way of positioning yourself as an authority and a leader. How do you come up with this list of questions? Simply think about the issues that came as a surprise to you when you got started.

Mike Koenig’s 10 x 10 x 4 training goes into great detail about this technique. It is excellent, and you must tap into this, and listen as many times as you need to to consolidate your understanding.

You can write reviews of books that you have read that you found useful. Write about mindset techniques that have inspired you. Write stories from your every day life that contain a little lesson or message.

But, (and here is the most important thing I am going to say about this – drill this thought into your brain):

Thou shalt not pitch – EVER.

I’ve said it before, and no doubt I will continue to rant about this – it cannot be over emphasized. Leave “old school” marketing techniques where they belong – back in 1980.

So just because you are new to the game, don’t assume you have nothing of value to communicate to people who are looking for what you have to offer. Everything you learn places you in front of 90% of people out there.

Not convinced? It is not my job to convince you. It may well be that you need to work much harder on your mindset. And there is an article topic in itself.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Tan