Post 5,000 . . . Putting eye shadow and lip gloss on your pig?
In a milestone post for me I'd like to share a hard lesson I learned about the difference between basic IM principles and creative window dressing.
When a marketing campaign didn't go so well, I would always take pause to figure out what I could have done wrong. Was the price too high? Did I offer a bonus that wasn't good enough? Should I change the theme of my web site? Do I need better testimonials? Should my headline be bold red instead of plain black?
I always questioned my own creative visual touches in the selling funnel first. My big mistake.
You know what I should have questioned first? The true basics. The foundation of my offer.
In this order:
1. Is there really an active and hungry market for the product (or service) I'm offering? How do I know that? How good was my research? Everything about your offer could be perfect . . . but if there is not a substantial number of people wanting to buy exactly what you're selling - your campaign is going to tank badly!
2. Is the pool of prospects that I'm sending my offer to keenly targeted? I mean everyone that is going to see my offer has qualified themselves as someone looking for this exact solution! Every eyeball that sees my offer but has no interest in buying is money down the tube!
3. Is my copywriting compelling? I'm not just talking about having a good thorough salesletter that includes all the usual components (headline, subhead, statement of the problem, benefits of the solution, testimonials, call to action, yada, yada, yada). My copywriting needs to trigger action in the prospect right now! If he leaves without buying, I've missed my golden moment.
4. Have I removed all the risk for the buyer in this transaction? Is the risk solely on my shoulders and does the prospect clearly, without apprehension, understand that he/she is not going to be sorry for trusting me in this deal? How could he possibly lose money?
5. Is it clear that what I'm offering is unique and so much superior to every other solution on the market? Have I left no doubt that my offer and product is the only logical and smart buying choice for this customer?
These are basic Internet marketing principles that need to be built into every offer you create. Get them right and your offers will sell.
Get them wrong, and no amount of creativity and window dressing is going to overcome your mistakes. You will simply be tweaking extraneous lower-priority variables that may or may not matter in the least.
Focus on the five basics of successful marketing first. Window dressing is creative, and fun to test . . . it's often the visual performance that we think will impress prospects. Don't be fooled like I was.
If your offer is a pig, no amount of eye shadow and lip gloss is going to make her appealing!
Happy New Year to you all,
Steve
When a marketing campaign didn't go so well, I would always take pause to figure out what I could have done wrong. Was the price too high? Did I offer a bonus that wasn't good enough? Should I change the theme of my web site? Do I need better testimonials? Should my headline be bold red instead of plain black?
I always questioned my own creative visual touches in the selling funnel first. My big mistake.
You know what I should have questioned first? The true basics. The foundation of my offer.
In this order:
1. Is there really an active and hungry market for the product (or service) I'm offering? How do I know that? How good was my research? Everything about your offer could be perfect . . . but if there is not a substantial number of people wanting to buy exactly what you're selling - your campaign is going to tank badly!
2. Is the pool of prospects that I'm sending my offer to keenly targeted? I mean everyone that is going to see my offer has qualified themselves as someone looking for this exact solution! Every eyeball that sees my offer but has no interest in buying is money down the tube!
3. Is my copywriting compelling? I'm not just talking about having a good thorough salesletter that includes all the usual components (headline, subhead, statement of the problem, benefits of the solution, testimonials, call to action, yada, yada, yada). My copywriting needs to trigger action in the prospect right now! If he leaves without buying, I've missed my golden moment.
4. Have I removed all the risk for the buyer in this transaction? Is the risk solely on my shoulders and does the prospect clearly, without apprehension, understand that he/she is not going to be sorry for trusting me in this deal? How could he possibly lose money?
5. Is it clear that what I'm offering is unique and so much superior to every other solution on the market? Have I left no doubt that my offer and product is the only logical and smart buying choice for this customer?
These are basic Internet marketing principles that need to be built into every offer you create. Get them right and your offers will sell.
Get them wrong, and no amount of creativity and window dressing is going to overcome your mistakes. You will simply be tweaking extraneous lower-priority variables that may or may not matter in the least.
Focus on the five basics of successful marketing first. Window dressing is creative, and fun to test . . . it's often the visual performance that we think will impress prospects. Don't be fooled like I was.
If your offer is a pig, no amount of eye shadow and lip gloss is going to make her appealing!
Happy New Year to you all,
Steve
Lightin' fuses is for blowin' stuff togethah.