Product vs. Process: One of the HUGE overlooked keys to IM success

19 replies
Hi all,

Was on a conference call with a few students this weekend and all of a sudden it hit me between the eyes...

Most struggling marketers are product focused... when in fact they should be more PROCESS focused.

Example:

Let's say you had access to two different products to sell (whether your own product or someone else's):

Product A - a TOP-shelf, high quality niche information product

Product B - a mediocre product with so-so information but mostly fluff

If you gave the *far better* product (Product A) to a newer marketer to sell, and you gave the *far lesser* product (Product B) to a highly successful marketer to sell...

The highly successful marketer's sales of the lesser product would DWARF those of the higher quality product.

Why? Because effective marketing is entirely about PROCESS - specifically the process of finding, attracting and converting cold yet targeted prospects into sales.

It's this process that successful marketers are continuously educating themselves, experimenting with, and working on - much like a scientist or inventor does.

Do successful marketers want to market & sell high-quality products? Absolutely.

But my experience is products are always considered within the context of process, namely:

- Who the hungry audience is for this product
- Where this audience can be reached the easiest and cheapest
- What the audience really wants (i.e. what they're already buying!)
- How successful marketers are already successfully selling to this audience
- Why the audience will (or won't) desperately want this product

So instead of focusing 100% on finishing that e-book you're working on or the membership site you're building, consider the market context and the process first...

I promise you'll be amazed at the results you get.

Ken
#huge #keys #overlooked #success
  • Profile picture of the author Chris Stigson
    Thanks for this, because it's completely true. You can market a bad product if you know how to market... I see it all the time, especially in the IM niche. Products can truly suck, but get TONS of exposure.

    This is all about being persistent and getting more people to work WITH YOU, such as affiliates and leverage.

    - Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author Ken Preuss
      Originally Posted by Chris Stigson View Post

      This is all about being persistent and getting more people to work WITH YOU, such as affiliates and leverage.
      Absolutely dead on. There's no greater positioning and leverage than that which comes from affiliates and joint venture partners.

      Hint: you'll notice affiliates and/or JV's are almost always part of the process used by successful marketers. It's out in the wide open for all to see... and model.

      Ken
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      • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
        Originally Posted by Ken Preuss View Post

        Absolutely dead on. There's no greater positioning and leverage than that which comes from affiliates and joint venture partners.

        Hint: you'll notice affiliates and/or JV's are almost always part of the process used by successful marketers. It's out in the wide open for all to see... and model.

        Ken
        ahhh, but most would rather complain about getting pitched by some marketer and all his friends about 'the latest launch'...
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        -Jason

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  • Profile picture of the author ReadMeFirst
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
      Originally Posted by ReadMeFirst View Post

      yeah but if it's really that easy then why isn't everyone doing it? and also I think everyone of those guys who just promotes launch after launch after launch needs to have some kind of name so we know who they are - like "groupies" or something. Launch groupies or launch whores (that's too harsh maybe, but kind of the truth).
      they do have a name - they're called successful marketers
      They have a list and the courage to promote to it.
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      -Jason

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      • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
        Originally Posted by jasonl70 View Post

        they do have a name - they're called successful marketers
        They have a list and the courage to promote to it.
        Agreed Jason. I love how the number of cynics, skeptics, guru bashers etc etc... grows each day. Funny, because I don't see them making the money that the people they bash on are making.
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
    Dead on Ken, I keep on saying this and I'll say it again until people start to get it.

    It's not about what you sell or even how you sell it. It's about getting as many people possible in front of the damn thing.

    I could sell wooden lightsabers for all I care, with enough eyeballs on the offer and a powerful reason as to WHY they should purchase, it has the potential to make millions.

    It's not in the product, it's not in the copy, it's not even in the way the product/service is marketed. It's all in the "system" or as you call it "process" of reaching as many views to your offer as possible.

    The way I see it, you can have a blank site with a single 150x150 button in it saying "Buy Me", if you can send 1,000,000 unique visitors to that page you are in for some big bucks.

    Of course the copy, sales funnel etc... have the pontential of increasing conversion, but that without views is useless.

    Even if you have the greatest product/service ever created by man and you don't have eyes on the offer you have achieved nothing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Max Ramocsai
      This is the EXACT reason why I decided it was time for me to create a niche product that I could call my own. I will not lie to you, it has taken a ton of work for me to develop the product (and I'm still not done) but I am positive that it will pay off in the end.

      Why? The reason is because I do believe a have a solid marketing system to follow upon creation. A system that will allow me to get my product in front of many hungry buyers as well as many profit hungry affiliates.

      I really do think that if you put forth that initial marketing effort and literally bombard the internet with your offer you can not only get the customers that you are after but also attract the attention of affiliates. And this is something that really motivates me to keep on going even if I may be "working for nothing" at this point.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kevin AKA Hubcap
        Ken

        IMO you speak the truth. But if anyone wants confirmation look at the number of fitness products, especially gut busters, ab machines, thigh toners etc. that are sold.

        The overwhelming majority of these products offer no value what so ever so why are they selling in droves?

        The process

        I recently listened to an interview (it was either Ken McCarthy or Dan Kennedy interviewing one of their clients). The client was saying given the choice between a great product with mediocre marketing and a mediocre product with great marketing he'd take the latter every time and I agree.

        I know I've spent an inordinate amount of time on product creation but now realize that the process is what's really important.

        Don't get me wrong ...I'm not advocating putting out crappy products but if you're a person who wants to make the perfect product...like I was...you'll find yourself constantly revising, altering, and changing and while you're doing all that your not marketing/selling your product.

        If your not selling your product you have no idea what works and what doesn't. If you don't know what works you won't be able to maximize your efforts towards those items.

        Put the product on the market. AFAIK there's no law that says you can't update/revise a product once it's been released. Concentrate on the process and the dollars will come to you.

        Kevin
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        • Profile picture of the author Ken Preuss
          Originally Posted by Kevin AKA Hubcap View Post

          I recently listened to an interview (it was either Ken McCarthy or Dan Kennedy interviewing one of their clients). The client was saying given the choice between a great product with mediocre marketing and a mediocre product with great marketing he'd take the latter every time and I agree.
          Bingo. And I'll put it in even more direct terms. If anyone ever answers that question the other way, don't take a single piece of advice from them.

          As you say, it's not that we want to put out crappy products. No one does. It's that without the right process no product will ever be exchanged for dollars, no matter how great the product may be.

          ...if you're a person who wants to make the perfect product...like I was...you'll find yourself constantly revising, altering, and changing and while you're doing all that your not marketing/selling your product.

          Kevin
          Dead on again. Constantly revising, altering, changing....it's all part of a disease of perfectionism many marketers have.

          Should your product be as great as possible? Yes. But there's no such thing as "perfect".

          If your revising keeps the product from hitting the marketplace you are shooting yourself in the foot. Market your product and get it out there first, then revise later.

          Hint: "marketing" comes before "revising" in the dictionary.

          Ken
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          • Profile picture of the author Nomics
            I recently came to the same conclusion the hard way. A lot of times we get too hung up on "perfection" (too much time spent on every detail). "I have to have the perfect product in order for it to sell," is complete hogwash. Rather, perfect your opt-ins and JV partnerships.
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            • Profile picture of the author blogonator
              I agree with you 100% Ken. Most marketers spend too much time on creating that perfect product rather than putting emphasis on actually marketing their products. Great post!
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              Hasta la WinVista, Baby!

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  • Profile picture of the author madison_avenue
    Ken

    By this logic there are lots of low ranking products on the clickbank database which might be worth promoting. The top ranking products with high gravity might have got exposure and sales for a myriad of other reasons than being an excellent products. There may be some diamonds in the lowers reaches of clickbank.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ken Preuss
      Originally Posted by madison_avenue View Post

      Ken

      By this logic there are lots of low ranking products on the clickbank database which might be worth promoting. The top ranking products with high gravity might have got exposure and sales for a myriad of other reasons than being an excellent products. There may be some diamonds in the lowers reaches of clickbank.
      100% correct. There are dozens upon dozens of low-ranking Clickbank products that you'd have to dig through the marketplace to find....

      If someone who understood process got their hands on them, they could turn that product into a serious cash cow.

      Well... that's exactly what top affiliates do for those products.

      I've seen several people here talk about it, including Wagenheim and a few others. They find a great product that's "under the radar" and apply their own process to sell the %&@! out of it.

      It's a beautiful thing.

      Ken
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve Sanchez
        I think the common mentality of someone new is that they only want to promote something they believe in. I think that's why they are so product focused.

        It's a huge mental hurdle to get over. It's really hard to teach someone to sell something without having a product as an example.

        Great post. It gets us all to rethink our own process.
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    • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
      Originally Posted by madison_avenue View Post

      There may be some diamonds in the lowers reaches of clickbank.
      Hey Madison.. how are you?

      There really is no "may be" about it... there definitely ARE diamonds in the lower reaches of CB, I hunt them every week to insert into my thing and profit.

      It works fantastically well... some of my strongest relationships with vendors have come from this. Start sending some big traffic to a vendor that is struggling and they will bend over backwards for you.

      Peace

      Jay
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      Bare Murkage.........

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      • Profile picture of the author Bjarne Eldhuset
        I had a little wow moment reading some of Rich Schefrens stuff yesterday, and this thread is about some of the same stuff that wowed me.

        In the report I read, Rich talks about productive time, and what he calls super productive time.

        I'm not going to repeat everything he wrote here, but to tie it in with this thread he would say that:

        Creating products is productive time
        - BUT -
        Creating systems that create products and creating systems that market products, THAT is super productive time.

        This incredibly simple concept, that I hadn't thought of, made me take a whole new look at my outsourcing process. I now want to seperate between one time projects and what are repeated processes.

        The things that I do that are repeated processes, I will write down exactly how to do, so that I can outsource a lot more than I do today. I'm actually going to set up a training area for the people I outsource to.
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        • Profile picture of the author Ken Preuss
          Originally Posted by Bjarne Eldhuset View Post

          Creating products is productive time
          - BUT -
          Creating systems that create products and creating systems that market products, THAT is super productive time.
          Brilliant.

          Yes indeed... once one understands and implements a proven process to generate results, it then becomes about creating systems that facilitate that process automatically.



          Ken
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          A Secret to Success: Making serious money online or offline is not complex unto itself - we're the ones who complicate it. Simply sell them what they are already buying.

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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    It really is a beautiful thing... you're right about that Ken.

    The REAL beauty in online marketing... is funneling eyes to an offer.. I really do get a buzz from it.

    Sometimes, n00b marketers can forget everything else, if they just get the process down, get the paradigm in their mind in place. They will go on to great things.

    Peace

    Jay
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    Bare Murkage.........

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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
    Im surprised we dont have a whole lot of people in here arguing that the process is just hype and sucks... And that you should make sure your product is truly great before you send out a few facts to sell it

    Our whole coaching program is centered around the P for process...

    its a hard job selling the Process P, much easier to sell the Product P and the prospecting P

    People seem to think they need traffic before they have a process for converting it, and they are the first to bitch about not making money from thier IM purchases.

    LEARN THE MARKETING PROCESS BEFORE YOU LEARN THE TRAFFIC PROCESS

    Robert
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