Magic Bullet Marketing Blog

It still amazes me that people contact with the problem, “I can’t figure
out what information product to create”.

Shesh!

As a reader of this Blog I have already shared with you some innovative
ways of finding new products without ripping off (aka. Borrowing) from other
Internet Marketers.

Before I show you a new method you should know that some of the brightest
Internet Marketing minds have been doing this for YEARS.

In fact, if you read Marlon Sanders “The Red Factor” or “Secrets
of a Ninja Marketer” you would not only have seen him doing exactly what
I am about to share, but he tells you exactly what he did.

Yes, he tells you.

OK, here’s the technique.

Short version, “DUMB IT DOWN”.

Longer version, find an ivory tower nerd’s book, thesis, whitepaper on a niche
topic and make it easy for dumbo’s like me to understand.

Marlon did it with the work of Michael Porter and Clayton Christensen. No,
I am not going to steal his thunder by revealing his ideas. You can go read
his excellent products to see how he did it.

Now before I get another email complaining, “But Michael I can’t find these
book, thesis, whitepapers”… let me give you some URLs to work with (a starting
point).

http://dissertation.com
http://www.universal-publishers.com
http://www.brownwalker.com
http://cambriapress.com/

Now go create some awesome products and let me know about them.

Later, Michael.

p.s. leave me a comment underneath if you want to meet at Frank Kern’s “Mass
Control” event this weekend.

The team and I sign-up for almost every marketing email list we can find.

Why?

Well besides keeping an eye on the competition, it also allows us to improve our business by learning.

Yes, we read and buy a lot of Internet Products.

Today we spent about an hour discussing one particular big launch.

Like any “mastermind group”, our conversations are part philosophical, part scientific, part motivational, part rant… OK, so you get the idea.

In particular one of the launch emails caught our eye.

Not because it was good but it was BAD.

Instead of dismissing it, we analyzed what we disliked about it.

Here is a summary of our findings.

- The email subject line was factual (no benefit).

- The email copy was hype.

- There was no engaging story to read.

- The case study was tedious.

An example of, “Toxic Marketing Syndrome”.

Basically, if your marketing is a “snoozefest” you won’t get people to read about your product and hence fewer if any sales.

The solution is;

- Tell a great story

- Weave in benefits with real-life examples

- Keep the reader and potential buyer guessing

- Use video, lots of photos (before and after examples)

- Be different!

Now, maybe next time I should record our conversation – it can be an education all by itself!

Later, Michael.

Need an idea for a new product?

As an alternative to hanging out at ClickBank
Marketplace (link) why not spend some time where “nerds” hang out?

Most of these guys and gals have ZERO marketing knowledge and frankly when
they have a good marketing idea they tell EVERYONE.

A few good places to troll for software, ebook and training ideas include,

http://www.phpclasses.org

http://www.hotscripts.com/

http://code.google.com/soc/2008/

http://sourceforge.net/
– look under ” Browse Software” for ideas.

Another great place for finding ideas are online forums with a “twist”.

Here is my twist.

1. Register as a member (free).

2. Search for terms like, “How”, “Where”

The results will spawn many great ideas.

Often the replies give an indication of broad interest.

Last idea.

Sifting through “Press Releases”.

http://www.prnewswire.com/

They have a convinient search box on the home page and you can quickly find
out the “buzz” in any industry.

- Michael.

Making fancy videos requires a few bits of equipment.

Recently I needed something to add to my collection of ‘gizmos’ and took along a friend on my gizmo shopping spree.

“Watch this!”, I said.

I picked out the item I wanted.

Snagging the attention an elusive sales clerk was probably the hardest part.

As we approached the register (friend in tow) I asked casually,

“Do you offer a discount?”

There was a slight pause in his step. I winked at my friend.

“Actually, yes we do. Let me see what I can do” , he replied.

A few minutes later, ‘gizmo’ in hand, my friend who was initially horrified at my behavior laughed.

“I haven’t seen that done before”, she said.

Memorize those 5 words. Try them. The worst thing they can say is, “No”.

Don’t believe me, then check this article out from the New York Times. (link)

- Michael.

p.s. For the record the item was a “popper blocker” (link) — I got it at 25% off retail!

I wanted to share with you something you can instantly use to help increase the effectiveness of your website.

Here it is…

Facts don’t make sales.

Emotion do!

Facts make me sleepy.

Emotions grab my interest.

Basic human behavior.

And the best copywriting method to “shift” a prospect from mild boredom to excitement is to use “curiosity”.

See what “The Last Protege Student Of Gary Halbert” said about this on the thegaryhalbertletter.com blog.

In particular, “Marketing Secret #4″ aka. “The Marketers Jedi Mind Trick!”

The Last Protege (link)

- Michael