When the East meets the West…
Mark Joyner, famous for his on-line successes, gets together with Gary Halbert, the world’s acclaimed best off-line copy writer alive. With the merging of both their marketing tactics, nothing short of an explosion is about to take place…
Gary and Mark will be speaking together at a marketing conference which starts on June 17th. Will it be the historic event these gentlement claim it will be? Time will tell. They do have some requirements in place to ensure the success of this gathering. For one, you are only welcome if you are a really enthousiastic person who’s ambition is to associate with real players. And if you are serious about having success.
Get a taste of what’s coming while you read this special report of…
Mark Joyner and Gary Halbert on
List Building
& Viral Marketing
A conference call hosted by Tellman Knudson
It’s nearly 05:00 AM of June 9th in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. I just got of the phone with three people that I know to be marketers - list builders, copy writers, viral magicians - and the odd 500 wannabee marketers: you and me. Were you on the call?
Below you will find my notes on the event which just took place. The call was hosted by Tellman Knudson and lasted almost one-and-a-half hour. During the first half I mostly heard Mark Joyner explaining his ideas about viral marketing and list building. And the second half Gary Halbert told us about how ad copy can assist you in what Mark calls “copy ration rate”.
Apart from this professional marketing stuff I learned that Mark likes tech gadgets and Gary still cannot upload to his website. Amazing things can happen when two so different types of people join forces to share their knowledge about what they love most…
The Definition of Viral Marketing
According to Mark Joyner viral marketing is best described as word of mouth marketing, where the message spreads from one person to the next.
The great advantage of viral marketing is that it bypasses all barriers you would normally have when you advertise directly to a person. Because you hear about this great product or service from somebody you like and trust and this will make you more inclined to actually check out what’s recommended.
Viral marketing can be compared to the way a biological virus reproduces itself. A biological virus gives out a strand of DNA/RNA, which attaches itself to a host cell. Then it will re-program the host cell to produce more virae. So it uses a host to reproduce itself.
With viral marketing the message could be compared the the DNA strand…
There are two types of viral marketing:
- passive ~ you don’t care how the message is spread
- active ~ you give a reason for spreading the word around (like receiving a gift if you tell a friend; or have the friend receive a gift etc.)
Both types of viral marketing have benefits and dangers. Mark was going to come back to that later on in the call, but unfortunately nobody remembered this…
The Definition of a List
Basically a list stands for a collection of contacts. There are several kinds of lists your can have:
- Postal addresses
The general concensus is that it is okay to send unsolicited mail to postal addresses. Probably because mailings are expensive. (Personally I feel strongly about applying spam regulations to postal mail as well. It’s a waste of paper and a nuisance…) - Phone numbers
It used to be okay to phone people without permission, but there are new rules about this now. - Fax numbers
Having a list of fax numbers was a cheap and efficient way of reaching new customers with your ad. “Fax spam” - not a very decent way to advertise as it’s actually costing the receiver valuable resources. - Email addresses
Well, everyone knows that you need permission to send emails over these lists. And if you don’t have permission, your list is meaningless. If you do send out unsolicited bulk email - a large volume of emails you have no permission to send out - you’re spamming and these days that can get you into severe trouble…
When it comes to lists, what you want is a targeted list that you have permission to mail and with whom you have a warm relationship. Targeted meaning: you offer something your lists wants to know about and the warm relationship meaning you have established trust and rapor.
— Side Bar —
Now that your brains are digging into these definitions, let me take a moment to point out that you have no obligation to remain on this list. The unsubscribe link is right at the bottom of this message!
So if you feel you are not targeted by hearing about viral marketing and list building, please accept my apologies as I thought anyone interested in Secret Weapons and ad testing, would like to learn about these items as well. To me they are related. Like I said: there is a link at the bottom…
As for our warm relationship - give it some time, okay? I can understand you’re not feeling close, warm and cosy in my written company yet. But hey! This is only my second mailing to you!
— end sidebar —
Viral Marketing Campaign Rules
Whenever you send out a mailing to a couple of hundred people, there’s a good chance at least one person will forward it. To increase this number, there are a couple of things you can do:
- Be Buzz Worthy
Whenever you mail out, make it either interesting, outstanding or timely - Give Motivation
Put the idea in someone’s mind that they can forward your message. Include a line at the bottom of your mail which states something like: “Feel free to distribute this message (special report, book or whatever) in any way you like as long as you leave it intact and include this line.”“Feel free to forward this message to friends who you think will appreciate it.” The word ‘appreciate’ will trigger something - people want to be appreciated…
Viral Examples
Napster - from the good old days - was the first to have a free music download service. This spread like wild fire as being able to get music for free was a totally new concept.
Nike currently runs a campaign where you can design a running shoe. This is being forwarded my many.
And there is this website www.superpower.com where you can learn about your own super power. They also have an option to inform your friends so not only will they learn about their super powers, but you will learn about theirs as well…
Copy Ration Rate
This is something Mark has been working on. A copy ration rate is a number which tells you about the success of a campaign. It shows the relationship between the number of people you mail and how virally they spread your message over a given period of time.
If for example a campaign is rated with 0.5 it means that over 10 days a 100 people will bring in 50 new people.
Any time you can get over 1.0, the copy ration rate becomes more and more significant. Depending on the size of your initial mailinglist, you can get massive results.
If you’re really serious about becoming successful with your campaigns, it’s these kind of nitty-gritty stuff you have to get into. Calculate, tweak, improve. Very much like how you’d use the Secret Weapon.
The MOST important principle…
Give someone a reason to pass your message on!
This is no marketing bull-shit or hype. If you truly understand at the core of your being what the motivation is for someone to pass your message on, you will have a winner.
Why would Tellman be inclined to tell others about some service or product?
- it saves them time
- it saves them money
- but most importantly, it solves a problem
Mark adds to this that if you give someone something for free, you will be appreciated. And people want to feel appreciated. It’s a selfish motivation, but there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just who we are. People pass info on, because they like to be thanked about the forward.
This is not just a theory. For Mark it worked to build huge lists: give something others will appreciate!
— Side Bar —
And in this very honest moment of self-reflection, I realise that I’m staying up all night to listen to this call and work it all out for you, because I too want to feel appreciated for my efforts. Are you appreciating this?!
— end side bar —
Practical Advice
First of all, from today on add that one line to the bottom of every email you send out: “feel free to pass this email on to anyone you think will appreciate it”.
Secondly take a close look at the mailings you’ve been sending out. Are you numbing your audience? People will get used to the same style over and over again. You might want to try being so different each time you write, that your list keeps wondering what you will be up to next.
Warning!! — If what you do personally is working for you, be careful with this advice. Experts are dangerous.
So dangerous at times, they should be shot…
So do something that makes people curious!
MJ exploiting ugly children…
www.markjoyner.name
Gary has an example too. Recently a great internet marketer, Corey Rudl, died in a car accident. It’s a sad example, but the message of his death spread within a week to hundreds of thousands of people.
Mark asks if we could also find postive, happy and intruiging things to spread round?
Possibly. But the main thing is: if you have a message of interest, it will spread like wild fire.
Ad Copy & List Building
How does ad copy relate to list building?
According to Gary you should use all of the techniques Mark just talked about. But you should also look at off-line marketing and see how rules for this can apply to the internet.
As an example he tells about how he’s currently engaged in writing full page newspaper ads, that don’t ask anyone to buy anything. It’s just content - lots of interesting little things people like to know. At the bottom of the page an address is given where readers can go if they would like more.
Find a Starving Crowd
Your goal as a marketer is to find a starving crowd and communicate to them that you have a product or service to cure their starvation.
Take for example knitting. Imagine someone came along and wrote a full page about knitting and where to get 90% discount on knitting machines. How many people who listened in on the call this would be interested in this?
They are unlikely to even begin reading the ad…
Another example. Imagine some guy whom’s wife is pregnant and about to give birth. He has to be away for a couple of days and while he’s gone, his wife gives birth to triplets. And you are the one to tell him the news.
You really don’t have to make an effort to get his attention. You could be speaking pidgeon English. Sign language even. This guy wants to know about his wife!
Ad Copy is ONLY important to anyone who has the desire to want to know!
Therefore a targeted list is the single most important thing you can get.
It is not so much the technique of viral marketing which creates lists. What you have to say must be genuinely interesting!
Viral Headlines
Here’s a google adwords example of a badly written headline:
Home Busines Opportunity
Make thousands from your computer
in your spare time. Low upfront costs.
You should add sphere and showmanship to you advertising!
A better headline would have been…
Half dead Cuban washes ashore
with little known secret that could triple
the income of average American citizens.
— Now where did I hear that one before…?!? —
Gary has a friend who wanted to add a perfume to her cosmetics line and have a perfume launch. And she liked the launch to take place in Candy Spelling’s Boutique, which can hold about 150 people. Gary was going to do the advertisement.
So he told her to better rent the Central Plaza Hotel, which is probably the largest hotel in Los Angeles. And then he ran the following ad:
Wife of famous movie star swears under
oath that her new perfume does not
contain some secret sexual stimula.
The rest of the end told about how people could get a free sample of this new perfume to prove this ‘famous movie star’ was telling the truth. Which resulted in 7000 people jamming the Plaza Hotel and a hungry crowd still waiting outside. Needless to say the launch was a huge success.
A headline sums up what you have to offer. The first thing that you say, has to really grip people. When Gary has the headline, he knows if the ad is going to work or not.
What is Your Focus?
About 10 years ago Gary stopped counting unsolicited testimonials for his newsletter. He came to the conclusion that if his information is so valuable, he shouldn’t charge for it, but just give it away. He then received letters from people who couldn’t believe there are no sales pitches on his website. Just content.
Now people solicit Gary about if he doesn’t have any products he can sell them…
Free website reveals 17 of the fastest
cash producing secrets of the world.
www.garyhalbertletter.com
Gary’s main message is that you should stop concentrating on how to make a buck. Instead, concentrate on how to help others and the money will flow in. One way is to make your advertisements valuable by themselves without having to buy anything.
Why People Don’t Buy
There are three reasons why people don’t buy:
- they don’t want it
- they cannot afford it
- they don’t believer or trust you
A new kind of marketers was attracted by the internet: the kind which thinks they can get rich from hiding behind their kitchen table.
As a matter of fact, your responses will increase if you add your address and telephone number to your site and your emails. Many people think internet marketers hide behind seventeen different identities. But they want the feeling that they can reach you. This will make you believable.
Though 99% will not ever call you, you’re planting a seed of trustability.
Because…
Because is the most important word in advertising. If you want to be a good copy writer, do the following exercise:
Write a letter today with the intent to capture attention and do no use superlatives (like awesome, amazing, insane etc.)
The power of Content dwarfes the power of superlatives!
Mark adds to this that the exercise of getting into details fires certain parts of the brain and enhances a feeling of excitement.
Take Action!
Mark once conducted a seminar where he tested his audience in the following manner. He asked everyone who ever heard of Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich” to stand up. Then he asked everyone who read it to remain standing. It was an almost full audience standing.
He then asked for everyone who believed that applying Hill’s information precisely would have him become rich beyond his wildest dreams, to remain standing. Hardly anyone sat down. So, how many people remained on their feet after he asked about a formula Hill suggests to memorize. The question being ‘who believes they can cite the formula from page x on stage?’.
Everyone sat down…
The point is that we are bull-shitting ourselves all the time. This information doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t do something about it. So you to: make that change to your newsletters which Mark suggested!
Here’s to winning the marketing wars!
Patricia Ritsema van Eck