Donna Knight’s Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews

How important is “marketing”? You’ve seen the letters, the emails, and the products: courses, books, ebooks and teleseminars showing you how important ‘marketing’ is.

You and I have tools through the Internet right now that direct mail marketers just a few years ago would give their eye teeth for. These are incredible time savers and money-makers and they will allow you to generate tons of profits if you see the opportunity in front of you.

The question is, “Is it ‘marketing’ that REALLY makes the difference in your business? Is the hype of ‘marketing’ REAL? How important is marketing to your business REALLY? Is it all a game and hype? Or is there more to it?”

The answer is in your MIND. It’s your MINDSET, once again, that makes all the difference. It’s the way you look at things that will make the biggest difference in your life and your business.

People who run successful cash-cow businesses think different than you do. They look at business opportunities in a different way than you do. They look at risk differently.

They SEE OPPORTUNITY everywhere and take action to go after more business at every turn and every chance they get.

They SEE RISK in every transaction but insure themselves against catastrophic loss by not investing large amounts of capital until they test and tweak their products and offers until the numbers are extremely promising.

You may have learned something about business in the past that was NOT true, but you accepted it because you didn’t know the REAL truth.

The problem is that most people are not open to the truth when they have an existing belief that contradicts what they are hearing.

You need to open you mind here and suspend belief about what ‘business’ all about for the next few minutes.

A lot of online business newbies say “I don’t know what kind of business to start!”

So if you ask them about their hobbies, what interests them, etc. and you’ll ALWAYS find something they could start marketing immediately, but they hesitate because they are not sure they want to be “in” that type of business.

They don’t know if they should open a physical store or a website or whatever…they are uncertain as to what course of action to take.

They are trying to choose a business to be “in”… whether it’s the ‘mortgage reduction’ business or the ‘gift shop’ business or the ‘auto parts’ business and this is the wrong mindset…

…100% wrong, that is, if you want to be successful, as you’ll see.

Back to our question: “How Important Is Marketing…Really?”

First answer this question:

Are you “in” the “information marketing business”? Or the “web business”? How about the “mortgage reduction business”?

Are you really “in” any kind of business at all?

Bear with me here…I have a point that could explode your income to brand new levels.

You’re in not in the “information publishing business”, you are not in the “mortgage reduction business” or the “coaching business” or whatever business you think you’re in.

You’re in the “marketing business”.

Your only business is “marketing _______________”
(fill in the blank withy what YOU think your real “business” is).

THINK about this for a moment. You can start any business you chose, but what is your REAL job in that business?

Here’s a very important point that will become even clearer as we get to the end of this report:

I started to make money consistently when I changed the way I looked at my business and exploded my income when I said to myself:

“I am not in the “website building” business; I’m in the “business of marketing website businesses”.

There is more to this than you think… so please stay with me.

Let me give you some examples of how this mindset can TRANSFORM your business overnight!
If you are an owner of a store that sells auto parts, are you in the “auto parts business”?

No.

You’re in “the business of marketing auto parts”.

See the difference?

The the point I’m making here is that ‘marketing’ is YOUR BUSINESS and your first priority. What you actually sell is secondary. And I don’t want you to think that just because you own a physical store that sells, for example, “gift items” that you are stuck with that method of marketing.

A ‘physical store’ is just one method of marketing ‘gift items’… that’s all it is. Just like a ‘website’- it’s only one form of marketing.

Don’t confuse a ‘method of marketing’ with what your REAL business is.

With a physical store, if you get a good location you are able therefore to get your prospects attention for your products simply because they are riding in their cars past your store and see the sign you’ve placed out front.

Your location and physical storefront is a form of marketing- it is NOT your business. You are not an owner of a ’store’.

But don’t get stuck thinking a ’storefront’ is the only way to market your products (the “sign” and your storefront is a form of marketing – the marketing of your ‘gift items’, and to be honest, not a very good one because it’s passive …

Think in terms of more pro-active forms of marketing like referrals, direct mail, press releases, coupons, display or classified ads and any other method that will bring business to your door…

In other words you are NOT REALLY marketing your “STORE” – because your store makes you no money…!

Right? It’s the SALE of GIFT ITEMS that makes you money.

So you do not want to market your store. Because your store makes you no money. In fact it’s an expense. Your REAL business is the “marketing of gift items” You just use a physical storefront to HELP you market gift items.

It’s a completely different mindset than saying that your in the “gift store business”.
Are you beginning to see this? We’re not done yet…

How many ads have you seen in your local paper that try to market the ’store’ the person owns. I guess it’s pride of ownership that causes these shops to advertise the shop, instead of the gift items and the benefits of the products they carry.

Believe me, very, very, few store owners understand this difference and the mindset I’m sharing with you!

Let me ask you what would happen if you did not put a sign out or any kind of markings to indicate you had anything for sale at all in front of your store if you owned this gift shop?

Nothing would happen, right? People would not stop at your store to buy anything because they didn’t even know you were there or didn’t think you were selling anything at all!

So you see that a “sign” in the front of your store is a form of marketing, right? Is the sign there to advertise your store?

No. It’s job is to DRIVE potential customers into your store TO BUY gift items.

As odd as this sounds, what is the most prevalent form of marketing storeowners participate in?

A sign. And maybe a few local newspaper ‘ads’… that’s it. Is it any wonder then why they can’t make a go of it?

So the marketing for most stores is a simple ’sign’ out in front of your store that gives your name and maybe something that describes your store like “Gift Shop”.

Ok?

Now people at least know what you do and that you’re a business. No sign, no customers.

Are you going to leave your entire businesses future dependent on that one ’sign’ in the front of your business or a few ads in your local paper?

Sadly, most businesses do.

They could be using a hundred different methods to DRIVE potential customers to their front door (direct mail, postcards, events and contests, sponsorships, drawings, JV’s, open houses, etc) but they don’t because they do not understand this important thing:

They are not in the gift shop business they are in the “business of marketing gift items”!

When you realize what your REAL business is you begin to see thousands of possibilities for getting more customers.

You use anything and everything at your disposal, test every method and keep the one’s that work constantly.

That’s how successful business people THINK: They see OPPORTUNITY EVERYWHERE! And it kills them that they will never have the time or money to take advantage of every opportunity they see because there’re are simply too many of them!

Do you think that way? You need to if you want to grow your business.

When you don’t realize what business you’re really in, you get stuck and confused because you think you are in the “Gift Shop Business” – a DEAD END – then you try to figure out how to market your ’shop’. But that is WRONG. That’s the complete opposite of what really, really successful businesses do!

A successful person will turn the phrase “I am in the Gift Shop Business” into “I am in the business of marketing gift items” and suddenly completely turn their business around, overnight!

Once a business owner realizes they are in the business of marketing they can develop a “direct mail” division or a “infomercial” division or an “Internet” division … anything that will drive customers to do business with them. These opportunities become INSTANTLY available because they realize this FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH:

They are in the “business of marketing gift items”… and not the ‘gift shop business’.
See the difference now?

The illustration I gave you above is EXACTLY the same type of thinking that you need to employ and it doesn’t matter what you’re marketing.

You are not in the ‘mortgage reduction business’, you are in the business of ‘marketing business reduction solutions’ …

How about this:

…your website is NOT YOUR BUSINESS. IT ONLY a convenient PLACE to drive your potential customers. Your REAL business is the marketing of ‘digital information products’ or whatever it is you sell on your website.

It’s the same for anyone who has a physical storefront – once you get into this MINDSET, the storefront is JUST and ONLY a convenient PLACE to drive your customers to.

You could also take orders…

· by PHONE through running infomercials or ads, or
· on your website or
· through a direct mail package or
· catalog
· etc, etc, etc…

I have seen businesses literally TRANSFORMED overnight into million dollar businesses when they realized what business they are REALLY in …

…”the business of marketing”.

This has been the catalyst for a transformation in my own business.

In the past I’ve sold various types of internet marketing services and I thought I was in the business of ‘internet marketing’ or the business of I wasn’t. I was in the “business of marketing internet marketing services” and it doesn’t matter HOW – website, infomercial or direct mail, storefront, etc…

I hope this concept helps you too. I hope it helps you to understand that the only thing that matters in business is marketing and sales.

I cannot tell you what you should sell… I don’t think it matters as long as there is a strong market for it. You could be in the business of marketing wiper blades for cars or marketing a diet pill.

As long as you are convinced the product is a good one and it will benefit the person you’re selling it to there is NOTHING stopping you from making a million dollars except YOU.

You are the only thing keeping you back. There isn’t anyone on this planet that can stop you if you follow the laws of your country.

Most businesses fail because the owner has given up too soon, just before striking GOLD. Or more likely it’s because the owner didn’t know what business they were really in– the marketing business. They thought the product was the most important part of their business and if the product was good, it would sell itself.

Don’t let that happen to you. Know what business you’re in (’the marketing business’) and think like a master marketer at all times or at the very least hire a master marketer.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably interested in selling digital products on the web.
And, not just a few digital products, but a lot of them.

What can you sell?

1. eBooks
2. Reports
3. Manuals
4. Audio products
5. Video products
6. Images/graphics
7. Public domain works
8. Website Scripts
9. Software
9. Services, such as web design and web hosting
10. And much, much more…

One question people have is “Is the marketing of digital goods any different than the marketing of physical goods?”

Here’s the truth. The professional methods of marketing never change. It’s the mechanics of marketing, the medium of the message that can change:

• Instead of billboards, it’s banner or text ads
• Letters sent through the post are now emailed
• Web sites replace brochures and full-color catalogues
• Live chat with customer service representatives enhance or even replace 800 numbers,
• etc.

Eugene (Gene) M. Schwartz, the copywriter that helped Marty Edelson launch the hugely successful publishing company, Boardroom Reports, said marketing is like playing the stock market or being an atomic scientist.

Marketing, speculation and science are all alike–they all deal with immense natural forces, thousands of times more powerful than the people who use them.

In science, the forces are the fundamental energies of the universe. In speculation, the forces are the billion-dollar tides and currents of the market place.

In marketing, the forces are the hopes, fears and desires of millions upon millions of men and women, all over the world. The men who use these forces did not create them; they can’t turn them or shut them down; neither can they diminish them or add to them in any way. All they can do is harness them!

So what works? How can you and I harness this immense power?

Here’s Gene’s answer:

Innovation: Continuous, repeated innovation

A steady stream of new ideas–fresh new solutions to new problems. Created above all not by the impossible route of memory – but by analysis. And what is analysis? As Gene says, “It’s a series of measuring rods, checkpoints, benchmarks and signposts that show you where a particular force is going, and enable you to get there first”.

So how do we innovate or be creative in the process of selling digital goods?

Digital goods, just like other types of products, do not sell themselves. It takes people with skill and knowledge to sell them. That’s why most professional copywriters are more prosperous than your typical “writer”.

The US Department of Labor reports that writers (as an occupation) earn an average of $7,500 per year. Most writers are not able to earn a living from writing alone. But, here’s where most get it wrong.

Even famous published authors will find it difficult to make a living with a single book.

The first question an author is asked upon signing a contract for a first book is, “What else do you have?”

The publisher knows that ‘one book’ authors will never be able to sell enough copies of their first book to make any real money for them or the author. It takes several books, within the same genre, to build the author’s presence in the marketplace.

In other words, it takes constant innovation of new products and ideas.
You should ask yourself, “What else do can I do?”.

“What else can I do” should be your mantra as a developer/entrepreneur of digital products online.

There are some writers who hit it big with a single book, but that’s very unusual and so rare that it’s impossible to find more than a few examples.

From a marketers point of view, the only job of that first book you write is to get your readers to buy your second book, and the only job of the second book is to keep the reader hooked enough on your writing to buy your third book, and on and on & because that’s where the money is – in other words, constant innovation.

The question then is, “How do I, as an digital goods marketer, stand apart from the rest or innovate?”

In order to determine if your innovations will be accepted into the marketplace online you have to ask yourself how you products will be perceived in the marketplace.

In other words, what are “… the forces are the hopes, fears and desires of millions upon millions of men and women, all over the world” …and how will your prospect perceive your product?

For example, what would be your customers first reaction to hearing about your new product?

“Don’t need to know- no time – not interested enough to care“; (customer response: “I’ll pass”)

“Nice to know – looks interesting, but… “; (customer response: “ho hum”, *insert yawn here*)

“This looks great – just what I’ve been looking for!” (customer response: “Where do I pay?”)

When I’m looking for information, these are things I consider.

If you want people to buy or download your digital product you have to answer the critical question your target audience is asking,

“Do I really need this info? Is it exactly what I’m looking for?”

…their response will fall into category 1, 2 or 3 mentioned above.

If it’s in category 1 or 2, chances are you need to re-think your e-book’s title or the headline and/or ad for your digital product. You need to determine the products “appeal”, its’ primary benefit to the reader and make that clear to your reader.

This is where Gene Schwartz’s idea of marketing as ‘innovation and analysis’ is so important.

If you’re selling a report or ebook or even a software program online you may need to test several titles in subtle ways to your target audience before you find one that works well.

How To Find the Perfect Title (That Will Sell) For Your Infoproduct

One way to do that is by writing an article about your upcoming book (what it’s about, etc.) and put the proposed titles as a link to your article.

Put the title on your home page. Rotate and change the title once a week and try several different titles. See which one gets the most click-throughs to your article by using a counter on your page with the article or by ‘coding’ the link.

For example:

One title for your article might be:

“How To Kick Your Competitors Butt and Generate 1,000% More Sales On Your Website Now”

Your link to your article link would look like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/article1.html?kick_butt

When someone clicks on the link it registers a ‘hit’ in your server logs.

The REAL URL for the article is everything before the “?”- your ‘code’ is “kick_butt”.

Everything after the question mark “?” will not affect the visitor clicking on the link to get to your article. Count the number of hits you get for each title. Just be sure to change the code to correspond with your titles every time you make a change!

Then you write another article with a different headline to test, but on the same topic.

Now, on your ‘article’ page on your website you’ll have 5-8 articles with different headlines to test and different article content. Announce the article to your email list and you can even setup a PPC campaign to send targeted traffic to your article page (just don’t pay too much J.

Use this technique to determine which headline interests your readers more (you’ll get more clicks on that headline) THEN develop your products from that test using the headline in the article as the title for your book!

If one performs better than all the others, then you have a successful title. And as we all know, a good title sells books.

If you want something more sophisticated than what’s available for checking page stats through your we host, there are a dozen ‘trackers’ available online for your web pages.

The one I use is called Web Analiser Pro available from http://web-script.com. It allows you to track unlimited pages and unlimited domains and has great reporting features. In fact it’s the only script I could buy that allows you to track unlimited domains. This is not a service, but a script you load on your web server so instead of paying a monthly fee you pay once and the script is yours.

In other words, this method of selecting titles for your information products is Gene Schwartz’s idea used in a practical application. He said that innovation is a “… series of measuring rods, checkpoints, benchmarks and signposts that show you where a particular force is going, and enable you to get there first”.

By having several titles of articles of a similar nature on your site, and sending traffic to this page, the force of the market (your visitors) will make the choice for your title for you… it’s a signpost showing you where the market is going. The winning title is the one the majority of them click on, and the market is never wrong.

Use that force and power to your advantage.