Internet Marketing Q&A - Issue 9
It’s time to answer another set of questions from my readers. You’re in that group, so you get the benefit of the great questions your peers ask me.
A lot of people wonder why I do this. There are really three big reasons…
First, I care about whether you succeed or not. Internet marketing really isn’t rocket science…once you know what you’re doing. Before you “get it”, though, it helps a ton to have somebody actually answer real questions that real people ask along the way.
Second, even after you’re an “expert”, it’s great to get new ideas from other people. You never know when an answer to a question will press just right button in your brain…and boost your profits.
Third, I get literally thousands of emails every week, and it’s impossible to answer them all. So I set up this system to help me manage email better, while still giving you the information you need.
So read on, and I hope you enjoy the learning.
In the past couple of years, people have been exposed to a large number of products about product creation. There are courses about it, seminars on the topic, and countless articles about various aspects of creating products.
I know I get literally hundreds of questions about product creation every time I launch a product of my own. Here are some recent questions I think will help you know the answers to.
1) It seems like I’ve been working on several products for the longest time. I can’t ever seem to get them done, and they all seem important. Any advice? (asked by Kelly Berkholz)
ANSWER: I know they all seem important, and they probably are, but the advice I’ll give you is exactly what I would tell anybody else who is creating products.
First, choose one product to focus on first. If they all seem like “the” product to you, just pick one! This will let you focus on one product instead of overworking your brain trying to think about more than one at a time.
Second, focus on that product until it’s done. I mean REALLY done. Working on something else will distract you, and you’ll stay in the “nothing’s finished” spot you’re in now.
Third, launch that product. Having a bunch of products done but just sitting there doesn’t do anything for you. Finish the product and launch it to start accomplishing your intended goal with it, whatever that goal is (selling it for a profit, building a list, etc.)
Fourth, keep your focus on that product until it’s solidly accomplishing your goal. Don’t just kick off the process and turn your back on it. Work on it until it’s working well for you.
THEN move on to the next product.
Why do it this way? Because nothing beats the power of focus. You have to focus to finish. Without finishing, you’ll never benefit from the product creation work you do.
2) I don’t have a problem creating products…but I can’t seem to launch them! They sit around doing nothing after I worked so hard on them. What should I do? (asked by Guy Won)
ANSWER: Okay, you’re following the first part of the advice I gave in the previous answer. Now keep going!
But I won’t leave you hanging. Here are some specific steps to take. It’s a simple launch procedure you can use for any product you already have:
* Pick one product to launch first. Just like I mentioned earlier, you have to choose. If you try to launch them all at once, you’ll go crazy, and it probably won’t work. You have to start somewhere.
* Write down a specific launch plan. This includes what your target market will be, the components your product will include, what your price point will be, your target launch date, and who you’ll contact to promote for you (and how you’ll find new people, if you don’t already have a network to dig into).
* Set a deadline when you MUST start your promotion plan. This will light a fire under you. You’ve done the hard part (creating the product), so decide you’re going to DO something with it now.
I don’t want to be too simplistic here, but that’s really all there is to it. Not launching your product probably means one of two things…
Either you’re scared to launch, which is very common for people without a lot of experience, or you haven’t really thought about the stuff in the second step I just gave you.
In particular, if fear is your problem, you need to break through it. Forcing yourself to take action and launch is one of the best strategies for breaking through.
A great place to start is with that marketing plan. There are what’s called the “5 P’s” of marketing:
* Product
* Place
* Price
* People (your market)
* Promotion
If you’re stuck on knowing what you have to think about, there’s your list. You need to know what you’ll sell, to whom, how, where and for what price. When you know all of that, all that’s left is executing your plan.
You’ll be surprised how energizing it is to get your product actually out there selling. You’ll want to do it again.
ANSWER: Heck no you haven’t wasted your time! Be proud you got your product done. Lots of people never finish. Here’s how to get people interested in it.
First, though, you need to remember that there are TWO groups of people you need to get interested in your product. The first group is potential buyers, and the second group is potential promotion partners. Both have to think your product is good enough to act on (meaning buying it or promoting it).
Now I’ll cheat a little bit and tell you how to get both groups interested by targeting only ONE of those groups first.
If you get potential promotion partners interested in your product, they’ll help you get potential buyers interested in it. That might mean they’ll suggest changes that will increase the perceived value of your product, or maybe they’ll suggest some sales copy changes. Then again, they may say your product is great already and simply get their lists excited about it.
So I suggest focusing on getting partners interested first. Here’s short cut for how to do it, especially if you don’t have a big name yet.
Partner with someone who has a bigger name than yours. Get them interested in working with you to make the product even better. You’ll have to entice them to do this, so make it worth their while by offering things like this:
* Give the person a cut of the profits when the product launches (this should be a given, and be generous)
* Offer to do most of the grunt work to get the product ready, if the other person will bring their marketing expertise and existing JV partners to the table
You don’t have to be famous to find people willing to work with you, because here’s a little secret…most people don’t want to create their own products, because it’s a lot of work. If you offer to do most of the work, a potential partner might jump at it.
Once you’ve identified your partner, knock yourself out to deliver on your part of the deal. Do a great job, ask questions, and learn as much as you can. Then you’ll not only have a partner for this product, but you’ll also have an enthusiastic contact for your next one.
ANSWER: This is a classic question. Here’s how to find JV partners when you don’t feel like you know anybody:
* Hang out in marketing forums and develop relationships. When you find a good prospect, send him a private message to introduce yourself and pitch your JV.
* Use JV networks to get your proposals in front of lots of people you don’t know…then do a great job with your partners so you’ll be able to get them on board much easier next time.
* Look at the email lists you already subscribe to. Do you really like the style of one of the marketers? If so, strike up a relationship with that person through email, or on their blog. This isn’t an overnight thing, but it’s worth the effort. You can certainly pitch a JV right away, but it’s usually better to develop some relationship first.
* Find contacts in sales letter testimonials. This works great. Sure, some of the really big names won’t give you the time of day, but some might if you make a good proposal that has a lot in it for them.
The bottom line for finding partners is really simple. You might not think you know anybody right now, but you almost certainly can develop contacts with lots of people in lots of different ways. That’s where relationships come from, and some of those product great JVs.
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All right, that wraps it up for this time.
If you like getting answers to questions like this, ask your own question! You can submit your question by filling out the simple form at:
http://www.michaelrasmussen.com/questions/
Every couple weeks or so, I’ll go through the questions and pick out 5-6 to answer in an email to people on my lists.
Your questions are what will make this email helpful, so please keep them coming. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer your question, but if the same question gets asked several times, I’ll try to answer that one. So don’t think, “Somebody’s probably asked that already.” Maybe so, but it’s worth asking anyway.
All the best,
Michael Rasmussen
CEO, BulletProof Marketing, Inc.
P.S. If you know any Internet marketers who would enjoy this article, just send them an email with this link:
http://www.michaelrasmussen.com/internet-marketing-qa-issue-8
About the Author
Michael Rasmussen is a successful Internet Marketing Consultant and author of many top-selling eBooks. Michael has been marketing online since the early days and he knows what it takes to make money and succeed online. Stop by his Web site and subscribe to his Free monthly newsletter full strategies and techniques for successful web site promotions that can help YOU! Go to http://www.MichaelRasmussen.com
Welcome to the Bulletproof Marketing Blog. In here, you'll find the kind of high quality content that most marketers would greedily charge hundreds of dollars for. These tips, tricks, and tactics are some of my best material, and I'm more than happy to give it to you for free.
From Beryl Morton
Michael, Thank you very much for your Q&A emails. I enjoy very much the information you include in these emails. It is very valuable for beginners like myself.
• Author's Site • February 19th, 2009
From Earth4Energy
Well you got me to comment… Good article.
• Author's Site • April 4th, 2009