Success in Internet Marketing: It’s As Easy As Jumping Out of an Airplane

Can you recall the first time you were in a car or on a motorcycle that was moving so fast that it made you anxious? How did you feel getting on a steep, twisting roller coaster or other thrill ride? Was it fear you felt before your first bungee or parachute jump? You hoped it would all go all right but you weren’t certain it would…remember? But when it was over, you couldn’t wait to do it all over again, right?

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Failure to Jump

It’s estimated that 97% of people who get into Internet marketing fail to make any money at it. That’s astounding to me but I understand why it is.
There are plenty of things a person who has started a business could do and, in my experience, they will naturally gravitate toward the tasks that they understand and feel they have the best chance of obtaining a result with. I am talking about things like setting up a blog or designing a logo or a business card.
All those things are fine and will be needed at some point but, especially in the beginning, they won’t move a new business ahead in any meaningful way.
I compare this approach to people who are too frightened to jump or the ones who are hanging around the amusement park doing everything but getting onto a ride.
The actions that will move your Internet marketing business forward are usually completely strange and new for most people. They don’t understand them. They don’t know if they will get it right. So, they procrastinate and find other things to keep them busy. They never jump.

It’s Not a Business Until…

Just like you can’t have a college without teachers or a party without guests, you can’t have a business without customers.
I may be wrong about peoples’ fear of the unknown. Perhaps they’re not afraid but rather not aware of which actions are the most important ones to take. They don’t realize that not all actions are of equal value.
The primary concern of any person starting up in Internet Marketing should be to obtain their first customers, make sales and get the money coming in.
So, the blogs and business cards can wait. The various apps or plug-ins that seem so urgent to get, install, and use—it can all wait. All energies should be directed into activities that will drive traffic to your offers and provide leads that you can turn into customers.

A High-Converting Offer

For someone who chooses to be an affiliate marketer, selling someone else’s products, the simplicity is that you need to find a high-converting offer and drive traffic to it.
What is a high-converting offer? It’s not the product itself. It’s information about the product that’s both informative and persuasive enough to cause someone to take an action, such as to give you their email address or even buy the product straight off. It’s effective at increasing interest in the product. It converts readers into sales leads and customers.
When I say “information,” I mean the written or video content on a landing page that tells you about the offer. Five (or even five hundred) people could market the same product, using their own offer, and each will convert differently. A great, valuable, and desirable product marketed with a poorly conceived sales pitch will not be high converting.
At MOBE, we’ve tested and re-tested our offers until we’ve isolated the ones that have the highest possible conversion rate.
Once you identify a high-converting offer, all you’ve got to do is place ads to promote the product and drive traffic to the offer (product landing page). This is not news; you’ve likely heard me talk about this numerous times before. The more people you can get in front of the offer via your promotion, the more leads and sales you will make.

The Right People

There are some advertising people who will tell you that if the offer is good, you just need to get in front of people. But I have not found that to be true. If you’ve got a great offer on yarn and knitting needles, it doesn’t matter how many teenage boys or truck drivers see it—it’s not going to convert them.
So, it’s a matter of getting your offer in front of an audience that’s interested—mildly, moderately, or extremely—in your type of offer.
If you’re promoting a home business opportunity, you would want to get your offer in front of people who are looking for extra income opportunities or their own business. With a little Googling, you can figure out what websites, blogs, and forums those kinds of people spend time on. You can figure out who the home business gurus are. You can identify which print publications this crowd might subscribe to. Those are the sorts of places you’d want to place ads for your offer.
Then it’s just a matter of choosing one traffic method (type of ad) and working with it until you get a result.
Will everyone who sees the ad click on it or contact you? Probably not, but within the community of people who frequent such sites and publications, you will have a larger percentage of response than you would just reaching out to a general audience.

Final Thoughts

People who are new to online marketing definitely need to spend some time learning things. But don’t get caught up in the cycle of endless learning at the expense of doing things that
will actually move your business into business.
Try using a 1-to-4 ratio: one hour learning, four hours doing. For instance, spend one hour learning about a particular traffic method and then apply what you learned for four hours. Create the ad and place it.

What you will find is those four hours of doing are where the real learning occurs. You will also make real progress that way. That progress will lead to success.

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All Things Are Possible, 

Susan Tuck 

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Survival Strategies for Cash-Strapped Online Entrepreneurs

 

Survival Strategies for Cash-Strapped Online Entrepreneurs

When you’re first getting started with an online business, there’s a lot to manage. Even if you simplify things by putting your efforts behind a proven business model, there’s still a learning curve, and budgeting for advertising can be tricky.  In fact, people often ask me how they’re supposed to find the money to advertise when they don’t have a job, or they quit their job in order to focus on their business full-time.

Jumping Right In

The approach you take to funding your advertising campaigns will really depend on how much risk you’re willing to accept and what you’re willing to do in order to focus on your business full-time. In other words, what kind of sacrifices are you prepared to make?
In my case, for example, I assumed more risk than most people would probably be comfortable with. Back in 2009, when I was less than a year into the business, I quit all of the odd side jobs I had because I wanted to focus exclusively on growing my business.
I even went beyond quitting my jobs. At the time, I was a university student, so I received a monthly payment from the government that was earmarked for students, who generally don’t have a lot of money.
Even though I qualified to receive that money, I opted-out of it because I wanted to remove any and all safety nets from my life. The whole idea was to put myself in such a stark situation that only the success of my business could lift me out of it.
That’s what worked for me; burning all bridges so I had no choice but to succeed.
Now, I realize, of course, that for most people’s situations, this approach may not be advisable. But if you want to focus on your business exclusively, you’re going to have to hustle a bit.
In my case, hustling meant looking around and selling anything I didn’t need anymore; an old laptop, an old bicycle—pretty much anything of value that I no longer had a use for. I’d sell it and immediately invest the cash in my business. Sometimes I’d even borrow the money (mostly via credit cards); but, for the most part, I hustled for it.
Now, occasionally, I did have to put my advertising on hold because I couldn’t afford it. But even during those times, I continued promoting my business with time-consuming free traffic strategies. I’d just do them until some money came in, and then I’d go right back to paying for traffic. (I always recognized paid traffic as the best way to grow my business; it’s much faster and much more scalable.)
So, that’s the one answer to the question of how to find money to advertise: hustle. Creating money out of thin air is just one of those skills that every entrepreneur needs to develop. There’s no substitute for resourcefulness.

Wading into Your Comfort Zone

If you want to be a little more conservative in your approach, another option is to have a part-time job on the side while building your business. For some people, this is the only way to pay the bills while getting up and running. And that’s fine. Just be careful not to get too comfortable relying on your part-time income. Your mindset needs to be: This is not a hobby; I’m 100 percent devoted to growing my business and leaving my job behind.
If you are going to have a part-time job, you should limit it to a few hours a day. Do good work, but treat it like what it is: a short-term side venture. The rest of your time should be focused on growing your business as much as you can.
Also, if you do go the part-time job route, try to find a job that aligns with your own business goals. For example, in my early twenties, I took a telemarketing job that was 100 percent commission-based.
The reason I took that job was because I knew it would make me stronger in terms of dealing with rejection—and it would force me to learn how to sell very quickly because if I didn’t sell, I didn’t get paid.
Looking back, I can see how that job really helped me. I only did it for about three months, but it taught me to sell. And the skills were directly transferable to my own business. Keep this in mind if you decide you need a part-time job to fund your operation.
It’s never easy getting a business off the ground. Money will always be tight when you’re starting out. But if you hustle, train yourself to be resourceful and keep distractions—including any part-time jobs—to a minimum, you’ll persevere and eventually become successful.  Matt Lloyd

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Remember, All Things Are Possible,
Susan Tuck 

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The Strategy That Will Keep You Motivated in Your Business

If you’re searching the web for any articles that contain The Golden New Business Motivational Strategy, let me save you some time—stop surfing. It doesn’t exist. If you’re attending seminars or webinars or reading books or taking an e-course with hopes that you’ll finally encounter the Great External Source of Entrepreneur Accountability, then you’re wasting your time and money.  Watch Matt Lloyd answer this question below..click the picture

 

No One Else’s Path

As an employee, the path to success is laid out: show up, do a good job and get paid. Perform better then get paid more; well, at least one would hope. Doing this regularly will give you long term engagement. Everything is predictable, which leaves little to chance.
For the entrepreneur, the case is very different, as one would need to carve his or her own trail. Chance is essential on how things play out for you to achieve greater financial success.
The need for constant reassurance is, sometimes inevitable when just starting out. I’ve also experienced such issues when I started my business. It’s only normal.
The path to your own successful venture can involve many unknowns, surprises and even mistakes. No matter now difficult things seem to be, just remember to enjoy the journey.

The Big Shift

Eventually, after seeing many others succeed, you may come to the realization that if you are going to be successful, you need to start now.
You’ll feel the big shift the moment you stop waiting for someone else to determine your actions. There’s a pang of motivation which signals your readiness to face whatever it takes to build your business. You understand all the risks and know you are the only one who can initiate that change.
And you just start.

Identify Your Reason

I often find many people who want to start their own business, but can’t simply identify why.
It’s going to be pretty hard to get your new venture started if you don’t have a strong reason for doing it. Your reason equals motivation.
Could you be doing it for your family? Do you want to spend more time with your children as they grow? To be able to put them through college?
If your goal is just to have more money because you want to get out of debt, you may understandably find yourself less motivated.
I had a burning desire for more freedom. I did not want to be restricted in an office with a predictable schedule. I wanted to travel the world and I did not want to have to answer to anyone else for my whereabouts, my choices or my time off.
I didn’t come from a wealthy family, but I wanted to live a more comfortable lifestyle. I wanted to have enough money so that I’d never have to check the right-hand column of the menu before I order. I work harder in my own business than I ever would have for someone else. I wanted to have enough money so I can work as I please, without ever worrying I’ll go bankrupt.
I wanted all of this so bad, that I would struggle quite a bit until I achieved it.
So, ask yourself, “Why am I doing this in the first place?” Come up with the strongest answer you can. Then write it down. Post it where you’ll see it—at your computer, on your mirror, on the fridge—so that you constantly remind yourself why.

Actually Doing It

By now, you’ve identified why you’re in this business. It’s a powerful step, however, a lot of people continue to be distracted by other responsibilities, both real and imaginary.
When they could spend an hour learning what a solo ad is and how to place one, or even sending daily email to their leads, they go off doing something different instead—like cleaning the house, for instance. I like clean houses, too, but would they been fined by some authority for failing to clean the house? No. Yet people “get busy” this way, rather than devoting a little time to their business.
It’s evident that people prefer to stay in their comfort zone. They like to work on what’s familiar and easy, such as their dead-end jobs, where they’re stuck with a fixed income and have no savings at all.
Conversely, there’s no certainty in placing a solo ad for the first time or in giving up an hour to learn how to write more effective landing page copy. These things are unfamiliar, uncomfortable and they shy away from it.
So, in addition to reminding yourself why you’re doing what you do, you also need to be aware of the consequences that might happen for not doing it.
Take a hard look and come up with real situations where you might get in trouble if you don’t take the steps to start your business, keep it moving, and changing your life. Write them down and keep them where you will always see them. You will eventually start investing more time to your business.
Lastly, it’s very effective if you work on your business first thing in the morning. Get up a little earlier if you have to, and get the challenging tasks knocked off before anything else. You’ll have made progress before everything else begins vying for your attention.  Matt Lloyd

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Marketing’s ‘Secret Weapon’ for Small Biz Owners

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, it’s probably worth a lot more in dollars. You see, visual content marketing is like a secret weapon for the little guy; with a lot of creativity and a little effort, your business could finally stand on equal footing with major brands, racking up customers and prospects with the best of them.
Companies large and small are discovering that — with so many competitors turning to content marketing to differentiate their products and services — the power of a strong visual can often be the deciding factor in a campaign’s success.
Two major brands that have done exceptional jobs using images to their advantage are Target and Starbucks.
Target’s presence on Pinterest, for example, foregoes the mundane product placement photos that render so many lesser brands generic by comparison. Instead, the retailer engages its audience by combining images with text. The company’s Party with Pinners board does an excellent job of sharing images that are warm, inviting and captivating to consumers.
Likewise, Starbucks is using Instagram to elevate its brand image from that of a simple coffee company to more of a lifestyle company. Yes, Starbucks does showcase its products, but they do it in a way doesn’t seem like a typical advertisement. In fact, the company’s Instagram profile mixes in a variety of images that promote the brand’s values and reflect the interests of its followers.
The good news for entrepreneurs and small business owners is that visual content marketing is quick, easy and — when done right — highly effective. Some of the most successful and engaging campaigns take on a variety of graphic forms, including comics, memes, infographics, photos, videos and visual note taking.
Just consider why visual content marketing is defining a new standard through which brands engage their target audiences:

Consumers Devour Visuals

Reading requires work and thought whereas visuals can be passively absorbed. So it’s not surprising that consumers prefer to receive communications that blend words with imagery. And because it’s easier, it’s more entertaining. This preference holds true in the boardroom as well as the coffee shop, as evidenced by a recent Forbes Insight report that cited 60% of senior executives prefer to watch video instead of reading text when both are available on the same page.

Visuals Drive Social Media 

Yes, consumers love visuals — but beyond what they love, there’s a good reason for you to adopt visual content marketing: it’s a great way to draw a sharing response from your customers. For proof, you don’t have to look any further than Twitter. Tweets paired with images pull 18% more clicks, 89% more favorites and 150% more retweets, according to Savannah Louie, a writer who covers marketing for SaaS platform NectarOM. If you’re using these channels — and who isn’t at this point — don’t you think you should be including visual elements too?
Equally important, consumers aren’t just viewing and sharing visual content, they’re remembering it. According to an infographic published by AdWeek, people recall 80% of what they see or do, but only 20% of what they read. By embedding visuals in your content marketing, you’re far more likely to create a lasting impression with your customers and prospects. Better still, if you underscore the visual with text or audio, you’ll potentially quadruple the odds of a consumer recalling your messages.
If you’re now sold on the idea of visual content marketing — and you should be — the next step is to make sure you’re packing some visual punch. One of the reasons Target and Starbucks were singled out earlier in this article is because both brands excel at visual content marketing. They get it, and they’re committed to producing strong visual content that hinges on three important variables:

Choosing Appropriate Content

For shorter pieces, such as a blog post, you may get away with using a stock photo. But why sell yourself short? Wouldn’t an infographic, or a short video summarizing your main points, carry more weight with your customers? Which do you think they’d value most?
For lengthier pieces, such as an ebook or a case study, using an animated character or theme could stitch it together nicely for the reader while boosting engagement.
Of course, if you’re short on time and money, using a stock image is still better than no image at all. In fact, studies show 40% of people respond better to text paired with images than plain text alone.

Including a Call To Action (CTA)

Sometimes entrepreneurs and small business owners are so eager to engage customers with visual content marketing that they forget to include a call to action (CTA), that little nudge that prompts readers to opt-in to your email list, share a post, or buy now. Your CTA can be subtle or blatant, depending on what you’re asking your audience to do, but it definitely needs to be there. Otherwise, you’ve wasted your time and effort producing content that doesn’t directly benefit your business.

Optimizing for Mobile

As a small business owner, you want every effort to pay off. When creating visual content, take the extra step of optimizing it for mobile because your customers and prospects expect to access all of your content without a hitch. And nothing turns people off faster than incorrectly linked pages, or content they can’t view on their device of choice.
Visual content marketing doesn’t have to be difficult, just compelling. Done correctly, you may soon find it’s your weapon of choice for leveling the playing field against larger, more established brands. Put it to use today and watch your leads and sales skyrocket.

  Ready To Get Visual With Your Own Business:

 

5 Ways to Grow Business–Building Mental Muscle

5 ways to grow business using mental muscle?  It’s not unusual for entrepreneurs to start eating right and exercising more when they’re gearing up to launch a business. Physical health is directly connected to success, and smart entrepreneurs look to leverage every advantage. But how many of them ever think to step-up their mental game before making what may be one of the biggest commitments of their lives?
To be mentally strong means you regulate your emotions, manage your thoughts, and behave in a positive manner regardless of circumstances, according to Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and adjunct college psychology instructor in Lincoln, Maine. It’s not a matter of willpower; it’s about establishing healthy habits and committing to doing the heavy lifting required for self-improvement.
For entrepreneurs, choosing to develop the skills that boost mental strength can make all the difference when facing the inevitable hurdles confronting business owners. Here are five ways to grow business using mental muscles.  Starter exercises to get you on your way to becoming a mental powerhouse:

1. Check Your Core

Your core beliefs were ingrained over time, and they affect your thoughts, behavior and emotions. Sometimes they empower us, but if they’re inaccurate or unproductive they can get in the way of success. Identify your core beliefs and then take a good, hard look at them. Are they helping you or impeding your progress? Altering your core beliefs isn’t easy—it takes purposeful intention—but it can be a game-changer.

2. Conserve Mental Energy

It’s easy to get caught up thinking about things that are beyond your control. But the more mental energy you sink into thinking about negative issues that you can’t address, the less energy you’ll have available to innovate solutions.
For example, you can waste time and energy worrying about a coming snowstorm that could delay an important delivery (something you can’t control), or you could divert that same mental power into creating a contingency plan in the event the delivery doesn’t arrive as planned (something you can control). Practice conserving mental energy until it becomes a habit.

3. Recognize That Productive Thoughts Rule

If you’re like most busy entrepreneurs, you probably don’t spend much time thinking about your thoughts. But teaching yourself to be aware of your thinking habits can go a long way towards boosting resilience. You may be familiar with the quote from Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” It’s a favorite saying among business owners because it captures a fundamental truth in just eleven words.
When you entertain exaggerated, negative thoughts such as, “This will never work,” you keep yourself from achieving your full potential. A better approach: identify and banish overly negative thoughts. Replace them with productive thoughts that are grounded in reality. They don’t have to be overly positive, just balanced. So, instead of “This will never work,” try something like, “This may be tricky, but there’s a fair chance we’ll be successful.” Changing your thoughts takes practice and constant monitoring, but developing this habit can unleash your best self.

4. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

Mental strength doesn’t come at the expense of being in touch with your emotions. In fact, the opposite is true. Mentally strong people are acutely aware of their emotions—and it’s this awareness that helps them determine the best response to the situation at hand. The whole idea is to accept your emotions without being controlled by them.
As Morin explains it: “Mental strength also involves an understanding of when it makes sense to behave contrary to your emotions. For example, if you experience anxiety that prevents you from trying new things or accepting new opportunities, try stepping out of your comfort zone if you want to continue to challenge yourself. Tolerating uncomfortable emotions takes practice, but it becomes easier as your confidence grows.”
Yes, by behaving more like the person you’d like to become—whether you feel like it or not—you’ll experience some discomfort. But by developing your ability to tolerate this discomfort, you’ll get closer and closer to making your improved self a reality.

5. Note Your Daily Progress

As a budding entrepreneur, you probably think you’re far too busy for quiet reflection. You’re not. Truth is most super-successful business people admit to carving out some time in their daily routines to “reconnect” with themselves. If your goal is to develop mental strength, you’ll have to do the same. Take a few minutes at the end of each day to ask yourself what you learned about your thoughts, emotions and behavior. Then ask yourself what you hope to improve upon tomorrow.
Developing mental strength is a bit of a moving target; some days will prove more challenging than others, and there’s always room for improvement. By reflecting on your progress daily, you’ll reinforce your ability to achieve your definition of success without compromising your values.
Building this kind of mental muscle takes commitment, practice and determination. If you stick with it and don’t allow yourself to become discouraged, you’ll reap the rewards that come to those who are mentally strong.

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Key Business Insights from Trump’s GOP Primary Campaign

Regardless of the next election’s outcome, volumes will be written about Donald Trump’s foray into presidential politics.  Here are some Key Business Insights to his GOP Campaign.
Bad enough that he’s rich, that he’s arrogant and egotistical, that he’s brazen enough to champion the idea of American exceptionalism in stark opposition to what appears to be a growing globalist agenda. The man has bad hair and he relentlessly points out the shortcomings of political correctness. He’s appalling, at least according to the talking heads in the media.
Many Americans, however, are voicing a different perspective. Fed up with being told what to think and feel in the Land of the Free, huge numbers of them are rallying in support of the one man whose self-funded moxie offers hope that they may yet retain what they’ve been struggling to hold onto: their independence. And neither the Republican nor the Democrat establishment has a clue what to do about it.
For entrepreneurs and small business owners, there are some worthwhile takeaways from Trump’s latest adventure.
By willfully disregarding “the rules,” he’s locked in an estimated 39 percent of the predicted GOP vote in key states during the week of Sept. 14. That’s the largest percentage ever earned by a candidate in any primary race in history, according to CNN. Interestingly, a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted that very same week showed Trump placing dead last for honesty and trustworthiness among the top six candidates from either party.

Q: If that’s true, why are so many people flocking to him?
A: Psychology. It’s complicated; like capturing leads, or making sales, or building a brand.
Trump is both a well-established, top-notch salesman and a proven master of media. His approach to the GOP primary race offers some eye-opening insights for business owners, including:

They Can Only Tell You What to Say If You Let Them

Love him or hate him, Trump knows the score. He knows that, for many years now, people have felt increasingly pressured into silencing their opinions and beliefs in favor of a nebulously defined, PC-approved “tolerance” agenda.
But political correctness isn’t something Americans were ever given the opportunity to vote on—some might say it was more like a hand grenade hurled into the American psyche—and the movement has now reached such extreme levels that many feel unable to express themselves without fear of life-altering consequences, such as job loss, being smeared in the media and, in some cases, threats of physical violence or death.

• Insight: By offering himself as a voice to the voiceless, Trump is validating his constituents’ feelings—just as business owners should strive to validate the feelings of their customers. Because there are no “wrong” feelings, only wrong actions. Feelings come and go; they change instantaneously in response to the countless stimuli and chemical reactions taking place in our brains at any given moment. It’s our actions that define us. The choices we make.

By prioritizing your customers’ fears, hopes and values above your own, you’ll be establishing a bond of trust that can be built upon. Customers who know you “get” them are far more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when it’s time to do business.

Everyone Loves a Winner

Osama bin Laden famously said, “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, they will naturally want to side with the strong horse.” He wasn’t wrong (about that.)
In the U.S., people love to root for the underdog. But they’re rooting for him to win.
In pretty much every area of life—school, sports, careers, dating, politics, etc.—we align ourselves with winners. In politics especially, many people flock to whichever candidate is perceived to be the emerging winner, regardless of what he or she stands for. Hence, the cult of personality mindset that drives national elections.
Trump gets this, as evidenced by his Sept. 14 speech, which emphasized two core messages: 1) he’s a real candidate who doesn’t need a teleprompter, and 2) he’s a winner, winner, winner.

• Insight: In business, you should be genuine, open and honest. Freely share relevant information, such as revenues, as needed. Avoid engaging in any activity that would make it seem like you have something to hide. And never lie—customers will forgive an honest mistake, but they’ll never abide a liar.

In this same spirit of openness, don’t be afraid to let your victories be known. You don’t have to be as in-your-face about it as Trump is, but winners win—and that’s a good thing.  Be humble, but strong. And make sure your customers know that every victory you achieve is a big win on their behalf as it relates to customer satisfaction. Better yet, let them know how their loyalty and testimonials help validate your successes.

Being the Center of Attention Has Its Privileges

Trump makes headlines. The upside to being a media master (i.e. someone who knows how to play the game) is that virtually everything you say and do becomes “newsworthy.” And there’s no such thing as bad publicity, as the saying goes. No matter what you think of the man, his persona, his politics or his methods, there is much to be learned from Donald Trump’s rise from a slim-chance wannabe to the GOP heavyweight contender.

• Insight: If you want your life (or your business) to be radically different from the way it’s always been, you must be willing to take radical action. That means you must do something to generate headlines beyond the scope of your company’s website or social media pages.

Get creative. Do something that the media—or your customers—will feel inspired to write about, such as your decision to champion an important local cause. If taking up causes isn’t your thing, that’s okay; just do something interesting, fun or unexpected that smacks of authenticity and offers value to others, not just your brand.
Although it’s highly unlikely that your personal or business brand power will rival Donald Trump’s, if you appeal to your customer’s psychological needs, establish a common bond based on their values, and make smart use of media exposure, your business will flourish and your customers will rally to your support when you need them most.

Ready To Start Your Campaign?

All Things Are Possible,
Susan Tuck
susantuck.com

 

What to Do When You Have Thousands of Leads and No Sales

What to Do When You Have Thousands of Leads and No Sales

In many ways, sales is like friendship. People see your ad and look at your offer and something about it tells them it would be a good thing to opt in or subscribe to. It’s sort of like a kid who likes basketball and sees another kid bouncing a basketball in the park, and suddenly gravitates to them striking up a conversation.
A friendship is not derived from just a few minutes on the playground though; it’s something that is built over time. Sales is the same: The lead doesn’t have the luxury of spending time with you to get to know you better, so you’ve got to figure out ways to bring yourself and your product/service into their lives. Otherwise, people will simply forget you.

A Big List Isn’t Enough

Building a list of considerable size is neither a fast nor cheap feat, in most cases. So, if you’ve amassed 3,000 or 10,000 or however many contacts, give yourself a little pat on the back.
If that list isn’t producing income, that’s certainly a problem but it’s one that should be easy to solve.
A big list, by itself, won’t produce income. A big list plus a good, solid offer is no guarantee either. Even a big list and solid offer with consistent promotion is NOT a slam dunk.
Yes, a big list is important, but so is your relationship to that list and your consistency in communicating to those people.

The “Wrong” People

Take a look at this scenario: Let’s say you’ve placed ads promoting a particular product or service to everyone on your list. People clicked and opted-in on your landing page or lead capture page, but now you’re promoting something to them in your emails that doesn’t quite correspond to the ad and landing page.
It’s not really that they are the wrong people; they’re the right people for what you stated in your ad. You might just be promoting the wrong product or service to them.
You’ve got to consider all of this from the perspective of the typical person who opted in. They gave you their name and email address in exchange for information about “A.” Now you’re promoting “B” to them, so don’t be surprised if you get little, if any, response.
There are two ways to remedy the situation: build a new list, or find out specifics about what your existing list wants.

Build a New List

Your FREE Offer!

This may sound totally obvious, but when creating your sales funnel (your ads, landing pages, email follow-up sequence), you’ve got to start with the product or service and work backwards.
So, if you’re selling a video course on how to invest in the stock market, you’re probably going to create some kind of free offer, such as a report, an e-book or, like I do with MOBE, free daily videos. This is what you give in exchange for their contact information.
At that point, you have your email follow-up sequence ready to go and the messages should be about making money in the stock market. The videos or the report or e-book should be about understanding the stock market, stock market trends, or good investments. The offers you push in your messages should be on how to make money in the stock market. That’s what people signed up for.
That way, you will not only have a new list, but one that’s responsive to your messages—they will read, and a certain percentage of them will purchase.

Talk to Your Current List

If you don’t want to build a new list, then you’d better find out from your current list exactly what they want.
“How?” you ask. Again, not to be too obvious, but just ask them. You can send them an email with questions, like: What specific things do they want to learn about? What do they want to accomplish? Asking those questions will let you know what their interests are, and ultimately, their goals.
You could also use a free survey service like SurveyMonkey.com or KwikSurveys.com. However, keep in mind that many people probably won’t respond, especially if you’re dealing with a somewhat “dead” list. But, some will and they will tell you in detail exactly what they want. And because they opted in from the same ad and landing page as the non-responsives, you would be pretty safe in promoting what the responsive leads ask for. (The results certainly couldn’t be any worse than zero, right?)

Frequency and Consistency

Another reason for your large list not buying could be because you are not communicating often enough.
The most successful marketers email their lists daily—sometimes several times a day if there’s a special offer or deadline. Remember that not every person on your list is going to read every email you send. So sending them daily is the best guarantee that they at least read some of your marketing messages.
But whatever you do—every other day or only twice a week—be consistent. Don’t drop out for a month or two and then start back up again and expect to get a lot of love from your list. More likely, they will have forgotten you. You’re probably not the only marketer your subscribers see. Your competition, who email every day, will have your leads’ attention by that point.
So even if you’re not seeing stellar results when you first start mailing your list, stick with it. Continue to email them. Keep providing them with valuable information and promote your offers in every message. That consistency will pay off.

The Master Principle of Lists

Like I mentioned at the start, sales is a lot like friendship. If you don’t nurture your friendships, if you don’t show your friends they are important to you, they will fade away. They will make new friends. Resentment may creep in. It can be hard, if not impossible, to repair.
Lists are the same way. They are perishable. By your actions, you are either routinely improving your relationship with your list or allowing it to degrade. To do the latter means deletes, opt-outs and unsubscribes—and less income, for sure.
So don’t neglect it. Listen to your list. Give them what they ask for. Answer their questions promptly. Show them you are a real person who cares about and understands them—and start seeing regular and increasing sales.  Matt Lloyd

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All Things Are Possible, 

Susan Tuck

susantuck.com

 

Entrepreneurial Success

 

3 Essential Shifts for Entrepreneurial Success

The Olympics will be in Rio de Janeiro next summer. There are few places in the world where you can witness so many examples of greatness and achievement—where winners and losers are determined by tenths or hundredths of a second—there’s no other place like the Games.
An Olympic competitor prepares for success by doing certain things routinely, but also by refraining from doing other things. They train hard daily for four years (some have trained most of their young lives) to become as fast, as accurate, as strong, or as graceful as they can be in their particular sport. They also must avoid certain things that will subtract from their progress. For instance, alcohol, street drugs, junk food, and too many late nights lazing in front of the TV have no place in the life of an Olympic hopeful.
This “pump up the good, cut out the bad” idea has everything to do with your own success as a business owner. You create your own success; it doesn’t just happen. Success is directly related to your own attitude, habits, and choices. Here are a few shifts you can make that can create the right circumstances for success:

1. Choose the Right Mindset

The actions of an Olympic athlete are the result of a champion mindset. In the world of business and entrepreneurship, the word “mindset” is mentioned quite a bit. To keep it simple, mindset would be an attitude of taking full responsibility for achieving your success, in the same way that an Olympic hopeful takes responsibility for achieving theirs.
Mindset also includes persistence, optimism, and a “no such thing as failure” attitude. It means not blaming others for your problems, but accepting them as your own and learning from them.
But at the same time, no man is an island. We are all humans and can be influenced by people, things and situations around us. So, it’s important to be able to identify those positive influences, as well as the ones that aren’t so good.
Simply put, it all boils down to the kind of communication you allow into your life. This refers to communication from people you know and also communication from other sources, such as the media.

2. Choose the Right Company

There are many people who consider entrepreneurial kinds of thoughts and actions to be impossible. Maybe you’re intimately associated with a few of these people. This kind of negativity can be contagious, says a 2013 clinical study.
Make sure to take note of any naysayers who criticize you or doubt your business. You don’t need that. Always understand who you are—you are an entrepreneur.
It’s important that you surround yourself with successful, goal-oriented people who believe in you and support what you are trying to accomplish. You may be creating something that’s never been created before—bringing something into being that does not yet exist. And in your position, you need as much support as you get—or at least as little negativity as possible.
In his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Eker points out that wealthy people tend to associate themselves with positive, successful people. Though money may not be your primary motivation, as an entrepreneur, you are trying to succeed. So, you don’t want to spend too much time around those who either directly or covertly negate what you’re trying to do and prevent you from reaching your goals. For instance, they may:

• Mock your dreams or ridicule your efforts
• Tell you “for your own good” that you’re wasting your time
• Act like what you’re doing is nothing
• Are impatient with your enthusiasm, etc.

3. Choose Your News

As mentioned earlier, we are all influenced by the world around us, including the people in it. But you can choose what influences you.
Many people start their day by reading the news feeds on their smart phones or computers, or by listening to morning broadcasts or talk radio in their cars. “News” is really just a shortened way of saying “bad news.” If you think that sounds glib, try this experiment: Next time you watch TV news or look at your news feed online, keep track of the number of stories presented and note how many of them are bad news. More often than not, you will always find it to be the majority.
What effect do you think this has on your general outlook? Your productivity? It’s been noted that just a few minutes of negative news can have a significantly negative impact on both mood and performance.
This should not be surprising, since most media stories consist of problems that most people feel powerless to do anything about (murders, disasters, terrorist events, etc..) This can increase stress and negativity.
You may not want to “bury your head in the sand.” If you don’t want to or can’t just turn off all the news all the time, you can at least reduce it. Try turning off the notifications feature of your news app. When you’re in the car, listen to self-improvement or business audio books instead of news. See how you feel.
You can also increase your exposure to good news. There are also sources that not only report on positive events, but also provide solutions to not-so-positive situations. Makes you feel more in control and less like a victim. Here are some of them:

• Upworthy.com (though a bit liberal-leaning at times) focuses on “content that educates and inspires, while still being as rich and compelling as the best viral videos on the web.”
• Huffington Post’s “What’s Working” Series focuses on “stories of creativity, innovation, ingenuity and compassion the media too often overlooks.”
• CNN’s “Impact Your World” is the network’s “empowerment initiative that gives people an opportunity to interact with and respond to the news.” To facilitate interaction, CNN connects readers and viewers with organizations that enable them to act. They can then share how they impacted the world.

Final Thought

Like an Olympic athlete, an entrepreneur must constantly do the actions that will lead to success. That means increasing and fortifying what’s good for you and reducing what’s not.
Though we each generate the thoughts in our heads—the positive and negative ones—we can’t ignore the influence that people and the environment can have on our happiness, productivity and success.
Try adjusting yours with the suggestions given above, and see what it does for your stress level, productivity and ultimate success.

To find out more about a successful business, click here

All Things Are Possible,
Susan Tuck
susantuck.com

No More Cold Calling: How to Create Hot Prospects

No More Cold Calling: How to Create Hot Prospects

Do people give you a blank stare when you promote your business to them?
Back when I was still pretty new to online marketing—long before I ever got the idea for MOBE—I was an affiliate for another online marketing company. I’d found this company online, read about their offer and became very excited. I ended up investing more than $25,000 in that company because I got it—I understood how a person could make a lot of money with it.
But getting other people to understand that and join me was not so easy.

Generating Leads the Hard Way

Since I was still pretty new and inexperienced, I did what the trainers in that company suggested. This is not a bad idea—if your trainers have good suggestions or a plan that works, follow their advice. But back then, their suggestion was to talk to anyone and everyone about the company and the opportunity: strangers, people behind you in line at the supermarket, any warm body within speaking distance.
That kind of approach—constantly promoting to anyone in earshot—is great if you’re naturally extroverted. I’m not, so I found it pretty rough going. But I wanted very badly to succeed; so for a year, I forced myself to do it that way. It was not easy, not pleasant, and definitely not productive.
Every day, for a few hours, I would call business owners right from the Yellow Pages, completely cold, and try to get them interested in what I was selling. A rodeo rider is lucky if he can stay on the bull for eight seconds. I was lucky if I could keep business owners on the phone for ten.
An extrovert may have an easier time talking to strangers, but it’s still the hardest way to generate a good lead. It’s not efficient at all.

A Breakthrough Discovery

I was desperate to make a sale and was grasping for anything that could help me achieve that.
There had to be a way to identify people who were interested in opportunities like the one I was presenting. There had to be a way to bring them up to the point where they understood, got excited about the potential, and could be more easily closed.
I found my solution in direct response copywriting—particularly in books written by Dan Kennedy and others who were successful marketers even before the internet. Direct response is a technique (some would say it’s an art) for capturing and developing a person’s interest to the degree that they will buy.
Direct response works best when targeted at an audience that already has some degree of interest in the topic (product, service, humanitarian cause, etc.) This was a key realization: I could market to people who already understood. I wouldn’t have to explain it to them from the ground up.
Another thing I discovered in studying Kennedy and others is the concept of positioning—the idea of presenting yourself as an expert or authority in a certain area. People place value on experts. They seek out authorities and feel fortunate to be able to learn from people who are successful in a particular field.
Positioning yourself as an expert gets people to come to you, which means they are much better quality prospects and easier to close.
I began to think in terms of marketing and positioning and how I could put it to use in my own business.

Putting It into Practice

One of my earliest marketing campaigns (which used an approach the more “experienced me” would never use today) was a report I wrote which compared the company I was with to one of its competitors. I wrote about the pros and cons of each company, and of course, my company came out miles ahead.
I then targeted people who were looking at this other company. I offered them the free report, which contained a subtle call to action that basically said, “Hey, that thing is okay, but this is the real deal—the real moneymaking opportunity. Come join me.”
It received some response—a heck of a lot more than cold calling.
There are a few reasons it received a response:

• Direct response marketing allows a person to absorb information where and when they choose. There isn’t the pressure to understand and decide … all those things that come with a face-to-face or telephone sales call.
• Unlike a cold call, I didn’t have to educate them before I could generate their interest. They would’ve already done their own research. They were looking at this other company, so the interest in home business and being your own boss was already there.
• My report explained how and why my company was a better deal.
• It contained a strong and definite “call to action”—the action I wanted them to take, which was to sign up with me.

In any direct response campaign, the hottest prospects respond. They are the ones who want it the most, who get it most, and with whom you will be able to interact most successfully with on a one-on-one basis.
You can make sales by cold-calling, but it might take years and it’s a 99.9% rejection level. Instead, identify an audience that already has some understanding of your type of product or service and pitch to them. It’s a much easier sale to make.
If you’re not already a recognized expert in your line of business, start to get comfortable with the idea that you could be. This is important in many kinds of marketing, but particularly if you’re going to market a business opportunity to others.
Great ideas for how to position yourself as an expert can be found in the article, “How to Ethically Present Yourself as a Success before Making Your First Sale.”
Learn direct response copy writing. It’s an indispensable skill for an entrepreneur or small businessperson. Even if you don’t end up doing all the promotional writing for your company, the knowledge will enable you to evaluate the work of the writers you hire.
written by Matt Lloyd


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All Things Are Possible,
Susan Tuck
susantuck.com

Article provided by mobe.com Filed Under: Ask Matt Lloyd, Marketing 101, Start Your Business Tagged With: Matt Lloyd