Internet Marketing Tell All

Have you ever thought about what it must be like for the person buying your product?

Right before I took a break from my real life, I did.

One of my potential customers, who happened to be already be an associate of mine, said that they didn’t really believe that if I took my own advice, and I was “some nobody like me”,  as they put it, that I’d be successful at marketing myself.

I took that comment seriously. The techniques I was going to teach this associate were going to help put him into business for himself, if I was right. If I was wrong, he would have wasted their time and money.

Yes, I had regular clients for them to talk to and testimonials and all that. They ended up hearing all the success stories and deciding to go for it. That’s not the point.

The point is this, if I wasn’t well known, and I didn’t already have a bit of a reputation, would people still trust my methods — even if I gave some of them away for free? I have the advantage that people can research me before they try my product by typing my name into any search engine and seeing what other people say.

What if you don’t have that, as a newbie, what then?

When I was a newbie, I started out as an affiliate marketer, built a list, and gave away freebies and information. But that was four years ago. Is it still a viable method today?

If I was just some unknown person with good ideas, would the testing of those ideas be enough to prove their worth? What does it matter who I am if an approach I tell you to use works?

How much do we rely on social proof, vs hype or someone’s name? Is the plain old truth the best marketing there is? If so, why do people use hype in sales letters?

–>Sidebar<– yeah, I know people are going to say “I don’t buy products from people because of who they are.” That’s total bullshit.

When you buy Pepsi, and decide you like Pepsi, you’ll keep buying Pepsi, even if it’s more expensive, until you have a reason to stop. It doesn’t matter if it’s car stereos, televisions, laptops, ebooks or blow jobs, if a person has a preference, they’ll stick with that preference until they have reason to change, sometimes even if they have to go out of their way to get it.

Sometimes the preference is whatever’s cheapest. That’s still a preference, it’s still a type of brand loyalty.

Answering all these questions is part of what made me start this blog, and that’s part of the theory I’m testing out.

Why am I doing it myself and not just looking over some newbie’s shoulder?

Because I want to know what it’s like again to be new, or as close as I can get.

Because I’m on kind of a forced vacation due to my recently failing health, and doing this as a “hobby” is the only way I can keep my family from hiding my laptop.

I’m being anonymous because I refuse to just outright lie and pretend I’m an average Joe. The only other truthful option is anonymity.

There’s no mystery. There’s no site launch. I’m not starting a new company. I’m not selling anything. I can’t find out what I want to know first hand any other way.

Not to mention how much fun this is…

The DoFollow plug-in is installed (so now, every one of your links counts as a real link).

My linkback/postback policy is now in full effect. I’ve already talked about how I reciprocate linking and writing blog posts about your favorite posts here on your site/blog, in which I mentioned a commenting contest.

Let me clarify, then, what I consider a comment, before we get into cash/merchandise prizes. Pay attention because this one important point could help you win.

Rules

Writing about me on your blog with trackback, I consider both a link and a comment. It only counts once.

Linking to me from both a blogroll and a post I’ll count as another comment, because I believe the sites you link to from blogrolls that are on every page of your site are a transfer of trust. You’re saying to your readers, “you’ll benefit from going to this site”. This also only counts once.

Real Comments on this site count as many times as you make them. I consider a real comment to be a relevant contribution to the conversation at hand. If I smell bullshit/spam I won’t count it. I reserve the right to decide, but I’m not a tyrant. You’ll probably be cool if you say something more than “great post” or “hey, visit my site” and things of this sort.

So those are the contest rules. In case of a tie-breaker we go to sudden death.

I’ve always wanted to say that. The Sudden death rules will be determined by me at some later date if it comes to that, or looks like it will be close.

Reciprocation

Commenting on a site is much harder to reciprocate. If you comment on me and I see it, I’ll do my best to comment on something on your site within a week. I have a lot of time on my hands as I do my withdrawal from Internet Marketing, but as the popularity of this site continues to grow, that could get out of hand fast.

That’s why I’m having a contest instead.

Prizes

Top commenter will get $100 USD in cash.

The person whose comment is exactly in the middle of all the comments after today will get a $100 Amazon gift certificate. The comment I consider to be the most helpful will get $250 in cash.

Some other person I pick at random will get $50 in cash.

The contest is from now until midnight on my reveal day, April 14, 2007. Comments will be added up and tallied and spot checked by some other impartial party and annouced a week from that day. (Also making it easy for me to deliver the prizes because I’ll no longer be anonymous.)

Note: The first 8 people who commented on this site who left their real information will get an Amazon gift certificate for $25. I think that’s only fair because the contest started after they got here. They were all instrumental in sparking interest in my site, so that’s my thank you to them.

If I can mail them and still be anonymous, I’ll send them next week. Otherwise, on April 14, 2007, my reveal day. So, Dane, Mark of 45n5, Scott , Josh, Ibnu, Faith, Matt, and Mark of bloglyne, please contact me at im@imtellall.com so I know where to send your certificate.

Why Money?

1. You will be more likely to take my commitment to you seriously if I back it up with cash. I think.

   At least, you’ll pay more attention to the site.

2. I wanted to be different.

   In other blogs I’ve done, I’ve reciprocated for people linking to me or talking about me with return links, etc. That’s not bad and I’ll still do that, but with a new blog, it seems like you as the commenter wouldn’t get much more back than a free link to your site, and my appreciation extends farther than that.

   One could argue all the intrinsic social benefits, but since this contest is an experiment about that, the point is moot.

3. I wanted to have a good reason to do a press release on Tuesday that people will really pay attention to, not one of those “Hey, Gots Me A New Blog” announcements.

   I’m thinking of the title “Crazy New Blogger Gives $500 in Cash and Prizes For a Common Blog Practice.” Maybe Crazy Anonymous Blogger. Which is more sexy?

4. I achieved the traffic goal of this site in TEN DAYS without leveraging on my name or spending a thin dime.

   I figured this will give me extra motivation. After all, I have to keep writing or you’ll have nothing to comment on.

5. I want to know what the reaction of the Blogosphere is going to be, if, that is, they pay attention to this experiment.

   Will people think it’s unethical to give away money for commenting? It’s not like pay per post, it’s a contest. But is there a difference in people’s minds? If so, what’s SO bad about pay per post? *pulls tongue out of cheek*

6. I’m curious to see who wins.

   Will it be someone with four comments, because everyone thinks I’m bullshitting and won’t enter?

   Or will it be a person who is smart enough to leverage the attention I’m paying for in a smart and ethical way, making 100 comments, a blog post about me, and a link back from their blogroll, all of them useful - even funny and entertaining?

   Will the money make the quality of the comments better? Or will it skew them in the opposite direction? Will people forget about the contest as they begin to enjoy participation in a community and visiting each other’s sites?

7. It’s all part of my overall marketing research.

   And my plan to take over the world, Pinky.

Anytime I market a product I have to make a decision. I once thought it was smartest to just find a balance between the two, however, a lot will depend on how good the product is vs how necessary.

For instance, if you are the only vendor offering a certain type of product, all you do is find the people in need in the market place and pose your solution. In that case, it’s a volume numbers game - get as many of those people as you can to your product.

This can even work if you’re an affiliate - if you’re the only one offering a special kind of bonus to people who buy through you, or you find a special way to market it that other affiliates ignore, it’s still all about the numbers.

You’ve also got the situation that is more common, and that’s when there is competition. In this case, you can’t just rely on being in the way of your client, hanging out where they are, and helping them buy.

The sales page will need to be a little more convincing. The price might have to be more competitive. You may need social proof, in the form of a good reputation, testimonials, or through building trust with your prospects in their natural online habitat.

You’ll have to target your prospect more carefully so you won’t be wasting money on the wrong kind of advertising. Testing and tracking will become your mantra.

If I ever had to make a blind choice, I’d err on the side of exacting quality in my numbers game, rather than quantity, but that’s with my current expertise. If I was a novice, or could not afford to hire a copywriter, etc, I’d do the best I could on my own, and then do a quantity push.

Choose your numbers game carefully the next time you market.