Internet Marketing Tell All

It’s one of the prizes in the Yahoo Ultimate Connection Contest. Deadline is May 25. Seems kind of soon, but with my head up my ass, it’s awful hard to hear about contests in a timely fashion.

If you could have a power lunch with anyone in business you wanted, who would you put on the guest list?

…. prize package includes:

• An “Ultimate Connection” power lunch in New York City with the up-and-coming entrepreneur winners and top-ranking marketing stars
• A $25,000 budget from Yahoo! Search Marketing to use toward a keyword ad campaign
• Mentoring from a legendary marketing expert throughout the year
• Access to a Yahoo! Search Marketing expert throughout the year
• A website makeover, courtesy of Yahoo! Small Business and Web site development firm FastPivot.

Read more in the Yahoo Publisher’s Network blog. Aw man I didn’t even see the rest of the prizes. Anyway, here’s the official site, and here’s video poker online,poker online,texas poker onlinegioco poker per pcgiochare omaha poker gratisdownload giochi pokerpoker play moneypoker da giocaregiochi poker gratispoker gratis da giocare,poker gratis,poker on line gratisstrip poker pcstrip poker on linepoker roomsgiochi internetgioco poker gratisstrep pokerpoker gratis multiplayerbunny pokerstreep poker gratisgioca poker gratisgioca a poker gratispoker hold7 card stud gratisholdem poker online,poker texas holdem online,poker texas holdem on linepoker roomregolamento poker texas holdem,holdem poker download,holdem pokertornei di pokerholdem poker downloadgioco poker on line gratissuper pokergiochi streep pokerкомпютри втора употребаguida poker onlinedownload pokerstrp pokergioco keno gratisstanze di gioco miglioricasino giocavideo poker jack or bettergiocare gratis casinobaccarat on linecasino gratis senza depositoroulette americanai casino on lineslots machine gratiscasino o netmetodi per vincere alla rouletteslots onlinecasino virtuale gratis,casino virtuale per giocare senza soldi,casino virtualescaricare casino gratisgioco baccarat in linea gratisaprire un casino onlinegiochi on line roulette some more coverage from Search Engine Journal.

*edit. The official page says the deadline is May 30th.

You think I came up with this stuff? People have been trying to tell you this for years. They just lack the finesse of someone as conceited and charming as I.

The biggest lesson I learned in internet marketing was that it doesn’t always have to be the invention of something new and ground-breaking - if you wait for the most divine intervention, you’ll never make any money. In the meantime, it might help to think of it this way: you have knowledge your clients want, and you’re doing them a disservice by not giving them the chance to snatch it up.

This is true whether you create your own products, resell other people’s products, are an affiliate marketer, or sell advertising on your site.

To apply this concept to marketing, remember that there is a point of merging between your style of attracting a potential customer and making a sale, a point at which you take your own style and join it with what you’ve learned from other people.

If you want to be a lady’s man, do you study someone who never gets a date? That would be dumb. If you want a relationship, do you ask other bachelors for advice with your girl? Equally stupid.

Decide what your identity is, and think about what works on you. Learn about it. Take all those elements and then add you. The same way Andy in 40 Year Old Virgin took the best elements of all the advice from his friends and through trial and error, found what worked for him.

==> Sidebar<== Love that movie, the extended DVD version. “Okay, let’s start over. Hi, Are You Fucking Retarded?” haaaaaaaa.

Imagine this.

You see a beautiful woman in a grocery store. She smiles at you suggestively. So you move in closer to flirt with her.

You stand next to her in front of the ice cream cooler and make eye contact. She smiles, looks away, your eyes meet again in the reflection from the glass. She turns and says, “Hi, I’m Candy.”

You yell “MY NAME IS ANDY. MY PENIS IS HUGE. WILL YOU MARRY ME? I’M ONLY GOING TO BE STANDING HERE FOR A LIMITED TIME, SO YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY. LOOK, ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DATING ME, AND SOME PEOPLE YOU REALLY RESPECT, HERE ARE THEIR NAMES AND COMMENTS. ”

She rubs her ears and says, “Uh, hi.” And starts to back away.

Stalker that you are, you follow her and continue your pitch.

“IF YOU’RE NOT READY FOR MARRIAGE, LET’S TRY A TEST MARRIAGE DURING A TRIAL PERIOD CALLED A DATE! IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR PHONE NUMBER, I WON’T SELL IT TO MY FRIENDS, HONEST. ACT NOW AND I’LL TAKE YOU TO FRIDAYS.”

“Maybe we should start ov-” She’s willing to give you another chance but you just can’t shut up.

“OH YOU WAITED TOO LONG, NOW IT’S SUBWAY. TOO LATE MCDONALDS. BEFORE YOU GO, CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHY YOU’RE NOT MARRYING ME RIGHT NOW? WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN MARRYING ME LATER? OKAY, WELL WHAT IF WE JUST HAD SOME SEX, WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN THAT?”

If you’re pissing yourself laughing, and getting flashbacks to 40 Year Old Virgin, you might not be for long. How many of us either market that way, or have bought something from someone who markets that way?

Think about how often you use some similiar marketing tactics in your sales copy, on your site, or in your blog. Think maybe if you flirted a little with your audience and readers first, did something nice for them, paid attention to their needs, you’d be more popular?

I tried both ways. Turns out you need only a dash of flash in your sales letter if you take your desired customer for a steak dinner prior to bumping uglies the first time. And just like in dating, if you maintain a good benefits balance in your relationship, they’ll be back.

Of course, if you think it’s smart to have a series of one night stands, more power to you. Me, I’d rather be up front and serially polygamous with my customers than fake monogamy just to get them into bed the one time. Don’t know about you but I’m building a business not a brothel.

As my mood/health/family stalkers allow, we’re going to talk about coy marketing, and the intersection of romancing your prospect into a sale by addressing their needs, instead of batting them over the head with a caveman’s bat and facing dire consequences later.