Monday, July 20, 2009
The Beginning
This isn't a love letter. It won't start with "Fellow Marketer..." or "Dear Friend..." or any of the ten regurgitated, barely changed, slightly insulting phrases I see on a daily basis. This isn't a money-motivated, buy-from-me, "only ten ebooks left at this price" piece of copy. I'm not selling anything and I don't care what you think about me at the end.Listen MP3 Songs
My motivation is a little different. Quite frankly, the internet is polluted with your hype. It's crap. Sure, it converts, but it gets annoying. You and I both know that javascript timer only fools the people who probably won't succeed with your "Guru Program" anyway. And that brightly colored text you CSS'd into every H1? It's even more frustrating.
Every time I see anything even resembling a traditional landing page, I immediately click the back button. Don't even get me started on your marketing e-mails - I don't open those if I see your name on them.
The Middle
The problem, friend (see how insulting it is?), is the fact that you provide NO value, NO substance, and then expect me to believe you're really a guru. Have you ever noticed that in bigger cities it's nearly impossible to give away free money?
I had a 'job' at one point giving away free public transit passes in a major US city with no catch. People were so used to getting screwed, they didn't want to touch me with a ten-foot pole. There's just so little trust left in the world.
If I sign up for that free eBook you offer, and then get nothing but spam from you, I'm going to park your sender address in my spam box - permanently - and never check it again.
And please, please stop using the same subject lines that every other marketer uses. "I'm sorry, ^name" worked three years ago.
A Better End
So how do you get your most difficult customer to buy from you? It's easier than you think, but your greed will never let you do it.
Give me information. Without charge.
No, seriously.
If you're really an expert, chances are you've got a surplus of information, right? So why not give me SOME of that information? Prove yourself to me. If you're not giving away free stuff in every e-mail, you're not marketing, you're fishing.
I want to buy from you - I really do. I just don't believe the hype.
This isn't a love letter. It won't start with "Fellow Marketer..." or "Dear Friend..." or any of the ten regurgitated, barely changed, slightly insulting phrases I see on a daily basis. This isn't a money-motivated, buy-from-me, "only ten ebooks left at this price" piece of copy. I'm not selling anything and I don't care what you think about me at the end.Listen MP3 Songs
My motivation is a little different. Quite frankly, the internet is polluted with your hype. It's crap. Sure, it converts, but it gets annoying. You and I both know that javascript timer only fools the people who probably won't succeed with your "Guru Program" anyway. And that brightly colored text you CSS'd into every H1? It's even more frustrating.
Every time I see anything even resembling a traditional landing page, I immediately click the back button. Don't even get me started on your marketing e-mails - I don't open those if I see your name on them.
The Middle
The problem, friend (see how insulting it is?), is the fact that you provide NO value, NO substance, and then expect me to believe you're really a guru. Have you ever noticed that in bigger cities it's nearly impossible to give away free money?
I had a 'job' at one point giving away free public transit passes in a major US city with no catch. People were so used to getting screwed, they didn't want to touch me with a ten-foot pole. There's just so little trust left in the world.
If I sign up for that free eBook you offer, and then get nothing but spam from you, I'm going to park your sender address in my spam box - permanently - and never check it again.
And please, please stop using the same subject lines that every other marketer uses. "I'm sorry, ^name" worked three years ago.
A Better End
So how do you get your most difficult customer to buy from you? It's easier than you think, but your greed will never let you do it.
Give me information. Without charge.
No, seriously.
If you're really an expert, chances are you've got a surplus of information, right? So why not give me SOME of that information? Prove yourself to me. If you're not giving away free stuff in every e-mail, you're not marketing, you're fishing.
I want to buy from you - I really do. I just don't believe the hype.
Posted in: Industry News
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