Cat's Eye Marketing Blog

How to Be a Sensitive, Pony-tailed Marketing Guy

You have a brand. You have a marketing plan. Absolutely, you need those two things. You can't get noticed without the brand and you can't find people to buy your stuff without the plan.

All good.

But how exactly do people choose to brand themselves online? What marketing and sales strategies do they use and why? This past week, there have been some interesting discussions going on in the blogosphere about these questions. 

Now there's one guy in particular. You may have seen him. He's low-key, casually dressed, with a charming personality. He's not like what some people refer to as the online "carnival barker." He sells those information products, you know the ones where you can make $2 million in a weekend.

Tiny disclaimer: the title of this post is a little misleading. This guy doesn't have a ponytail per se. It's long hair, though, blond and straggly-looking, with locks he keeps pushing behind his ears in his videos.

Some see that as endearing.

Others, the ones with highly-tuned crap-o-meters? Maybe not so much.

Now I'm not going to judge his credibility because I have never bought his product. I'm just sayin', a lot of people envy him. That's why they buy his stuff. They want to be like him. They want the house in La Jolla. And the surfboards. Oh, yeah. Some of them want those.

But forget for a moment that he has thousands of rabid fans. That he's taught them to make fistfuls of money (yes, while they sleep). That his marketing either makes you want to puke or pull out your credit card.

Fact is, he is successful at convincing us—the poor, lazy ones who want instant fame but don't really want to work to get it—to buy his information product.

One of the top bloggers in the world calls him an "extreme anti-marketing personality. " I guess that would make his brand the "anti-marketing marketer brand."

But when you break his messages down, they're really not that different from the old-school direct mail sales letters—except that he's the sensitive, pony-tailed surfer dude in a t-shirt and jeans, in a full-color video, sitting on a lawn chair in his backyard.

(You're wondering how I know about old-school direct mail sales letters, aren't you. I know because I went through a hugely expensive course two years ago, when I was thinking about starting an Internet-based information publishing business. From that, and the hugely expensive direct response copywriting conference that followed, I learned all the secrets to writing those letters. You know the ones I mean. Those really long ones with the huge-font headlines in red, followed by Sign up now!)

After watching his video, I'm seeing a little of those same techniques. Okay, a lot.

Sensitive, pony-tailed marketing guy's message playbook:

1.    "I'm just a 'regular guy.' Hey, I'm a surfer dude. I'm just like you. I like to have fun. I don't like to work hard. Buy this video program and it'll be like I'm right there in your living room, except I won't be drinking all your beer.

The strategy: Build trust. Show empathy for "the little guy."

2.    "I shouldn't be telling you this." I'm letting you in on a secret. At my last seminar, my attorney came on stage and made everyone sign a no-compete agreement. I'm sending you this 'secret early link.' (Leans in and whispers.)

The strategy: Confide in prospects. Make then feel part of a special club.

3.    "This is not like that other junk you wasted your money on." I know, you've ordered those other products before. You read a little bit and then thought, '"What am I supposed to do with this?" It was confusing, so you just put it away on the shelf. This program is not like that. It is unlike anything you've ever seen before.

The strategy: Differentiate yourself from the "enemy." 

4.    "It's really easy or I wouldn't be doing it." Now I'm not the kind of guy who likes complicated things. If it's too hard, I just won't do it. But this worked for me. And I don't just tell you, I show you how I made $3.8 million in 24 hours.

The strategy: Reveal a weakness (he's a little lazy), an "Achilles Heel," to show you are no better than your prospect.

5.    "I'll be raising the price in the future, assuming I offer this product again." This offer won't last. Time is running out. You will miss out if you wait. Act now.

The strategy: Create scarcity and a sense of urgency.

6.    "I'm so confident you'll be blown away by this, I'm offering an unconditional 60-day guarantee." I'm showing you that I stand behind my product 100 percent. In fact, if you loved every bit of the package except for DVD #4, send just that one DVD back and I'll refund the purchase price for the entire program.

The strategy: Use a super-strong guarantee when you sense that it's hard for your prospects to believe your promises. Remind them that they have nothing to lose. 

So what do you think? Can we learn anything about marketing and branding from this surfer dude?

Is what he is doing good salesmanship or manipulation? Does it work for his brand but maybe not for somebody else's? 

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

Stop being so nice: why negative headlines work

Do you ever scan the large-print teasers to National Enquirer stories in the checkout line at your favorite grocery store? Come on now, the truth.

Are you drawn to the stories of the poor souls Jerry Springer highlights in his episodes? 

Do you ever watch Judge Judy?

Okay. Here's a test: Knowing that you've done 80 percent of your job if you have written a compelling headline, one that pulls your reader into your sales copy, tell me. Would you use a negative headline if it made your customer sit up and take notice?

Why negative headlines work

Jonathan Fields, in a guest post on copyblogger, describes the use of negative headlines as 'train wreck blogging.' Why they work is connected to what social scientists call negativity bias: the proven theory that humans give more weight to negative than positive experiences. Studies show that negative information has more influence. We just pay attention to it more.

Why do we do this? While it may be partly our parents' fault (did you grow up in a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full family?), it goes beyond that. There is some evidence that we are hard-wired to be more curious about the negative. Take these headlines:

"Stop making these mistakes when you take family photos."

"What never…ever to eat on an airplane."

Now don't you want to read the photography article to make sure you're not making those mistakes? Aren't you wondering right now about what not to eat on an airplane, and just a little nervous that if you don't find out, you may be in trouble next time you fly?

Another reason the negative draws us in?  Because we want to see people whose lives are more out of control than ours are. We like it when the writer is transparent about their own life because, really, who's perfect? Here is one of my past blog post titles:

"Confessions of a recovering self-improvement junkie."

That post got one of three highest page views of the year. Why are we so attracted to the negative? Because it makes us feel better about the status of our own lives. I must not be that screwed up after all, 'cause look at her. She's a junkie.

It's not about you

Last week an attendee of our Marketing with E-newsletters got a deep frown on her face when I started talking about how to construct compelling headlines. She was holding my handout with five headlines, each written two ways. The task was to analyze each set and figure out which one worked better.

Headline A: "Opt-in rules for e-mail marketing"

Headline B: "E-mail marketing: how not to be a dirty rotten spammer"

She raised her hand. "I'm sorry, but headline B just completely turns me off," she said. "I do not respond to negative messages."

But the thing is (by the way, headline B is from a blog post of the remarkable Sonia Simone of Remarkable Communication), what she didn't get, was that she should be writing for her readers, not for herself. What will make them want to read the rest of her message?

Use with care

Negative headlines work because good writers use them sparingly. If every heading you write shouts at your reader,  or if you cross the line from provocative to insulting, the game's over. Be sure your reader knows that you were just having a little fun. Always deliver on the promise of your headline. And never make your readers feel that they were the butt of your joke.

It's probably a good idea to test your headlines, too. Experiment with two versions of your e-letter or e-mail sales message: 50 percent of your recipients get the negative headline and the other 50 percent receive the more positive one. Then you can analyze the open rates for each group.

How about you? Have you ever used a negative headline in your marketing or sales copy? Would you ever use one? 

The Island Guide to Social Media: 5 Ways to Build Your Online Community

Have you ever visited a tiny resort town in the middle of winter?

I live in one—on an island, a 20-minute ferry ride away from the closest Starbucks.

I am writing this blog post at the dining room table, in my sweats, with thick winter coat and knit gloves, pen and yellow legal pad. It’s forty-six degrees, feels like thirty.

At 4:00 this morning, the power went out. It surged on for five minutes at 9am, long enough to get eggs in the pan and coffee started before it went out again. For good. So here I sit, battery in laptop, uncharged, thinking about all my freakin’ deadlines, all the things I promised would be in clients’ in-boxes bright and early Monday morning.

When I didn’t have lights by 10am, I drove down to the island market to find something to eat.

The little store was full. A long line of frazzled, unshowered islanders waited their turn for hot coffee at the deli counter.

But as I looked around, I was amazed at the camaraderie and encouraging smiles I saw. There was a continuous buzz, a kind of hum, interspersed with raucous laughter.

And people being flexible with the only breakfast choices this small, generator-powered store could offer.

A toasted bagel with cream cheese?

No, sorry, just cold. The microwave isn’t working.

No problem.

A bold flavor of coffee?

No. We just have breakfast blend and decaf.

Sure, that’ll be fine.

A Jimmy Dean sausage sandwich for this hungry vegetarian?

Well, okay, not that one. That one was gross.

It struck me as I drove home. This little community hangs together. We know, like and trust each other, enjoy helping each other out, never expecting something in return.

The market is our hub. When a crisis hits, like the ice storm two years ago, or even today’s minor power emergency, that’s where you find out what’s going on—what matters. It’s the circle you don’t want to be left outside of.

It’s the same way with online communities. It’s all about building relationships. Whether it’s isolated islanders meeting at the market or solopreneurs hanging out together online, it’s important to:

1. Stay connected. 

Don’t just pick up your quart of milk and run. Stop in the aisle to chat—on normal days, not just when an ice storm hits.

And don’t just jump online when you have a problem or something to sell to engage your community in meaningful conversations.

2. Listen.

Have you ever had a problem and felt like the person you were confiding in didn’t even hear you?

“ The movie starts at 7:00. Want to meet me there?

“My doctor diagnosed me with a form of minor depression today and I have to go on medication.”

“Oh. Want to see the movie tomorrow instead?”

Okay. That was an exaggeration. But you get the idea. At the island store, people stop what they are doing and listen to you. Someone’s son was just shipped to Iraq. Someone’s daughter got married. Somebody else died.

Don’t always talk about yourself and your needs on the forums, or in your blog, or on twitter. Ask questions and listen to the answers. It’s the best way to be valued. To be viewed as a contributor.

3. Be genuinely interested.

At our store, someone will offer a ride to someone who needs a lift to the ferry landing. The clerk will recommend a new movie that just arrived. The lady in the post office, who you’ve chatted with about her son who’s in college, mails the oversized birthday card you dropped in the mailbox without the proper postage—and calls to tell you to just drop the extra 21 cents by next time you are in. 

Because, you see, if you show interest in the members of your online community before a crisis hits, you’ll already be connected to their network if and when you ever need a helping hand.

4. Show empathy.

I overheard a comment at the store: 

“Yeah, this power thing sucks. Is it warm enough at your house?”

One of the best ways to connect with people in very real ways is to recognize what they are going through. When you are talking to your blog readers or responding to a topic on a forum, show that you understand the problem, feel the pain. Just that one expression tells them that you “get it.”

5.  Support your peers.

I could have gone off-island for breakfast. But, you know, I wanted to purchase from our community market. The place that always made me feel good, even when I was just stopping by for a bottle of V-8 and some yogurt.

If you have had a good experience with someone you met online, spread the word to other members of the community. And if you need their particular product or service, go to them. It’s what a community does.