Michel Fortin | Local Business Marketing Consultant

Superior Value Equals Superior Sales

If your car needed repair work, would you go to a garage that offers free estimates? You likely would. Today, most garages offer them.

Not only has it become a customary practice, but also everyone expects a free estimate from mechanics.

However, here’s an interesting scenario. Let’s say your car broke down at the worst possible time, and you are in a terrible hurry. (If you’re like most people these days, you are.) Plus, you specifically wanted a free estimate.

If you had to choose a garage quickly, which garage would you choose? Would you go to the one you only think that offers free estimates? Or would you go to the one you know for sure that does? Especially if you don’t have much time?

As simple as it may sound, by communicating something that’s usually taken for granted by your target market, you will be chosen more often. Rather than claiming superiority, like “we’re #1,” you’re implying it by demonstrating what makes you superior.

A mentor once told me, “Implication is more powerful than specification.” In marketing, it means that you should imply your superiority rather than claim it outright.

If you claim superiority, your claim appears self-serving and whatever you do say is suspect at best. But if you imply superiority, your claim, although not directly stated, is accepted as more credible, genuine, and, paradoxically, concrete.

People will unconsciously assume that you are superior. You are communicating your superiority, not in some marketing piece you wrote or paid for, but in that most elusive yet vital of places in all of marketing…

… Your target market’s mind.

So, rather than outright stating that you are superior (e.g., that you’re the “best,” that you have a product of superior or high quality, that you offer greater service, that you provide better rates, etc), explain specifically why you are superior.

In fact, the most critical word in marketing contains only three letters. It’s the word “why.” It is much better to communicate why you are original, special, or unique, or why you are better, different, or superior than your competitors, and not the fact that you are.

In other words, the point is that you should imply your superiority by specifying, as much as possible, what exactly makes you better than anyone else and not that you are superior. This approach is far more powerful, and the effect lasts longer.

By implying your value proposition, it pierces through your market’s natural psychological barriers, as people hate to be sold to. They hate making a bad decision. They hate being patronized. And more importantly, they hate being taken advantage of.

Realize that what makes you special, unique, or superior doesn’t have to be your product in itself, although it certainly can be. But the easiest way to make your product unique is by what you add to it — specifically, to its value — as to appear superior.

Simply stated, you may offer something that everyone else does. But you could also offer something more, above and along with your product, than no one else does.

Let me explain. Your product is composed of three distinct levels:

There’s the core product (the product’s main benefit),
The actual product (the product itself and its features),
And the augmented product (the product’s value, such as the added value — additional features and benefits — you specifically bring to the table).

The latter of the three is probably the area most marketers fail to adequately communicate. It’s also the easiest area you can use to develop or enhance your USP (or “unique selling proposition”). And it makes your product or service stand out among the crowd.

Here’s an example. People may or may not know that you provide a certain value-add. A value-add is an extra product benefit or service added to your core offer. And, more often than not, they only assume that you do, especially if it’s the norm in your industry.

Claude Hopkins, author of Scientific Advertising, revealed how he dramatically boosted Schlitz’ brewery sales by making their beer appear unique using this method.

In the early 1900s, a beer’s purity was important to consumers. Knowing this, most breweries claimed — but never really proved — that their beers were the purest available.

But instead of merely claiming purity, Hopkins would trumpet the reasons why Schlitz was purer than the rest. After a tour of the brewery, he began writing his sales copy describing in meticulous detail Schlitz’ vigorous purification process.

According to Clayton Makepeace, Claude Hopkins described:

“The 4,000-foot-deep artesian wells from which Schlitz drew its water… the wood pulp filters that ensured the water was 100% pure… the spotless plant and “clean rooms” with their filtered air… how Schlitz’s bottles were sanitized with germ-scalding steam… and more. But Hopkins did leave out one little fact: Pretty much every brewery made its beer just like Schlitz did!

By being the first to tell the public about Schlitz’ generally assumed (or in this case, ignored) purification process, everyone was convinced Schlitz really was the purest beer anywhere. It’s the main reason why it became the top-selling beer at the time.

Plus, the copy did double duty. Competing breweries’ purity claims simply made them appear as copycats — or at the very least, it would remind the public of Schlitz.

By turning the assumed into the assured in the consumer’s mind, even with a name in which people are assured that you do offer that particular service or benefit, your market will choose you over your competition many times over. Almost unconsciously.

And this is true, even when the value-add is the norm.

If I were Hopkins, I would have put a name on this purification process. That name would make the process appear unique. Even proprietary. It would help to instantly communicate this value-add, or at least cause people to want to learn more about it.

Using the earlier free estimates example, you might choose a garage offering “Hassle-Free Formulas” “Free Fix Finders,” or “No Greater than Guesstimate Estimates.” You might even choose one whose tagline is: “Where Smiles and Estimates are Free!”

In short, what you are doing — in this case, with a name, tagline, or marketing message — is turning the “assumed” into the “assured” in your market’s mind.

In this day and age where people no longer have the time to shop around and are bombarded with commercial messages, then when they’ll need the kind of service or product you provide, your name will pop into their minds — and will do so almost instantly.

On the Internet, time is a even scarcer commodity for most people. Click-happy online shoppers no longer have time to sit through countless, irrelevant search engine results, and pages upon pages of websites, to find exactly what they want.

Therefore, since people usually search the web by topics, interests, or benefits, and if the term “free estimates” was specified in your marketing efforts and especially on your website, then when people search for free estimates they will likely find your site.

In fact, many new Internet business models have emerged and became wildly successful — and profitable — based on that simple premise.

For instance, while one website may offer the same product with the same features at the same price as other websites, what makes that one site any different is in the way it adds value to its clients’ purchase decision. Its value proposition, in other words.

And it does so in the way it brands, packages, presents, or sells its product, even the way it delivers it to its customers. But above all, it does so in the way it communicates it.

You can certainly apply the same principle in your business.

If there’s something that’s a part of what you offer (such as free support, free delivery, free installation, etc), even if you must manufacture your USP by adding an extra feature or service to your product to make it unique, then put a name on it, too.

Once you do, you then need to communicate it clearly — with every promotional breath you take! You must make your value proposition your core marketing message.

This is the one area on which most businesses fail to capitalize. Why is that? In my experience, it’s because too many people think that a standard, conventional, or customary part of their business or product is too simple, unimportant, or unnecessary to market.

(You would be amazed to know how much such simple value-adds have become the pivotal elements upon which a large number of businesses have prospered and profited!)

Additional or complementary bonuses, features, or services are part of what is called the “augmented product,” simply because they augment the product’s value. More important is the fact they should be communicated and have benefit-based names just as well.

Remember that a product is more than a bunch of tangible features — it has three levels. In fact, the third level (i.e., the value) is where most competition occurs!

Here’s a greater description of each level:

Your core product is the benefit — your product’s relative purpose. It’s what people are really buying, in other words. If the name, packaging, or any of the features change, the core product remains the same. It comprises of the benefit (if it’s a product) or the solution (if it’s a service) that people seek.
The actual product consists of attributes, qualities, and characteristics — such as features, design, model, form, function, style, dimensions, name, package, label, ingredients, product mix (i.e., the breadth and depth of the product line), etc. In essence, the actual product consists of what makes the product or service.
But the augmented product includes complementary services or features – like warranties, guarantees, terms, financing, delivery, installation, discounts, toll-free customer service, reports, shipping and handling, after-sale service, consumption education materials or training, quickstart guides, etc. On the web, they also include things such as reminder services, search capabilities, email newsletters, online technical support, personalization, customization, information, and so on.

By adding a benefit-based name on your augmented product, it could actually become — or become part of — what is called your “positioning statement.”

A positioning statement is one that communicates your value proposition and specific position (i.e., what places you or your product above your competition in the mind).

Even if your product is similar to the competition’s, then your augmented product can isolate and differentiate your actual product from those of others. Your message should indicate so, although names and taglines can do this quite efficiently.

For example, remember that Domino’s Pizza, with its once popular tagline that said “delivered fresh in 30 minutes or less or it’s free,” is known more for its augmented product (i.e., home delivery) than its actual product (i.e., pizza).

In your case, do you offer an augmented product that’s not offered elsewhere?

Here’s an example. Say your website sells software.

Do you offer free delivery of the CD?
Do you offer a free upgrade reminder service?
Do you include a quickstart guide on how to use it fast?
Do you provide a special toll-free support line?
Do you have a unique money-back guarantee?
Do you provide any kind of payment plan?
Do you offer extended warranties or download times?
Do you have a special trade-up program?
Do you publish a best practices newsletter?
Do you give access to a private community of users?

The possibilities are endless! Regardless of what you do offer, these should be named and/or communicated as well. Sure, they might seem like standard practice. But don’t let people assume that you offer a certain additional benefit or service. Assure them!

If a competitor steps in and assures your market before you do, it might be too late. Thus, turning the “assumed” into the “assured” heightens perceived value and implies superiority over competitors who may offer the same, nameless services.

More important however is the fact that doing so also turns ordinary products into memorable ones. They become effective mnemonics. Or simply stated, one value-add can easily become your “hook.” Just like Domino’s delivery guarantee, for instance.

Finally, if you don’t offer anything that’s unique or special, then you might want to look at manufacturing your USP. Stated differently, you might want to define your position by simply adding something to your actual product in order to augment its value.

For example, while your product or service may be similar to the competition, you can be the first to cater to a specific market, the first to cater to a market in a unique way, or the first to customize a general product or service for a specific market.

Sure, you can have a superior product or service, and have either its core or parts of its actual product level different than your competition. If you do, then great. But keep in mind that, if your product is totally new and untested, it’s a huge risk.

But more often than not, the augmented product is the level at which many products create astonishing, memorable, and highly profitable USPs. The goal, therefore, is to communicate it in order to imply your superiority rather than directly competing with others.

Don’t claim it. Frame it in the consumer’s mind, in other words.

On Not Playing The Blame Game

by Michel Fortin Leave a Comment

Is the Internet marketing industry imploding? I think it is. But if not, it sure seems like it. In fact, it seems to be a sign of the times.

For example, we see it with the FTC cracking down on misleading advertisers, Visa and MasterCard closing down merchant accounts for forced continuity billings, and Google permanently banning advertisers for reasons still unclear but somehow related to the latest crackdown.

Harsh? Perhaps. But we can’t say we didn’t see it coming.

Remember, it was about three years ago — wow, has it been three years already? — when my wife, Sylvie Fortin, put out her scathing report, called “Internet Marketing Sins.”

It was highly controversial at the time because people didn’t expect it. However, since then many marketers, bloggers, journalists, disgruntled clients, unpaid affiliates, even social media experts have joined in the chorus. Some, quietly. Others, not so quietly.

For instance, copywriter Ryan Healy ruffled a few feathers recently by posting a scathing report, entitled “Internet Marketing on Life Support,” in which he singled out a few marketers for their questionable, unethical, or allegedly illegal practices.

One commenter praised Ryan for his willingness to name names, and by the same token criticized my wife for not doing so in her Sins report. In fact, since it was published, we received a lot of flak for not naming names. I certainly understand their cynicism.

So I’m taking this opportunity to elaborate on why we chose not to name names.

The aim of this blog post is not to persecute those who do. Just because we didn’t name names doesn’t mean we’re against those who do. Not at all. But I do want to clarify in the hope that you, dear reader, understand why we didn’t expose actual marketers.

First of all, we wanted to focus on the sin, not the sinner.

I agree that naming names works well. It can be potentially productive in stopping that one person — and maybe a few others who fear the same humiliating fate — from continuing their harmful practices. But it doesn’t work all the time. It might even backfire.

Why? Because the cult-like status these snake-oil pitchmen enjoy, which in some cases are so deeply entrenched, might even boost their position among their loyal fan base.

(I’ll come back to this later, as understanding this is of significant importance.)

Plus, I also agree that shaming people publicly has always been a productive technique to quench people’s thirst for blood. As the news industry saying goes, “If it bleeds, it reads.” But in my opinion, doing so doesn’t help the actual underlying problem.

We applaud those who are willing to take the risk. But if and when they do name names, they must do so with eyes wide open, ready to bear the burden of responsibility that comes along with pointing fingers — and the negative blowback such a risk entails.

For us, we didn’t want to throw stones for a variety of reasons. The most important of which is the idea that we didn’t want people to perceive our report as exhaustive. We simply can’t return to the report to rewrite, edit, add more names, and so on.

Eventually, it would make us feel compelled to revisit the report, which is something we were not prepared to do. After all, we are too busy running our own businesses.

Simply, it wasn’t our goal. Furthermore, naming names is risky because it can also be misleading. Others perpetrating the same or similar “sins,” if omitted from the report, may be seen as exonerated or exempted by their own set of followers.

They might say, “Hey, Sylvie talked about Guru ‘A’ doing such and such. Since I follow Guru ‘B’, then I’m fine (or he is fine, or the practice is fine and it’s OK to do it, too).”

Second, we didn’t want to become known as the “Jerry Springer of Internet marketing.” We wanted our report to be food for thought. We wanted people to start questioning. To start thinking critically. And not just to sit idly by, watching as the drama unfolds.

Years ago, I closed down my once very popular copywriting forum for this very reason.

(And believe me, I received a lot of flak for doing that, too.)

As the owner, I was the main moderator. But I never realized until the board became more and more popular just how much work I needed to put into moderating and managing it, thus taking my focus away from building my other, more profitable businesses.

Before you think that I should have outsourced the moderation, remember that I did have close to 10 moderators at one point. But the problem was exacerbated when I was even forced into moderating the moderators. (Yes, many a fight broke out among them, too.)

So I decided to shut it down. It was a hard decision to make.

Nevertheless, pointing fingers wasn’t our goal. We weren’t looking for fans. Instead, we were looking to help. We didn’t want to be judges but advocates. Our goal was to focus on the consumer and would-be marketers contemplating such practices.

We wanted to alert the marketplace on what’s going on, and educate people on how to discern, pinpoint, and avoid potential pitfalls — some of which are so sneaky and inconspicuous, they prey on unsuspecting victims who don’t know any better.

Moreover, we wanted to avoid the “any publicity is good publicity” some of these cult leaders enjoy but most certainly don’t deserve. So we preferred highlighting what to look out for and even go so far as to suggest actionable solutions, than who to look out for.

Now, here’s what I mean when I said naming names can be counterproductive.

First, I’m not a psychologist by any stretch. But as a copywriter, I have studied human psychology and researched it deeply — both in college and in my career. It’s part of my job. I don’t know enough to be an expert, but I do know enough to know the difference.

That said, because of the cult-like following some of these marketers enjoy (it’s no wonder we call them “gurus”), naming them can lead to some unintended consequences.

When you are attacking a cult leader, you are also, by the same token, attacking all of their sheeple in one fell swoop. Some will be dismissive and shrug your attempts. Others will react hostilely, perhaps even violently, to your accusations.

Naming names strengthens the position of these cult leaders as their followers will likely feel threatened, too. In fact, the more you challenge someone’s opinion, the more convinced they become that their opinion is correct, and the greater their resolve will be.

As Brian Tracy once noted, in his program The Psychology of Selling:

“A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still.”

When questioning, challenging, or opposing their deeply rooted beliefs — beliefs into which people have invested much ego, time, and of course, money — they will have a tendency to rigorously defend those beliefs by defending their cult leader.

Again, think of the brainwashing process behind cults. It’s something I have personally studied for many years. And what I’ve learned is, when people react to a challenge, it’s not about defending their chosen guru. It’s about defending one’s belief system.

Most do it unconsciously and quietly. Many do it publicly and vociferously. And as we all know from events throughout history, some will do it aggressively. Even violently.

If you want some science behind it, here’s an interesting fact.

Even if you think you’re not at all sexist, racist, or homophobic, most of us are to some degree. We can proclaim that we’re not, and protest ferociously when we’re called to task. But subconsciously, like it or not our brain’s circuitry tells another tale.

For example, take this online Implicit Test from Harvard, made famous by Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Blink.” It might enlightened you. Perhaps even shock you.

The point is, even if you think you’re not sexist, racist, or biased against any other kind of stereotype, your brain is wired in such a way that you will have a tendency to be biased, no matter what. You will tend to favor one over the other, even if only slightly.

Granted, some of it is genetic and innate. But a lot of it is the result of environmental factors, such as our upbringing, societal mores, education, and personal experience.

People have preconceived biases, which are strengthened over time. Even when they say they don’t or that they are open-minded, when presented with hard evidence to the contrary only solidifies their established mindsets, beliefs, and in some cases, delusions.

I remember reading an article once, where they likened “deprogramming cult followers” to breaking in a wild horse. The first few attempts seem futile. But the more they try to break in the horse, the angrier and more aggressive the horse becomes.

(Until, that is, the horse finally gives up and calms down.)

Similarly, the risk you run by calling out some marketer can, in many cases, strengthen that person’s position in the minds of their followers because you are in essence challenging belief systems. You are bashing not just the guru but their followers, too.

Thus, they will believe in their guru even more, and even vocally and publicly defend them. But in reality, what they are doing is defending their own belief systems, for fear they’d realize and must acknowledge they were wrong all along. And people hate that.

As the saying goes in the selling and marketing worlds, people fear making a bad decision. It’s human nature. And it’s the basis behind cognitive dissonance (i.e., buyer’s remorse). That’s why we’re told to sell on emotion first and then back it up with logic.

When people make an emotional decision, they will search for logical reasons to justify their decisions to avoid the risk of feeling wronged, hurt, or duped, or being perceived as foolish among their peers. And among their own followers, if they have any.

A good example? Look at political debates.

Seldom will you see debates swaying any votes from either side. They only serve to strengthen the already preset opinions of each political candidate’s fan base. Statistically, debates are seen as useful only to attract undecided voters to their camp.

(Many come out of such debates more confused and undecided than before, too.)

If people bought from questionable marketers in the past, if their purchase happened to turn out to be relatively good, and if they’re in the process of buying more products from them, then they, too, don’t want to feel like their original purchase was a bad decision.

This is particularly true if they were supportive and even raved about it publicly. Nobody likes being wrong. But more important, nobody wants to be seen as being wrong. Everyone wants to save face. So naturally, they try to avoid buyer’s remorse.

So they turn a blind eye to anything that might cause them such remorse.

That’s why, in many cases, they stubbornly reinforce their decisions and staunchly defend their beliefs, out of their need for self-preservation, and to assuage their innate fears and insecurities. (Abraham Maslow’s pyramid of human motives comes to mind.)

Finally, a final comment on naming names.

Fingerpointing does offer relief to some, and creates cheering fans for others. But in large part, they run the great risk of degenerating into endless pissing matches that lead to nowhere, except to more hurting, more name-calling, and even more fingerpointing.

If my experience as a forum owner is any indication, it can be perceived as no more than a playground, push-and-shove fight, where onlookers cheer on their preferred playmate.

When caught, both point the finger at each other, shouting, “He started it!” Which inevitably lands the two in the principal’s office, regardless of who’s at fault.

Lynn Terry made a superb point on her blog when she was defending herself in the face of similar accusations that resulted from Ryan’s blog post. She wrote a post in which she said, “People who put titles on me do so only to define themselves.” Wonderfully said.

While she may be talking about being labeled as a “second-rate guru,” I think it fits nicely those among the guru crowd who have the brazen audacity to label their affiliates, clients, or non-clients as “losers.” Unfortunately, many have. Even publicly.

So to conclude, I often think of the saying that says, when you point one finger at someone, four more are pointing right back at you. And for that reason, we wrote the report as a way to extend a helping hand rather than point any fingers much less wag them.

The Future of The Internet is Cloudy

by Michel Fortin Leave a Comment

One of the things I love about new year’s is reading about year-end predictions. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s my curious nature.

But I’m fascinated when I see where some people think we’re headed. There are some bloggers whose predictions fascinate me. Two have captured my attention: ReadWriteWeb and the Manhattan Marketing Maven.

And yes, even yours truly loves making them, too.

As with all predictions, it’s no different than flipping a coin. The law of averages kicks in. But it’s not a 50–50 ratio. A third will come true, usually dead on the money. Another third won’t at all. And the final third may come true, but not exactly as predicted.

I’m subjected to that same law, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Nevertheless, in keeping with that sacred tradition of new-year projections, prognostications, and picayune pontifications, here are two major areas I believe we will see happening in the new year, if not the near future. Are you ready? Here goes…

1. Internet Marketing Will Grow Up

Web 2.0 is essentially a sign that the Internet is growing up. It’s not fully an adult, yet. But I guess you can say it’s now a “teenager” rather than an “infant.”

As it went through puberty, it was an authority-challenging, angst-filled, hormone-raging, know-it-all, rebellious, moody, maturing, coming of age of sorts. It wants all the benefits of adulthood but without all of its responsibilities. It prefers to remain a child.

Internet marketing is an example. It’s growing, and will continue to grow, but not without its growing pains. It will explode, but the old way we used, and used to look at, Internet marketing is going to radically change. We’re seeing a lot of evidence of this already.

Yes, the industry is going through a major shakeup.

(As an example, our recent major announcement explaining the drastic change in the way we teach Internet marketing is a reflection, and the result, of this evolution.)

This shakeup will involve many different things. It’s partly due to new regulations, partly due to the recession, and partly due to people’s growing level of sophistication with the web. That’s why I believe Internet marketing will no longer be considered a “niche.”

In fact, Internet marketing will be less and less about…

Internet marketing;
Making money;
And gaming systems.

The industry has grown to the point where mass markets are crossing what Geoffrey Moore calls “the chasm.” In other words, it’s no longer a hot new niche exploited merely by geeky innovators and early adopters who wish to use the web to make a few bucks.

We’re going to see Internet marketing entering the mainstream. We’re going to see more and more people trying it for the first time — newbies to Internet marketing who want to find work or start a real business online. One that’s not about Internet marketing itself.

Stated simply, the landscape of Internet marketing — and the people in it, both the market and the marketers — is radically changing and will continue to change in 2010.

Take a look at all the major Internet marketing players online these days. One can instantly see how the roster has dramatically changed, even in just a few years. Many new faces have emerged, and many old ones have disappeared or gone underground.

By the way, I know some pundits claim otherwise — often to counter the many rumors that the Internet marketing industry is saturated, overpopulated, or dying altogether. They do so, particularly if they have a vested interest in it or a product related to it.

These pundits claim that the Internet marketing market is still a perfect niche to get into. I agree it’s alive and well, but I don’t agree it will be the perfect niche. At least, not the usual “Internet marketer selling Internet marketing to Internet marketers” niche.

(I often quote Paul Myers, who once said that the Internet marketing industry is made up of a bunch of incestuous cannibals. I think that quote is quite befitting, here.)

We’re going to see more and more diversification. More and more actual marketing principles, strategies, and tactics applied to the Internet. More and more strategies outside of Internet marketing, particularly outside the bizoppy, make-money arenas.

I’m talking about real businesses selling real stuff using real marketing strategies. And by “real” I don’t mean just physical products and hard goods. I include digital products, too.

I’m talking about businesses that sell non-Internet-marketing stuff. To me, too many products appear like ponzi schemes, where someone teaches how to make money online, and the way they make their money is by selling… their make-money product.

No. I mean real stuff. Not snake-oil. Not “secrets.” Not “how to game [technology, system, or website] to get a gazillion visitors or make a gazillion dollars overnight.” And certainly not circular, “Make money by becoming an affiliate of my make-money product!”

(OK, I know this sounds more like a rant than a prediction. But hear me out.)

True, when something new enters the scene, eventually we see its misuse, overuse, and abuse. It’s sad but inevitable. There’s the abuse of systems as well as the abuse of the people using them. Internet marketing is by no means any different.

But novelty usually wears off and the newness becomes lackluster over time. Any new tactic and market, as well as their abuse, have a shelf life. They die or they change.

You can only trick search engines, social networks, CPA networks, or whatever for so long, until these get wise to such tactics, change their algorithms, or become so saturated they kill off a large number of abusers in one vast, merciless cleanup attempt.

(Like the many “Google slaps,” for instance. Or the recent FTC changes.)

James Allen, author of “As a Man Thinketh,” wrote: “Circumstance does not make the man: it reveals him to himself.” It’s a beautiful quote, but to me it has a lot more meaning.

I think it’s a lot like another famous saying by Dr. Wayne Dyer, who once said, “If you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice.” In other words, when someone is under pressure, what comes out is really what’s inside. It’s who they are at their core.

The recession is one such pressure. Probably the biggest one.

When times are great, questionable tactics and borderline businesses tend to easily slip under the radar. People are not paying that much attention. And it makes perfect sense, since we have more disposable income to take risks trying new things.

But when times are tough, a marketer’s true colors start to shine through. Good, decent, honest, and ethical marketers stand out. Equally yet conversely, scammers, spammers, and smarmy snake oil peddlers seem to come out of the woodwork, too.

More importantly, when hit with financial stress, people are either extremely desperate and vulnerable, or extremely cautious and cynical. People’s bullshit detectors are on high alert. And it makes either side conspicuous, self-evident, and easier to spot…

… Be they good or bad, be they white hat or black hat, and be they market-focused or money-focused (i.e., selling at the service of others versus at the expense of others).

We’re going to see that dividing line getting thicker, and gray areas becoming less and less gray. And we’re going to see solid, long-term, real businesses selling real stuff becoming more distinct from the drive-by, one-hit-at-a-time, serial marketers.

Bottom line, don’t expect apple juice when squeezing an orange. If you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice. You get what’s truly inside, at their core.

Marmalade, anyone?

2. There’s a Cloud Hanging Over Us

One of the most recent developments going on with the Internet is the idea of cloud computing. I submit that cloud computing will become more and more popular, if not the norm. Whether you know it or not, you’re probably using it already.

Are you using an online backup service? Are you transferring files from one computer to another using a filesharing service, or perhaps a webhost? Or simply, are you using an autoresponder service rather than sending emails directly from your computer?

What cloud computing means is, rather than having all your files, software, multimedia, links, even peripherals, all centrally located on your computer, you can access, and work from, applications, files, and peripherals on, or distributed through, the Internet.

There are three levels of cloud computing:

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS).
Platform as a service (PaaS).
Software as a service (SaaS).

Infracstructure is where computers and hardware connect with each other via networks or, more significantly, the Internet — secure channels on the Internet, to be specific.

You may have heard of things like “Intranet.” Today, we are seeing an increase in VPNs (i.e., virtual private networks) and RDPs (i.e., remote desktops), where we can access other computers through the Internet, and do so remotely, privately, and securely.

Even in the home, we are seeing less of a need to buy multiple peripherals like printers, hard drives, and multimedia players, and using “servers” instead, within the home using Wi-Fi, to share those resources among multiple computers.

Secondly, cloud computing as for platform is the realm of the operating system and OS core services, like Windows for example. More and more operating systems and services are available on, and distributed through, the Internet as well.

For example, when you had no choice but to buy, download, or install Microsoft Office or some other compatible software to print a simple Word Document, now you can simply use Google Documents or ZoHo online. I even use it to convert documents in a snap.

Of course, Microsoft is not taking this sitting down. They are converting much of their software to a web-based format as well, such as the upcoming “Office Live.” Google is coming out with its own operating system, which will be almost completely web-based.

As for software, it’s self-explanatory. Just like Google Documents mentioned earlier, many programs, which used to be available in standalone executables, are now available online — either as pay-for-access, ad-supported, or password-protected services.

Even email clients are slowly becoming dinosaurs in a world where POP accounts are being converted into IMAP (where email is read, sent, stored, and manipulated directly on the server, without the need to download them, and no matter where you are).

If you’re a marketer, then you’ve likely encountered some form of cloud computing…

… From using Gmail for your email and using an online autoresponder service for building your lists, to communicating with staff, clients, or freelancers using social networks like Facebook, Twitter, BaseCampHQ, or other similar collaborative tools.

For example, ever since Sylvie and I have started using Amazon S3 for storing our multimedia files, we have saved a ton of money, bandwith, and resources by serving the files from a larger-capacity and much more robust service such as Amazon.

The key benefits, of course, is the intra-operability and cross-platform compatibility of working in a cloud environment. It doesn’t matter what kind of computer you have. All you need is a browser and an Internet connection, and you’re off to the races.

Sure, there are risks, such as exposing ourselves to hacker attempts — both while in transit through the Internet and once it’s saved in the cloud.

Granted, powerful encryption protects the information in transit. The safety of where the information resides is a bigger risk, in my estimation. So it’s doubly important to ensure the information is protected on high-quality, highly secure servers.

Above all, the biggest risk, of course, is your connection to the Internet itself. If you lose it or work on a poor connection, your ability to work via the cloud will be hampered. But as broadband becomes ubiquitous, this is becoming less of a concern.

Another big benefit are cloud-managed updates and upgrades.

Rather than forcing you to download the latest updates, the software or application can be centrally updated, behind the scenes in one fell swoop, for all its users. Just one flip of the proverbial switch, and bam! Everyone has the latest version. Instantly.

No need to wait for an update to propagate to all the users, or for users to uncover bugs as their systems and software configurations vary so significantly from one and other.

But the one area I want to focus our attention on is SAAS, that is, software as a service.

This area, I believe, will explode in the coming months if not weeks.

We are seeing more and more of this already: membership websites, online training courses, streaming multimedia programs, dynamic content, and web-based software — with ad-supported access, password-protected access, or full access at a recurring fee.

Take online photo editing services, like Picnik or Photoshop Express, for example. Rather than forcing you to buy a $800 gorilla like Photoshop, or its cheaper alternatives, you can easily upload, manipulate, and store photos online, either for free or a small fee.

Bottom line, if there’s something that needs to be done on your computer, chances are there’s an online application for it somewhere. Somewhere on the Internet, that is.

So my tip to you is, keep a watchful eye on what people are looking for.

If there’s a need somewhere or a problem that can be solved, don’t immediately jump to the idea of building a standalone software, infoproduct, or multimedia piece.

Instead, think of building a centrally located, password-protected, one-time signup or recurring-fee service model. Because there just might be a silver lining beyond that cloud — one you own that could potentially make you a lot of money.

Carve Your Niche By Dominating One

by Michel Fortin Leave a Comment

I was recently interviewed by a print magazine about how I started my business. In it, I offered several tips and ideas on how to carve a niche in the marketplace that I personally applied.

I realized some of these tips were particularly powerful. So I wanted to reprint some of my answers here for you.

If you know my personal story, you know how niche marketing played an important role in my career.

Long story short, as the child of an alcoholic I feared rejection immensely, which led to a reclusive childhood. We all fear rejection to some degree. But for me, it was debilitating.

I wanted to overcome my fears and decided to dive into the world of sales in order to fight them head-on. Years passed and many failures ensued until I finally became the top producing salesperson in Canada for a major Fortune 500 company.

How did I accomplish that?

Since I hated prospecting, I found more effective marketing strategies that caused high quality prospects to come to me instead of the other way around. I no longer had to prospect. I no longer had to be rejected. I no longer had doors slammed in my face.

In short, I went from prospecting to positioning.

In other words, I decided to specialize in a specific niche and deal with only a small percentage of the market — even though my employer did not require it of me. I positioned myself as an expert for a specific target market within that company’s larger market.

Even though I could sell everything to everyone from this employer, I decided to specialize in only one product line for one particular category of prospect.

The result? I appeared as a specialist. (I’ll come back to this later.)

Realize that doing so helped me to attract pre-qualified prospects to my door. I didn’t have to do cold prospecting anymore. I didn’t have to “bother people” to listen to my pitch. I attracted higher quality prospects who wanted me to help them.

People today are bombarded with so much information, commercials, and competition. Especially online. Prospecting, especially cold prospecting, is not only difficult but also next to impossible. (Unless you have a million-dollar advertising budget to risk.)

Thus, you have to market in such a way that causes those kinds of people to come to your business or website, and not the other way around. Like a magnet, if you will.

Therefore, rather than prospect for clients you must position your business as unique in a particular category or industry, or for a specific audience or market. By being unique and focused on a core market, you will naturally become the leader in that market.

With all the competition out there vying for your market’s attention, it is no longer possible to be better than the competition. The goal is to be different, not better.

In other words, don’t duplicate. Instead, differentiate! It’s better to be the leader in a small niche than an alsoran in a general one. You will naturally dominate that market as a byproduct rather than spinning your wheels trying to corner a market by brute force.

Being a general copywriter when I first started out would have pitted me against all the copywriters in the world, particularly all the top copywriters who were far better than me.

However, being a copywriter specializing in cosmetic surgery, which was my niche at the time, I naturally dominated that niche. I called myself “Success Doctor” because I helped doctors become successful. Through better copywriting and marketing, that is.

Today’s world has become overcommunicated, overadvertised, and hypercompetitive, it all appears as just one huge blur of sameness. If you attempt to be too general or too wide in your marketing approach, you will only dissipate among the blur.

People won’t see any greater value in buying from you than in buying from others.

One of the greatest errors committed by most new businesses is that they fall into a trap: they try to be “all things to all people.” And they do so because they are mislead by the notion that, by offering more (or by serving more people), they will generate more sales.

That’s understandable for the survival of any new business depends on the number of sales it makes. However, the more general you are or appear to be, the more indifferent you will appear to your audience. Indifferent to their specific needs, goals, and problems.

Based on the law of averages, you will have to advertise and market yourself quite heavily to be in front of as many eyeballs as possible, with the hope of attracting an adequate amount of prospects that will in turn translate into a certain number of sales.

Undeniably, this requires a gigantic advertising budget. Or a heck of a lot of time. For most new and especially smaller businesses, this is obviously quite a challenge.

It’s true that, the greater your reach is, the greater the potential quantity of responses will be. But what about quality? Would it matter if your business or website generates a large quantity of uninterested, tire-kicking visitors that will simply never buy from you?

Let’s look at the web. If your online business targets everyone, then your marketing message must be painted with broad brushstrokes as to appeal to everyone. The challenge with such an approach is the fact that you will lose a large percentage of visitors.

Some may fall into your target market, but most visitors will leave your website because they likely feel left out or have no interest. Others simply choose competitors that might provide them with greater perceived value. Even if they offer the same thing.

In other words, the broader you are in your appeal, the less relevant you will be to any and every individual visiting your site. Guess what becomes the deciding factor?

If you’re like (or perceived to be like) everybody else, then the least common denominator they have to work with is price. Price becomes the only metric of comparison. If there are no other points of differentiation, naturally the cheapest alternative wins.

Why? Because generalists have too many things in common. Therefore, pricing seems like the only difference. It will be the only metric used in comparing your value to others.

Sales will increase dramatically if your site is centered on a specific theme, product, industry, people, or outcome. A niche, in other words. (A niche can still be, or be a part of, the mass market. A large yet underserved mass market is still a niche, by the way.)

It’s about focus. For the more focused you are, the less you will need to produce a sufficient quantity of visitors to produce similar results by appealing to everyone.

A good niche is one that has three major qualities:

It exists already;
It’s easily identifiable;
And it’s easily targetable.

Let me explain why this is important.

The most common question I receive from aspiring entrepreneurs is: “What product should I sell?” (Or “what sells well on the Internet?”) Quite frankly, everything sells and can sell well — from pet food to travel packages — in some way, especially online.

In fact, everything is being or can be sold, somehow, in some form or another, on the Internet. But that’s not the problem. It’s not what you sell that matters. It’s to whom.

In other words, don’t look first for a product to sell. Look for an easily targetable market with an easily identifiable need or problem, and fill their need or solve their problem.

In order to achieve this, you need to be observant and listen to the needs of the marketplace. Conduct some market research. If people seem to be asking for a specific solution to a problem, obviously it is because a niche exists that has yet to be filled.

Look at some of the questions people ask or the complaints they have. These are very good indicators that a need exists. Otherwise, the marketplace would be silent.

Once you find a viable niche, learn as much as you can from it. Everything will flow from that point. Follow this tactic and you will constantly find products to sell.

Simply put, don’t carve a niche. Rather, find one and fill it. Consequently, your marketing will naturally help to solidify your position and thus dominate that niche, rather than trying to “get more clients” by trying to appeal to and go after everyone.

Sure, there are ultra-targeted niches that are very small and limited. In such cases, the only way to remain profitable is to dominate several of them. Some people will go after a multitude of small niches. Others will go after smaller ones within a larger market.

This is called “market segmentation,” where you segment your marketing to cater to a wide variety of small niches. But for the scope of this article, let’s just say that narrowing your focus will attract not only more prospects but far more qualified prospects, too.

How do you dominate a niche?

It doesn’t need a lot of work, really. When you position yourself as the expert in a niche, you naturally dominate it through the power of leadership. Leadership is not the result of an action or an event. It’s a position, one based on the power of perception.

If you offer a customary product or service, or if your competition offers the same thing you do, catering to a niche helps to project an aura of uniqueness and superiority instantaneously by virtue of the fact that it doesn’t appear as customary.

Rather than copying your competition, you isolate yourself from them.

For instance, if you required brain surgery, would you choose a dentist? Of course not. More importantly, would you choose a general, medical practitioner, even a general surgeon? No. You would probably choose a neurosurgeon. A brain surgeon, in other words.

It’s the same thing for direct marketing. If you owned an imported car that needed new brakes, would you choose any general mechanic? Or, if one existed, would you choose one that not only specializes in brakes but also specializes in imported cars?

Expertise is in the eyes of the niche.

You become the leader not because you are superior but because you are different. You’re going from being indifferent to your market to being different to them.

Specialization is in itself a powerful marketing process that, as a byproduct, generates the perception of expertise. It’s amazingly effective in creating top-of-mind awareness.

Contrary to popular opinion, focusing on a seemingly smaller niche doesn’t lessen your chances of making sales. Quite the opposite. For example, an accountant specializing in car dealerships will acquire more clients than a general accountant will.

An advertising salesperson specializing in home furnishing stores will sell more ads than a typical salesperson will. A photographer specializing in weddings will get more photography bookings than a regular photographer will. And the list goes on and on.

As more businesses get started, and the more inundated with marketing messages our society becomes, then the less time, energy, and money people will have to spend in choosing the companies or websites with which they will do business.

Thus, specialization helps to solve that problem by projecting an aura of expertise.

Take a mechanic. Rarely would you call a general mechanic an “expert,” unless she has invested a considerable amount of resources in branding herself that way, or in educating herself deeply in the world of mechanics backed by many years of experience.

On the other hand, it would be easy to dub a mechanic — even a new one, with no experience — that specializes in imported car brakes as an “expert mechanic.”

Similarly, by finding, filling, and dominating a niche, you can become an expert by default — not by design. You become an expert as a natural byproduct. In other words, a generalist is just a marketer. But a specialist is an expert. That’s the difference.

Can Copy And Content Commingle?

by Michel Fortin Leave a Comment

Last year, a bunch of copywriters who also blog — like yours truly — shot the breeze on the Nuts and Blogbolts talk radio show.

It was an interesting and at times spirited discussion.

After some talk about content and copy (or should I say, writing content versus writing copy), the show’s host, Mike Sansone, asked each panelist if we would individually respond on our blogs to this question:

“Writing for the visitor is more important than writing for the search engines. Can both be met without sacrificing quality?”

Ryan Healy posted his answer on the subject. Good answer. I agree with him, because he makes some great points. But I also disagree as I think there are ways around it.

So I guess my answer is both “yes” and “no.” Here’s why.

First off, I’m not a search engine optimization (SEO) expert by any stretch. However, I do know enough about SEO to know that it’s primarily based on three major factors:

Code, links, and content.

Let’s take a look at each one…

1. Code has to do with ensuring the content is presented in a way that makes it more appealing to the search engines. Said in a different way, the code is optimized so that the search engines can find your content and read it more easily.

Why is this important? Because, in reality, your code not only helps search engines to find, crawl, and properly index your content, but also helps them present that content, when searched for, in a way that appeals to their users. Human beings.

2. Links are links within your content, as well as links to your content — the latter being more important, of course. When people link to you, they are indirectly telling the search engines your content is of value, and therefore of interest to their users.

Undeniably, this requires some writing skills, such as knowing how to write content that creates interest (i.e., what you write), and write it in a way that makes it interesting, too (i.e., how you write it). Which, by the way, is still copywriting. Isn’t it?

3. Content, which is third in this list but by no means the least, is the one on which the question behind this post really hinges. I think a better question to ask is, “Can you write content and copy at the same time?” Yes. But there are three ways of doing this.

Ways of doing it that doesn’t force one to sacrifice the quality of the other.

First, understand the difference between content and copy. To me, content informs. Copy invites. Content educates readers. Copy elicits a response from them.

But can you be both informative and response-driven, too? Absolutely.

I do believe that you can write content that’s appealing to both the search engines and its users. At the same time. (And really, it’s all about the audience, isn’t it?) To ensure it’s capturing readers’ attention and informing them, while also generating a response.

Personally, I don’t spend time on keyword optimization, keyword density, or things of that nature. I simply try to create good content. I look at it this way: I try to give what my users want, and by the same token I will naturally give what the search engines want.

So the objective is to focus on your audience. Find out what they want and bring value to them. Because that is why your website exists in the first place, whether it’s to educate or to sell. (It’s also what makes copy truly compelling in the first place, too.)

In terms of what kind of content to write, you can post a lot of it so that you naturally multiply your keyword density. You can focus on a particular niche so that you can zoom in your target audience. And you can also write content that’s buzzworthy, too.

Do either one of these, and you will naturally attract a lot of organic traffic as a natural byproduct, without much extra effort. That’s been my sole, core strategy for as long time.

But what about blending copy? Well, if you want to maximize your content and make it response-driven at the same time, I believe there are three ways to accomplish this:

Guiding
Funneling
“Newsifying”

1. Guiding

The content guides people into taking action, whether it’s directly or indirectly.

You can certainly turn your content into copy to a degree. You use the content itself to elicit a certain response from your audience, or add copy to existing content to accomplish this. (The converse is what I call “newsifying,” and I will come back to it later on.)

Press releases, product reviews, and even articles can be both educational and promotional. But guiding can also be as simple as adding links or forms within the content, and even adding words or phrases that lead people to take a certain action.

Therefore, the copy may or may not be part of the content proper. If it is, you can massage your content so it leads the reader. Even if it’s just a few key phrases or pieces of transition copy, like “keep reading for…” “later on I will…” “next you should…” and so on.

But it can be separate and distinct from the content, and can either blend within the content, or be placed in sidenotes, in pullquotes, in Johnson boxes, or in sidebars.

However, in the case of a strictly long-copy salesletter, I agree your aim is to elicit a response and not satiate the engines. If you were to optimize your copy for the search engines, its quality may suffer at some point. So the trick is to find the proper balance.

As the saying goes, you can’t be all things to all people.

But this is where the next two options come into play.

2. Funneling

This is the process of using content to generate organic traffic, such as on landing pages, and siphoning that traffic to a copy-focused, response-driven page, site, or salesletter. It can be part of the same website, or it can be on another site altogether.

These content-only pages are beacons or baits that attract people who are interested in the content first and foremost, and are then led to take action elsewhere. Unlike “guiding,” this step involves two separate processes that are distinct from one and other.

Now, these may be concurrent or not. For example, you can funnel traffic to another page, or through a multi-step process where one only occurs after the first has been completed. Such as with optin pages, or what is often referred to as “reversed optin.”

For example, we see this in part with product launches that deliver content beforehand to increase exposure, create interest, and build lists of eager subscribers who are later notified when the product is launched and the sales copy published.

But whether it’s concurrent or consecutive, when you really think about it you are still directing your visitors, are you not? So the content acts like copy, to some degree. It’s still calling for some kind of action, even if it’s to get people to read more.

3. Newsifying

This third step is where the two blend.

The term “newsifying” means turning copy into some kind of newsworthy piece — such as copy that tells a good story, reads more like an article or editorial, or educates the reader whether they take action or not. It’s a salesletter in disguise, in other words.

Rather than adding copy to your content (as in “guiding,” above), in here you are doing the opposite. That is, you are adding content to your copy, or converting your copy into an informative, valuable, newsworthy piece in and of itself.

Even though the purpose is to elicit a response (a sale, in most cases), by making your copy read like an educational piece you also make it more palatable to both users and search engines — and perhaps even more so, since you’re not overtly promotional.

In other words, it appears as a softer sell, where the content doesn’t appear as an outright promotional or sales piece. But it’s not necessarily a “soft-sell” in all cases, too. You can newsify your copy and still be strong, hard-hitting, and benefit-rich.

For example, in my white paper, The Death of The Salesletter, I talk about the increasing popularity in copy that’s newsworthy, intriguing, and informative, rather than copy that’s overtly hypey, aggressive, and mimicking every other salesletter out there.

Tests show that salesletters providing valuable content in themselves are getting better results than salesletters that appear salesy, over the top, and patronizing. These look less like salesletters and more like articles or editorials (think “advertorials”).

Here’s a forinstance: you sell an information product on how to reduce stress. Rather than a salespiece that extols the virtues of stress reduction and the benefits of owning your product, you can write a free report on 16 tips for relieving migraines without drugs.

While the report talks about how to relieve headaches naturally, it connects with the effects of stress and how reducing it can help. Later, you introduce your product.

People will not only understand the real problem behind most headaches and become better educated on all the other effects caused by stress, but also understand the benefits of reducing it, and therefore the benefits of owning your product and ultimately buy it.

(Of course, I’ve just pulled this example out of thin air for illustration purposes only. I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But hopefully, you get the picture.)

Anyway, this is just one example. There are so many different ways of doing this. In the above scenario, you write content that logically fits with your product or market.

But you can also pull one topic from the many covered in your product, offer content that teases your audience to want to know more, or provide content that’s separate from your product but proves it, supports it, or emphasizes any of its key benefits.

(These articles are mini-salesletters in disguise, in other words.)

Nevertheless, the answer to the initial question is to use one of the above three steps. But in the end, keep in mind that we don’t — and shouldn’t — write for the search engines. Not really. Even when we do or think we do, we are still writing for the visitor.

Search engines exist primarily to help people find information. So the sacrifice, in many cases, is caused not by writing more for one or the other, but when we stray from either one by failing to focus on our audience and instead focus too much on ourselves.

Because I believe the more you focus on what people want and give it to them, the easier it will be to get both the search engines and your visitors to do what you want.

After all, it’s all copy.

Superior Value Equals Superior Sales

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