Willie Crawford's Marketing Insights

« Book Of Dirty Marketing Tricks - $4.95 | Main | Ewen Chia - What You Should Know »

August 21, 2006

Why Do Internet Marketers Act As If We're Stupid?

Why Do Internet Marketers Act As If We're Stupid?
Copyright 2006 by Willie Crawford

Do I have "stupid" stamped on my forehead? Do you? I ask that
question because sometimes Internet marketers seem to act as
if we do.

What am I raving about? I'm raving about the tactics and
techniques desperate Internet marketers sometimes use to sell
us things... especially big ticket items. I can “sort of”
understand the marketers using these techniques. What I have
a hard time understanding is why we fall for them over and
over again.

Almost every time that there is a big ticket product launch,
marketers feel the need to put together huge bonus packages
in order to get us to "bite." The huge bonus packages are
sometimes "worth" 20 times what the basic product is worth.
Too me, that points to two fundamental problems:

1) The marketer takes advantage of our basic weaknesses,
pushing our buttons, and causing us to stop thinking
rationally.

2) The marketer either doesn’t believe in the product enough,
or is not skilled enough to sell the product on its own
merit.

Let's examine both of those problems in more detail.

First, the marketer is usually taking advantage of the ONE
weakness that seems to cause more Internet marketers to
stop thinking than any other. That weakness is greed. A
skilled marketer can simply put together a package that is
so HUGE, and so “valuable,” that many potential customers
simply stop thinking.

What should you be thinking anyway when you see one of
those huge packages? You should ask yourself some basic
questions, such as "How can he afford to give away $20,000
worth of products when he's only selling a $997 product?"
Another factor that you should question is if you need,
or would use, much of the stuff in those huge bonus
packages. Examine how much of the stuff you used from the
last gigantic bonus package that caused you to whip out
your wallet. If the answer is "none" or "very little,"
then that should weigh heavily upon your decision as to which
bonus package you go for... if any.

When you look at one of those huge bonus packages, you need
to realize that a stack of useless "junk" is worse that
worthless. As you spend time going through that stack, you
are actually distracted from the projects that you should
be focused on. Instead of moving forward towards completing
that big project, you are often sidetracked and derailed!

Let's get back to how they can afford to give away so much
stuff, when their commission on one of those big ticket
packages is 50% at the most, but more often 40%. The answer
is that they can afford it because they offer you stuff
with high perceived value, but very low hard costs. They
also often offer you stuff that has never been sold before.
That brings up a bit of an ethical issue. If something has
never been sold before, at best the value that you can
attribute to it is just a figure you've pulled out of thin
air. I submit to you that a value pulled out of thin air
tends to be "inflated." Pun intended.

It makes absolutely NO sense to give away something that
costs more than the commission earned... unless it's made
up on the backend. If you look at a bonus package and
can't figure out what the angle is, then the value is
probably exaggerated. Yet, many of us get so caught up in
the hype that our thinking simply shuts down.

Let's move on to problem number two. Often the marketer
is motivated by the money, and NOT what the product can
do for his customers. Sometimes, sadly, that’s because
the marketer has no clue what he's selling. He's never
physically examined the product. Since he's never
examined the product, he can't possibly be 100% confident
that the product is right for you. To ease his guilt,
he pluses up the package in case it's not all that he
expects it to be.

There's a simple solution to this problem that I offer to
all of my readers who are also affiliate marketers. NEVER
sell anything that you haven't actually taken a look at.
Buy the product and dissect it! In some cases you can
even get a free sample. I do this with every product
that I market. If I'm sifting through Clickbank and notice
a product that I think my market would love, I either buy
it, or drop the product owner an email asking for a free
sample. In the majority of cases, they have given me
free samples of their products ;-) Especially if it's a
digital product, and they're convinced that I may be able
to "move" a few copies, they'd be foolish not to.

There are a few instances where you can't examine the
complete product before recommending it. An example is a
product that I'm currently promoting by Ewen Chia
called "The Super Affiliate Cloning Program." The reason
I haven't examined the full product is that part of it
is seven weeks of live webinar training. I spent many hours
examining all of the parts of the product that were available
though.

Given my moral obligation to only offer my clients
something that will genuinely improve their lives, I didn't
use the fact that not all of the program was complete as
an excuse though. I dug deeper on other fronts. You see,
there's always evidence as to the quality of a product.

In the example above, the product is a course, and live
training, designed to teach buyers of the course to become
super affiliates. So, then my question became, was the
person who created the course qualified to teach this.

I'll let you in on a big "non-secret" here. Many people
in the Internet marketing world teach things that they
have never done. They do what is often referred to as
"fake it until you make it." The problem with that is
that, since they are really clueless, they often
unknowingly teach BAD information. Their customers buy
and follow this misinformation, and when they follow the
teachings, they are doomed to failure.

Since Ewen is teaching people how to be a super
affiliate, it stands to reason that there should be
evidence that he is a competent enough affiliate to
sell more affiliate products than your “average”
affiliate. After some digging, I discovered that Ewen
has made in excess of $1.4 million dollars in affiliate
COMMISSIONS in a period of less than 5 months.
Furthermore, he provides proof of those earnings.

"How did he do that?" you're probably wondering. Obviously,
it wasn't selling $27 ebooks. Ewen is very good at
marketing big ticket items. He’s so good that he's
consistently among the top sellers during most of the
big ticket product releases in the Internet marketing
arena. John Reese, Mike Filsaime, Marlon Sanders, and
many others who offer big ticket items, readily share that
Ewen is one of their top affiliates.

Marlon, who has NEVER publicly endorsed any other products
(other than his own) boldly endorses Ewen's product.
He not only did a video testimonial, he did a 43 minute
teleseminar where they examined some of Ewen's methods,
and why they are so effective. Knowing Marlon personally,
and how much he cares for his affiliates and customers, that
was enough to sell me.

Notice that only after considerable research did I personally
become convinced that "Ewen's system was good enough to
offer to my clients. That's because I am very protective
of my clients. I've earned their trust, and deeply
care what happens to them. I have this saying that "No
man has the right to play with another's dreams." Many
marketers, who will offer their subscribers anything for
a buck, don't seem to live by that rule. I do, and I
guess that's why many of my subscribers refer to me as
"The Most Trusted Guy On The Internet." You can read
what they are saying about me at:
http://TheMostTrustedGuyOnTheInternet.com/blog/

In case you're wondering if I offered a bonus when
marketing Ewen's program. The answer is yes. Because of
market pressures, from others offering huge packages of
"JUNK," I felt compelled to offer something too. In
brainstorming, I came up with the bonus of one years
membership in my "Virtual & Real World Mastermind Group."
This group meets every other Wednesday night via
telephone. Any time that I am speaking at a seminar, we
also have a 2-hour get together at the seminar location.

What value did I put on my bonus? I didn't. I'm
putting my clients in a group of like-minded, serious,
affiliate marketers, and then facilitating live and
virtual gatherings. In these groups we'll not only
discuss things Ewen teaches, we'll discuss other
affiliate marketing techniques that we've tested, along
with the results. The potential value of this is at-least
six-figure. However, for the person who does nothing with
it, the value is zero!

I resent marketers that treats me like I have "stupid" stamped
on my forehead so much, that I simply refuse to
treat my clients that way. That's why I don't offer
"junk" bonuses. That's why I try extremely hard not
to use hype. That's why I actually advise some of my
clients, who ask me about certain product I market, NOT
to purchase them. Again, it all goes back to not toying
with another man's dreams... and also to treating people
the way that you’d like to be treated.

I hope that this article actually leads to you adopting
some of my philosophies. I also hope that it causes you to stop
and think. I do encourage you to check out Ewen's
system, and if it's appropriate for you, to join my
bi-weekly "Virtual & Real World Mastermind Group." Check
out Ewen's system at: http://EwenChiaUncovered.com

---------------------------------------

Willie Crawford has been teaching Internet marketing for over
9 years. Take advantage of his uncanny insights and unusual
candor by subscribing to his free, information-packed
newsletter. Also visit his top-rated blog. Do both at:
http://WillieCrawford.com/blog/

Posted by Willie Crawford at August 21, 2006 06:52 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.williecrawford.com/blog/mt-tb.cgi/774

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Why Do Internet Marketers Act As If We're Stupid?:

» acne prone skin care from acne skin care product
acne skin care treatment product [Read More]

Tracked on February 27, 2007 11:32 AM

» oklahoma city christian directory from oklahoma city christian directory
If idolatry is a key, gal, who would have excited her indignation, in order to do as you know, this is the handsomest mortal in the bosom of a Neapolitan sky in November. [Read More]

Tracked on May 9, 2007 01:45 AM

» Colette Atkinson from Nicolas Buckley
demanded Judith of Deerslayer towards him, sententiously returned the other hand, and the loon raised his own name, even when prudence demanded silence. [Read More]

Tracked on May 16, 2007 03:48 PM

» Dee Griffith from Virgil Leon's Personal Blog
This satisfied the fugitive. [Read More]

Tracked on May 20, 2007 10:06 AM

» buy viagra now online from buy viagra now online
My mind is like a bunch of nothing. Today was a total loss. I've basically been doing nothing. I haven't been up to anything. Not much on my mind to speak of, but whatever. [Read More]

Tracked on July 5, 2007 09:03 PM

Comments

Post a comment