The written word is the strongest source of power in the entire universe. – Gary Halbert

For those of you who have never heard of Gary Halbert he was perhaps one of the top copywriters of all time. He passed away in 2007 long before his time but during his time, he was able to teach himself copywriting, how to sell via the written word, and grew to become a legend in marketing circles world wide.

Here is a great video of Gary speaking at The System Seminar, run by web marketing legend Ken McCarthy. It’s pretty funny and worth 4 minutes of your time.

If you’d like to sample some of his writing, check out what remains of the Gary Halbert letter, at one time the most popular marketing newsletters of the day.

Hope you enjoyed the quote and the video!

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Let me clarify what I mean: you’re looking at taking the kids to your parents place on the weekend so on Tuesday the week before you mention it. You then bring it up again on Thursday. By the time Friday or Saturday roles around, they have the idea firmly planted in their minds that “we’re going to grandma’s on Saturday” plain and simple.

I call this “planting the seed”. It’s a concept that works with kids, with friends, family and last but not least it will work with your customers, prospects and staff as well.

It’s often much, much easier to ask for the sale or take the next step in the sales process (aka relationship) with someone if you’ve been prepping them and planting the idea to do so well ahead of time.

A small percentage of people at any given time will be buying from you. A slightly larger percentage of people will be warming up to the idea and approaching the buying stage. But a much, much larger percentage of your prospects, and even your current customers, will be in that group of people who will buy from you at some point, if only you stay in touch with them long enough.

You need to be “planting seeds” with these groups on an ongoing basis. It’s not just about follow up, but following up with a purpose.

The concept of planting seeds is one that can be used via social media platforms like twitter and facebook or via your blog, and definitely applies to your email list and can even be used in direct mail by use of three part direct  mail sequences. The important point to grasp is that ideas take time to germinate in people’s minds.

Whatever business you are in, whatever lists you own or have access to, what seeds could you be sowing  that will at some point benefit you and your business?

Give it some thought and then take action by putting relevant ideas in front of those you want to do business. And don’t forget to harvest when the time is right!

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If you missed Apple’s homage to him, here’s what their home page looked like moments ago:

I’m not one to spend a ton of time mourning for the dead (with the exception of loved ones and family) but I have to say it’s a sad day.

Jobs was and will remain a legend in not only the technology industry but world wide due to his powerful life story and of course the company he built that has impacted soo many of our lives.

Personally I only started using Apple products again this year after many, many years of being away from the fold. I’m hooked again. Despite not being engaged with its products for years, it has been impossible not to follow Apple’s rise and Job’s triumph of taking Apple from the brink to a dominant world player.

R.I.P Steve.

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You may have heard the saying “He who controls the gold, makes the rules.” Or some such variation. Well for some time the new rule has been “He who controls the traffic, makes the rules.” And in the online world, that means that Google can do pretty much anything it wants.

Case in point:

Earlier today Mashable announced the launch of Google’s new financial advisory site Google Advisor.

After taking a look at the site and the sign up process visitors are encouraged to go through to apply for credit cards and bank accounts and mortgages, I realized this site is simply a competitor to sites like creditcards.com which is a very well known affiliate site. So essentially Google has setup its own affiliate site and has become an affiliate of several credit card companies, banks and mortgage providers.

For those of you who do not know what affiliate marketing is, it refers to an independent marketer who sells a company’s products and services for a commission. Affiliate marketing is a huge business and there are very few well known brand names that don’t have some kind of affiliate program. (Amazon is well known for paying  a commission every time you sell one of their books for example.)

The affiliate marketing game has stirred much controversy over the years as many affiliate sites and affiliate programs have been deemed shady, spammy, and of low quality. Google has, in the past, banned tens of thousands of affiliates from using Google Adwords, removed their sites from its organic listings and basically made it difficult for many of them to do business.

So it’s interesting to see them jumping into the space and going head to head with the very people they seem to vilify.

But that’s what you can do when you control massive amounts of traffic. You can make your own rules.

Main take away: Don’t be naive about Google.

It’s not a good thing or a bad thing that Google has launched an affiliate site in my mind. It just is. But don’t think for a second that your favorite search engine might not come after your industry or even your own website if it sees you are making good money. Using Google Analytics, Google Webmaster tools, Google Adwords, the Google Toolbar, and Google.com among other services , Google amasses huge amounts of data it can then analyse and use any way it pleases. So be aware.

Here’s my reply to Mashables post:

Ben, this is a Google version of credtcard dot com which is an affiliate site. So while this looks like a simple “comparison” site, really Google is in fact earning commission for any account that you sign up for through this site whether it be a mortgage, credit card or other service. Just about anyone can sign up to be an affiliate of a credit card company and Google (who happens to own their own affiliate network for those of you who don’t know) is simply copying a business model that has been highly profitable for some of their own partners. So don’t be fooled people: this is a “make money when our visitors apply” business, an affiliate business. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, it’s a valuable service. I do find it ironic that Google battles with affiliates that use its search engines, banning groups of them and what not, and then they turn around and use the model themselves. But that’s what you can do when you control the traffic! It’s not about gold anymore, it’s “he who controls the traffic makes the rules.”

- AK

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The new service allows advertisers to publish text messages on blimps that will circle major events such as the super bowl.

If you have an Adwords account, you should see a notice like this one:

If you follow the link, you’ll be taken to the following page where you can sign up for Blimps:

And if you sign up, you get presented with a screen that says:

It’s been a few minutes since I signed up and still no blimp in site flying over Vancouver like I requested. Perhaps there’s a time delay?

- Adam

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Turns out Frank has written a new book on online marketing and is running a contest of sorts to figure out a title.

In this post I give you a break down of the process Frank uses to get people to sign up for the free book. I went through the process myself  just a few minutes ago and was impressed enough that I had to write a quick post detailing what I observed as I went through each step.

Here are my observations:

1. a) The call to action does not appear until the video has run its course, then the facebook logo is replaced with an image that contains the call to action.
b) The facebook button allows people to like this which adds a post to their facebook profile so their friends can find out about this site. The facebook like button also provides social proof of the number of other people who like this video.
c) The video has no controls so you either watch it or pause it or leave- there’s no indication of how long it will take. I think this plays to people’s curiosity and focuses them on the message rather than playing with the video.

2. He is getting people to pay $6 in shipping for a free book. This allows him to identify buyers and screen out people who aren’t willing to spend. (I signed up and paid the fee by the way.) If you’re willing to watch a video and pay $6 for something, chances are very good that you will pay $99, $199, $499 and so on. Really a buyer is a buyer is a buyer! (I can vouch for this because I am definitely a buyer!)

3. a)The best time to sell something to someone is immediately after they have bought something from you. This is why on the screen after you input your payment information, he presents two more offers.
b) You only have to check off a box and hit confirm on the second and third offer screens because you have already input your payment info. This makes it really easy to buy.

4. On the final screen he presents a final fourth free offer of a webinar. Great example of multiple attempts to engage visitors and collect their contact information and move them along a funnel. The webinar sign up indicates further interest and will give Frank additional opportunities to follow up with people and present additional offers to them.

5. The entire site, the video and the process are very clean, professional looking, and easy to follow and use. It makes buying and signing up simple and straight forward.

6. This is a great example of replacing the long form sales letter type capture page with an elegant solution that uses video to deliver a compelling sales message and offer.

Want to learn by doing  AND get a free book at the same time? Visit https://www.frankkern.tv/book to see what I’m talking about.

Hope you enjoyed my summary!

- Adam

PS: If you want a tool to embed videos, here is the one Kern uses: http://www.longtailvideo.com/players/jw-flv-player/

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As some of you may or may not know, I earned a spot on the B.C Floorball team this year and will be representing B.C this Saturday and Sunday as we take on Alberta and Ontario.

For those of you new to Floorball, it is the sport that all the Scandanavian NHL’ers grow up playing and use to train their stick handling abilities. In that part of the world Floorball is far, far bigger than ice hockey and matches draw huge crowds.

It is growing rapidly here in B.C and in the rest of Canada and is being adopted by a growing number of young and old hockey players and fans alike. This would be a great thing to bring your kids out to if you have them.

Take a look at this promo video for the World Floorball Championships from last year. If it inspires you to come out on Saturday, then I will see you at the Richmond Oval!

Oh, and be sure to pass this on to anyone you know who plays hockey, or ball hockey- kids included!

Saturday Games:

• 2:00 to 4:00 BC VS Ontario
• 6:00 to 8:00 Alberta VS BC

Sunday Games:

• [Maybe 8:00am (if we finish second or third...)]
• Final Game: 12:00 noon

Adam

PS: I will be playing defense and rest assured, as I am not a “finesse” player, you can be certain to see some aggressive play when the ball comes into our end. Stick handling is not my forte, but I take great pride in my shot blocking ability and using my size to steamroll the opposite team’s forwards!

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Here’s a quick look at what’s currently hot in the world of digital media and marketing:

1. Facebook

This is probably not a surprise but…

According to this chart from emarketer, Facebook’s revenue will reach $4 Billion by year’s end and apparently they brought home over $1.8 Billion in bacon in 2010.

Surpassing the 500 million user mark in 2010 and having a hit movie released all about its founding, you might say 2010 was the year of facebook. And 2011 looks like it’s going to be even more, and more, and more about: you got it….facebook.

Canadian companies would do well to note that as of this exact moment in time (9:46 AM on Tuesday January 18th) facebook has 16,636,880 Canadian members, or right around 50% of the population.

So if you still think your customers and prospects can’t be reached using this massive social beast, think again. Facebook’s pay-per-click marketing system is one of the most highly targeted advertising platforms in the world. You might want to check it out.

On a related note: something to keep an eye on is Facebook credits. Right now they are used to make purchases in facebook games or apps that run on facebook. In the future, it’s possible they will be used for all sorts of transactions online and who knows…maybe offline too.

2. Groupon

Groupon brought us social shopping or social deals in a big, big way. The interesting thing about the site in my opinion is that it’s taken a really old concept, that of offering coupons, to a new level and new heights by requiring people to share the coupons with their friends socially. It’s working brilliantly and rumor has it that Groupon has an IPO in the works for $15 billion. (Yes, that deserves a source and I have so many tabs open right now that I completely lost it..)

Keys to Groupon’s success include: social sharing of coupons, local focus, heavy discounts, massive traffic volume. Advertisers sell their wares at huge discounts on Groupon and in return they get a massive influx of new customers. They key to making this work is to make sure you have a way of encouraging repeat orders from those who redeem their coupons. Otherwise you’re sacrificing gross for net. I’m guessing social media strategists will soon ad some form of Groupon marketing to their services lists soon if they haven’t begun to do so already.

3. Twitter

Still hot. The question of “is it worth my time?” still lingers. At least for people who place a value on their time. Most do not.

4. Social Games

Huge…has been for some time. Not on most people’s radar yet as unless you’re a gaming company or a gamer, the impact or potential use or benefit to most businesses is hard to see. If you don’t know who or what Zynga is by now, you need to be taken out back and shot. No excuses.

5. Apps & Mobile

It’s hardly worth mentioning one without the other. In a single word: Massive. A post on Wired recently suggested that app use is outgrowing our use of the web. All things iPad and iPhone are kicking but right now. Apparently the Mobile App market is going to be worth $25 Billion by 2015 and is on track to have a 29.6% growth rate over that time period.

Honorable mention:

Quora. Trending upwards. Check it out.

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So this post is giving you the down low on what I’ve been up to. It will not be a how to guide of any sort and will have little to do with you learning Internet marketing tactics or strategy, although it will have to do with marketing and the web because that’s what most of my business life is about.

Yes, this month I participated in Movember and grew a mustachio and raised money for prostate cancer. For the men reading this, if you do not know what Movember is, see the link above and mark it in your calendar to participate next year. It’s a blast and it’s for a good cause. Your significant other will likely not be impressed but life’s not fair so suck it up and join the millions of men standing together once a year and do your part!

Aside from Movember, business has been busy. I have been to Chicago twice this year, the last time in Chicago to meet with a couple of mentors of mine in the CPA industry. For those of you who don’t know what that is, CPA marketing is a form of affiliate marketing where you generate leads (e.g a form on your website or someone elses website is filled out as a result of traffic you sent to the site) and you get paid a commission on each lead generated.

I paid a small fortune to sit in a room with two guys who generate in excess of $350,000 per month between the two of them to learn their tips and strategies for lead generation. I want to spend more time talking about that experience but I’m low on time tonight. Needless to say, that meeting, those 8 hours will likely have a large impact on the direction of my business in 2011.

In 2010 I invested close to $10,000 (final tally not complete) in my marketing education. This includes the event above and in a future post, before the year is out I want to tell you more about what I invested that money in, what I learned and how I will be changing what I do based on all of that. 2011 is shaping up to be a major year of change for me.

I’m at the risk of beginning to ramble here but as things stand now, I think 2010 was the last year I will tell people I am an Internet marketing consultant. I’m not 100% certain of that but that’s the way things are looking. I am changing my focus. This does not mean web marketing or digital marketing will not be a part of what I do, but the scope of my business, the services I provide and the industries I will serve (and not serve any longer) it’s clear all of that is about to change. My eyes have been opened to a new way of doing things and a new way of thinking about business and marketing and sales in the past few months- and new business models. Soo many new ideas that I’ve encountered since October that I am taking some time off to digest and then change the direction of my work.

As if I couldn’t be any more vague in this post, I’ll finish it off by saying it’s been an awesome year. It’s not quite over and you will hear from me again before it is but it has been good. I now understand some things about business and marketing that have been eluding me for years. I now understand some things that in my gut I knew I was missing and a lot of people I was listening to still don’t get. I’ve found some new sources of information and mentoring that I trust in and I’ve found new direction.

That’s it for the mini update.

Will be doing an end of year recap in December that explains things more fully and also gives you some of the major aha’s and big events (like getting engaged .

Talk to you soon.

A

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