Dan Morris – Page 58 – Audience Industries

Ladder of Value: Moving customers from $7 to $1,500

The Ladder of Value isn’t something you’re going to learn about in school. In fact, this may be the only time you’ll ever hear about it, but I guarantee that it will not only make sense to you – but will likely shift your thought process in your marketing efforts.

The premise is simple. If you want to get hired to be the Keynote speaker at the biggest convention in your niche, you’re going to have to move the people who book the speaker from knowing nothing about you, to getting pat on the back for hiring you. Sending them a resume and a request to speak is not going to cut it.

However, by providing great information, insightful content and helpful, regular postings you can easily move someone from a point of ignorance, to respect, to paying customer. For example a very well thought out free e-book can interest a customer in a webinar, and then perhaps a workshop to hear you speak. That kind of value can beget personal coaching or weekend symposiums.

The ladder of value is a logical, merit based way of proving to your ultimate goal client that you are indeed worth the $200,000 you’re asking to be the convention’s keynote speaker. It also fits hand in hand with the customer’s natural “buying process”. Here’s more:

Get your customers to market your small business with video

Video is powerful. Did you know that people watch more internet video these days than they do television? Did you know that Google indexed video as it does everything else and will place it on the first page of results ?Did you also know that 95% of people watch internet videos to the end? They don’t stop in the middle.

That says 1 thing quite clearly – video is powerful!

So, why not use that to your advantage? If you’re a small business, why not have a contest challenging your customers to make great videos about your company and putting them on YouTube. Tell them what the title needs to be (like Nashville’s Best Pizza) and let them know if you can find it, you’ll judge it and award the winning video a free pizza or Cadillac or something. . . Make it valuable and your customers could very well start marketing your business for you.

To make it even sweeter, if you use WordPress (or could build a site using it), you could display all the videos in the same place using the TubePress plugin. All it requires is that you log-in to YouTube, add all the videos you’d like to a playlist, then tell TubePress the playlist ID. That’s it. It will create a page with all the videos on it – no code necessary.

Consider that! It’s a great way to get some marketing help from your customers.

The NAMS 6 Toolkit is Here!

This is it. You’ve come to the right place. The NAMS 6 Action Guide is complete.

Managing Customer Expectations and Your Business

I took the kids to Chicago this 4th of July to see the fireworks. Why wouldn’t I? The fireworks should be fun, full of magnificance (if that’s a word) and should awe you. That was my first mistake. For one – an 8 and 6 year old can be awed by a sparkler they hold in their hand. I’m sure the local fireworks would have been just fine. But I had bigger things in mind for them.

Chicago. The Windy City. The Willis Tower. Oprah. The Bears. . .

Chicago is big. Chicago Crime is big. Chicago Politics are big. And I could have sworn the fireworks were big.

Chicago, on the other hand, has issues. For their annual Fireworks Show they have to manage traffic, congestion, the city’s metro transit system, the police and their budget. Well this year they decided to solve all those problems with one fell swoop. That’s right. Chicago decided it was time to manage their city – not be managed by it.

So they took their firework budget and divided into three parts. Then proceeded to plan three separate fireworks shows. Each of the three shows were on beaches miles apart. This would keep the congestion in the city down, congestion on the metro down and allow lots of people to see the show.

What they didn’t tell those of us going to see the Fireworks Show was that the fireworks budget itself was cut in three. So each of us, with Big Expectations, sat down for a fireworks show that lasted no more than 14 minutes.

The question Chicago should ask (and in turn a small business) is what is the long term impact of that? I probably won’t drag my kids to Chicago to see the fireworks ever again. So the $300 we spent there will now go elsewhere. And it’s not because they didn’t put on a show – it’s that they didn’t meet the expectations of the audience.

You have to manage your business – there’s no doubt about it. But know that your customers have expectations that need to be met, exceeded or explained ahead of time.

In the online world, sometimes that means doing things the way others have done them – which is the way consumers come to expect. If you’re going to make big changes that will greatly benefits your business – make sure you look at the new changes from the eyes of the consumer. Do your beneficial changes really benefit everyone?

Please share a moment when your expectations weren’t met? And how do you feel about going back.

A Darryl Worley Live Concert local business marketing example

Tonite I went to a Darryl Worley concert – for free. In fact, when my wife told me this morning that we had to go to the kids’ Vacation Bible School evening mixer, I was less than enthused. But when she told me the real Darryl Worley was going to be performing a live concert there – my eyes perked up. How could that be?

(The answer is simple – this is Tennessee) 🙂

So there we are in the parking lot of the church and Darryl Worley is playing under a tent. Following him are a few other acts – otherwise the entire event was pretty family focused and centered on food and kids games. But that’s not the point. (Although the idea of a huge music star playing at a local church “picnic” is pretty cool.)

The point is Darryl Worley and these other two acts had an incredible opportunity to send people to their website to get on their mailing list. Now Darryl Worley is not hurting for fans – so this is probably not something he would do, but for you or me this is Gold.

Whatever you are. . .a musician, magician, poet, speaker or even street performer this is something you should be doing. One thing that’s great about performing live is the visual experience that aids the audio. A song on the radio might not be too catchy, but hear it among hundreds of dancing fans and you’ve got a new experience. Well, that experience likes to be remembered.

People love capturing memories. So in that manner – record your public performance and offer it to the crowd for free if they go to your website and download it. And while they are there, make the give you their name and e-mail to get access to the file. Imagine going to a concert in the park and being given the .mp3 recording of it for free. How cool.

These music artists who performed tonite may have created fans. But without the ability to reach those fans in the future – they’ve built nothing. The hope that people buy your album that comes out next fall is the same whether you gave a live concert or not. It’s still just hope. But get them on a list and you can tease them to death until you’ve built up enough anticipation they absolutely want to buy it.

If live events aren’t for the sole purpose of creating fans – then what are they for? And if you’re going into a live event without a plan to back-up that event – you may as well not go.

Have a moment when you could have used recorded the audio or video but didn’t? I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment!

The NAMS logo contest

I look forward to the day that I have to come up with a logo like David Perdew is doing with his NAMS logo contest. That makes me think of George Lucas and how cool it must be to walk through the store and see Star Wars stuff everywhere. At some point he was sitting on a couch wondering if the idea of Star Wars would ever make it. And now look. . .

So I jumped on the chance to put together a logo entry for the contest. I visited the official site for the contest and quickly realized that some people are really good at it. So here’s my contest entry and what I was trying to produce:

I think logos need to be dynamic – not in the Wonder Woman sense, but in the idea that they can change. So I first wanted one that could change with the NAMS idea. What if it become strictly an on-line event at some point? What if it becomes a cruise event? Maybe even just a series of teleseminars? Or even all of the above?

I wanted a NAMS logo that could change with the wind.

Then I wanted one that represented online marketing. I toyed with the idea of the hub-and-spoke structure, something similar to the icon Twitter Grader uses. Then I flirted with David’s idea of building a site that makes $10/day and then starting on the next one – until you have 50. My thought process led nowhere.

Then finally I tried to come up with something that was common to all of that. And I ended up with the opt-in box. List building, newsletter sign ups and even my NAMS Action Guide come with an opt-in box. But more than that – to succeed you have to opt-in to the learning, to the time, to the commitment to the effort. No one is going to do it for you.

Success can not come to you, unless you first opt-in to the idea of it. So the idea is an opt-in box. There’s a spot for your name, and then a button to subscribe. In the case of the NAMS logo, there’s a spot for the event – and a button for succeed.

Simple really.

What I think would be cool is an animated logo on the site where different words fill in that area – which you could click to learn more about it.

Anyway, logos are cool. I look forward to the day my life needs a logo.

Local Marketing Strategy Template

How nice would it be to follow a template for local marketing strategy? In fact, I really wanted something I could put together and sell to all our clients. Who doesn’t really? How easy would that be to fill out some template information and then charge companies “big dollars” to get it done. Lucrative, for sure.

But we quickly found out that while a template sounds good – it won’t make the phone ring for the client. In fact, we’ve found the needs of our clients to be so incredibly different that only small parts fit into an overall formula. Basically our local marketing strategytemplates are no more than systematized paths. Continue reading “Local Marketing Strategy Template”

Google Starred Results – A New SEO tool

Did you happen to see the new “Google Starred Results” on your last search? It would have showed up at the top of the search results. It’s like an interactive “favorites” button – but one that stays in Google and not necessarily on your computer.

My question about Google Starred Results (and I see Wayne Liew has the same question) is whether they’ll play a part in the search engine’s algorithm. Since the entire web is moving from “factual proof” to “social proof”, it only makes sense that Google will weigh these stars as “social proof” that a web page is good.

Right now “links” and “traffic” are the ways Google measures “social proof”. (I’m way overusing quotes now, sorry). The more links a page has from other sites and pages on the net, the more likely it is that your page is “valued” by the general community.

As Facebook and Twitter take over as the leaders of social proof, will a combination of links from those sites plus the stars give a web page even more value to the search engines than either alone?

SEO is fun if you like puzzles. And I imagine being the guys that design the puzzles is pretty fun too. If Google wants to remain the top search engine, it continually must prove it returns the best most relevant results.

The question for us SEO lovers is whether Google Starred Results is just another piece of that puzzle for them, or is it just an added feature purely for the enjoyment of searchers?

So your task, if you choose to accept it, is to star not only your favorite sites as they come up in the search results – but your own sites. And if you’re a company with employees, I’d ask that you have them do it too.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world – so don’t hesitate. Step up and play ball.

NAMS 4 – A website owner workshop

Hey hey, NAMS 4 is coming up this August. This website owner workshop is a perfect opportunity to learn from experts. If you’ve had questions about Google AdSense, affiliate sales, creating your own products, increasing traffic or even how to use a virtual assistant – this is a great opportunity to grow.

This website owner workshop begins on Friday morning (yes, you have to take the day off) and continues through Sunday afternoon. We’re talking about 200 people who are working toward financial freedom through their on-line business. It doesn’t get better than that.

Crazily, even though the workshop is packed with real “experts” and internet savvy gurus, I guarantee you’ll learn as much from the other participants as you do from them.

I’ve gone to the previous 3 workshops and have propelled my business 100x what I was doing before. From that I’ve even joined a “mastermind” group which has further propelled the learning. And having lunch with people whose actions have brought them 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000 visitors a day has been enormously helpful.

I can’t begin to tell you about all the things you’ll learn that you’ve never even considered before. Typically on Saturday there’s a session everyone attends about creating your own product. And in that 90 minutes, not only do we create an audio product, but we also create a website, sales video and give out affiliate links that pay a 100% commission. Within 90 minutes you’ll see how to go from nothing to making sales. That’s an education all by itself.

Have you ever considered teleseminars? I bet you have and decided it wasn’t for you. But what if you could learn how to turn a teleseminar into 30 other products, how to turn it into a membership site? a book? a real cd people can order (managed by someone else)? a giveaway AND have it increase your traffic and sales. I tell ya! the sky is the limit.

So come to NAMS 4. Prepare to be dazzled with things you can do while you’re there, things you know you’ll do when you get home and ways to make money from your current business that never, ever even crossed your mind.

If you use the coupon code NAMS4MAY – you’ll get a significant discount on the registration price. Go to the NAMS Registration page and see for yourself. I can’t think of a better time investment.

Silly bands: A Lesson in Viral Videos

Silly bands are ridiculous. If you don’t have a kid under 10 years old, you might not know what these are. So, let me describe these silly bands. Picture a rubber band. Got it? It’s round and rubbery. Now, instead of round picture one in the shape of a giraffe. Thats it! That’s a silly band.

Now, these bands come in packs for 20 for $6. If you go to Staples, you can buy 2500 rubber bands for $4.50 – but Silly Bands – they command a premium. Similar to Talking Elmo and Cabbage Patch Kids, every kid has to have 20 of these bands on their wrist at all times.

So how do you translate this Silly Bands phenomenon into your next viral marketing strategy? You can’t. There’s no lesson to make this one of the great viral marketing examples. Why these rubber bands have gone completely viral among kids is beyond me. It’s beyond everyone actually.

If you’re the guy that created Silly Bands, please tell us what kind of revenue you projected to make when you came up with the idea. I doubt it was 1/100th of what you’re making now. If there’s a reason these things have gone completely nutty – please let us know.

It can’t possibly be marketing. First there was the pet rock. Then there was the hula hoop. And now – Silly Bands. I may just go outside and glue grass to kiwi – maybe that will sell.