Lotta buzz about Face® lately…

Buzz is fun, because I get to jump in the trenches and see if all of the buzz is true or not.

In my experience, Facebook&reg’ can be an awesome place to market stuff.

But during my tests on Facebook®, I came upon a huge reason to not spend too much time listening to anyone who’s sellin’ a course about it.

Here’s the reason:

It can mess with your head. And limit your success.

So why is it dangerous to listen to anyone about what’s good, what’s bad and how to get big results with Facebook® PPC?

Let’s take the topic of CTR.

The fact is, no one can tell you what a “good” CTR is on Facebook® or anywhere else.

Word on the street is that a “good” CTR on Facebook® is about .15%. Or even anything over .1%.

I guess you can say that’s good, unless you could be using your brain to get a CTR that’s double that and more.

You can do it. I’ve done it. It’s fun.

But if you go into it thinking that a .15% CTR is good, then that’s the bar you’ll use to measure your success.

So no offense to the gurus, but be your own guru. It can be more profitable that way. Because then you won’t have anyone injecting their ideas about what they believe is possible and what isn’t. Ideas don’t matter.

Proof matters.

This stuff just isn’t that hard. It just takes focusing on doing instead of focusing on learning about doing.

It’s not that you don’t learn when you buy a marketing course. But I think the things you learn from a course probably aren’t as important as the things you learn by actually doing the real work on your own.

Plus, by operating on your own, your brain isn’t thinking in the same way that everyone else’s brain is thinking. That, I believe, is a huge competitive advantage.

Now ultimately, CTR is only a small piece of the puzzle. At the end of the day, it’s the money you keep that counts right?

So you gotta keep that in mind.

So here are some Facebook® tips that work for me. Getting a high CTR on Facebook® isn’t rocket science. I think it all comes down to a few very simple steps.

Here’s what I know from my experience:

1. Make sure your offer belongs there in the first place. If you’re selling washers and bolts, I’m not sure Facebook® is the place for you. The biggest decision to make about Facebook® is whether or not you have a business/offer/product that even belongs there. Are your people on Facebook®?
2. You need a picture that interrupts. Something that gets people’s attention. Don’t worry about the copy, worry about the picture. Ad’s not working? My guess is that you need another picture or your demographic targeting stinks.
3. Get in quick… get out quick… It seems you can pretty much spot a winner or a loser in a few minutes after it starts to run… unless you’re in a niche that’s so small you have to wait to get a bunch of impressions. You want a high CTR from the beginning, because good things tend to happen from there on out. But I haven’t seen an ad tank at the beginning and then improve over time, so I make my decisions quickly.
4. Bid high. If your CTR is high enough, your actual click price can drop like a lead balloon automatically. I’m talking from like $.60-$.70 to like $.10-$.14 drop. Nice huh? All you have to do is get clicks.

Facebook® is a pretty cool place to get your stuff in front of a lot of people fast. I don’t think I’ve ever spent money so quickly… but in the end, it’s worth it if you’re smart

Related posts:

1. Buying Facebook Ads is Hard Work

I think quitting is underrated.

As I look back over my business life, there are a lot of things that I probably should have quit more quickly.

• I should have quit tech consulting the minute I realized that selling time for money had some real drawbacks.
• I should have closed some niche businesses when I realized that the impact they could make on the world was too small to satisfy me.
• I should have quit “searching” so hard for the answer to “what should I do?” when I realized that the act of teaching other people how to improve their lives is what makes me feel alive.

And now, as I’m ready to take everything in my life to the next level, I believe there are a few things still on my list to quit.

• I am going to quit making decisions based on fear.
• I am going to quit shielding my talents, my skills and my power.
• I am going to quit looking for answers in places outside myself.
• I am going to quit making “realistic” decisions that keep me from making a powerful impact on the world.
• I am going to quit thinking that extreme success is reserved for anyone else but me.
• And I’m going to quit letting the thoughts, opinions, or insecurities of others direct decisions about my life.

I’m realizing that I’ve bought into the “struggling entrepreneur” image for FAR too long.

Struggling is a relative term of course. But for me it’s a whole lot more about mindset than it is about whatever conditions I find myself in.

Do you ever feel that you’re climbing a mountain in your business or personal life?

It’s hard… struggle, struggle, struggle.

Right now, I think that’s a mindset that I’m ready to shed.

Here’s another one that I’m going to throw out:

The idea that quitting is in some way a bad thing.

Most people you ask would probably say it is a bad thing. A sign of weakness… a sign of failure…

But I don’t have to share their opinion. It’s not for me. And I don’t think it has much of a future in my reality.

I’ve caught a glimpse of what my future is and if I had to summarize it in one phrase, it’d be this:

Do LESS… Quit more things.

When I say “do less,” I’m not talking about outsourcing, or crowd sourcing or whatever the business automation flavor of the month is.

I’m talking about distilling the essence of the value that I bring to this world and focusing on delivering more of THAT… exclusively.

Doing less more effectively, with more power, with more focus and stronger intention.

I’m realizing that, for me, the road to success is not so much about acquiring more skills or techniques or strategies… it’s about SHEDDING the stuff that doesn’t serve me or that keeps me from delivering the maximum amount of value to the world that I’m able to dish out.

So when’s the right time to QUIT?

You quit as soon as you realize that your time could be better spent in another way. That the time you have in this life could make more of an impact in another way.

But to be able to make that decision, you have to keep yourself from getting too caught up in the DOING.

The doing creates noise. And when it’s noisy, it’s really hard to hear.

Bottom line: I view quitting as one of the best things you can do for yourself and others.

Related posts:

1. Sticking Around for Greatness

If one of the strengths of the internet is that you can track everything, why is it such a challenge to have that data actually be valuable to a business owner?

Tracking response online is easy, right?

Yes, tracking response is easy. But interpreting the response is not so easy.

Because, right now, we don’t have a lot of tools to bring the tracking data together so we can make real decisions about how best to run our business.

It’s Not About Knowing Your Numbers, It’s About Knowing What Your Numbers MEAN

I don’t just want to know what a lead costs…

I don’t just want to know how many leads an ad generates…

I don’t just want to know which email got the most clickthroughs…

And I don’t just want to know what actions my prospects and customers are taking today… or even tomorrow…

Here’s What I Want to Know

What happened to my reader, Tom, who subscribed to my blog last year? What happened to him along every step of the way from being a stranger to a reader to a customer to a repeat customer?

What did he read?

What did he buy?

What didn’t he read?

What didn’t he buy?

Why is it such a challenge to tie all of that data together in one place so an internet business owner can make smart (and fast) decisions?

Making decisions without this big picture understanding can be risky.

With only some of this information you think you know reality. But with all the information, the picture might be quite different.

And depending on how expensive your decisions are (for example, like choosing to spend $30,000 per month on PPC), you really want to have your stuff together.

The Problem With Email

And here’s where we come to the main crux of the issue - what I think is one of the main obstacles to getting accurate data.

In old school direct marketing, there weren’t that many ways to reach a person. And it was fairly easy to uniquely identify a prospect or a customer.

The unique identifier was maybe the address and/or the name.

And I would imagine that most people only had one. One name, one address. One primary way to reach them.

But marketing online doesn’t really use the snail mail address as a unique identifier right?

Instead, we are marketing to folks with 4, 5 or more email addresses. Some they use often, some they just use to receive junk.

So it’s a whole lot more difficult to accurately see how any one person is acting as they move through your business.

At least it’s hard when you’re piecing together a bunch of third-party tools and services - which is what most businesses marketing online are doing.

I Hear NOTHING… I See NOTHING…

Here’s one example:

The average internet business uses a combination of tools like this:

• Email/Autoresponder Service - Services like AWeber, Lyris, iContact, 1Shoppingcart, etc.
• Shopping Cart/Order Taking Software - 1Shoppingcart, Paypal®, etc.
• Tracking Software - Google® Analytics, Hypertracker, Google® conversion tracking etc.

What do all of these systems have in common?

I think the only thing they have in common is that they have very little in common.

And that’s the problem.

All of your data (which you could be using to make decisions for marketing, sales, service, etc.) is “locked” in isolated funnels that have nothing to do with each other.

It’s a little bit like running a company where no one inside the walls of the business ever talks to each other.

How long would that work?

Why Most Internet Businesses Don’t Track Stuff

Accurate tracking can create huge results in your business. I don’t think that many people would have a problem with that statement.

So if that’s the case, why don’t more people do it?

Because it’s a royal pain in the butt. It’s hard work and it’s messy (not to mention boring) and it can take forever.

How Do You Overcome This?

Here’s the part that is just plain hard work.

Because often times it takes a lot of grunt work and duct tape to get your data to make sense.

Of course, you could have someone write custom code to do all this. That would help to fix this problem, but your current revenue might not support an investment like that.

A system like Infusionsoft.com does this. But the learning curve is fairly steep and it takes some work (and commitment) to implement it.

Plus, switching can be a pain… and depending on the complexity of your current organization/traffic flow/lists/marketing strategy, it can mean a long, long list of details… (I know, I’ve tried this. Not the easiest thing in the world.)

So here’s something to consider. It’s not perfect, but it might be an improvement over what you’ve got.

Spend some time retooling your business systems so that (temporarily):

Each traffic source receives its own funnel, all the way through the sale (this is how you can figure out what a lead really costs and whether or not the COST is worth it).

Do your best to not contaminate the funnel with leads/customers from another funnel.

So basically, you are separating tracking by traffic source and/or marketing media - and you’re doing it from the generation of the lead all the way through your sales.

This might mean duplicating products in your shopping cart solely for tracking purposes.

Or it might mean create a duplicate autoresponder sequence for each traffic source.

Or sending out multiple broadcast messages with different links.

If you’re using ONLY ONE system like 1Shoppingcart.com to run your business, this is much easier using AdTrackers, etc.

But no one system does everything perfectly. And I think that’s why most of us end up using a hodgepodge of different technologies (plus our email lists can end up getting held hostage because of the double opt-in thing - that makes switching a huge hassle).

You Don’t Have to Be Perfect

The point here is not to be perfect. It’s just to get a better idea of what’s really working in your business than you have now.

And if you only have one traffic source, this is far easier. Since it reduces the variables and makes virtually all of the revenue coming in the door very easy to track.

But when you go to all this trouble with a multi-million dollar business, it can really pay off.

Sure, you might make a lot more money that way, but in my opinion, the bigger benefit is that you won’t be flying blind any more.

And that ability to see can be darn profitable.

No related posts.

A few miles down the street from my house there’s a little vineyard that’s heavily involved in putting Arizona wine on the map.

These folks have been featured on Winelibrary TV and, more recently, were involved in a new documentary movie about Arizona wine.

It probably doesn’t hurt that one of the players in the Arizona wine world is a world famous rockstar who happens to be very into winemaking. But it’s cool to see how that type of celebrity affects the marketing.

Anyway, the movie is called Blood Into Wine.

At about the 1 minute mark in the trailer below, you’ll hear Eric Glomski say this:

“We’re not chasing the market, we’re making wines that we love to make.”

So here’s the question:

Which do you think is a more successful way to grow a business both today and going forward?

Chasing your market? Or doing something great?

You can see the trailer for the movie below:

No related posts.

In our little Web 2.0 giddy world, I realize that talking about something as old as the telephone is probably not sexy.

Trust me, I have no hopes that this is going to make it to the front page of Digg.com.

But yesterday, I was reminded how much human dimension is removed from sales transactions when you’re selling stuff from your website or via email.

And it got me to thinking just how much potential business internet entrepreneurs scare away because they’re too busy “automating everything.”

Listening and Talking Sell

Just yesterday I had the opportunity to talk with a prospective customer in one of my businesses.

He left me a message saying he had a question… so I called him back. I guess his question was, “I need to make sure I can get the product soon because I have a time deadline.”

Simple enough right?

If he had asked that question via email, I would have given him my best answer. It probably would have taken me about 40 seconds to write the email.

But if I had done that, I might be out of a sale. I really don’t know if he would have ordered or not. He probably would have, but I can’t be 100% sure.

Either way, I know that without that phone call, I would definitely be out of a new relationship… one that, in the future, could be worth many sales.

A RELATIONSHIP from ONE Phone Call?

Can it be so?

Can you really build a relationship with a stranger in one phone call?

The purpose of the phone call I’m highlighting was for the guy to get the answer he needed.

But in the end, that was only a small part of the call.

In fact, even on the phone, his question would have probably taken a total of 60 seconds. 1 minute to ask a question and get an answer.

But according to my phone, the call lasted 9 minutes.

So what happened the rest of the time?

He talked, I listened…

I talked, he listened….

And at the end of the call, he placed an order.

In my opinion, that one phone call built more of a relationship than 400 “tweets” that no one has time to read on Twitter®

I’ll take quality over quantity any day.

The New Positioning: BE REAL

Is helping people ever a bad way to position yourself?

Maybe it used to be.

I know there are people out there telling you to never answer your phone, be hard to get, all in an effort to “position yourself.”

I guess that’s supposed to show other people you’re important.

I used to listen to those people. Not one of my brighter moments, but hey, we’re all learning.

But I think the days of using those types of “marketing tactics” are coming to a close.

Personally, I think a lot of folks (especially folks my age) aren’t impressed by “importance,” by degrees, or by money. We’re all just people now.

I’m sure people have built entire businesses controlling their perception in the marketplace, but I have a simpler idea:

BE REAL

Then you can throw out the books on positioning and just get to work.

Customer Service as a PROFIT Center

How about viewing talking to prospects and customers in real time (aka customer service) as a possible profit center, not as a line item expense?

That means you have to divulge your phone number. And you have to actually pick up your phone, or at least return your messages.

But how can you make money by doing this? How can you make customer service accountable for more investment of your time and resources?

Making Service Pay

You wouldn’t outsource your company’s money making activities would you?

Maybe that would be right for some, but in my experience, most internet entrepreneurs stay pretty close to their sales and marketing operations - the stuff that generates the dough.

So would you outsource “customer service” if it was a profit center?

Maybe not.

Here are some ideas to get you thinking about how to turn “service” in profits:

1. Stop viewing customers as a hassle and start viewing them as people who are bringing possible opportunities to deliver value and sell.
2. Be faster. How quickly can you respond? Does it look good or bad for you to respond to your customer calls in a week or two? Whenever I do that I feel just plain dumb.
3. Make sure your customer service person is a SALES person. And a good one. Someone who can turn problems into sales AND help someone at the same time.
4. Customer service is not transactional. The job of the company representative is not to be an order taker and get the caller off the phone as quickly as possible. His job is to be a professional.

Okay, time to put my money where my mouth is.

Folks, my phone number is 928-255-5328. I might not be able to pick it up when you call, but I’ll definitely call you back.

Related posts:

1. (Real Stats) Making Social Media Pay
2. Cancellation Hell

This is an excerpt from a freelance copywriting book I wrote about my first year as a freelancer.

At the time, I don’t think I grasped just how important what you read below really is… for any business owner.

I should read this more often, because it would help me keep the focus on where I want to go… not where anyone else wants me to go.

We are not aiming at [copywriting] “guru” status here. We’re aiming at you being happy and wealthy. And those two things don’t have to go together.

It’s not my goal to put [copywriting] “gurus” down. My goal is to help you see reality. To see that your list of possibilities for achieving success is so very much bigger than you probably imagine.

Just be clear. It’s no one else’s responsibility to have your best interest in mind. That goes against the grain of human nature.

The responsibility for your success and happiness falls squarely in your lap. You are in control of creating your happiness and wealth. And most importantly, you are in charge of defining what that means for you.

Just in case you think I’ve gone all soft, too deep into the mushy stuff… don’t worry. We’re about to jump into the nitty gritty.

But remember, your copywriting career is about your journey.

It’s about defining your goals, not based on what you see others achieving, but based on what you want to achieve for you. It’s about walking the path, not getting to the end of the path.

Thinking you’ve got to work hard to get somewhere is a recipe for frustration. Because the only place you’re ever gonna be is exactly where you are, at this present moment.

Wealth and success come when you figure out how best to enjoy that.

Those paragraphs I wrote are pretty much applicable to anyone in business… and something I should reread every morning before I jump in.

Related posts:

1. Be Your Own Guru

Here’s a question for you:

Do you need a list to have a business or do you need a business to get a list?

Which comes first?

• Do you want subscribers first?
• Do you want customers first?
• Do you need subscribers to get customers?

I don’t believe the “money’s in the list” stuff. I think the money is in the relationship you have with the people on the list. I’ve said that before and I’m sure many others have too.

And there are more ways than ever to build relationships online.

So is it possible to just have the relationship without the list?

I think part of being successful in business is not just accepting what you’re told about how to do it.

That’s how you find out things other people don’t know. And that’s how you create your own path to a successful business.

Related posts:

1. The Future of Information Marketing?

At first I thought “social media” was a bunch of fluff.

I’m one of those people who doesn’t have much need for or interest in small talk.

And a lot of social media chatter is small talk. Or whatever is smaller than small talk, if there is such a thing.

Nothing important, nothing urgent, just talking… A bunch of people talking a lot about a little.

That’s what I used to think.

Because even though I still look out at the social media landscape and see a lot of “chatter,” I also see how social media can play a very effective part in growing your business.

Even if you’re running a direct response business.

But it’s not easy…

It’s not quick…

And (if done well) it’s not automated…

It’s work.

And there’s the opportunity, because not many people are willing to do the work.

Social Media as “Hard Work” Spotlight

I think one of the most valuable benefits of social media, in addition to having new tools to spread messages and ideas, is that it makes it clear who’s investing EFFORT and who isn’t.

Who’s producing and who isn’t?

On the customer and prospect side, I think that EFFORT comes through and is perceived as CARING.

Fortunately, it makes the folks who are willing to work hard look really good.

And the folks that aren’t… well… how good does it look to you when you come across an abandoned blog or Twitter account or Facebook page that hasn’t been updated in months?

I used to have one of those. It doesn’t look good. You wonder, “Knock, knock, is anybody there?”

Maybe it’s a “blog” that got created just to promote a product launch, or a Twitter account that someone got going just to rake in six-figures while they slept.

Either way, the light’s on but nobody is home.

How social is that?

Here’s the deal:

Selling Online is EZ Compared to Building Relationships With REAL People Online

But it’s looking like enough folks are going to master the online relationship building thing that you should worry about the future of your business if you haven’t started doing it yourself.

Because if your competitor decides to put in the hours required to actually bond with their prospects and customers, then you’re gonna be out in the cold if all you’re doing is blasting them with “Buy Now” buttons.

So What’s a Direct Response Pro to Do?

So does all this social media stuff leave hardcore direct response guys (like me) out in the cold?

Does social media have a place in a profitable direct response enterprise?

Yep.

But it’s gonna require some new skills - actually a new discipline.

I think the new discipline is:

Consistency.

Particularly, content creation consistency.

Because with social media (or any type of relationship building), people have to have something to talk about. They can talk about content. And you can talk about content and add value without selling… even though you really are selling.

But how many entrepreneurs do you know who would list consistency as one of their strongest suits?

So for the direct response marketing business who’s ready to jump into the deep end of social media, here are a few suggestions:

1. Pick one social media tool (be smart about choosing - find out where the conversations are already happening) and stick with it for a while. Actually SHOW UP on a consistent basis. (Note to self: This showing up thing really works.)
2. Any social media that you can “automate” probably isn’t worth doing. Don’t fall for the line that says you can automate social media. Can you automate real conversations with real people? Who’d want to talk to someone like that?
3. Step back and try to take a more holistic view of your business. Is it really all about the response all the time?
4. The value isn’t in the tool, it’s in the message it conveys. That’s why it helps to have more of a message than, “Buy My Stuff.”
5. Think about how you can earn the response instead of manipulate the response.

It’s better to just get started than to “do it right” - whatever that is.

I’m not sure that social media is something you can learn in a course anyway.

After all, it’s about being social. And your idea of being social is probably very different than mine.

Being “social” is about being you in front of others.

And that’s where the value is. In that difference.

You just have to get it out there.

Related posts:

1. (Real Stats) Making Social Media Pay
2. Indirect Response Marketing: Will Somebody Please Call Claude Hopkins?
3. My #1 Recommendation for Boosting the Response of Your Salesletter

Chris Brogan set off a bit of a comment firestorm the other day when he inadvertently revealed how much he charges clients for a day of his time.

I thought it was really interesting to read the comments and see how people reacted to the 5 figure number.

Apparently, a lot of people had something to say about it.

One of my biggest accomplishments over the years really has nothing and everything to do with business.

That accomplishment has been the ongoing development of my belief in my own self-worth. Both as a person and as a business person.

And that brings us to Chris’s post (mind you, price wasn’t the point of his post, but it quickly became the focus).

When you’re providing a professional service, answering the question, “What to charge?” can get you all caught up in how you view yourself.

Are you valuable or not?

Is what you offer your clients valuable or not?

Is there inherent value in you simply showing up somewhere?

You’re the only one that can answer those questions.

When you BELIEVE that you are a living, breathing, bucket of HIGH value (and you act accordingly), then you’ll have no issues with communicating that to the world.

And they will return value for value. Either because you ASK them to, or they feel compelled to.

We’re talking about energy after all. It comes back.

But if you aren’t living with that core belief in your own value, it’s probably gonna piss you off to watch someone else benefit from the fact that he IS confident enough to feel that way.

It’s your problem not his.

If you don’t believe you’re valuable, or if you don’t believe what you do is valuable… well, you’re the only person that can fix that.

No related posts.

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Order now.

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Register now.

I threw in the yellow highlighting just for fun… it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to remember the good ol’ days of internet copywriting.)

The words above are the basic goal of many of the marketing books I’ve read since my business information addiction began back in 2002.

The focus?

Direct response marketing… The secret weapon of the “little guy.”

According to the experts, direct response is the smartest way to business success.

And I’ve had a lot of success using many of the old school direct response marketing methods that I learned in all those books and courses.

But I also bet that my intense focus on direct response has probably also kept a lot of other money from ever finding its way to my front door.

Because while I spent a lot of time building skills and value in the world of direct response, I pretty much ignored other tools of business building that are starting to become very valuable (if you’re smart).

Who knows, maybe I’d be a millionaire ten times over already if I had focused on building a brand beginning back in 2002 instead of focusing solely on “getting the response?”

WHEN Do You Want to Withdrawal Your Value?

I think it comes down to a decision on your part about WHEN you want to store and retrieve the value in your business.

Direct response marketing has a very “get it now while the gettin’ is good” feeling.

You send something out or bring the traffic in and then get them to do something.

The value transfer is fairly immediate - maybe there’s a marketing sequence or something, but the product/service is generally exchanged for moola, pretty quickly.

There’s not a lot of tension built up (we’ll come back to that later) because the transaction (sale or opt-in or whatever) happens quickly and the tension is released. The customer gave something… the customer got something.

People Who Ask for Things All the Time Are Annoying

But the landscape is changing now. And since almost everyone with an internet connection can start “asking for the order,” all that asking is starting to annoy the hell out of customers.

Maybe you didn’t piss them off, but you’ve still got to deal with it even if someone else did.

So it’s getting harder to “get the sale.” Harder to “get the opt-in.”

So folks resort to “try my $40,000 course for just a buck” kind of stuff which is just sad.

Eventually, we’re going to be giving away free cars just to get the opt-in.

So What’s a Direct Response Marketer to Do?

I know the direct response king, Claude Hopkins, might rollover in his grave at this point, but let’s face it:

We’re not living in Claude Hopkins’ world anymore folks.

Stuff changes. Keep up and change or you run into problems.

Or you could get down and dirty and try new stuff now before it’s too late.

For example, these days, you can stick out by not asking for the sale… by not asking for anything really. At least not every single time you reach out and contact the world.

And I don’t mean sending out 4,000 hours of free video to butter me up for your impending product launch.

That’s just so transparent it hurts.

I mean making your business about creating value all the time and getting paid for some of it some of the time.

Sounds crazy to Mr. Direct Responser, I know.

Creating a Value Imbalance

I know there’s no bank that lets you deposit “value” in the form of trust, goodwill etc., but if there was, I bet the rules of compound interest would apply.

What happens when you deliver so much value to a prospect that they firmly cement that idea in their heads?

YOU = VALUE

Then what happens if you keep piling on the value?

What if there’s an avalanche of value that you’ve provided for so long that there’s this tremendous imbalance of value (energy) between you and your customer?

Then what if you offer a way to remedy that imbalance (your product or service) by bringing back some of the value (money) to your side of the scale?

I think that’s when sales happen.

This is old fashioned selling right? Where Mr. Jones is happy to help you for 2 years before you need his services. Then when you’re ready, there’s no question that Mr. Jones is your man.

Well, now we have the tools to do that helping at such little expense it’s hardly noticeable.

Work Now, Get Paid Later

Doesn’t that just sound nuts?

Work now, get paid later.

A few years ago, I would have thought that was a recipe for going broke very quickly.

A tried and true direct responser would probably say the same thing.

Except I think it works now. And people like it.

You could say it still is direct response… except the response gets delayed. Maybe by a day, a month, a year… who knows?

Here’s how I think of it:

Storing Up Value for the Future Response

You’re basically making value deposits for the future. That’s why folks are building up their own vast webs and networks of stored value.

Blog posts, videos, books, PDFs… you name it, there’s value popping up everywhere these days.

(Of course there are some normal business rules that apply here. Like the fact that other people have to actually find value in your stuff. If they don’t, there IS no value. At least not in a business sense.)

This type of content makes value deposits without asking for immediate withdrawals.

Building a “web of value” like this takes time. That’s why I think that more of the “little guys” are going to win.

Time is valuable. And these folks have time.

Bigger slower businesses that are more focused on immediate revenue aren’t going to want to make a (risky) investment of their human resources like this.

That’s a huge opportunity.

Does it make sense that you would invest what is probably your most valuable asset (your time) into creating valuable stuff for your prospects even before they become customers?

Or do you invest your time trying to “sell” everyone who walks through the door?

How would you want to be treated?

There’s just one problem, running your business like this makes measuring things in columns with numbers and totals and percentages just a bit harder.

That’s a problem for my direct response mind, because…

If You Can Measure It, You Can Improve It

Except when you can’t.

Like when you send out a promotion and it doesn’t work. So you change it and it still doesn’t work.

What’s the deal?

The deal is that I think there are some important things in business that really can’t be measured. Period.

Read This Before You Pull Out the Flamethrower

My point isn’t that direct response marketing is dying, or bad or stupid. That would have made a catchier headline, but that’s not my style.

Clearly it works when used well.

My point is that the world of business is much, much, MUCH bigger than just direct response marketing.

So why not experiment and reassess the role that direct response plays in your business?

What about moving it farther towards the TAIL end of the relationship instead of being the first date?

Create value you can measure… create value you can’t measure… throw it all in a pot and see what happens.

Related posts:

1. Social Media’s Hidden Opportunity for Direct Response Businesses
2. The Future of Information Marketing?
3. My #1 Recommendation for Boosting the Response of Your Salesletter