MAY 2008
Greetings & Salutations:
Since so many of you seem to like it, I am going to publish
a few more of the questions I have been asked ... along with
my answers, of course ... if you'd rather I'd publish something
besides these Q&A sessions, please let me know.
Q: Can you give
a primer on setting up a business from the legal aspect?
Any guidelines on how to move in this regard?
A: Whoa!
I'm not an attorney.
Suggest that anyone planning to start a business should call
on an attorney; or their legal aid society, to get guidance from
a qualified professional.
Q: How would someone
with zero money, zero credit, and no product go about raising
money to start a business?
A: With no money,
no credit & no product, what reason would any person have
to raise money to start a business?
If you don't know what you are going to do (no product), you
shouldn't even be considering starting a business - but ...
As I have said a thousands times, "If I had it to do
all over again, I would never create my own products. I
would simply sell other people's products."
So ... before you decide to raise funding for a business,
you need to first find a product to sell. Only then can
you even begin thinking about financing a business.
Q: We live
in a very competitive world, how do we stay in front of those
that may be marketing identical products?
A:
If necessity is the Mother of invention, competition
is the Mother of necessity.
Rather than restate what I have already written on the subject,
I'll just direct to you my Free report ... "Competition!
- To compete or not to compete? -- Should we even ask the question?"
... at:
compete.html
Q: What would
you say your secrets to becoming a Marketing Genius are?
A: There
is only one secret (??) to becoming a Marketing Genius ... it
is also the only thing that separates the professional from the
amateur in the marketing game. -- That secret is to test, Test,
TEST, then, test some more.
You can write the very best ad copy in the world - but - if
nobody buys, you ain't yet a marketer.
Some 30 years ago, I wrote what I thought was the most powerful
ad copy I had ever written. I passed it around among the
office staff ... they all loved it and praised it as being the
best I had ever written. -- I gave copies of it to the production
staff ... they loved it even more - SO, I didn't even test the
copy. I mailed 10,000 pieces.
The results were abysmal ... that 10,000 piece mailing produced
one (just one) paid order. (I never made that mistake again.)
Of course, if you are really asking about how to write better
ad copy, you can find out everything you've ever wanted to know
about ad copywriting in the June, 2000, issue of my "Business
Lyceum e-Letter" at:
Jun00.html
Q: How do
you see the correlation between offline and online marketing?
A: If
you had asked me that question just 10 years ago, I would have
told you that online marketing was a fad ... soon to pass into
marketing oblivion; just as the 900# marketing had.
Today, I see online marketing as a viable marketing tool -
but - it should be made part of the complete marketing package
of any business, rather than being touted as the sole method
of marketing.
When I established my website in September, 1999, I did so
because my mailorder customers were, more and more, asking "Where
can I find your products online?" -- In response to those
inquiries, I established the website as an addition to my offline
marketing.
In the beginning, the Business Lyceum was nothing more than
an online catalog of my offline products. -- Beginning in September,
1999, we added our URL to all of our outgoing mailings.
The site had covered all of its costs and produced a profit by
January, 2000.
Today, our website is producing over 80% of our revenue -
but - over 80% of the online orders are still coming from my
offline customers.
Think about this for a moment ...
AOL is one of the largest online companies in the world -
but - they didn't start by advertising online. If you will
remember, they used to send you disks ... later CDs ... inviting
you to sign-up for Free Minutes, by Mail. -- They are a prime
example of building an online business using offline techniques.
Just ask yourself, "Am I smarter than AOL??" --
If you think you are, try building your online business solely
online.
Q: What do
you see as the biggest hurdle that any new marketer has to overcome
to succeed ... be it offline or online?
A:
You're probably going to think I'm beginning to sound like a
broken record but the biggest hurdle any new marketer has to
overcome is their lack of testing.
Believe it or don't ... 99% of beginning marketers NEVER test
anything. They just "try" things. If it
doesn't work the first time, they move on to something else that
"might" work ... when it doesn't, they move on, again.
It isn't all their fault.
Unfortunately, much of the problem is caused by the pseudo-gurus
themselves. -- They provide their dealers, distributors and/or
affiliates with "ad copy" to use to sell the guru's
products - but - in all too many cases, the guru him/herself
has never really made any money using that ad copy.
What does it matter to the guru? -- If 100 dealers use that
ad copy and produce just one order for the guru, the guru is
ahead by one order - BUT - in 99% of the cases, the dealer "tries"
the ad once; doesn't get any response, and moves on to the next
"make a fortune overnight" deal.
If a "dealer" (affiliate) tested the ad copy and
discovered it didn't produce, the dealer should; if he/she "really"
wants to make some money from that product or service, change
the ad copy and test it again; and again; and again, until the
dealer finds ad copy that works.
Let me tell you a true story I use to illustrate the method
for my affiliates ...
Here's the "secret" used by my most productive dealer
to produce an income of nearly $100,000 per month selling my
products and services.
When Gene first became one of my dealers ... 1977 or 1978
... I sent him copies of all the various (and many) classified
ads, space ads and sales letters we were using to sell our products
and services (just like we did for all of our dealers). -- All
tested and proven successful.
At first ... like most of my dealers ... Gene began earning
a few hundred dollars per month. After a few months, he jumped
from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars for a month.
Then, his earnings began getting bigger and bigger, month after
month ... in a few years, his earnings grew to over $100,000
per month (producing over $100,000 for me as well).
When I finally asked Gene what he was doing to increase his
income so much, he told me ...
He Was Writing His Own Ads!
Every month, he would go through my publications to pick out
new phrases and ideas to include in his advertising. -- He even
began writing ads directed to very specific customers ... using
the catch-phrases, headlines, and other items from my publications.
When Gene died in 1992, I lost a friend - and - $100,000 per
month.
The few (very few) of my affiliates who are knocking down
the big bucks each month are following my advice. -- It won't
be long before I'll have another Gene; maybe more than one ...
maybe YOU will be my next Gene.
Q:
Both offline and online marketers say that the key to your business
is your list. What advice can you give to those that want
to quickly build their list ... are there any secrets you can
share with us?
A:
Over the 50 years I've been in business, I have found that anything
you do "quickly" usually isn't worth doing.
I once signed up for a list building service ... shame on
me ... that really produced. The service seemed to be phenomenal.
I was adding people to my list almost faster than I could keep
up with them - and - I kept that list separate, so I could run
specific tests against it ... just to find out what kind of customer
list I was building.
For over a year, I tested that list again and again ... with
every offer in my stable. -- I even went so far as to change
my ads that had worked for years, to see if I could reach them.
-- Nothing worked.
After I discontinued the list building service, most of them
... slowly but surely ... faded from my list. Some asked
to be removed but most of them just ended up in my dead letter
file to be removed.
The secret (??) to building a list is to test, Test, TEST
and test some more until you find one (just one) method that
adds addresses to your list. Then, expand your use of that
method while you continue testing more methods to build your
list. -- It won't be too long before you will have a stable of
tried and proven methods of your own ... for your own use.
Actually, the big problem with too many beginners is they
want to do everything fast, faster & fastest ... without
considering the results.
Just remember the story of the tortoise and the hare.
Q: What's the best
way to market my products and services to Fortune 500 companies?
A:
Don't be silly. -- There is no difference between marketing to
Mom & Pop and marketing to the Fortune 500.
It's just a matter of defining your audience; studying your
market audience; then "selling" to them.
If you like the Q&A format, lemme know. -- If
you don't like it, lemme know. -- My next issue will be
based upon your response. -- Thank You!
Copyright - 2008, J.F. (Jim) Straw. All rights reserved.