Issue #2295
- WEALTHY: Don’t look like a stock market fool (Andrew Gordon)
- HEALTHY: When you feel like throwing your scale… (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: George Santayana on skepticism
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- The single greatest challenge marketers face (Clayton Makepeace)
- If you aren’t happy with your accomplishments thus far… (Michael Masterson)
- It’s Good to Know… about the Google way to promote your non-profit
- Add "temporize" to your vocabulary
He’d Have Called Them Crazy – Or Worse!
With the Internet, it’s now possible to spend no more than a few dollars, write a couple of very basic ads, and have instant access to millions of potential customers all in a matter of minutes.
If anyone had told Jim Sheridan he could bank thousands in just 24 hours… without any product of his own… without spending a penny on getting it or promoting it, he’d have justifiably said they were nuts.
But Jim made a decision that he would overcome his skeptical nature and give it a go. Boy, is he glad he did! That one deal alone banked him $187,296 in one day.
Take a look at how Jim brought in over $187,000 in a single day!
- Patrick Coffey
The Worst Is Over? Don’t Believe It!
A rising market makes even your mother-in-law look like a stock market genius. But a falling market – like the one we’re in now – has the opposite effect. It can make the most knowledgeable investors look like fools.
Even the price of companies with strong earnings or companies that are cheap compared to the value of their assets can drop when the market goes south. So… does that mean you should sell those stocks? Even if they haven’t hit your pre-established stop-loss point? (You should, of course, have stop-loss points for all your investments. Mine is 25 percent off the stock’s peak price.)
That’s not a bad idea if the company is in a sector known to fare poorly during a recession – e.g., a company that makes big-ticket or luxury items. But if it’s in a sector known to do well during recessions – like manufacturers of household goods, alcohol suppliers, or tobacco companies – there may be no need to sell. In fact, this may be a good time to load up on those sectors.
But you should also do some pruning.
If you have some stocks that are already way down – stocks in sectors that don’t usually do well in a recession – don’t be tempted to keep them because you feel most of the damage has been done. They could go down a lot more.
[Ed. Note: ETR's Investment Director, Andrew Gordon, is the editor of INCOME, a monthly financial advisory service that uncovers income-generating stocks that promise safety (first and foremost), along with much-higher-than-average profit potential.]
"Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily."
George Santayana
Are These 3 Marketing Sea-Changes Killing Your Response?
Our customers are changing.
The customer who was 65 when I began writing marketing copy in the 1970s is 98 today. The 65-year-old who bought the rare coins I sold for Blanchard in the ’80s is now 88.
Today’s 65-year-old customer was born in 1942 – way too young to remember World War II, let alone the Great Depression. More important, he turned 18 in 1960 and proceeded to acquire his skills as a financial decision-maker and consumer smack-dab in the middle of the "Don’t-Trust-Anyone-Over-30" and "Question-Authority" era.
What’s more, that generation did an excellent job of passing their skepticism on to their children. Those hyper-cynical, ultra-skeptical "Generation Xers" are now your 26- to 47-year-old customers.
And as if that isn’t challenging enough for marketers, two additional sea changes have given our customers even greater reasons to distrust anything they see, hear, or read in the media – including our ads…
First, The National Enquirer made its appearance at supermarket checkout counters, packed with stories of alien encounters, Bigfoot, and other such horsepucky.
Soon, more publishers figured out they could get rich by appealing to our baser instincts with stories of the lurid and bizarre – and tons of "me-too" tabloids began springing up like crazy.
Finally, the national media figured it out too – and most TV news programs began spending less time covering news that matters.
And now, a new and even less responsible medium has taken center stage. Despite my spam filters, I’ll get between 20 and 50 unsolicited e-mails today, and most will be obvious rip-offs.
Many websites can be equally hazardous to our financial health. Since you can pretty much say whatever you want on the ‘net – whether it’s true or not – many people do. And so, for anyone whose IQ is larger than their shoe size, online advertising claims are taken with a grain of salt.
What does all of this mean to marketers? Well, for one thing…
Everything you think you know about attracting new customers and keeping existing customers is starting to become obsolete. Overcoming today’s pandemic of skepticism is your single greatest challenge.
The good news is… it can be done. Because despite the fact that our customers are radically different than their parents and grandparents, they do have one thing in common with them: They like to spend money.
The desire to feather our own nests… to purchase products that can make us richer or healthier… to buy things that save us time, effort, or money… to spend money on things that assuage our boredom or loneliness or improve our status… is every bit as powerful as it ever was.
Nevertheless, if we are to enfranchise these new generations of ever-more-skeptical customers, the way in which we deliver our "gospel" – the "good news" that our products can, indeed, satisfy their desires – must change.
Here at my agency, Response Ink, we see the effect this new skepticism is having on our marketing efforts every day…
1. One-shot customer-acquisition promotions are going the way of the dinosaurs.
Today, it’s all about the relationship between your company and your customer… and building credibility and friendship over time. While marketers who deliver value, invite involvement, and create a sense of community among prospective customers before expecting a sale are growing by leaps and bounds, those who cling to the old models are losing ground.
2. Bombastic "big promise" headlines are not working as well.
Today’s prospects are more likely to ignore sales communications that look and sound like sales communications. Instead, topical, newsy, and intrigue leads that key on something they are already thinking about often work best.
3. High-octane sales copy is losing its power.
Today, lower-key, value-added advertising copy (advertorials) that reward prospects for reading by delivering valuable, helpful, actionable information is leaving the language of the high-energy carnival barker in the dust.
Though the "in-your-face," high-energy marketing model is still working well for some companies, I’m moving in another direction. For me, it’s all about persuasion. Climbing inside your prospect’s skin… fully understanding what he must first know and feel before he’s likely to purchase your product… then presenting that information in a way that’s engaging, lively, entertaining, and credible – and doing all that without having your sales copy sound like sales copy – is hard.
It’s worth it.
Not long ago, I wrote a series of personal, warm, friendly, low-key e-mails inviting prospects to attend a free teleseminar on international investing. More than five thousand people signed up. The call delivered valuable, actionable advice to help investors profit in foreign stock markets that are jumping as much as 144 percent a year.
This friendly, low-key phone call sold somewhere north of $1.5 million in subscriptions in a matter of hours.
Meanwhile, we blasted a high-energy "obvious" promotion to prospects.
It barely even registered on the response-rate Richter scale.
Worth thinking about…
[Ed. Note: Clayton Makepeace has spent the last 35 years creating direct-mail, Internet, and print promotions that have sold well over $1 billion worth of products. Plus, as a direct-marketing consultant and copywriter, he's helped four major direct-marketing firms at least quadruple sales and profits to well over $100 million per year each. Clayton publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package (www.makepeacetotalpackage.com) to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Check it out.
For dozens of proven strategies that can help you achieve your marketing, personal, and health goals, sign up for ETR's Total Success Achievement program. Learn more here.]
When the CAR gets stuck in a rut you can call AAA – But who do you call when YOU get in a rut?
Feeling like your life has stalled? Wondering where all the excitement has gone? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. All of us get dragged down in a rut now and then.
But you’ll get back out on the highway of life a LOT faster if you have a friendly “towing service” looking out for you 24×7.
So put on your seat belts, rev up those engines… and let’s get going with our motivational kick-in-the-pants program.
- Charlie Byrne
Dear ETR: "I need to make changes, for 40 is fast approaching."
"Michael, I was inspired by your story about how you made changes that brought you to your success.
"My life has been filled with average decisions that have brought me to a place where I need to make changes, for 40 is fast approaching. Seeing other people get ahead has been rough on me, because I feel left behind.
"Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me. ETR is a great source of information for me."
- L.M.
Silver Spring , MD
Dear L.M.,
There is so much I’d like to tell you. But it’s hard to know what will help.
You have arrived in your middle age, and you are not completely happy with your accomplishments. You feel you’ve made some bad decisions. You are willing to take responsibility for your status. That’s good.
ETR and AWAI are businesses dedicated to people in your situation – individuals who are looking for growth in their lives, either by accelerating their progress along a path already chosen or stepping onto a different road and setting off on a brand-new adventure.
Both ETR and AWAI have dozens of very good programs that will help you achieve your overall goal – making the next 40 years richer and more rewarding than the last 40. I invite you to become familiar with those programs. But don’t just get on the ETR and AWAI websites and start buying things. Spend some time reading their free newsletters so you get thoroughly acquainted with their ideas about success.
Become an expert on their philosophies and their products. Then try a few out. All ETR and AWAI products are fully refundable. So study the ones that look exciting. And if you don’t think they will help you, send them back.
The point is to get involved in your future right now. Raise the level of your self-improvement activity. You have made a good start by writing to us for advice. But you must start doing something every day to keep the ball rolling.
The next phase is to take some action. You’ll do that when you begin buying and studying the programs that get you excited. The final stage is selecting one new course of action (out of those you’ve tested) that gives you a sense of hope. You should try to get to that stage in the next three to six months.
The process I just described is "Ready… FIRE… Aim" (which is also the title of my latest – and best – book). Most people don’t ever transform their lives because they take a "Ready… AIM… Fire" approach – which dooms them to failure. Read my book. Though I wrote it to explain everything I know about starting and growing a successful business, it will help you understand how the Ready, Fire, Aim concept applies to the achievement of success in every aspect of life.
I also advise you to read and reread every essay I write for Early to Rise this year on Master Planning Your New Life. These essays will be revised and edited at the end of the year and sold as a book to ETR subscribers. But you can get a jump on them by reading them as I write them and putting my suggestions into practice. Here are the Master Planning essays I’ve published so far:
* How to Get Motivated and Get Started This Year… for Sure!
* What Does It Take to Really Change Your Life?
* Reinvent Your Life With a Proven Plan for Success
* Are You Setting Goals… or Still Dreaming?
* Using Daily Task Lists to Accomplish Your Goals
Another recommendation is to purchase ETR’s Total Success Achievement program immediately. It includes advice from lots of top self-improvement experts, including the smart, caring people who’ve been writing on this subject in Early to Rise .
And start networking on the ETR Speak Out forum and my blog. Get on those sites and make contact with other people who are facing the same challenges as you. The more contacts you have, the better your chances of finding solutions to your problems. That’s something you can start doing today. So get to it.
Finally, I urge you to devote the first hour of your waking day (after showering and getting dressed, of course) to yourself – to you and you alone – by spending that time working on your future. Right now, you should spend it reading Early to Rise , networking, and studying ETR and AWAI products. Later on, you’ll devote that hour to developing financially valuable skills, and then to starting your new career and moving quickly along your new path to success.
- Michael Masterson
[Ed. Note: Send your questions to AskETR@ETRFeedback.com. Include your full name, your hometown and state, and the ETR team may answer you in an upcoming issue.]
3 Ways to Keep Track of Fat Loss
If you think you’ve hit a plateau in your fitness program, don’t quit. First check to see if you really have stopped making progress.
Most people get hung up on scale weight only. But the scale is affected by many hidden factors (such as water intake, sodium intake, etc.). And while you may not be getting lighter, you could still be losing inches. Here are three good ways to judge how well your fat-loss plan is working:
- Grab a tape measure once a week and measure your chest, your upper arms, around your belly button, and at your waist. Keep a written record of the measurements over time.
- Have your body fat tested at a gym or with a body-fat scale on a regular basis.
- Just look in the mirror! (After all, isn’t looking better what you’re really going for?)
[Ed. Note: Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne is the creator of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss system. For a free online source of information, motivation, and social support to help you improve your health, lose weight, and get fit, sign up for ETR's free natural health e-letter.]
It’s Good to Know: The Google Way to Promote Your Non-Profit
If you run a non-profit organization, you may be eligible for a new Google AdWords program called Google Grants. In keeping with their "Do No Evil" philosophy, Google is offering up to $10,000 per month to non-profits that want to inform and engage their constituents online.
This program is designed for 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. So far, Google has awarded AdWords advertising to hundreds of non-profit groups, including Room to Read, UNICEF, and CoachArt. Recipients of the Google Grant get at least three months of AdWords advertising.
If you’re interested in advertising your non-profit organization on AdWords, you can get more information at google.com/grants.
Newest Breakthrough Strategy for Online Business Success
Alex Mandossian, the genius behind online innovations such as the ASK database and ultra-profitable teleseminar marketing is now ready to reveal his latest online breakthrough…
At Early to Rise’s Profits in Paradise conference in Orlando this April, Alex will publicly unveil for the first time a step-by-step method for wildly profitable online success – even if you are a beginner.
Up till now, Alex has only shared this with a few insiders. But if you make it to Profits in Paradise this April, you will get the full scoop and an insider advantage over other online marketers. And that’s just ONE of the things you’ll learn this April. Click here for more details…
Word to the Wise: Temporize
To "temporize" (TEM-puh-rize) is to be indecisive or evasive in order to gain time or delay action. The word is derived from the Latin for "to pass the time." (It is related to "temporary.")
Example (as used by Stacie Zoe Berg in an article for Insight on the News): "But when it comes to paying out claims, too many third-party providers stall, balk, and temporize."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
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