It seemed that consumers decided at the shelf that all ionizers are pretty much the same. So why should they spend 67 percent more on ours?

We had the premier ionizer on the market. Our factory employed more than 100 local people. And we sourced parts nationally. We’d enjoyed the top spot and great sales for years. But this upstart had quickly captured the market. They were running their company from a small office with a skeleton staff, doing all of their sourcing and manufacturing in China.

Our distributors were begging us to lower our prices. But the only way we could do that would be to cut corners and move our manufacturing operation to, yes, China.

We owed it to our customers, our brand, and our community to fight. But how? How could we compete without lowering our prices and, ultimately, closing our factory?

Science. We blinded them with science.

I started by discussing the problem with GG, who’d designed our ionizers. He knew everything there was to know about air filtration. And he’d recently conducted a study on all the ionizers on the market. He had measured every aspect of ion output — the concentration of ions at different distances, the range in which a person could experience the benefits, as well as how much ozone each ionizer produced. (It turns out that ozone, in high enough concentrations, is poisonous.)

We prepared a research report, backed by GG’s safety and performance data, and sent it to the head honchos at our distributors. The report explained why many of the ionizers coming onto the market did not meet their manufacturers’ claims and could even be dangerous.

We then scheduled a personal visit or conference call with each distributor. Meanwhile, I sent a series of press releases to newspapers and consumer and health-related publications. And I sent clips of the articles the press releases generated to the people we would be talking to.

This combined approach worked well. Very well. Over the next few months, our main distributor dropped our “made-in-China” competitor and promoted our ionizers in-store. Our sales returned to levels we’d not seen in years. Our other distributors ordered more of our products and discontinued our competitor’s products by selling them off and not reordering.

At face value, one company’s product claims appear the same as another company’s. It’s difficult to distinguish product A’s benefits from product B’s. And given nothing else to compare, consumers will often choose the lowest price.

Though our ionizer really was the best one on the market, simply saying that would have been a weak strategy. Our new competitor could have asseverated that theirs was better — and cheaper to boot. (”My brother is bigger than your brother. Nyah, nyah, nyah!”)

By bringing in the element of scientific proof, we changed the rules of the fight. And we won the battle.

In a squeezed economy, you might assume that lowering your price is the only way to beat the competition. It frequently isn’t. And doing so puts you in a difficult position. It compromises your ability to make or service your product and fulfill your orders.

In our case, we realized that what had to change wasn’t our price, it was our “unique selling proposition” (USP). It had to change from “the best air ionizer” to “the ionizer that cleans the air better than any other air ionizer”… with full scientific proof to back up that claim.

In his book Ready, Fire, Aim, Michael Masterson tells us that every successful USP has three characteristics:

1. The appearance of uniqueness. The feature you decide to promote in your USP does not have to be unique to your product, but it has to seem like it is.

2. Usefulness. The appearance of uniqueness is not enough. If the distinguishing feature of the product is not desirable, no one will want it. In deciding on your product’s USP, it is better to select some feature that isn’t entirely original and make it seem unique than it is to select a feature that is unique but useless.

3. Conceptual simplicity. It’s good to remember that you have to sell the USP — and nothing sells that is difficult to explain.

What about your USP?

Is it unique, useful, and simple?

Does it clearly define what sets you apart from your competition?

Can you prove it to your customers and prospects?

We did.

P.S. For more of my off-the-cuff, contrarian marketing advice, check out my Internet Rant newsletter. I teach you tips and techniques, from my own experience, that will accelerate the growth — and profits — of your business.

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“But Marketing Bothers People, Right?” - Wrong, says Internet Rant editor David Cross. As he learned from Michael Masterson, the best time to send a product offer to a new customer is right after they buy from you. And this isn’t just some random “how are you?” e-mail. You say something very specific. One of David’s clients did just this… and doubled their sales in months. Read more…

But what solves today’s problem won’t necessarily solve tomorrow’s. We must constantly refine and reinvent to make our products “new.”

Many of today’s Internet entrepreneurs not only believe they can keep selling the same products, they also believe they can keep using the same promotional techniques.

That’s a serious mistake. And it is especially serious now because the market, as I see it, is already going through a sea change.

Having a good understanding of what’s working right now gives you the illusion of being in control. You can answer your colleagues’ questions. You can correct the technical guys… sometimes. And you are happy that the first promotion you wrote two years ago is still bringing in sales. You are the master!

Or so you think.

If you want to be in business 10 years from now, you can’t be complacent. You need to develop a deep understanding of the selling process. You have to know what works and why. What is essential and what is not.

In other words, you have to become an expert in direct marketing.

Rate yourself by answering these questions:

1. What is the most important psychological benefit your product offers?
2. What is the most common mistake other marketers make when they sell something similar?
3. How have your customers’ needs and desires changed in the recent past?
4. What changes have you made to accommodate those changes?

If you answered those questions quickly and confidently, you are doing the right kind of thinking. If you are hesitant about some of them, you’ve got to spend more time with your marketing hat on.

Becoming an expert in direct marketing will teach you how to know your market better than your competitors. It’s that deeper knowledge that will save you. Trust me. I’ve been there.

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How to Make Fast Profits From Your Own Internet Import Company for Just 48 Cents a Day – Starting in Less Than 24 Hours

Right now, corporate America is getting filthy rich off of you.  And they do it every time you shell out money for almost any item – large or small.   These profits come from the massive mark-ups on imports from places like China, where a widget may cost a buck or two, but sells for $19.95.

But now the tables have turned on the corporations – thanks to the Internet and our global economy. And you can be the one reaping windfall profits from the import business.  Best part:  You can easily run the entire business online, with no employees, no previous experience or knowledge, and with as little as $50 in start-up costs.

All you need to do is simply follow a proven, step-by-step plan that is handed to you with this turnkey system. Learn how you can get started right now!

Also today, I explain why what you eat has a huge impact on your energy levels. Then I give you a technique I learned from one of my mentors for getting the most out of meetings. Finally, I’ve got a useful business tool you can use to figure out when to kill or continue a new product. This tool cost me millions to learn. You get it free — if you pay attention!

Later in the week, we hear from David Cross. He will tell you how he defeated a competitor who was dominating the market with cheaper products, a fraction of the operating costs, and attractive packaging. David did one thing and his sales skyrocketed. This is a trick that can apply to any business, including yours.

From Robert Ringer, we learn why throwing caution to the wind and just going for it can pay off big time. Forget about “what ifs” and embrace action.

Dr. Srikumar Rao, a new member of the ETR family, makes a compelling case for something I’ve been saying for many years: Seeking “happiness” means you will never find it. And besides, he says, it’s closer than you think.

And finally, Bob Bly warns Internet marketers worldwide of the perils of… learning too much about Internet marketing. If you have a sneaking suspicion this has something to do with my “Ready, Fire, Aim” philosophy, you’re right.

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The Relaxation Technique that Eases Stress in Seconds

You’re stuck in a boring meeting… a long line at the bank… or bumper-to-bumper traffic… Your blood pressure is rising. Your stress is through the roof…

But with one unconventional (and often misunderstood) technique, your frustration, anxiety, and stress simply slip away. You’ll feel peaceful, in control, and happy within seconds. Any time. Anywhere.

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As a result of the market plunge in 2008, Cindy and Eric Canup had to put off their dream of “buying land in Northern California or Oregon.” Joe Mancini had to put off his retirement. Robert Paynter, a retired Wachovia executive, said the past year made him feel as if he were witnessing his own death.

Recently, The Times went back to find out how these folks are feeling now. The answer: “A whole lot better” about things.

That’s typical. When market values were scraping bottom, they were afraid to invest. Now, after a 55 percent run-up, they are ready to roll.

They all want to recoup their losses. And how did they say they would they do that? By taking more risk.

But, as Bob Irish has pointed out in Investor’s Daily Edge, that is likely to get them deeper in the hole. Especially, he says, after such a strong rally.

There is a place for intelligent speculation. But if you need to rebuild your portfolio, fight the urge to add more risk.

Instead, you should take a more conservative approach — one that makes sense in today’s market. Steve McDonald recommends select corporate bonds. Andrew Gordon likes high-quality, well-managed, and diversified companies that pay you cold hard cash in the form of dividends.

Pick your time frame — short-term, medium-term, or long-term. It doesn’t matter. These are your safest investments. And over the long run, they have also proven to be the most profitable, by far.

Investing aggressively in stocks now is nothing more than gambling. And gambling with your retirement portfolio is just plain dumb.

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When was the last time you slept for 8 straight hours?

Dr. Jim LaValle (known as the “Doctor’s Doctor” because of his packed educational lectures to fellow physicians) has just released a report with the secrets to getting you back to sleeping straight through the night… without drugs… in just 14 days.

In it, you’ll discover:

• How to eliminate the #1 reason why you toss and turn for hours (Your spouse will thank you, too!)

• Tested psychological “tricks” that are guaranteed to knock you out cold!

• How to “burn off” the hormones that are keeping you wide awake at night (and half asleep during the day)

If you’re ready to sleep like a baby all night… and wake up bursting with energy… click here for your report.

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Ready?

To start a business — any business — successfully, you must be able to do three things:

• Develop a product that people want to buy.
• Figure out how to sell it at a profit.
• Push yourself and everyone else on your start-up team to get the first two things done before you run out of money.

To make that happen, you must have three distinct personalities on your start-up team:

• A thinker
• A marketer
• A pusher

The thinker’s primary job is to come up with new ideas. He must understand the psychology of the market. He must know who your typical customer is, what he likes to buy and why.

The marketer’s primary job is to understand the mechanics of sales and marketing. He must know all the details — and pay attention to them.

The pusher’s primary job is to be pushy. He must be goal-oriented and willing to take on the responsibility of making the thinker and marketer do their jobs.

In an ideal world, every new business would be launched by three people: a thinker, a marketer, and a pusher.

But in most cases, new businesses are started by one or two people. And that means one person must do the work of two or three.

You might have a good marketer who is a so-so idea man and is trying to run the business himself. Or a talented product developer who partners with a good marketer but has no one to do the day-to-day pushing. I know of one business that has neither a good marketer nor a good idea person. It gets by — barely — but only because its CEO keeps pushing inexperienced people to make mostly mediocre efforts.

Imperfectly balanced start-ups can succeed so long as all the people at the top recognize the work that needs to be done and work hard.

But don’t lose sight of the three essential jobs that need to be done and the different personalities those jobs require. Ignore them at your peril.

———————————————- Highly Recommended —————————————————-

The Relaxation Technique That Eases Stress in Seconds

You’re stuck in a boring meeting… a long line at the bank… or bumper-to-bumper traffic. Your blood pressure is rising.

But with one unconventional (and often misunderstood) technique, your frustration, anxiety, and stress simply slip away. You’ll feel peaceful, in control, and happy within seconds. Any time. Anywhere.

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They’re looking for answers that are profound. There aren’t any.

Ideas are in the air at all times. You simply reach in and pull one out by doing something that all young kids do in their imagination each and every day.

That is – you “make it up.”

Yes, you may “make up” your ideas based upon things you’ve already seen and heard – or felt. Yes, you may combine one thing with another thing until you have something unique. But you still “made it up.”

And when you make things up, you do so without resistance. You simply imagine – then move.

The other day, my eight-year-old and five-year-old were pounding me with punches while I was lying on the couch. They were yelling “Inside Kung Fu!” – then chopping me. A minute later, they were flexing and strutting around, saying “Errh, muscles!”

Where are they getting this stuff?

Sure, they’ve been influenced by me. But I have never gone around our home saying “Inside Kung Fu” while throwing punches. Nor have I ever flexed in front of my kids, grunted, and said “Muscles.”

Yes, there are bits and pieces of these elements at play – though most certainly NOT in the way my kids put them together. But as soon as the ideas “popped” into their creative little minds, they began expressing what they were thinking.

Becoming successful in business is much the same.

My successes – on the Internet as well as off the Internet – have NOT been a result of long-term planning, trying to get every detail right before doing anything. They have been a result of using my imagination to come up with an idea. Then moving forward on the idea – and continuing to move forward on it until the idea got completed.

And coming up with ideas isn’t hard. They’re all around us. Just look at little kids and you’ll see what I mean.

[Ed. Note: Matt Furey, an internationally recognized expert in self-development, fitness, and martial arts, is president of the Psycho-Cybernetics Foundation, Inc. With Matt's 101 Ways to Magnetize Money, you can learn the REAL SECRETS of financial success known only to the most prosperous men and women who have ever lived. Find out more right here.

Once you've got the idea, you need to put it into action. Get a step-by-step guide for turning your thoughts into a money-making business with Michael Masterson's runaway best-seller, Ready, Fire, Aim: From Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat.]

A lot of people are scared and angry. They’ve lost their jobs, their businesses, their insurance, and in some cases their self-worth. They feel victimized by events, by elites, and by entities. So they bob up and down, waiting to be rescued by a government or a friend. They hunker down into a form of abdication of self-responsibility because it feels better to be justified in misery than vulnerable in power.

And the interesting thing about this group of people is how threatened they are by another group.

This second group of people may be suffering just as much in real terms as the first group, but they refuse to see themselves as victims. Instead of giving up and waiting to be rescued, they are scrapping and hustling and retooling. Starting businesses. Taking risks. Flexing muscles they may not have fully understood or claimed before. In crisis, they are making opportunity – and, in the process, taking responsibility for making themselves.

They are discovering something amazing about work: that it really isn’t about the money or the power or the status. In other words, not about the external rewards. Those rewards are nice (actually, they’re awesome when received in the right way) – but the real reward of work, or entrepreneurship, is the flowering of passion. When we take responsibility for our contributions to this universe, we discover that work truly is, in Khalil Gibran’s words, “love made manifest.”

[Ed. Note: Which group are you in? You can take a stand against the recession this instant. Not only can you pursue your passion, you can turn it into a moneymaking venture. Get all the details right here. Hurry - the price goes up $200 this Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

When not contemplating social issues, Howie Jacobson is an expert on Google AdWords and driving traffic to your website. Get his complimentary AdWords ER Report "Why Most AdWords Campaigns Fail - and How to Make Yours Succeed" at www.AskHowie.com.]

There are hundreds of ways to drive traffic to your website. Some of them are free, and others cost money. The trick is to get “targeted” traffic. By that, I mean visitors who are likely to be interested in the content on your website and in the Google AdSense ads you’re running.

My favorite ways to do this are as follows:

1. Targeted e-mail newsletter advertising. Preferably using deep discount or remnant ad campaigns.

2. Keyword advertising on discount ad networks like Advertising.com, 7Search.com, ExactSeek.com, Kanoodle.com, and AdBrite. You can purchase keyword advertising “clicks” on these networks for as little as 5 cents.

3. Building your own search engine or directory, and redirecting traffic to your website that’s running Google AdSense. A search engine or directory is simply a website with a database and a searching mechanism. Most programmers can easily build one for you.

The best part of Google AdSense is its “auto pilot” feature. If you have a website running Google AdSense ads, and you have targeted traffic coming to the site, the ads run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – without requiring any maintenance or babysitting on your part.

[Ed. Note: These tactics for driving highly targeted website traffic to boost AdSense revenues were originally published in the Liberty Street Letter, a monthly publication dedicated to under-the-radar business opportunities and investments. To find out if you're eligible to receive regular profit alerts that could help you boost your income, click here.]

Well, guess what? You can resell prepaid cards like those online as an affiliate. There are hundreds of markets to choose from, including prepaid cellular, restaurants, auto repair, computers, and game rentals for the Xbox and Nintendo Wii systems.

One opportunity I particularly like is with TracFone, the biggest prepaid cellular company in North America. They have a very lucrative affiliate/partnership program that enables entrepreneurs to make a 15 to 20 percent commission on all TracFone sales. This includes the TracFone itself, airtime, and accessories. (The largest TracFone reseller averaged more than $30,000 per month in sales in just one year.)

Entrepreneurs are offering TracFone airtime cards on websites and/or promoting them to their opt-in subscribers. I’ve even seen TracFone affiliates selling products, accessories, and airtime through keyword ads on Google and Yahoo.

As I said, there are hundreds of SVC markets just waiting for someone like you to take the bull by the horns. But the TracFone program is a great place to start.

[Ed. Note: Marc Charles is a member of the board of experts at the Liberty Street League, a group of like-minded entrepreneurs and investors dedicated to making money "off Wall Street" with under-the-radar opportunities like this one. Find out if you are eligible to join the Liberty Street League right here.

Interested in becoming an Early to Rise affiliate? You'll get access to bestselling products and proven advertising materials that have brought in millions. And the program pays commissions as high as 90 percent! Find out more about the ETR Affiliate Program here.]

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The reason is simple. It’s cheap to produce them. And if a show catches on – like American Idol, Survivor, or The Real World - it can attract larger audiences than the most popular scripted programs. 

This year, the reality show Dancing With the Stars snagged as many as 22.5 million viewers per episode. In comparison, a top-rated sitcom like How I Met Your Mother brings in about 8 million viewers.

The low cost of producing reality shows, combined with their large audiences, equals big profits. According to The Wall Street Journal, each episode of UPN’s Top Model costs about $800,000. Meanwhile, the cost of an average scripted drama is in the range of $2 million. 

Why is it so much cheaper to produce reality shows? Simple. The people appearing on them can usually be paid much less than those on scripted programs. In addition, filming is usually done in the participants’ homes, which avoids expensive set construction and labor costs. And they require only a bare-bones writing staff.

If the show is a big hit, the production company can earn enormous licensing fees. The New York Times reports that the production company of American Idol had revenues that grew to $96 million last year from $67 million two years earlier, with gross profit margins expanding to 77 percent from 69 percent.

If you could get in on that kind of action, you’d not only have “made it” in Hollywood, you’d have a nice chunk of change for your “trouble.”

However, you need more than just a good idea. I’ve pitched shows to producers well over a hundred times, and I’ve found them to be surprisingly unimaginative. 

They need to be shown precisely what the show will be like. 

One of the best tools for doing that is a video “demo.” 

Let’s use Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice as an example. 
In this show, two teams of celebrities compete by performing a specified business task. The team that does it better wins. One member of the losing team is “fired.” The following week, the remaining celebrities are given another challenge – and this continues until only one celebrity is left. 

The celebrities appear on the show in order to raise money for charities they support – plus, they get publicity as a result of being on nationally broadcast network TV. 

Viewers watch the celebrities as they go about planning and completing the assigned task. Along the way, there is constant bickering and feuding… as well as plenty of drama. 

So, if you were going to make a demo for Celebrity Apprentice, it might look like this: 

1. A 30-second clip of Donald Trump telling the celebrities about their task.

2. Several quick sound bytes of celebrities speaking into the camera about how they feel about the task.

3. Some scenes of celebrities butting heads as they try to get the task done.

4. A 30-second clip of their final results.

5. Some brief squabbling while Trump berates the celebrities in the boardroom and then fires one of them.

Almost anyone can produce a demo reel. It has to look fairly professional (i.e., it can’t look like you shot it with your cellphone), but it doesn’t need to be anywhere near as polished as an actual broadcast show. 

Fortunately for today’s aspiring reality show producers, high quality video equipment no longer costs an arm and a leg. A basic mini-DV camera can be bought for only a few hundred dollars – and if you don’t want to buy one, you can rent one for even less. Not only that… if you don’t want to shoot the demo yourself, there are many professional videographers out there who charge very reasonable rates.

If you’re interested in creating a video demo to pitch an idea to reality television show producers, here are some tips to get you started: 

• Capture the essence of the show in no more than five minutes – three minutes would be better. Hollywood producers are incredibly pressed for time, and have no patience. If they can’t “get” what your show would be like in a few minutes, they will almost certainly stop watching and pass on the project. 
• When possible and appropriate, add music to enhance the “feel” of the show. If, for example, the show is about an up and coming female martial artist, you might use high-energy rock music.
• Keep the video fast-paced, with lots of quick cuts between scenes.
• Capture some panic, anguish, excitement… something the execs can sink their teeth into.
• Use someone with a professional broadcasting voice to do a voiceover narration. If that’s not possible, just use captions to make it easy for the viewer to understand what’s going on onscreen. 

If you come up with a hot idea for a reality TV show and present it to producers in a professional manner, they will take you seriously – even if they’ve never heard of you before. And, if they like your idea… you could be on your way to a new career in the entertainment industry. 

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is a produced screenwriter who's had a multimillion-dollar film produced and released worldwide. He has signed two development deals to produce reality shows with established Hollywood television production companies. For more information on Paul's "How to Break Into Hollywood" program, just click right here.] 

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