Let’s Get Reciprocal
Issue #2537
- WEALTHY: A lifetime of future wealth (Charlie Byrne)
- HEALTHY: Get on the scale! (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Maye Tharp on success skills
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- How making connections can supercharge your marketing (Wendy Montes de Oca)
- Feedback Friday: Robert Ringer and “The Great Bailout Stall”
- It’s Good to Know… if you’re allergic to Christmas trees
- Add “ephemera” to your vocabulary
== Highly Recommended ==
A Full-Fledged Economic Recovery Plan for You and Your Family
I don’t have to tell you how rough 2008 has been. Wall Street and real estate markets in chaos… 401(k) and savings accounts dwindling in front of our very eyes… Banks, government, centuries-old “solid” industries… all in trouble.
It’s hard to feel secure about whether you’ll EVER be able to pay off your mortgage or buy a house… never mind look forward to an early (or even comfortable) retirement.
Let’s face it. You need a rescue plan just as badly as Wall Street and Main Street.
But not just ANY rescue plan… and certainly not a one-trick-pony “handout”. You need a safe, solid and proven strategy that has the potential and the power to start churning out money quickly… and do so for the rest of your life.
Early to Rise has put together such a strategy.
Here’s Your Ticket Out of the Recession
If the recession has you paralyzed in your tracks and scared shoeless for your financial future, here’s a radical idea.
Start your own online business. Yes, and do it right now.
Naturally, you may think this is the worst possible time for taking a step outside your comfort zone. But that logic simply doesn’t fly, according to MIT researchers.
They noted that William Hewlett and David Packard founded Hewlett-Packard in 1939, when the Great Depression had been underway for a full decade. And in September 1945, Masaru Ibuka started Sony – after his country had been devastated by war and was occupied by a foreign power.
And how about starting a company while interest rates are skyrocketing, with the stock market having dropped 45 percent the previous year and the country suffering the aftermath of both a presidential scandal and a war it had just lost? Well, despite all that, in 1975 Paul Allen and Bill Gates started Microsoft, says the MIT team.
Still not convinced?
The January 2009 issue of Fortune Small Business reports that no fewer than 18 of the 30 companies currently comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average were launched amidst economic downturns!
The verdict is clear.
Don’t let a temporarily slow economy stop you from getting started right now on a lifetime of future wealth.
[Ed. Note: Don't know where to start when it comes to getting an Internet business off the ground? Not to worry - ETR has you covered. As a member of our elite Internet Money Club, our team of experts will walk you step by step through everything from setting up a website to creating your products to writing sales copy, and much more. Get the details here.]
“Any communication or marketing professional needs cross-cultural research and communication skills to be able to succeed in the future.”
Maye Tharp
Let’s Get Reciprocal: Maximizing Ad Swaps, Guest Editorials, and JV Opportunities
Now is a great time to look to your competition for opportunities to help grow your list and add extra revenues to your bottom line for little or no cost.
For example, here at Early to Rise I just completed media buy (i.e., outside advertising purchasing) recommendations for all of our newsletters – Early to Rise, Total Health Breakthroughs, and Investor’s Daily Edge. My advice was to reduce them to help control costs through the end of 2008, as the tough economy continues to impact everyone. But my number one focus is, instead, for each marketing manager to concentrate on leveraging the marketing and editorial relationships we have with our fellow publishers and aggressively pursuing ad swaps, guest editorials, and joint ventures (JV).
The idea is to develop synergistic relationships that are mutually beneficial – to look for areas of deficiency in your competitors and think of ways your company can fill the void.
One potential partner may have a great front-end product (e.g., a low cost e-book) but no up-sell (e.g., a higher-priced related kit containing DVDs, CDs, and workbooks). Another potential partner may have an innovative back-end product but no cost-effective front-end product to bring new customers in the door. Still others may have large, qualified lists but need editorial to bond with their lists. (This frequently happens when marketers collect names through their websites or direct mail, but don’t have a regularly scheduled publication – such as an e-newsletter – to offer people who sign up.)
Some tips to keep in mind when looking for potential partners:
• Do your homework. Find out, in advance, who will be at industry events that you’ll be attending. (Check the program for speakers, vendors, and participants.) Sign up for their e-newsletters. Read their promotional e-mails. Maybe even purchase some of their products.
• Look at EVERY opportunity as a way to maximize your company’s brand. When you go to industry events, don’t eat dinner alone in your hotel room. Go to functions. Mingle. Network. Have a genuine conversation with a potential partner… then, if there’s a synergy between your two companies, exchange business cards.
At this year’s ETR Info Marketing Bootcamp, I noticed that attendees were really taking advantage of all the opportunities to network with each other and the ETR staff…during presentation breaks, lunch time, cocktail parties – whenever and wherever – making the most out of the experience!
• Before you contact a potential partner, get familiar with his products and target audience and figure out how your company may be able to dovetail with his product line or marketing efforts.
So, once you’ve made the connection, now what?
Ad Swaps
Assuming you both have e-newsletters, you can test the waters and see how your lists will react by doing an advertising swap. In other words, you run an ad in his e-newsletter and he runs an ad in yours.
To make sense out of the results of that test, you have to know your “opportunity cost” – the “cost” you will incur for running an outside ad to your list instead of your own ad. If you normally sell ad space in your e-newsletter, this cost could simply be the flat rate fee you typically charge. Or, if you know the average revenues an issue brings in, you could calculate the potential “missed opportunity” of letting another ad run to your list on a given day.
You should also agree to share important information with your partner. Before his ad runs in your e-newsletter, point out any creative issues. (Perhaps the copy is too inflammatory for your list. Perhaps it’s too competitive.) Provide your partner with your e-newsletter’s sent and deliverability sizes, open rate, and ad click rate. Exchanging performance data is critical to a long and mutually beneficial relationship. It has to be a win/win situation for the partnership to work.
Whether your goal is to attract names for your e-list (lead generation) or to make sales, reciprocate in kind. If your partner is letting you do a name collection ad to his list, for example, let him run the same kind of ad to your list. But first make sure his list is approximately the same size as yours. If it’s substantially smaller, you may want to hold off on an ad swap with that publisher until he builds his subscriber base. You don’t want the initiative to be one-sided.
However, on a case-by-case basis, it doesn’t hurt to extend “good will” to a fellow publisher with proven marketing muscle. For example, when Total Health Breakthroughs launched in summer of 2007, I reached out to several industry friends and colleagues, asking if we could run a lead generation ad to their lists to help us build our subscriber base. We had little to offer in return at the time. (We barely had a list of our own.) But, thankfully, many agreed. The THB list grew in no time, and we were soon able to reciprocate.
Guest Editorials
You can also look into doing guest editorials in other publishers’ e-newsletters – with an editorial note or byline that links to your offer. This is a great way to get introduced to a new list with the “implied” endorsement of the publisher. His endorsement gives you credibility. And if you provide his readers with good, solid, useful information, they will bond with you quickly.
This is a soft-sell approach that may or may not yield results on its own. But when coordinated with either a dedicated e-mail (if your partner is on board with a revenue split) or an e-newsletter ad the same week, your conversion rate (the number of people who go on to buy your product) will dramatically improve.
Joint Ventures (JVs)
I’ve got one more idea for you: joint venturing. This is a quick and cost-effective way to make money with your list even if you have not yet developed any products.
With a JV, you have an instant product line with no overhead costs. Your partner will supply the products, fulfill orders, and provide customer support. All you have to do is promote the products to your list and split the net revenues with them. For an even a more turnkey approach, you can sell e-reports through sites like Clickbank.com, where everything is automated.
To determine the viability of a potential JV product, there are several strategic marketing variables to consider. I like to think of them as “PPPGS”:
P = Product quality
P = Price point
P = Performance (when promoted to your potential partner’s house list, as well as to outside lists)
G = General market demand
S = Subscriber interest (when promoted to your list, as determined by feedback, surveys, etc.)
Remember – you’re looking for long-term partners, not one-hit-wonders. So carefully select the people you approach, making sure their products make sense relative to your business…and, together, you can reap the unlimited profit potential of reciprocal marketing!
[Ed. Note: You don't need a whole lot of money to get an Internet business up and running...or to market to your potential customers. Of course, marketing is only one aspect of getting your business to start churning out cash. With a membership in ETR's Internet Money Club, our panel of experts will guide you through every business-building step... and keep you energized and motivated the whole year long.
If you're interested in an automatic income stream that can generate profits for the rest of your life, there's probably NEVER been a better opportunity than this one. Learn more here.]
The Code of Silence Has Been Broken…
In today’s financial climate you can’t just keep doing the same old thing or you could see your entire nest egg vanish.
Millions of Americans have had their portfolios deflate so badly that their life savings are nothing more than a memory.
Fortunately, you don’t have to be part of this group. Because there is another option.
An elite group of investors uses secret methods to make enormous profits no matter what the markets do.
Previously, nobody outside of this group was privy to these wealth building tools.
But now the code of silence has been broken…
Wall Street Insider Frederick James has broken ranks and is letting the genie out of the bottle. Learn how you can also start making a fortune no matter what the markets are doing.
How Often Should You Weigh Yourself?
I know you hate to look at the scale. Some trainers even suggest throwing the thing out. But the truth is, keeping an eye on your weight can help you meet your weight-loss goals.
To see if frequent self-weighing helps – or discourages – weight-loss efforts, researchers reviewed 12 studies. Eleven of the 12 indicated that more frequent self-weighing was beneficial. Folks who’d been weighing themselves weekly or daily for at least several months tended to lose more weight (and prevent subsequent weight gain) than folks who didn’t do regular self-weighing.
The researchers admit the studies weren’t perfect, but there doesn’t seem to be any reason not to weigh yourself frequently. Through my experience with clients, I’ve found that weighing yourself every couple of days does help keep you on track for fat loss and for keeping the weight off. (It also helps to have your body fat estimated and take your limb, hip, and waist circumferences every four weeks.)
However, you need to understand that weight can fluctuate up or down based on the salt content of the foods you eat, the phase of the menstrual cycle a woman is in, and the previous day’s activity. So don’t hit the panic button if your weight jumps up one day. Just make sure the general trend is downward.
[Ed. Note: Don't give up. You CAN get the body you want. And the experts at Total Health Breakthroughs are ready to help. They'll share fitness tips, healthy eating recommendations, delicious recipes, and much more - all for free. Learn more here.
And for an exercise regimen that can help you build muscle and burn fat, try fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program.]
Feedback Friday: Robert Ringer and “The Great Bailout Stall”
Robert Ringer addressed the recent rush of government bailouts in his article “The Great Bailout Stall.” His disparagement of the bailouts – and his own practical solution for America’s financial ills – got quite a response from ETR readers. Here are a few of their comments:
“I generally don’t do ‘letters to the editor,’ but I absolutely *had* to respond to the recent article by Robert Ringer.
“At first, I thought it was some sort of prank letter, the way he was mashing words together (like Demopublicans). But then, as I kept reading, I saw where he was headed.
“Mr. Ringer pointed the finger of blame at everyone, politicians and citizens alike, and challenged the country to wake up, smell the rotting horse manure, stop standing there with a hand out to the government, and DO something to better their lives. After all, if he could do it, so can they.
“He is right. The American people feel they have become *entitled* to everything, yet want *none* of the responsibility of earning or tending to what they have. They *expect* things to be dropped in their lap. And if it doesn’t work (whatever *it* may be: social program, new computer, car, healthcare, etc.,), well then they are *entitled* to have *someone else* fix it for them.
“Frankly, it’s disgusting.
“Sure, bad things happen to good people, but how much of it is of their own doing? How many people, teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, absolutely *must* have their cable and the new 85-inch plasma TV? How many people living on welfare absolutely *must* have those brand-new $200 runners?
“It’s the New American Dream: Bigger, Better, Faster… whether we need it or not.
“It’s no longer ‘keeping up with the Joneses,’ it’s now keeping up with the Joneses, the Johnsons, the Smiths, and little Timmy Walker down the street who got a brand-new GameStation360 for Christmas.
“Bend over folks, the operation *must* commence… now!”
Dion Vansevenant
London, ON
“Bravo, Robert. I think the only correct philosophy of American government is ‘guard my borders, deliver my mail, and keep the hell out of my way.’”
Babe D.
“Robert – that was excellent! You are absolutely right, and well-articulated. I made copies (if that is okay) – and gave to my co-workers.”
Brian Aldridge
Wheaton, IL
[Ed. Note: Has an ETR article struck a chord with you? If so, send us your comments at AskETR@ETRfeedback.com.]
It’s Good to Know: Are You Allergic to Christmas Trees?
Ah, the joys of trimming the Christmas tree: hanging decorations, untangling strings of lights, sprinkling tinsel… and sneezing, itching, and tearing up?
That’s right. For some people, a Christmas tree brings not just holiday joy but also an allergic reaction.
A recent study by St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Connecticut found that most people who experience symptoms aren’t allergic to the trees themselves, they’re allergic to the mold that grows on them. They found that a live Christmas tree kept indoors for two weeks gives off a large amount of mold spores – enough to raise the “normal” mold level in a home by five times.
(Source: About.com and U.S. News and World Report)
== Highly Recommended ==
Can You Really Change Your Life in Just 30 Days?
You have big money problems… ones that are affecting your family’s future and your own health. You are at your wit’s because you just don’t get it…
Today, welcome a very wealthy man into your life. He’s personally mentored four men who became billionaires… (that’s with a “b”)
He can help end all your bad “money habits” and replace them with “Billionaire Wealth Attraction” habits” that will bring money and lots of it!
Here’s the amazing thing: He is so sure of your success that he personally GUARANTEES to transform you into a “money magnet person” in just 30 days!
Are you ready to lose your bad habits and replace them with wealthy ones?
Word to the Wise: Ephemera
“Ephemera” (ih-FEM-er-uh) – from the Greek for “lasting only a day” – are items designed to be useful or important for only a short time. The singular form of the word is “ephemeron” (ih-FEM-uh-ron).
Example (as used by J. Courtney Sullivan in a New York Times review of Parrworld: Objects and Postcards by Martin Parr): “‘I have a very strong collecting gene,’ says the British photographer Parr, whose trove of ephemera… includes dozens of Sadam Hussein wristwatches.”
[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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