What the National Enquirer Can Teach You About Selling Information on the Internet
Archives: Marketing/Internet
Don Mahoney, co-founder of American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI), recently e-mailed me an article about the National Enquirer. In that article, Editor-in-Chief David Perel revealed the secret of the tabloid’s outrageous success:
“The big news organizations tell people what they think they should be interested in, whereas we try to give them stories that they are interested in.”
I think Perel has hit upon a key principle that applies to all writing. And it is especially relevant to information publishing. Namely, that your sales will be many times greater when you offer your customers information they want to read and learn… instead of information you think they should have.
The late Gary Halbert went even further, advising marketers to sell exclusively to what he called a “starving crowd.”
A starving crowd not only wants the information you are selling — it has an insatiable appetite for it. Therefore, even if there are a lot of players in the same market, they can all do well, because the market’s demand is a bottomless pit.
In particular, there are three “starving crowd” markets that have an especially consistent and amaranthine demand for information.
Starving Crowd Market #1: Hobbyists
Hobbyists read about antique collecting or quilting not because they have to, but because they want to.
Those who are heavily “into” their hobby, whether that hobby is calligraphy or macrame, can’t get enough of it. In these niches, a lot of competition is a good sign, not a negative sign… for two reasons.
First, it proves the niche is viable. If others are making money by selling information to this market, you can too.
Second, you can make joint venture deals with those other marketers to sell your products to their lists, and vice versa.
Starving Crowd Market #2: Business Opportunity Seekers
There is a voracious appetite for information on how to make money in your spare time, start a home-based business, change careers, or earn a living without having a job.
I believe business opportunity seekers can be divided into two groups.
The first group is doers. Doers are serious about changing their lives, and they actually pursue the course of action you recommend.
The second group is dreamers. Dreamers enjoy learning how to do what they want to do, yet take no action beyond reading about it.
You can’t usually distinguish between these segments of your market, but you really don’t have to — because both consume an unending stream of information products.
Starving Crowd Market #3: Moneymaking and Investing
People have a nearly universal desire to make more money and increase their wealth. If you sell information that helps them get greater returns from their investments with less risk… or accumulate a seven-figure net worth… or become financially independent… you will never run out of eager buyers.
Of course, there are other starving crowd niches for information marketers, including: self-help… relationships… sex… health and fitness… beauty… fashion… and weight loss. But hobbies, business opportunities, and moneymaking are by far the largest and most active.
One of the biggest mistakes beginning information marketers make is choosing, as their primary niche, a market that is not a starving crowd.
Without a starving crowd of buyers, you will always be fighting an uphill battle to peddle your info products. And you will be forever frustrated that your prospects aren’t buying your valuable information when you know it’s stuff they absolutely should have.
But people don’t readily do what they should do — or what you think is good for them. They are much more easily convinced to buy what they already want… rather than what you think they need.
So when you select a starving crowd — like hobbyists, business opportunity seekers, or wealth seekers — as your primary niche, you can sell your prospects the stuff they want… over and over again.
[Ed. Note: The first step to starting a moneymaking information-publishing business is to find a hungry market. How do you do that? And what's the next step? Find out as a member of ETR's Internet Money Club. Our experts will give you a step-by-step guide to setting up your own info-publishing business -- including choosing a market, creating a website, and writing copy to drive traffic to it. See if there are any spots left right here.
To learn more marketing secrets from freelance copywriter and marketing expert Bob Bly, sign up for his free e-zine, the Direct Response Letter. Do so today and get $116 in FREE bonuses.]
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