MFU Letter November 2014

REMINDER: The MFU Letter alternates every other month with issues of the the MFU Blueprint Reports - 6 times a year you get a new Blueprint Report, 6 times a year you get a new Letter.

From: Todd BrownWest Palm Beach, FloridaMonday, November 17, 2014

Dear Marketing Funnel Superstar,

Were getting close!

As I write this, there are less than 50 days left until we say au revoir to 2014. And you know what? I say

GOOD RIDDANCE!

Its been a rough year for ole TB.

Not professionally. Personally.

Professionally its been a record breaker. More options, more opportunities, and more business growth than I probably deserve. And, a whole lot more money which never hurts.

Personally, though, thats a whole other tale. Losing my pops. A freakish blood-clot-induced heart attack. A close friend sucked into the throes of drug abuse, abandoning his wife and kids, vanishing into the streets and underbelly of Miami.

Not too mention, my ever present and on-going battle with personal demons. And, the decades of unaddressed emotional baggage I still lug around with me like a 200-pound bag of bricks. (Maybe one

GROUPINSIDERS.COM EXCLUSIVE

day Ill really pull back the curtain and show you what really goes on in the twisted mind of your fearless leader and coach. Not sure you want to see that mess just yet.)

Anyway, enough of my whining. Nobody ever said life was going to be easy. Plus, thats not what youre here for.

Youre here to have me hand you some serious marketing and money-making gems, right?. Some of the secrets if you will to extracting mucho buckos from your marketing funnels?

Well, that, my friend I can certainly do!

So, how about this

How bout this month I give you six specific gems thatll sharpen your marketing chops, fetch you more customers, and deposit a heck of a lot more money in your bank account?

Sound good?

Good. Cause heres

GEM #1:The Hidden SecretsOf The Money-Makers

In a prior MFU Letter I told you the story of how I was made aware of and privy to the little-known intangibles of the direct response business. The hidden aspects of this business that separate the successful from the really successful. The aspects that allow some to experience wild success after wild success, while most never come even remotely close and have no clue as to why.

Well, one of those intangibles lies within your ability to identify the hidden secrets behind the marketing ideas and appeals that are money-makers for others in your marketplace.

Im talking about your ability to look at a successful marketing campaign, funnel, sales letter, etc., and understand why the marketing idea and message is moving prospects to buy.

Im NOT talking about the products USP, or whats different about the product compared to the rest, or whats superior or interesting about the offer, guarantee, premiums, or price point.

- -2 Copyright 2014 - www.MarketingFunnelAutomation.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


http://www.MarketingFunnelAutomation.com

Nor am I talking about the headline, deck copy, lead, or use of urgency copy, scarcity, exclusivity, or any other copy-related strategy or tactic.

Im talking about you being able to look at a successful promotion from someone else in your marketplace, and being able to identify

The Deeper Emotional Hot ButtonsAnd Triggers Being UsedTo Move Prospects To Act!

And, in the process, being able to identify the deep feelings being stimulated. The open wounds being salted. The fears being cultivated. Etc.

Im talking about you being able to dissect a winning campaign, and spot whats going on beneath the surface of the words and marketing message and deeper into the impact on the prospects psyche. On the prospects limbic system. On the part of the brain of the prospect driven by the most basic of human desires and emotions.

I guess you could say simply Im talking about you being able to identify the specific emotional manipulation being employed within the marketing campaigns working in your marketplace.

That ability is one of the intangibles of this business. And, is a skill (and art) you need to develop if you want to be a big-money player.

To do so, you need to start looking at the successful campaigns in your market from a different angle. Instead of simply looking at the headline, promise, benefit statements, and offer, you need to start looking for the things being said and done with the purpose of stirring, agitating, or eliciting an emotion and/or feeling within the prospect.

In other words, you need to look at the copy each and every line of it and look to see what emotions or feelings, if any, are being strategically manipulated throughout.

Are there points in the copy that are appealing to the prospects need for acceptance? For belonging? For pride and self-worth? For status?

Are there points in the copy that are agitating the prospects feelings of fear, envy, greed, inadequacy, lust, guilt, shame, angst?




Remember, were not talking about features, benefits, or advantages here. Were not talking about reasons to respond now, added premiums, or discounts.

Were talking about the

Deeper Emotional Triggers Being Stirred With Specific Copy Throughout The Campaign!

As you come across these in successful campaigns, you want to write down the emotion or feeling being stimulated, and the copy being used to do the stimulating.

Simply: What was said and what emotion or feeling was it prodding?

Over time, youll start to see some trends and commonalities amongst the successful campaigns in your market. Youll see one or more emotions or feelings that continue to be addressed and manipulated in different winning campaigns.

Those, obviously, are the ones you want to make sure you nail, over and over, in your own campaigns.

Dont ever forget: Your prospects are emotional creatures. They do not make buying decisions rationally or logically. Attempting to sell to them this way will only leave you frustrated and baffled.

Prospects, first and foremost, make buying decisions usually on a totally subconscious level based on deeper emotions, feelings, and drivers.

And its your job to make sure your marketing speaks to those deeper emotions, feelings, and drivers i.e. the limbic system portion of their brain.

Like Ive said many times before, youve got to

Make The Emotional Sale FirstBefore You Try To Make The Logical Sale!

You get what Im saying here?

Youve got to appeal to their heart before you appeal to their mind.




But once you do sell their heart, you then absolutely need to sell their mind.

Which brings me to

GEM #2:The Rock-Solid Logic Chain

Gary Bencivenga, one of the most successful advertising copywriters of all time, repeatedly says, Your prospects should reap value from your marketing piece itself.

Most marketers take this to simply mean there should be some real-world instructional content or information in the marketing piece. But thats only part of it.

In order for prospects to see your marketing piece as valuable, they need to walk away from it with a new understanding, perspective, or mindset.

They need to walk away with one or more new beliefs.

Ironically, thats also the case if we want to close the sale and create a transaction. There are certain beliefs we need to ensure prospects have by the end of your marketing piece for them to be able to buy.

Heres the thing: Inherent in that is the simple, and yet, daunting, process of

ActuallyGetting Prospects

To BELIEVE!

And, its via that process of establishing certain beliefs where we deliver value to the prospect and make the logical sale.

I guess you could simply say it like this:

For something to be valuable to your prospects, they need to first and foremost believe it. And, for something to make sense to your prospects on a logical basis, they need to also, first and foremost believe it.

So, making sure youre believed is paramount.

Duh, Todd! Not like youre telling us anything we dont already know. Sheesh.




Well, just bear with me. I promise you, Im going to give you a serious money-making tip in just a minute (or two).

This idea of delivering value right in your marketing and making the logical sale come together under the umbrella of establishing belief.

And, we do that with an undeniable, indisputable, fortified sales argument. A rock-solid logic chain. A sequential chain designed to create certain beliefs in the mind of the prospect built with claims and statements each backed by proof point upon proof point.

This is something I talk about extensively in the MFA Partnership Coaching Program. Is something I try to bring-up on almost every interview or podcast Im asked to participate in. And is at the root of all of the home-run marketing campaigns and funnels Ive reviewed.

Heres how it works:

Like I said earlier, you first make the emotional sale. You, first, appeal to the prospects heart. To their emotions and feelings. Drawing them in and exciting them on a deeper emotional basis.

Then, and only then, do you begin to present the logical, rational reasons why they should agree with, and believe, everything youre saying.

Think of it like being a prosecutor. Lets say a prosecutor trying to

Prove The Guilt OfA Defendant On Trial

For Murder!

As a prosecutor, your opening arguments are going to be designed to irritate, agitate, and move the jury on a deep emotional level. To, suck them in emotionally, and give them a preview of what youre going to prove to them throughout the rest of the trial.

Once youve appealed to their heart and made the emotional sale with the jury, you then proceed with the bulk of your case. You do this by sequentially presenting the facts of the defendants guilt. And you do it with claims and statements that are each backed with a preponderance of proof.




And, as the prosecutor, you know there are certain things the jury needs to believe by the time you give your closing arguments if theyre going to be able to find the defendant guilty. So, your entire case and argument is based around making certain claims and statements, along with providing proof, to establish those necessary beliefs in the mind of the jury.

You present point by point, giving proof upon proof, establishing belief after belief. All, in a logical, sequential order.

This is your logic chain. Your sales argument.

And, by the end of the trial, before you go into your closing argument (your call to action), you have a jury that is emotionally sold on the idea of finding the defendant guilty and has all of the logical, rational reasons and beliefs necessary to move forward with a conviction.

And BAMMO! There you have it. A rock-solid sales argument.

Now, before moving on, its worth noting one thing.

The typical marketing funnel is usually filled with an endless string of claims, promises, and statements. And, is almost always absent of the necessary proof for each.

So, what typical marketers wind up with is a message that looks, smells, and feels like a sales message. Its exactly what prospects expect it to be a series of unsubstantiated claims by a company or sales person peddling their product or service.

The result? No beliefs established. No value delivered. And few sales made.

See: Its the inclusion of proof, along with the logical, sequential presentation of claims and statements, that creates the beliefs. And, therefore, delivers the value and makes the sale.

Make sense?

I hope so, cause Im off to

GEM #3:The D. Forbes Ley Sales Secret

Ever hear of the book The Best Seller?




No?

I didnt think so. Most folks havent.

Its a little book published in the mid-80s and written by a somewhat obscure sales trainer, D. Forbes Ley.

But, you want to hear something funny? Its actually one of the best books youll ever read on the topic of selling.

Why? Because its one of the only books that really stresses the importance of focusing your sales presentation on the emotional buying motives of your prospects.

And, Forbes is one of the only sales trainers Ive ever seen document one of the most valuable emotional buying motives to consider when crafting any kind of marketing or sales message.

Here it is:

People Buy Things They BelieveWill Help Them Feel Better

About Themselves.

Did you get that?

One of the strongest emotional buying motives prospects have is the desire to feel better about themselves.

So, even putting common product features, benefits, and advantages aside, prospects are still attracted to products, services, and offers they believe will simply make them feel better about themselves.

This is why the sheer act of purchasing something can often relieve pain and make a prospect feel better about their situation, obstacle, or problem. Because, in their mind, theyve done the right thing and taken proactive steps toward a resolution. In other words, theyve done something they can be proud of. Something that makes them see themselves in a different light.

As a marketer, youd be wise to appeal to this desire in your marketing.

Not necessarily doing it explicitly (i.e. coming right out and saying it). Instead, implying it through story or example.

Make sense?




OK, then lets move on to

GEM #4:The One Upsell ThatMultiplies Your Sales

Also related to selling, just not from our man, D. Forbes Ley.

Too be honest, Im not sure who this one comes from. But, Im sure youre familiar with it.

Its the old salesmans adage

Response begets response.

And its true. The more a customer responds, the more likely they are to continue to respond.

But, the application of this goes well beyond what most marketers think about or consider. Its not just general, overall response were talking about.

Truth is: This principle applies to all the different stages of your marketing funnel, including (and especially) the add-on/upsell sequence.

In fact, lets talk more about that sequence for just a minute or two.

What a lot of marketers do not understand is that the purpose of the add-on/upsell sequence goes beyond just increasing average transaction value. Yeah, thats one of the objectives when engineering an add-on/upsell sequence in your funnels. But, thats just the beginning.

There are at least three other critical reasons and objectives. One of which specifically applies to the first add-on/upsell offer in your sequence, and is directly tied to the response begets response principle.

Here it is: You want to design and structure the first add-on/upsell in your sequence for maximum conversions (take rate). Not necessarily for maximum transaction value. You want the highest volume of customers to take advantage of the first offer in the sequence to create what old-school salesmen refer to as Yes Momentum.




Heres why: Getting a Yes on the first add-on/upsell offer in the sequence increases the likelihood of getting a Yes on the second offer. Whereas, getting a No on the first add-on/upsell offer in the sequence decreases the likelihood of getting a Yes on the second offer.

This is critical when it comes to the placement and timing of where your higher-priced offers appear in your add-on/upsell sequences.

Place them too early, and you miss-out on the impact of Yes Momentum. Place them later in the sequence after one or two high-conversion add-on offers and you increase the take rate on the higher-priced offers.

This is why all of my best performing add-on/upsell sequences for my company and most of my clients always begins with a Reverse Add-On offer.

It makes it easy for prospects to say yes because it allows them to bypass the heavy decision-based thinking. And, in the process, increases Yes Momentum going into the next offer, and so on.

Got it? Yes?

Good. Then lets continue with

GEM #5:How To Go Up AgainstA Badass Copywriter And Still Pound Em!

About ten years ago or so I decided to enter a new niche market - the chiropractic arena. Much to my dismay, I quickly realized the market was stacked with savvy direct response marketers. Many of whom were backed by some serious heavy-hitting copywriters.

In fact, at one point, Dan Kennedy was writing copy for two well-known marketers in that space. Two marketers who just happen to have been competitors of mine.

Sheesh. What was a brotha to do?

Well, Ill tell ya what I wasnt going to do. I wasnt going to beat those competitors by coming-up with a better marketing message or better copy. Nope. Not, when their message and copy was coming from the likes of DK.




The way to beat those competitors and the same way you can beat a competitor who simply has better copy than you is by adding-in and optimizing the different steps and stages that make up your marketing funnel.

Youd be amazed at how much you can improve the performance of a funnel, without changing the main premise or a single word of copy, simply by adding-in, tweaking, or optimizing different pieces of the funnel.

Let me give you an example.

You can often radically improve the performance of a webinar funnel by adding in the following four pieces: (1) Thank you page teaser video, (2) Thank You page monetization offer, (3) Intensification Sequence, and (4) a simple SMS reminder.

See, the reality is

Most Marketers AreLazy And Cheap!

So, more often than not, the big competitive opportunity lies in your willingness to go the distance when engineering the different steps and stages of your funnels.

Mark my words, if you look at your competitors funnels, youll find most have several steps missing or severely lacking. Especially for the marketers with great copy. Because, often, they feel great copy is all they need.

Look at their marketing sequences, and youll quickly spot gaps and opportunities where you can do more.

To illustrate:

How many of your competitors are using voice broadcast to announce new offers to customers? Or, as part of an event-based campaign?

How many of your competitors are using direct mail as part of their follow-up sequences?

How many of your competitors are sending postcards to prospects the day before a live webinar as a reminder?




How many of your competitors have a strategically-designed intro video that plays for the ten minutes prior to the start of your webinars?

How many of your competitors are doing pre- and post-webinar Google Hangouts - one to drive registrations, the other to answer questions and drive sales?

How many of your competitors are using extensive segmentation to better target prospects with better, more targeted emails throughout their funnels?

How many of your competitors are using segmented retargeting to move prospects through the different stages and steps of their funnels?

Look: I could go on and on.

And, I could probably fill-up an entire MFU issue with nothing but the things your competitors arent doing within their funnels, that you could and should.

Point is: When going head-to-head with a competitor who has fantastic copy or when trying to eek-out better performance from an ad, VSL, or letter youve had written by a great copywriter, the bulk of your opportunity for success lies within the optimization of the various steps and stages in your funnel.

GEM #6:The Juiced-Up Backend!

Depending on who you ask, the phrase juicing or juiced-up will have a different meaning.

To the health nuts, it conjures thoughts of green smoothies and kale-filled treats. To the present and former competitive athletes in the group, itll probably conjure images of aggressive, swollen bodybuilders hoisting 110 lb. dumbbells like theyre nothing.

For this discussion, lets go with the latter. Specifically, the aggressive part.

When it comes to extracting maximum profit from your business, you need to be extremely aggressive with your backend marketing efforts.

Most marketers fall woefully short in this area. And, in the process, leave an ungodly amount of money on the table.




Truth is: Most marketers are scared to death of the possible consequences of making additional offers to their customers. Most are afraid of making too many offers to their customers for fear of annoying them, pissing them off, or appearing too salesy.

Yet, like Ive said many times in past issues, the thing you should really be afraid of is

The Consequences OfNot Making Enough Offers

To Your Customers!

Fact is: Customers are buyers. And, buyers want to buy. They like to buy. It makes them feel good.

So, if you dont give your customers enough opportunities to buy to fulfill their jones for more theyll go elsewhere. Theyll simply find someone else who will give them the opportunity to buy.

And this is where most marketers get it completely backwards.

Most, focus the majority of their marketing efforts, time, and resources on the front-end. On trying to convert prospects into new customers. With the minority of their efforts going toward marketing new products and services to their existing customers.

Yet, its in the pool of existing customers where all the profit in this business is reaped.

Sure, an effective front-end customer acquisition funnel is where stability and longevity come from in the direct response business. And, yes, its the one area that eludes the overwhelming majority of entrepreneurs.

But, the entire purpose of the front-end is to put the maximum number of customers into your backend marketing pool. In essence, the front-end is simply a recruitment tool for your backend.

Once youve got an effective front-end funnel in place a vehicle to consistently acquire new customers from paid media at a reasonable expense you need to shift the majority of your focus to the backend.

The absolute worse thing you can do in this business is let a customer grow cold. So, you consistently need new things to offer them.




These can be your own products or those of a joint venture partner.

Regardless, when it comes to backend marketing, you need to be prolific with the creation of new offers. And you need to be aggressive with how and when you present those offers to customers.

How aggressive?

Well, truth is I dont think you can be too aggressive with the frequency of your offers to existing customers. Assuming, of course, that the products are great and designed with your customers best interest in mind. And, assuming youre not using obnoxious language or hyped-up copy.

When I say aggressive with your backend marketing, what Im talking about is the frequency of which you expose your customers to new offers. Not necessarily the language of those offers.

For most marketers, theyre nowhere near close to being too aggressive. For most, they could double, triple, even quadruple the number and frequency of new offers they put out in front of their customers. No doubt, you included.

There are some direct response companies that put a new offer in front of their existing customers every single week. There are others exposing their customers to new offers daily.

This is why you need to constantly be asking yourself

Whats Next?

Whats the next offer?

Whats the next product?

Whats the next promotion?

Whats the next package?

Whats the next Big Idea?

Plain and simple: What are you going to put out in-front of your customers next? And, equally as important: when are you going to put it out in front of them?

The fastest, easiest way to grow your business, revenue, and profit is to simply put more offers out in front of your customers.




And, even better

Put out more offers in-front of your best customers.

In other words, identify your best customers those customers whove spent the most with you, the most frequently, and the most recently and make them better offers, more often.

If there was ever a segment of your list that deserves the bulk of your attention, the bulk of your innovation, and the bulk of your generosity with over-the-top offers, its your best customers.

The more valuable the customer is, the better they should be treated. The best customers should get the best offers. Period.

And this is why I said earlier that most marketers have it completely backwards. Most are focusing the bulk of their time, attention, and innovation on the lowest value folks on their list their prospects.

Think about it. Most marketers are pouring most of their energy into the people who thus far are worth nothing. Into the people who have contributed nothing to their business, have demonstrated nothing in the way of value, and, if anything, have been nothing but an expense.

Its madness. Pure, unadulterated, ridiculous madness!

Argh! Anyway, now Ive got my blood pressure all up in a tizzy. So Im gonna move on. I just hope you got the message.

Did you?

Youre going to be more aggressive with your backend marketing?

Okay. I trust you.

Its time to wrap-up this issue anyway. So let me switch gears.

By the time you read this issue you should already be familiar with the Big Idea Bootcamp Im hosting down here in South Florida in January.

I cant even begin to tell you how excited I am about it. I truly believe its going to be the impetus behind a handful of multi-million dollar fortunes that get built in the next twelve to thirty-six months. And I do not say that lightly or with any exaggeration.




In the decade-plus Ive been involved with direct response marketing, there has never been a more valuable lesson Ive learned, or skill Ive mastered, than the ability to develop Big Marketing Ideas.

Its the single skill set that has contributed more to my success, reputation, and financial well-being, than any other single skill Ive learned or been exposed to.

And, I fully believe that the importance of being able to develop Big Marketing Ideas for your marketing promotions is only going to multiply in its value and worth in 2015 as the internet grows, the economy expands, and the exposure to more and more marketing escalates.

Fact is: Most markets today are already at the higher levels of Marketplace Sophistication. Thats because of the astronomical volume of marketing messages the average person is exposed to on a daily basis.

According to some estimates, the average person today is exposed to over 5,000 marketing messages every day. Frankly, even at half that and your average prospect is still exposed to over 17,500 marketing messages a week. Over 75,000 a month.

And because of that, its only going to get harder and harder to get your prospects attention, pique their interest, and show them you have something new and fresh they should pay attention to.

Thats why its essential that you master the skill of being able to develop Big Marketing Ideas. And, thats why, those marketers that do will clean-up even in the most crowded and competitive markets. Because theyll know how to cut through the clutter and noise. And, how to get and keep the attention of their prospects.

Anyway, I dont believe theres any single, better way to master the skill of being able to develop Big Marketing Ideas for your marketing campaigns, than by attending my Big Idea Bootcamp in January.

And, theres a good chance theyll still be at least a spot or two open for the Bootcamp when you read this. (No guarantees, of course).

If you didnt receive the information about the Big Idea Bootcamp in the mail, you should go over to my help desk right now, open a ticket, and ask my team to send you a digital copy. Go here: http://support.marketingfunnelautomation.com.




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MFU Letter November 2014