Archive for the ‘Marketing Rants’ Category

I remember a time when I could go down to the local library, visit the business or marketing sections…and almost any book I pulled off the shelf would be an engaging read.

Recently, as in the last 3 years or so…it seems that published authors are “pushing” books out.

Enter, the book factory.

I’ve read Think and Grow Rich over 30 times, literally, from cover to cover. I’ve read the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” book many times.  Obviously, I’ve read other books…but these I would term classics.

But recently, it’s rare that a book written in the “business” genre is actually written to engage the reader.  Instead, you have to wade through “information vomit” to get to any scraps of engaging content.

Naturally, as with anything, there are rare exceptions (one author of a few that comes to mind is David Meerman Scott).

Why is that I wonder?

Are authors writing books with a purpose to engage their audience?  Or just to “get a book out”?  To say they are an author maybe?

Hmmm…

Before you submit your book to the book factory, perhaps get an unbiased* consensus about how engaging and entertaining the content is? Then, maybe, more people will read past page 18 before calling it quits.

*by unbiased, I mean not a member of your “inner circle” of marketing friends who will go to Amazon when your book hits the streets and publish “fluff” reviews.

By the way, I’m currently writing a book, a manifesto based on my personal observations about business and the people who run those businesses.  By the time it hits print, it should prove to be an engaging, entertaining, and useful read.

An Obituary You Should Read

By Larry Winget

From a London newspaper:

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend,
Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.
No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth
records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such
valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn’t always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.

Continue reading at:

http://larrywinget.com/blog291.html

Marketers seem to be getting lazy these days.

Every blueprint they’re putting out, all the marketing material, almost everything…is on video.

That’s the only format it’s offered in.

What’s funny?  The wise marketers that I’m following…are still putting out PDF’s or even offering physically shipped items to your doorstep.

Marketers are getting lazy. Video is so easy to produce, that the format allows them to mass-produce their marketing easily.

But over time, they will lose eyes, because these marketers are failing to engage multiple senses (reading, listening, and watching).

Oh well, their loss.

There have been some courses released recently (and marketing efforts that follow)…which claim that long-form sales letters are dead.  (the link is to the post that inspired this post, not a course)

Bull.

Some marketers have even claimed they aren’t using them any more.  Their loss. I’m still writing them.

This is NOT to say that video doesn’t have a place in online marketing, it most certainly does, and probably will occupy a permanent place in the toolbox of every successful online marketer.

That doesn’t mean that video marketing replaces the long form sales letter.  What it does mean is it compliments long form sales letters.  They work as a team to more effectively engage your audience and keep their attention right where you want it…on your web page.

Now, if you hate copywriting, you’re in the perfect market for these “video-only” courses.  You’ll probably ignore the advice on this post, and use video for the results you get (which will be not as good as you could get, and yes this is tested).

Think about something for a minute…

• When you’re watching a video online, and it’s a sales pitch, are you going to take the marketer’s word for it that the details and promises offered will come true…or do you feel more comfortable with it all in “writing”?
• If you’re watching a video that “rambles” on, do you find yourself wanting to “get to the price” of the offer, whereas a sales letter can give you the details when YOU want to read them?
• When watching a video, have you ever thought to yourself, “Man, I wish they just had something I could read during a break or something, I don’t have time to watch all of this!”?
• Can you print a video and read it later?
• Don’t you hate those long videos with no controls that force you watch the whole thing?
• And on…and on…

Once again, I’m NOT making a case to not use video in your online marketing efforts…merely offering points against using video to replace a style of marketing (the long-form sales letter).

The main point is, so long as there are human beings on this planet, and you’ve targeted your market properly, there will be some that want to read, some that want to watch, and some that want to listen.

Why not offer all three?