Erik Stafford's Marketing Blog
A look inside the profitable world of online marketing.
It’s ALL about sales.
Oct 30th
I have always had a huge respect for David Ogilvy.
Ogilvy was a notable advertising executive and the founder of Ogilvy Mather. He has often been called “The Father of Advertising.” In 1962, Time called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry.” He was known for a career of expanding the bounds of both creativity and morality… and is the author of the “Ogilvy on Advertising”, a book that absolutely should be on your shelf if you are serious about marketing.
Although he was the head of a Madison Avenue Agency, Ogilvy sided firmly with direct advertising over creative advertising.
Here is an excerpt from a speech he gave in Paris where he laid out the difference between the two approaches and why, in his opinion, direct advertising is the more effective form:
“There is a yawning chasm between you generalists and we directs. We directs belong to a different world. Your gods are not our gods.
You generalists pride yourselves on being creative – whatever that awful word means. You cultivate the mystique of creativity. Some of you are pretentious poseurs. You are the glamour boys and girls of the advertising community. You regard advertising as an art form – and expect your clients to finance expressions of your genius. We directs do not regard advertising as an art form. Our clients don’t give a damn whether we win awards at Cannes. They pay us to sell their products. Nothing else.
You must be the most seductive salesmen in the world if you can persuade hard headed clients to pay for your kind of advertising. When sales go up, you claim credit for it. When sales go down, you blame the product. We in direct response know exactly to the penny how many products we sell with each of our advertisements. Your favourite music is the applause of your fellow art directors and copywriters. Our favourite music is the ring of the cash register.
You generalists use short copy. We use long copy. Experience has taught us that short copy doesn’t sell. In our headlines, we promise the consumer a benefit. You generalists don’t think it is creative.
You have never had to live with the discipline of knowing the results of your advertising. We pack our advertisements and letters with information about the product. We have found out we have to – if we want to sell anything.”
Erik
Leaving Las Vegas
Oct 23rd
Hey guys:)
So a couple days ago I was sitting in the airport, leaving Las Vegas.
Watching flights zoom down the runway with people playing slots ten feet away. Crazy.
I was out there for JVAlert, which was totally amazing. I got to spend time with friends like Ken McArthur, Harris Fellman, Simon Leung, Lee and Robin Collins, Willie Crawford, Robert Puddy, Ron Capps, Eric Farewell, and others…
And also made connections with Mari Smith, Chris Haddad, and a bunch more mega-talented people that I am sure will factor into my future success.
Anyways, enough name-dropping and shout-outs… the bottom line is that live events are that rare opportunity to creep out of my cave and actually spend REAL TIME with others who share my passion for technology and marketing. It’s always inspiring and exciting.
I was invited to sit on the experts panel again, which is a great thrill for me… and even better is the fact that I got to meet some of my mentoring clients in person (Mary Richardson, Cathy and Laurie) It was amazing to put faces to names and actually sit down and chat after spending so much time cmmunicating long distance through the computer.
What an odd place though… Vegas. All the lights, signs, and opportunities…
Yes, opportunity. Las Vegas sells opportunity: the opportunity to be entertained by a show, to see something incredible, and everywhere (even at the airport) the opportunity to get rich.
To hit the jackpot!
And it got me thinking:
Opportunity is GREAT… but it has to be the right kind of opportunity. I like to think of it as planned or calculated opportunity… and once you put the wheels in motion you need to execute and launch. You can’t hop around from opportunity to opportunity looking to get rich.
This is what’s wrong with our current economy. Instead of looking for actual solutions to existing problems, the government is looking for a “quick fix” which is absolutely the wrong way to approach things…
It’s just like the people who email me and tell me “I need to make $$$XXX in the next two days… can you help?” I always say NO… because I believe you need a plan, and time to execute. You have time, and a plan? Then of course I can help you.
Anyways, it’s time we (as a country) left Las Vegas. Stopped looking for quick fixes and started planning and implementing strategies.
And if you are looking to quit your job, start a business, grow a business… It’s probably time you do the same.
To your success,
Erik
Me and Joe…
Oct 21st
Joe Sugarman is a groundbreaking Direct Marketing genius. His accomplishments in marketing innovation alone give him the right to be called a legend.
Sugarman used direct marketing to get the world’s first pocket calculator into as many hands as possible. This led to the formation of the JS&A Group, Inc. which led the industry in space-age technology. Sugarman introduced the cordless phone and the digital watch to the public with his marketing techniques.
Sugarman also introduced the concept of using toll-free numbers to take credit card orders over the phone, which was unheard of at the time. After only one year of using toll-free numbers to process orders, thousands of other companies followed suit. This led to a revolution in the merchandising industry.
His skills also led to the sale of twenty million pairs of BluBlockers. One of his lasting advertising innovations is the “man on the street.” This involved a public demonstration of the product to strangers passing by and was completely new at the time. It’s now one of the standard tricks used in infomercials.
It was an honor to meet him!
Over 100 Top Internet Marketers joining forces?
Oct 18th
Vince Tan is at it again.
In case the name Vince Tan is not yet ringing any bells with you, he is the guy that pulled off one of the biggest Firesales of 2007, doing $69,000 in sales in a mere 7 days…
Out of nowhere.
Yes, he came out of nowhere and racked up the kind of sales that some people never accomplish after being online for YEARS.
He proved that it you WANT it you can do it. In fact, Vince became quite the inspiration for many marketers who never thought this kind of fast online success to be possible…
So, here’s why we’re talking about this now, in 2008:
Vince is going to do it again, this time shooting for 6 or even 7 figures… with NO out of pocket expenses!
Vince has made it his personal goal to show that ANYONE that wants to accomplish this kind of success online can do it, regardless of how much money they have OR don’t have to start with.
Vince’s Firesale will go live on 18th November, BUT for now, you stand a chance to win the complete Firesale package plus some other extra stuff worth $1,500 (or more!) by going to the site below and guessing the total value of the Firesale package!
Remember, that’s 100+ top IM products that are currently selling in the market Today!
Of course I’ve already put in my guess 
http://www.erik-recommends.com/firesale
Vince has already managed to get over 100 Top Marketers to join forces on this, again, without spending any of his own money, so you really should follow this closely, and be on the lookout for the official launch on November 18th, 2008.
http://www.erik-recommends.com/firesale
To your success,
Erik
The current economy: perfect for online businesses
Sep 18th
Please share your thoughts by entering a comment.
WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
===========================
You need a website.
1. Pick up a copy of my 7 Minute Websites E-Book. It’s the quickest, easiest way to build your first website… and it only costs $7 bucks:
http://www.7minutewebsites.com
2. Use my niche research tutorial to define a direction: http://www.fwmsilversessions.com/sneak-peek
3. Submit a support ticket (http://www.ask-erik.com) and let me know where you are headed… and we will go from there!
To your success,
Erik
Affiliate Marketing Summary (It’s just offers and eyeballs)
Aug 28th
Erik here… and this week I have discussing the ins and outs of Affiliate Marketing.
This is the fourth (and final) post in the series.
Yesterday I talked a little bit about one of my favorite underground traffic methods…
Today I want to share another with you.
It’s called “Web Traffic Machines” and you can learn more here:
http://www.erik-recommends.com/bang
I hope that you have found this series of posts useful!
To recap what we have discussed, here are the three basic steps to becoming a successful Affiliate Marketer:
1. Find great stuff to promote.
2. Set up the technical stuff.
3. Drive traffic to your affiliate links.
If you have any questions about Affiliate Marketing (or any other online business stuff) make sure to let me know!
To your success,
Erik
Affiliate Marketing 103
Aug 27th
Erik here. This week we have been discussing the ins and outs of Affiliate Marketing.
There are three basic steps to becoming a successful Affiliate Marketer:
1. Find great stuff to promote.
2. Set up the technical stuff.
3. Drive traffic to your affiliate links.
This is the third post in the series: how to drive traffic to your affiliate links.
In this post I am going to skip talking about blogging, social networking, article marketing, and all the other things you already KNOW you should be doing…
(Seriously, these methods work… you really should be using them)
Instead I want to talk about an underground traffic method (that most people ignore) that has REALLY worked well for me.
Forum Marketing.
And this isn’t your grandma’s Forum Marketing, either!
Forget wasting time trying to post helpful answers and building up a reputation…
And forget adding your redirect links in your signature and waiting around for people to notice them and click on them.
This is a little trick introduced to me by a guy named Eric Farewell and it works like a charm.
Here is what I want you to do:
1. Use Google to find five forums related to the topic of the product you are promoting.
- Make sure they are active forums, with tons of posts and threads.
- Make sure there is a link that you can use to list all the current members.
- Make sure there are at least 20 forum members with over a thousand posts.
2. Create an account at the first forum on your list.
3. Post a thread in the “Introductions” area if there is one… and introduce yourself.
4. Post two or three helpful answers or posts about your topic. No more than that.
5. Use the “List Members” feature to find those top posters again… and select 1-3 people that have over a thousand posts BUT ARE NOT moderators or administrators.
Find people that have a ton of posts but NOTHING in their signature.
6. Send them each the following private message through the forum:
Hi (Name)
You seem to be quite active (and respected) on these forums… so I wanted to shoot you a PM and introduce myself, and also offer you a proposition:)
(Put something here about the topic of the forum, your interest in it, etc. etc.)
Would you be interested in placing one of my links in your signature? I would be willing to pay you to do so…
And of course, you are welcome to review the link to make sure you are comfortable with my ethics and the information I share.
Anyways, nice to meet you and please let me know.
Cheers!
(Your Name)
(Your Email Address)
7. Repeat these steps for all five of the forums on your list.
Most of them will respond. A few may be ticked off, but most of them will be really interested…
After all, this is space that they never considered could make them money before!
Work out deals with those that get back in touch with you.
I have a few of these in place right now that cost me $50 bucks per month, and a few that cost me $100…
Either way, it’s a very quick way to have your link appear at the bottom of 1,000 plus posts on a highly targeted forum with very little work.
Forget “being helpful and gaining trust and credibility” when you can just piggy-back off the trust and credibility that someone else has already built!
I will have another one of these “underground” traffic methods to share with you tomorrow.
I hope that you have found this series of posts useful…
Feel free to post comments!
To your success,
Erik
Affiliate Marketing 102
Aug 26th
Erik here, and this week I have been showing you the ins and outs of Affiliate Marketing.
There are three basic steps to becoming a successful Affiliate Marketer:
1. Find great stuff to promote.
2. Set up the technical stuff.
3. Drive traffic to your affiliate links.
This is the second post in the series: how to setup the technical stuff.
So you have an affiliate link to something that you want to promote…
The only problem is that it’s long and ugly and it looks like an affiliate link. So you want to hide it, redirect it, mask it in some way so people don’t get spooked off from clicking on it.
Easy!
There are several ways to do what you are trying to do. The easiest (and most professional looking in my opinion) is:
1. Purchase a Domain Name at GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com) for about $12 bucks per year.
2. Inside GoDaddy, after you make your purchase, roll your mouse over the word “Domains” in the main navigation, then click “My Domains”
3. Select the Domain Name in question and then click “Forward” in the navigation.
4. Either option works here, paste in your affiliate link and save your changes
5. GoDaddy will forward all traffic to that Domain Name right to your affiliate link… And mask it too!
Your assignment? Take the product you have decided to promote…
Get a Domain Name, mask your affiliate link from yesterday, and post it as a comment so I can get a peek at it…
(Here is an example: I am an affiliate for BlockBuster, so I took my long, ugly BlockBuster affiliate link and turned it into www.makeitamovienight.com)
Anyways, the next step is to drive traffic to your affiliate links, which we will deal with tomorrow!
I hope this has been informative…
See yah tomorrow for Affiliate Marketing 103!
To your success,
Erik
Affiliate Marketing 101
Aug 25th
Erik Stafford here, and this week I am going to be creating a series of posts that will show you the ins and outs of Affiliate Marketing.
Sound good?
Okay then… It’s Monday morning and class is in session!
Affiliate Marketing is basically finding and promoting existing products and services through a unique website link (your affiliate link) in exchange for a commission.
You can promote anything from physical products (electronic equipment, car parts, etc. etc.) to digital products (E-Books) or even memberships from large companies like BlockBuster.
It’s free to signup… and you can earn commissions from all of them!
There are three basic steps to becoming a successful Affiliate Marketer:
1. Find great stuff to promote.
2. Set up the technical stuff.
3. Drive traffic to your affiliate links.
This is the first post in the series: how to find great stuff to promote.
So where do we find great products to promote?
Well, it’s always a great idea to start with Google: whatever topic you might be interested in, go ahead and type it into Google with the words “Affiliate Program” added to the end.
So if “Crocheting” is your keyword, type “Crocheting Affiliate Program” into Google and see what comes up…
The next step is to check Clickbank: http://www.clickbank.com
Create an account (for free), then at the top of the page, click “marketplace” and search for “Crocheting”…
Look at that!
You can create affiliate links for any (or all!) of those products. When you find one you like just click “Create Hoplink” to generate your unique tracking link.
Here are a few other affiliate networks where you can find items you can commission on:
LinkShare: http://www.linkshare.com
Commission Junction: http://www.commissionjunction.com
As you can see, Affiliate Marketing is hands down the quickest, easiest, and most affordable way to get started making money online.
Your assignment? Find a product that you want to promote, either through searching Google, or on Clickbank or one of the other Affiliate centers…
And post a comment here with the name of the product you have choosen to promote and also your unique affiliate link so I can get a look at it.
The next step is to take care of some of the technical stuff, which we will deal with tomorrow.
I hope this has been informative…
See yah tomorrow for Affiliate Marketing 102!
To your success,
Erik
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