What You Should Know About Expert Opinions When Seeking Advice

by Steven Weisenburger

I wanted to answer another marketing and advertising question that came in from one of the members of our elite little band of CopyLab marketing students.

Christine had an experience that I see surface often, so I felt it beneficial to expose you all to my response to her because it can make the difference between success or failure.

"... I did some research and according to a guy at "MediaStar Company" (pseudo name used to avoid an legal ramifacations!) , my "product" is one that is so saturated, he insinuated it's not worth pursuing unless you have lots of money to throw at it.

Given that, should I change my product and try to come up with something
else?

I was disheartened, to say the least."

My Rant... er... I mean My Answer:

OK, I didn't know who "MediaStar" was. So I went to their website and checked them out. They have one of those very impressive website, sporting clients like DKNY, Playboy, Countrywide, eBay etc... a lot of big name corporate companies. Plus, they have been written up by the media and won some awards because they are growing so fast. Wooowhoo! Impressive... to some.

Well here are my thoughts...

Know this, when anyone says something to you, you must understand they have their own motivations, experiences and prejudices in play. So you best consider this long and hard when you ask a persons advice on any matter. I don't care what you say -- you are NOT going to get an objective opinion... from anyone... we are not machines, we are after all, human beings.

And I'll be the first to tell you that I'm that way. So you best figure out what my motivations, experience and prejudices are when weighing my answer. For example...

I loathe companies like "MediaStar"...

Why? -- Because I have a prejudice against most of corporate America marketing and that is clearly the market served by "MediaStar." Right or wrong I think corporate America has their heads stuck way up there collective corporate asses (Opps, I mean, "up a donkeys rear end") when it comes to marketing.

But hey what the hell do I know about it? I'm just a lowly small businessman--well I'm gonna tell you what I know about it in a minute, so make sure you read the end of this post...

When Things Strike You As Odd

It struck me as odd that Christine, a startup entrepreneur, sought advise from those serving the corporate niche. Not that they don't have anything of value to learn but as an entrepreneur, I'm certianly not willing to adopt the philosophy of an organization that has snuffed out every particle of entreprenuership out of its culture. Hey, that's how corporate America got to be corporate America! At least that's my experience.

And I wonder who the "a guy at "MediaStar" is that Christine spoke to? I would imagine he's a lowly hourly wage earning employee that has owned a business or even had an ecommerce website of his own for that matter? I know she didn't talk to the owner of "MediaStar" or she would have remembered his name.

And what's the basis for "a guy's" answer? He told her the debt elimination/reduction market was "saturated and not worth pursuing." Wow, I guess he would know... or would he?

It strikes me as odd that the company he works for doesn't see the Insurance industry as saturated, but hey sure have them as clients. Hell, I can't throw a rock around here without hitting someone that sells insurance -- that's pretty saturated if you ask me.

It also strikes me as odd that his company, who serves clothing clients, doesn't think the clothing market is saturated -- good grief when I go shopping with my wife the sea of clothing stores is infinite (meaning without end).

And of course they love their client Playboy, because the porn market has in no way reached it's saturation point has it?

What are "a guy's" Motivations?

So what are "a guy's" motivations? Who does his company want as a client? Sure they may give lip service to serving the small guy but, who brings in the majority of the companies revenue?

In my "objective opinion" they like corporate clients because they have lots of money to throw at web marketing to solve their problems. Their corporate clients don't have a clue which end is up when it comes to search engine marketing, affiliate marketing or any of the other internet marketing strategies. So it's pretty easy for "MediaStar" to help out corporate America -- at least that's my opinion.

I would be willing to bet that "a guy" and his company have never even attempted to penetrate the debt market. It would be a foreign animal to them. It would be hard... they want to stick to what they know -- they want the easy stufff -- I don't fault them for that.

I've written copy for John Cummuta, the Transform your Debt Into Wealth Guru. He wasn't the first into the highly competitive debt reduction/elimination market, as a matter of fact he got into this highly competitive industry just a few years ago, and today he has become a mulit-millionaire. And continues to rake in the gold.

Look, the debt elimination industry is notoriously full or scammy, slimy operators. And that may be what "a guy" was really saying, but John Cummuta's program was clean and he is a breath of fresh air.

Listen, the debt industry is only going to get bigger... I believe we at the beginning of a whole new debt growth curve... think about what's going on in the economy right now... it doesn't take a genius to realize our tanking economy is taking its toll and it's just the beginning of some very dark days for record breaking numbers of people fighting crushing debt.

I personally think there is room for another breath of fresh clean air in this burgeoning industry. But you're going to have to articulate it in a compelling way so people can see the difference. John found his unique purchase appeal and you'll need to find yours.

... what do I know about competing in a saturated market against Fortune 500 companies? Now for the rest of the story.

When I started my yellow pages publishing business I chose markets that were, at the time, saturated with yellow pages telephone books published by Corporate Giants like GTE and the like.

I went up against these mega buck giants with a measly $50 to my name and, a Unique Purchase Appeal. And with my direct response marketing methods beat them senseless. I mean I chewed them up and spit them out -- they were like a rag doll at the mercy of a pitbull. They had no idea where I had come from or what to do to stop me -- so finally two of them got into a bidding war and according to my accountant, bought me out for 5 times my companies real value.

The thought of a saturated market never entered my mind because I had something different to offer. I gave the customer a "reason why" they should buy from me, and they did.

I guess if I had let my mind dwell on the fact that these mega million dollar giants had saturated the market I may have become discouraged, right...nah... no freaking way... I was on a mission to succeed and obstacles were there to be overcome and discouragment was something I choose to do without. I could see no useful purpose for it. I was excited and full of purpose and everyday was fun.

Don't you think it's time you had some fun too, regardless of what anyone else says about it?

Copywriters Greatest Secrets --3 Tips for Filling Your Swipe File with Ads that Sell

by Steven Weisenburger


I wanted to answer a question that has come in from one of the members of our elite little band of Internet marketers.


Maggi and Ken from the UK had a good question:


"You mentioned in your CopyLab webinar that one of the best ways to
learn about copy is to collect a swipe file of good copy. But, how do you know what is good copy, and what has been successful?"

Answer:
Once you graduate from the CopyLab, not only will you be writing advertising copy that sells, but you'll also recognize good copy when you see it. Plus, I am going to give you a couple of hundred ads from my personal swipe file to get you started. And to top that off, you'll also receive some of the pieces I've written that were winners.

3 quick tips for finding great ads to include in your swipe file.

First: Direct mail that you receive via snail mail (US Postal Service here in the USA or the UK Post Office) and see more than once is going to be someone’s control piece. You see in the direct response world, it doesn't get sent out again if it didn't work the first time.

Second: Long copy format ads or ads that require the reader to take action that you find in publications like the Wall Street Journal, USA Today or even The National Enquirer and other publications, that you see over and over again are someone's controls. When I see these repeated ads I snatch them up faster than a paparazzi can snap a shot of Paris Hilton.

Just in case you're new to the Direct Response world, a "control" piece means the ad works for someone. They have measured the response and tested it against other copy and it has won the day and makes money for the company sending it.

Third: However, I have tons of ads in my swipe file that are most definitely NOT controls. The reasons for adding them to my swipe file are many. For example, if its got an attention grabbing headline then I want it in my file -- I keep my eyes peel for interesting and unusual offers -- perhaps a unique way of saying something caught my eye -- or the ad triggered an idea for me.

So the ads that end up in your swipe file will come from many sources for many personal reasons.

Then, when it comes time for you to write a winning promotional advertising piece, you well have at your finger tips a wealth of resources to draw on to make your job a lot easier and to ensure you have advertising that really works.