Going Viral Part 4 - He Who Shall Not Be Named

Relaunch

I Have a friend who shall remain nameless, he is in the process of re-launching his own membership site. He is following the advice given by Dan to the letter. He is also using twitter to communicate a lot of the important details about his launch and to generate Buzz. Many of you will know who I am talking about. Many of you will have had the sense to follow him on twitter

Buzz and Excitement

He has already launched a great product and generated a lot of initial buzz and the benefits of his product were so good that lots of his clients and customers started to promote it . He is now moving into the second stage. As far as I can see it has started to go viral because it has reached the critical mass and enough people are talking about it. Generating a lot of extra buzz and excitement which draws in people who have only just heard about what is happening, like Iron filings drawn towards a magnet. The members who are on board first will be the ones who truly benefit when the results of this product and its services are released to the wider internet and a more global audience.

The benefits are obvious, anyone who has read about what is being offered and has seen the inherent value and opportunity can only make one logical choice.

Don't Miss the Boat

It reminds me of another story about four brothers who had decided to sail on a ship to America , They had gotten up early and rushed down to the port. The first Brother had bought his ticket months ago, he knew exactly what he wanted to do and where he was headed in life. He had a cousin who had told him about the amazing opportunities that were available in America and he wanted to go and make his fortune there . When he arrived at the dock he ran quickly up the gangplank and immediately bumped into the captain who was welcoming the first passengers on board . He struck up a conversation and the captain liked him so much that he invited him to upgrade into first class and to have dinner with him and his fellow officers every evening.

The second brother also knew without a doubt that he wanted to sail to the new world, and had also bought a ticket beforehand. But as he was a bit more cautious than the first brother he had packed loads of heavy bags full of all the things that he thought he might need on the journey. Little did he know that most of the cabins came very well equipped and excellent food was provided on board. His heavy bags slowed him down but he made it on board without any trouble. Second class was crowded but comfortable and he was happy because he knew that he would get to his destination.

The ships engines started powering up and the third Brother was dawdling on the dockside watching everything that was going on. He was so distracted by all the hustle and bustle that he almost forgot to board the ship. They were just pulling up the gang plank when he ran and jumped across the gap and only just made it. He had to go in third class and didn't have a cabin because he had bought his ticket at the last minute, 3rd class was very crowded and he had to stand up for most of the journey, he was hoping that a space would become available in second class but there were lots of other passengers on the waiting list ahead of him.

The fourth Brother was watching everything that was going on. He wanted to go but he was afraid. He was afraid that everything might be too expensive when he got to America and that his money would run out. He hadn't even bought a ticket because he wasn't sure he could afford it. As he watched all his brothers board the ship he convinced himself that he didn't really want to go anyway and as it set sail he turned his back on the ship and walked slowly back to his house happy that he had made such a wise choice and still had the money that he would have spent on his ticket. To celebrate he went into a local pub and spent almost all of it in one evening of drunkenness.

This is the fourth post in a four part series, in order to fully appreciate it you should read the other posts as this sets the context and gives a lot of valuable background information.

Part 1 - Understanding The Difference Between Viral Marketing and MLM

Part 2 - A Personal Story

Part 3 - Making It Big On The Internet

Take Away Tactics - part 2

This is part two of a two part article, to read part 1 click here

A two stage Take Away

Another way to use the take away close that I saw recently was on a website by Mike Filsaime, he was offering his latest product and was giving a one time offer, and as an incentive he had thrown in loads of bonuses and gave you the option to buy right now. He was using time scarcity tactics but when you chose not to buy he made a second attempt at closing the sale, by taking you to a second landing page and offering you the same product but without so many bonuses and giving it to you at a lower price. This was a two stage take away and I was impressed with the slickness of it all. I bet it increased his conversion rates by at least 20%.

here is a testimonial he put in his sales letter that has a take away built into it.

"I would encourage anyone, at any cost, to work with these guys. It's not how much the event costs, it's how much you stand to loose by not being there!" —Adam Ginsberg

Give Value and Develop Relationships

Take aways really work best when you have already given value to a customer, and have established a good relationship. The marketers who adopt the tactic of moving the free line like Eben Pagan, Frank Kern, Stompernet and Brian Campbell establish their reputation and credibility first by giving away so much great content you already trust them and want to buy from then so when they pull the take away on you, you don't react in the same way you would if a stranger did it to you. You know you are being manipulated but you allow them to do it because you know it will be for your own benefit.

Tiered Membership

If I analyse what Brian has done you can see that most tiered membership programs have some form of takeaway built in. His Gold program has pretty much everything you would need to start your own business and has an ongoing training to make sure you succeed, as you move down to the Silver you lose the personal coaching and webinars so it is up to each individual to organize themselves and to carry out all the steps needed. They still have access to the video trainings and conference calls and the community. At the Bronze level, the conference calls and the community are available and this is where people can put into practice Brian's techniques and see the results for themselves, It requires less commitment and there are unlimited number of spaces at this level of membership.

Become an Affiliate and earn while you learn

I foresee that once all the places are taken the Bronze membership will become a training ground for the next up and coming stars, a place that prospective Gold and Silver members will have to wait until a space becomes available. As a Bronze members you can still earn while you learn, you can become affiliate partners for the smms and the gold and silver members. You will definitley become a valued part of the team. You will find that as you see more people succeed the desire to access the premium memberships will increase

Benefits and features

Most people determine what the are going to purchase based on the price, their needs and the benefits available. If you buy a top of the range car you will get lots of features that you might desire but often don't actually need. Car manufacturers realise this and make a range of cars at different prices and with different features. This is exactly what Brian has done with the Social Media Marketing System, he knows that not everyone is at the same stage in their business development or wants to make the same level of commitment, so a range of options and features offers the most value to the maximum number of people

The Best Training Yet

Brian will be releasing his 3.5 hour video very soon, This is one of his best ever trainings and you really have to watch it all the way through. Many people complained the first time around that they didn't have enough time and when they came back to finish viewing he had taken it down from his website. So do whatever you have to do to find the time, you don't want to miss any of this. Remember that your future business success is at stake here.

For a limited time only

Brian hasn't told me how long he will make it available, but I suspect he will set a deadline and stick to it. Get a pad and paper, take lots of notes and play it all the way through. You won't be disappointed. And by the end you will have enough information to start your own business regardless of whether you choose to join the Social Media Marketing System or not.

Closing A Sale Using Take Away Tactics - part 1

Today I would like to talk about a classic sales technique called the Take Away Close and explore how it is being used online and how it is evolving into new forms and how you can learn to implement this powerful technique into your own marketing. It blends with the scarcity tactics that I explored in a recent post which are a variation of the take away close.

Its an Idea

The take away close gets its name because you are giving someone something and then taking it away from them. The fact that you never actually physically gave them anything is irrelevant, what you gave was the idea that they were going to receive something of value and then snatched it away from them. Or restricted or place conditions on it. You then offer a way for them to get back what you have taken away, i.e buy your product, subscibe to your list or take a specific action

Rooted in Childhood Psychology

Imagine you have a small child and you show them a bag of sweets and then you take away the bag of sweets and hide it in a cupboard in full view so the child knows exactly where they are. The child will do anything to get the sweets and will beg and cry for you to let them have them. Now most of you will be thinking how cruel and mean a person must be to torture and manipulate a kid in this way but its actually what happened to most of us at some time or other in our life and was a way our parents and teachers could get us to do exactly what they wanted us to do.

No pocket money until you tidy your room, No desert until you have eaten all your dinner. No going out to play with your friends until all your homework is finished

A Sense of Loss

When you have something you desire taken away from you, you feel a deep sense of loss and you want to get it back at whatever cost. No matter if it was never yours in the first place, and aslo if it is only an Idea or a threat

Subliminal?

I love the scene on the Simpson's where Homer is watching a commercial on TV and shouts "LIMITED??" and grabs the phone and starts frantically dialing to order his subliminal weight loss tapes.

Show what you are missing out on

Last week I was talking to a friend I had met online, Dan Black he is an internet marketer and gives free marketing training, in one of his emails he was explaining a way that his company use this technique very effectively. He has an online membership community consisting of free and paid members and each month all the members get to see how much they have made in commissions from advertising. Each member has the option to upgrade, to add tools like video and audio to their account and these tools increase the expose and also increase the commissions. So what my friend does each month when he sends out the monthly accounts he tells people how much they would have made if they had upgraded to the premium services. This is such a powerful technique that uses the take away in a more subtle way. He doesn't even have to hard sell the premium services, the members themselves request the upgrade, because they can't bear to see that they lost money that was never theirs in the first place

The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side

This is like the classic saying the grass is greener on the other side. where you have cows pushing their heads through the fence because they perceive that the grass is better because they are blocked free access to it.

Sneaky email take aways

Another great example of this was done by my good friends over at Stompernet when they were in the run up to reopening the doors to their fantastic paid membership program. They sent out an email to all the people on their free list, all the potential new members, people who had signed up to watch all their great free videos. In the email they talked about everything that Stompernet was going to be doing in the next year, all the programs they were running and the conferences and trainings that members had access to. 10 minutes after they sent this email, they sent another telling you to ignore the first email because that one was only for members and apologised for making a mistake. No mistake, this was carefully calculated to plant the seeds in peoples minds and show them what they would be missing out on if they didn't join.

Brian uses this technique on his members

Brian Campbell has been up to similar tricks, sending the same type of letters to all his bronze members and then saying that the letter was sent in mistake. No mistake, he just wanted to hit home how much Bronze members were missing out on by not being in the Silver or Gold memberships. The way he has structured his program is also very cunning, having members working side by side who are not in the same grade and the members from the lower grades can see the success that the premium members are achieving because they have access to the more detailed trainings that Brian releases each week.

Upgrading

I have seen people join on the Bronze or Silver membership and within a week have decided to upgrade their membership because they wanted access to the more advanced level training.

Manipulation

Many people may complain that this is manipulative and I will have to admit it is, but manipulation is not bad in itself it is rather the intent of the salesman that has to be judged. Is a parent bad because they manipulate their child to brush their teeth every evening, No, they want the child to have healthy teeth so they want them to get into good habits.

In the same way Brian and the members of the Social Media Marketing System want each other to succeed, they want everyone who joins to have access to the best training available. I want every serious Bronze member to aspire to upgrade to Silver or Gold, because I know that they will become much more effective, That is why the premium members need to set such a good example to make it so attractive that it becomes a no brainer.

Top Affiliates

I expect that I will become one of Brians top affiliate for this relaunch, When me and a few of the other top affiliates announce how much money we have made, I want everyone to understand that all we did was follow what Brian has taught. We all took action and implemented his teachings, success breeds more success, and I have no doubt that this will just be the beginning.

Sign up Now

Most people who are reading this have probably signed up already, but just in case you haven't here is the link again.

Social Media Marketing System

Read part 2

This is a two part article, if you would like to read part 2 click here