The "Marketing Gold" You Toss In The Trash

Mel,   I know this software developer who left his cozy Dilbert cube job last summer for the "kill it and drag it back to the cave" life of a consultant.   He's a cautious guy with a young family, so he made sure to line up a promising gig (with a fat monthly retainer) before he made the jump.   The first month went great—then his second invoice went unpaid. And the client stopped answering emails.   Two weeks later they get back to him...   So sorry, cash flow, ad spend, yadda yadda, have a great life!   Thus began his "August of Angst."   Late summer is probably the worst time for a new consultant to start pounding on doors to drum up clients. The people who write the checks are tooling around Disney World or enjoying summer barbecues; they're usually not in a hurry to respond to cold emails that reek of desperation.   Finally he got a live one on the line—a prospective client with an urgent job.   They're emailing back and forth, and he thinks he's just about got the job, and then the ax falls: "I decided to go with another consultant."   What was the deciding factor, he asks.   "The other guy had GREAT testimonials."   Testimonials (and their kissing cousin, endorsements) are just about the biggest underrated asset in every business.   How many raving notes or emails have you gotten from your clients or customers, read appreciatively... and then immediately pitched in the trash?   Those heartfelt notes are marketing gold.   In some markets, testimonials might be your only "moat" against competition. This is especially true when you're selling expertise—consulting or information.   My own products aren't necessarily that hard to knock off. When AdWords was exploding, there was a new book coming out every week.   Now yes, I really did have the best book on the subject, but how would people know that before they bought it?   From the testimonials. Are you going to buy the book that's endorsed by Joe Bloggs from Biloxi Mississippi, or the book that's endorsed by Alex Mandossian, Dan Kennedy, Ken McCarthy, Gary Bencivenga, John Reese, Jonathan Mizel, Joe Vitale and 100 others?   I've made testimonial-gathering one of my part-time jobs, and you should too.   Here's a hint that's especially useful when you're starting out:   You don't have to hit a home run for a paying client to get a useable testimonial.   Did you do a free consult with a prospect who valued your insights?   There's a testimonial.   Did you do something that caught the eye of an authority or celebrity in your market?   Ask for an endorsement.   And while you should never work for free, there's no rule that you have to take payment in cold hard cash.   Fill out your profile on Marketers 24/7 and offer to barter your expertise in exchange for the "social capital" of an honest testimonial.   My software developer friend learned this lesson, and he started stockpiling testimonials like a miser hoards Double Eagles.   Now on his website he has a "wall of proof"—videos, photos, emails, tweets... Celebrities, happy clients, former employers.   When you do this, the sheer volume gives you gravitas.   The piles of PROOF calm your prospect's fears...   And your competition is locked out—because it's impossible for them to ever get the same endorsements you have.   Carpe Diem,   Perry Marshall                     ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:   support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below: Opt-Out of Email Communications   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

How to “Translate” Your Ads to Get the Facebook Happy Juice

Social Media Decoder Tool  How to Consistently and Systematically Generate Facebook Ads that Engage, Lower Your Costs & Boost Your Traffic  GET IT HERE   Mel,   Have you ever wondered why some of your social media ads get you 50-cent clicks and some of them get you $2.50 clicks?    Why is that?   Have you ever wondered why some of your blog posts get 75 comments, 32 shares and bajillion likes and another one gets…crickets?    Have you ever tweeted something that just blew up…and then sent another tweet that you were positive was going to be way more popular and got…Bupkiss? Nada? Zippo?    Here’s why you ought to be searching for an answer to those questions…    In the age of Facebook, when you know the answer to these questions, you can consistently and predictably churn out content that gets you more engagement, clicks and sales.    No more wondering. No more stabbing in the dark. No more unhappy surprises. No more hair-pulling frustration. You can systematically turn the crank and get social happy juice.    And when you’re able to do that, the virtuous cycle starts chugging hard.   Facebook rewards you with lower cost-per-click, which means you get more traffic for less money.   My team and I stumbled upon a key missing ingredient for writing uber-engaging social media ads.    And you won’t find any of this advice in a Claude Hopkins book or any of the scrolls of the old school direct marketing gurus. In fact, what we discovered defies the hallowed rules we’ve been taught about Google AdWords and direct response in general.     This is something completely different.    But once we figured out what this missing element was, it was so obvious.   Because it’s the same reason that you go to the movies.    It’s the same reason that NBA All-Stars are paid millions of dollars, and teachers barely have enough money to support themselves.    It’s why people watch Monday Night Football rather than Masterpiece Theater.   It even explains what’s going on with Trump, Hillary and Bernie.    And once you know this you’re not only able to get more traffic for less money on Facebook…   You also have a powerful new “Decoder Ring” that you can turn on your blog posts, tweets, Instagrams, YouTube videos…and pack them with added emotional whallop.    You can even write better selling emails with this social media decoder device.    My social media decoder ring shows you step-by-step how to writing engaging social media ads. You just point to a place on the “map” AND answer some questions…and you’ll know exactly what to do to churn out social media ads fast.    And You Gotta Be Fast to Survive in Social Media    In the “olden days” of Google AdWords, if you found something that worked, you scaled it up, you threw big money behind it, you rode it until it didn’t work anymore. You found one thing and spent $5000 pushing it hard.    Today, that doesn’t work.   Instead of one thing you spend $5000 on, you need 50 things you spend $100 each on.   So, you need lots more content.    You must be prolific.   But my “decoder” tool helps you crank out engaging content FAST.   It shows you how to go to that old content….the stuff that used to work so well in the olden days…and update it for the brave new world of social.   Look Over My Shoulder as I Work Live without a Net   On Wednesday, March 30, on an exciting live training, I’ll be doing this live in front of your very eyes. My team is going to choose a few subjects without me knowing what’s going on.    I’ll have no advance knowledge. It might be a train wreck. I’m confident enough to risk it!    You’ll see me apply this social media decoder tool to Facebook posts. I’ll show you exactly how it works. You’ll see me do it over and over and over again.    The decoder tool and the training sessions will completely change the way that you do marketing from this day forward.   Get it All Here   Carpe Diem,   Perry Marshall     ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:   support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Opt-Out of Email Communications   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Announcing: The PPC 2.0 Think Tank

Free Presentation PPC 2.0 Think Tank Thursday, March 24, 5PM Eastern REGISTER HERE   Mel,   I believe in the old adage “make hay while the sun shines.”   Life is short, you can’t sit back on your heels and wait for good things to happen.   You have to make your own luck.   And when big changes happen, you have three choices… Lose the game because you insist on playing by the old rules Survive the game by learning the new rules and trying to stay one step ahead Win the game by WRITING the new rules Well, big changes are happening in PPC right now. And I’m looking for a handful of PPC masterminds who want to do nothing less than number 3.   Write the new rules of PPC.   I’m looking to form a “PPC 2.0 Think Tank” that would meet regularly, pool data, share cutting edge insights, and write the new rules of PPC 2.0.   If you manage over $10,000 per month in PPC ad spend and are interested in not just surviving the new PPC game, but winning it…   Join me Thursday at 5pm Eastern to get all the information.   REGISTER HERE   Perry Marshall             ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:   support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you'd like to opt-out of emails for this course, click here. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Opt-Out of Email Communications   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Modern Marketing is Musical Chairs (Will You Have a Seat When the Music Stops?)

80/20 Marketing Lab Live Starts Soon Apply Here   Mel,   We all know the stories of old school direct mail copywriters who came up with a “control” that mailed for years and years…sometimes even decades.    It kept pulling in orders, so they kept pumping it into mailboxes.   Prices stayed about the same. The list demos the same. You could count on it.   Find something that works, rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat.    How comforting.   Oh, that it were that way in internet marketing in 2016!   Now, you’re lucky if you can get anything to work for more than a few months.   You have to keep your head on a swivel or get plowed under by the Sherman Tank of change.    Case in point:    Google stopped the music recently.   And when the music stopped there were only 4 seats left.    All the seats on the right margin had been pulled out from under all the marketers that were sitting on them. And they fell on their butts.   That’s marketing in the 21st century.    You can’t count on anything to stay the same for more than a year…maybe not even 6 months.    There used to be 11 “seats” or so on the first page of Google.   Now there are only 4.    Poof! Gone. No warning…unless you were paying VERY close attention.   But paying very close attention is what we do in Planet Perry.    I can’t say we saw it coming…but we did see big change coming. The numbers were there for anyone to see.   And we did preach the eternal truth of “80/20”.   If you’re caught on the wrong side…which in this case was the right side of AdWords’ search results…you’re gonna get mowed over.    If you’re on the right side…which in this case was the top 3 (and playing by a completely different set of PPC 2.0 rules) you’re actually in a lot BETTER shape than you were before the right side went bye-bye.   That’s’ how 80/20 works.     And that’s what 80/20 Marketing Lab Live is all about.    In less than 10 weeks from today we will discover the 80/20 leverage point in your business. We’ll Planet Perry-ize your business on all dimensions.    We’ll explore 6 axes every business must have locked down for exponential growth…   • Traffic 2.0 (post-right side wipeout strategies you can leverage to dominate in the brave new world)   • 80/20 Deep Dives on pricing, profitability and productivity   • Swiss Army Knife: How to create killer sales letter hooks, Facebook and Google ads, emails and more in less time…to beat your competition to the punch.    • Definitive Sales Proposition: USP is only the first step. To dominate in 2016 and beyond you need a multidimensional DSP. You’ll have one.    • Simplify: A disruptive strategy, it is nothing less than a sure formula for taking the lead in any worthy market. It’s what every market craves   • Headtrash Removal: If you’ve got headtrash, none of the other 5 mean much. We’ll clean out your self-sabotage. Nobody else teaches this.    The 6 axes are 100% Planet Perry.  They are 100% 80/20.    They are the best ways I know of to 10X your business.    Find out more and see if you qualify here.    Starts soon so apply now.    Perry Marshall     P.S. If you missed my webinar presentation on the 6 essential pillars of the 80/20 Marketing Lab, get it here while you can.     ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:   support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Opt-Out of Email Communications   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

What He Learned Managing $700k/mo on Facebook (Mastermind Hangout)

Mastermind Hangout “What We Learned Managing over $700k/mo on Facebook” Wednesday March 23, 1 PM US Eastern SIGN UP FOR MASTERMIND CLUB HERE   Mel,   Hey if you’ve been thinking of joining Mastermind Club, here’s a great reason to pull the trigger TODAY. Advertising on Facebook has gone from “nice skill to have” to “essential for online survival” for most marketers in the past 6 months. And my co-author of Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising, Keith Krance, is going to be on the next Mastermind Hangout. Keith’s company manages over $700,000 per MONTH in Facebook ad spend. And on Wednesday he’s going to show you what he learned from all those clicks… How you can crush it on Facebook in 2016 by going against the crowd 3 case studies of campaigns currently running and killing it in B2B, B2C, and e-commerce markets. WHY a video ad is getting $2 leads and generating customers for $3.72 each, targeting 80% cold traffic, in a B2B market. The #1 rule when it comes to campaign objectives and targeting. Ad copy that works and is easy to write. (And why most traditional direct response copywriters fail with Facebook ads) Secrets Keith learned having lunch at Facebook Headquarters 3 times last year Brand new feature that will change the game 2016 And Keith will take your questions. Join Mastermind Club and jump on free. Mark your calendar, this is a not-to-missed hangout. Carpe diem, Perry         ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:   support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below: Opt-Out of Email Communications   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

If PPC is Crucial to Your Business...(Free Presentation TODAY!)

Free Presentation Rewriting the Rules of PPC Tuesday, March 22,10AM Eastern REGISTER HERE   Mel,   Today I’m going to deliver a “PPC 2.0 Manifesto.”   In case you hadn’t noticed, things have changed. Big time.   Good news if you’re ahead of the curve. Very bad news if you’re behind the curve.   How do you know if you’re behind the curve? Your impressions are down Clicks are down Cost Per Click is up Average position is down Conversions are down Cost per conversion is up Quality of leads has been steadily eroding Even hot new traffic sources like Facebook are growing prohibitively expensive You sense that you’re losing ground… but it’s not clear HOW or WHY because you’re doing “best practices” like you’re supposed to. If any of that sounds familiar, you need to jump on this call.   Today at 10am Eastern, I’m outlining the new Pay Per Click 2.0.   You MUST be aware of this. Ignore at your serious peril.   REGISTER HERE   Perry Marshall       ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:   support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Opt-Out of Email Communications   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Do You Spend More than $10K/Month on PPC? (Listen Up)

Free Presentation Rewriting the Rules of PPC Tuesday, March 22,10AM Eastern REGISTER HERE   Mel,   Remember the good old days of PPC?   You’d find one thing that worked and push it for all it was worth.   You’d find a strong, click-pulling, credit card-sucking offer and you’d scale everything up to grab as much money as you could while it was cooking.   Those days are gone.   If you’ve been wondering why your old “direct marketing” content has not been “selling” in the new PPC 2.0 world, listen up.   Now, rather than one winner that you put $500 behind, you need 100 winners you put $5 behind.   And it’s easier to come up with those 100 winners than you think. And that’s what I’ll talk about on Tuesday.   You need to be on this call if you manage more than $10k per month in PPC spend…and/or… Your impressions are down Clicks are down Cost Per Click is up Average position is down Conversions are down Cost per conversion is up Quality of leads has been steadily eroding Even hot new traffic sources like Facebook are growing prohibitively expensive You sense that you’re losing ground… but it’s not clear HOW or WHY because you’re doing “best practices” like you’re supposed to. Google Search truncating ads on the right side = back of your roof caving in from termite damage. It’s merely the obvious sign.   There’s a LOT MORE under the surface. You might have peeled back a few shingles 18 months ago and seen it… but you didn’t.   FACT: Many Google & Facebook advertisers are Dead Men Walking FACT: Most people can’t even tell you the difference between PPC 1.0 and PPC 2.0 FACT: The world has shifted from 80/20 to 90/10 - maybe even 95/5. The circle of winners is shrinking, and fast FACT: Old-school “Pay Per Click 1.0” advertisers are in serious peril FACT: Top advertisers are making MORE money than ever before   On Tuesday March 22 at 10am Eastern, I’m outlining the new Pay Per Click 2.0.   If you’re a consultant, a Pay Per Click manager, or chief marketing officer; or if you’re a solo entrepreneur in a business that is DEPENDENT ON PAID TRAFFIC, the ground has shifted under your feet. Tectonic plates.   You MUST be aware of this. Ignore at your serious peril.   REGISTER HERE   Perry Marshall               ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:   support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:  Opt-Out of Email Communications   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Perry's Two-Step Formula for Email Inbox Sanity

Mel,   Ever heard of the KonMari Method?   It's a Japanese system for ruthlessly eliminating clutter in your life, popularized by Marie Kondo.   Marie is like the tiger mom of decluttering. She forces you to go through every item in your home, piece by piece, and ask a simple question:   "Does this item give me joy?"   If the answer is yes, it can stay. If not, it has to go. Simple binary decision—not a lot of wiggle room there.   For years I've used a variation of this question to manage my email. It's part one of "Perry's Inbox Sanity Formula."   The routine looks like this:   Every few weeks, I look at the messages piling up in my inbox and ask:   "What emails should I get rid of?"   Meaning: Either unsubscribe, or re-subscribe using a secondary email address that you don't check every day.   You might be shocked how much psychic clutter you're inviting into your life. To illustrate this, I sometimes do a little exercise when I speak at a live event:   "Raise your hand if you're on at least 5 marketing guru lists."   Pretty much everyone raises their hand.   "10? 20? 30?"   Often half the room is on 20 or more different lists.   That's the low hanging fruit.   If you are getting emails from someone and it's mostly just useless distraction; if it's not genuinely furthering your goals; if it's all pitch and no content; if you find yourself not reading the emails; then GET RID OF THEM.   And that includes me. I'm completely serious about this.   If the emails you get from ME do not help you build your business; if they do not teach you valuable things; if they don't lift your mood and improve your day... Then I am not earning the right to be in your email box and you should unsubscribe.   EVERY email list that you belong to should pass this test.   I strongly encourage you to unsubscribe from a whole bunch of stuff, TODAY, and de-clutter your life.   The next thing I suggest you do is—by hook or by crook—find SOMEONE that you can delegate stuff too.   Email seems like one of those tasks that's impossible to offload. After all, those messages are addressed to YOU. Isn't it your cosmic duty to answer all of them?   This will kill you if you let it. One info marketer I know of was spending 1-2 hours every day, 7 days a week just replying to email. That's $10 an hour work at best.   Here's how you break free:   Spend a week or two critically examining each message that lands in your inbox. Pretty soon you'll start to see patterns and recurring themes.   When you've isolated the major groups, ask yourself:   "What system can I put in place so that I never have to deal with this type of email again?"   Maybe it's spending an extra 15 minutes writing up an FAQ for your website to eliminate support questions. Maybe you find you can create some boilerplate responses to requests for interviews or JVs. Maybe you draw up a mind map or flowchart that shows how you make a specific kind of decision.   The info marketer I mentioned found he could systematize 90% of his email workload so it could be handled by a virtual assistant in Brazil, leaving just a handful of messages every day that required his personal attention.   You may have noticed I'm spinning lots of plates these days. Evolution 2.0. Simplify. Roundtable meetings, newsletters, blog posts, webinars conference calls... that's only possible because I ruthlessly guard my attention.   Your inbox is your "inner sanctum." Defend it well—and train your assistant to do the same.   You'll find you're far more productive when you're not starting each day under a suffocating pile of unread messages.    Carpe Diem,   Perry Marshall                 ***NOTE: This email address isn't monitored! If you need help, please email:   support@perrymarshall.com     Free Video We manage our emails with Infusion. This Guide and Video explain my secret marketing sauce. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below: Opt-Out of Email Communications   Perry S. Marshall & Assoc 159 N. Marion Street #295 Oak Park, Illinois 60301 United States (312) 386-7459   Having trouble viewing this email? Click here