USP and Fundamentals

[Obadiah Roszman]

Just wanted to drop a quick line about some things I have been noticing about alot of peoples "SPECIAL OFFERS"

1) USP Unique Selling Position... Anybody with any kind of real world marketing training knows that one of the first things you need when engaging in the practice of marketing a product, online or off, is a unique selling position! What this does not mean is that your product truly has to be completely different from every other product out there, you just need to have a good(unique) angle or way of presenting it.

It seems to many people are calling their product special, or new, or whatever when it has absolutely no originality, and your USP is non-existent. So keep in mind that if your product does not at least appear to be distinguishably different than the vast majority of products that are available, or the ones overly abundant in the IM niche, then you are going to have a difficult time finding JV partners.
Just something to keep in mind...

Now for the Fundamentals,
It seems to me that too many IMers are tryin to reach for the stars, hit a home run, shoot the moon, etc, etc, with their product launches. Basically trying to do to much to fast, when they would be better off sticking with learning the fundamentals!!
The fundamentals, as I list them include, in no particular order:

1. Web Design at least some minimal skills.
2. Payment Processing i.e. clickbank, paypal, etc (this is actually multi-faceted)
3. lead generation or traffic creation(ppc, article writing, videos etc)
4. List Building
and probably the most underestimated and over looked skill...
NETWORKING!!!

Think about that for a minute, networking is as important as any of these other skills that you can develop as a online marketer. Ask any of the top marketers on the planet and they will tell you that there is no possible way they could have achieved their level of success alone, not one of them. Yet time and again I see people, newbies in particular, not giving this a second thought or a first for that matter. So when you think about the fundamentals and learning as a beginner, DO NOT OVERLOOK NETWORKING...

and for you more advanced marketers with decent sized lists and followers, make sure that your people know the fundamentals. This is of utmost importance when you do alot of product promotion to your lists. For example, if you continually promote to your list more advanced products when they do not yet have a firm grasp on the fundamentals, then you are actually leaving money on the table. So every once in a while it is good to send out an email like this;

Hey xxxx
I found this excellent product that really teaches the fundamentals that we all need to know as online marketers. Even if you really know what you are doing in your niche you might want to check this out,
a little refresher never hurts either...

You get the idea, anyway just some food for thought

[philayres]

Obadiah, good insight. I have noticed that, too.

[citrus]

Out of that list, I'd say networking is the most important because every IMer has to do this. Traffic and list building are important too, but not every IMer has to do these things.

I would disagree with your #1 and #2, Obadiah. I'm actually not even sure what you mean by "payment processing"...do you mean one should familiarize themself with Clickbank and Paypal? Because it's not necessary, and even if you wanted to, it would only take a few minutes each to orient yourself inside.

Web design is a totally irrelevant skill for IMers to have. Leave design to the designers. Even if you have a knack for design, I would suggest that you pay someone else to do it (unless you really really want to do it :P) because you could be doing something profitable instead of tinkering with Photoshop. Unless you have experience with Photoshop (or equivalent program), don't bother with web design. In the time that it takes you to design a mediocre e-cover or banner for example, you could have easily written an article instead (for example). That article could have driven a few dozen visitors to your squeeze page and gotten a few new subscribers onto your list.

That leads me into a fundamental skill that I'd like to add: time management. Hanging out on forums for too long is not work (haha...I'm guilty of this one). Checking emails is not work (guilty as well). You'll be surprised how much work you can get done in a couple measly hours per day.

If you want to build a business online as fast as possible, you'll need:

-a willingness to learn
-the proper mindset
-a strong desire to succeed
-100% confidence in your abilities to succeed
-good time management

Having these five things is far more important than learning about strategies or methods (e.g. list building, traffic gen, article marketing, etc.).

Curtis

[Obadiah Roszman]

Curtis those are definitely some good assets to posses in order to succeed online,
in fact if you do not have the things that you listed your probably gonna fail for sure.

However to say that list building and traffic creation are things that IMers do not need to do is pretty well off base. If you're not building a list online what are you doing?? This is certainly a skill that needs to be learned, and if an IMer can't create traffic, for himself or an affiliate then he is dead in the water.

One thing from your list that trumps everything in my list is a willingness to learn that is probably the most important thing for a lot of people to have regardless of what biz your in. Which brings me back to my original point, people need to learn fundamentals. While I will admit that fundamentals do change according to what it is you're trying to accomplish, without learning the important aspects of a solid business foundation you are doomed to failure and will certainly reap the consequences.
Take our good buddy "TIM" for example he obviously has all the desire to succeed but has no understanding of the fundamentals of web design. I am not saying that he has to be a design wiz and know all their is to know about design, but he would be wise to know when he has a garbage site and needs to at least hire someone to fix it, some thing is fundamentally wrong with his site.

OK, Now I need to exercise some proper time management ;D
Thanks for the insight

[citrus]

Just to clarify, I did not say that IMers do not need list building and traffic gen skills; I said that some don't need it. For example, graphic designers, writers, CPA advertisers, and programmers all do not need lists. Sure, having a list would make them extra money perhaps, but it is unnecessary for them to have one. I suppose we could get technical about the definition of an IMer Another example: service providers don't really need to know how to drive traffic...they just need to go where customers hang out to sell their services.

Right now I'm going through Jeff Walker's PLM training. As a PLM (product launch manager), I won't need a list OR traffic. Other types of IMers which don't require a list or traffic would be, off the top of my head, copywriters and affiliate/JV managers.

Curtis

[Obadiah Roszman]

"service providers don't really need to know how to drive traffic...they just need to go where customers hang out to sell their services"

This is actually a form of driving traffic, is it not?
Take Elance for example, alot of service providers, and they all seem to have a promo page to show to potential customers, right? This is traffic, for a service provider!

I agree there are some professions that may not need as much traffic as others, but I still think that it is a fundamental skill for the majority of IMers to possess.
Also about a PLM not needing traffic, Rob Toth provides services like these, as you know, and he still generates traffic to a pitch page for the services he offers.
Anyway I hope you succeed as a PLMer who knows maybe we can work together someday!

[citrus]

I see what you mean. I wouldn't call that driving traffic, seeing as all the customers are already in one place.

TBH, I'm not sure that Rob needs to be driving traffic. He is a well known guy online...you'd think he's getting more phone calls than he can handle right now...but who am I to comment on his business

Anyway I hope you succeed as a PLMer who knows maybe we can work together someday!

Thanks... I look forward to it

Curtis

[thinkbig]

Good points in here--one thing for sure is unless you are top .1% you need to constantly build relationships and nurture those--it's not enough to just meet people because there are so many launches going on you need to stay "current" with partners. The rest of the business is fine, but let's face it--70% of the money most people make online is generated from partner promotions.

-Brett