I’ve had more conversations than I can count with entrepreneurs and marketers who struggle to email their lists as often as they know they should.
Many of them really aren’t sure how to make money with email.
As a result of those conversations, I launched Inbox X-Factor earlier this week.
Inbox X-Factor is designed to
make it as easy as possible for you to send more emails to your list (and spend less time doing it), and…
showcase effective tactics and strategies that are working RIGHT NOW to help you make more money from each email.
In short, Inbox X-Factor gives you access to:
Live email clinics, where we’ll write an email from scratch on video. Watching the process can help you find your own rhythm and gain confidence
Timely email ideas and inspiration, so you never run out of reasons to email your list
Unique subject line templates and examples
In-depth training to help you unlock the money-making power of email. Studies show email produces 40X ROI. These lessons will help you get there.
For THIS WEEK ONLY, you can become one of first members of Inbox X-Factor for $47/month.
On Friday night (July 10), the price goes up to $97/month.
If you have a list and an offer (or clients who have them)…I believe Inbox X-Factor can help you making MORE money with email in LESS time — starting as soon as today. If you’re interested, click the link in the first comment.
>>> Click hereto lock the discounted price of $47/month for Inbox X-Factor.
I am 98% convinced that this coronavirus scare is overblown.
In fact, I’m about 95% sure it’s completely manufactured and manipulated.
But whether or not you agree with me, one thing is abundantly clear…
The concept has captivated people around the globe.
More than that, it’s driven people to take action.
Think about it: this may be the event that FINALLY gets people wash their hands after using public restrooms.
I don’t mean to be insensitive to those who have been affected by this virus.
But, as I’ve said in the past, anything that grabs the attention of millions can reveal important insights into human nature.
If your business can use some extra attention, can you afford to NOT pay attention to stuff like this?
Agreed.
Now, I encourage you to think about this topic for yourself to see what lessons you can uncover…
But I’d love to share a few of my thoughts.
Let’s start with the most obvious.
Fear Still Works… If You Know How to Work It
You’ve probably heard it a thousand times: the natural human reaction to fear is about twice as strong as the reaction to pleasure.
Makes sense, right? You have to be alive to enjoy… anything.
Despite having heard it, many of the marketers I interact with still hesitate to use fear in their campaigns. It just doesn’t feel right.
And I get that.
But let’s be honest. There are some frightening things out there. Things your customers should be legitimately scared of.
If they eat a pound of bacon for breakfast every day, they should be worried about heart attacks…
If they don’t pay attention to their wives, they should be worried about divorce…
If they can’t get people to buy from them, they should be worried about their relatives mocking them when their business fails. (The resulting money problems could lead to divorce, too!)
Those are legit fears… and YOU can help them overcome them. Sometimes — more often than you might like — the best way to get their attention is to leverage that fear in your messaging.
Don’t feel funny about it. This is how you make the biggest difference you can make for your should-be customers.
So…
Even though the CDC says most people are infected with some form of the coronavirus during their lives…
Here’s why COVID-19 scares the pants off of so many people — and how that helps you be more influential
One: This novel coronavirus has been dimensionalized to a greater extent than other strains. It’s seems more “real” and not just a far-away concept
I mean, even if you’re not actively looking for it, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a picture of the virus’ crown-shaped structure somewhere.
Even the name has been leveraged. “Corona” refers to crown. That isn’t unique to this version of the bug… but it now owns a little real estate in your brain that influenza does not.
An invisible germ has been made visible. Memorable.
Two: There is automatically a fear of the unknown. Weall know exactly where this virus comes from, right? An exotic sounding province in China (which is already seen by many as a nefarious force in the world) called Wuhan.
Name another illness that you know EXACTLY where it originated.
If you thought of Ebola and Africa (which is far less specific), remember how scared many people have been about Ebola outbreaks in the past?
Three: There are lots of specifics. The media continually updates us on how many cases there are and where. The word “pandemic” is thrown around loosely.
They’re also sharing stories about supply shortages, quarantines and other scared people.
Although we don’t see many of stories like this one from the Washington Post…
Which brings us to…
Four: Social proof works like crazy.
When everyone else is terrified, maybe I should be, too!
And…
Five: Those supply shortages indicate a complete lack of ability to adequately respond to the potential pestilence.
It’s an effective force multiplier for the fear.
Not only is the disease deadly and spreading quickly… but the people we trust to keep us safe are simply unprepared to deal with the danger.
It’s one thing to go to war with an enemy. It’s another thing to step onto the battlefield with no ammunition.
Six: There’s mystery about how this germ is spreading. I’ve seen the term “unknown origin” of new cases in the U.S. more than one time.
The unpredictability of “who’s next” makes it all the more nerve-racking… because it could be you.
Seven: People, especially in America, have already been introduced to the idea of viruses threatening to wipe out our species or turn us all into flesh-craving zombies.
This is a more subtle influence.
Many of us have already seen this doomsday scenario play out in best-selling thrillers or on the Hollywood big screen. In the back of our minds, it’s not all that far-fetched.
Okay, now…
Here’s a Quick Rundown of Action Steps for You
0) Try to get comfortable using legitimate fear to reach your potential buyer. It is one of the most effective ways to get him to stop and pay attention.
1) Don’t just mention the fear or the source of that fear in your sales copy. Dive into the details that make the fear real… tangible… visible. Refuse to be 1-dimensional in your descriptions.
2) Consider tapping into the fear of the unknown that all of us have. When your would-be buyer THINKS he knows what you’re going to say — or already knows how to deal with the fear — he’s going to tune you out.
3) Share specifics. Not just statistics, but stories. Both images and word pictures go a long way.
4) Get as much social proof as you can. It doesn’t have to be testimonials or reviews of your own. Just show how many people are feeling what you’re talking about or doing what you recommend.
5) Don’t let your prospect overestimate his ability to fix the problem alone.
We all deceive ourselves some times. If he’s unprepared, it’s your job to alert him to the fact — and make him believe it. Don’t be a jerk about it. You’re not trying to make him feel bad about himself. You’re helping him be realistic and honest.
6) If possible, create an air of mystery about the source of your chosen fear.
Even as you’re giving details and specifics, an underlying mystery that makes the fear even more unnerving — and the solution that more urgent.
7) Leverage fearyour ideal buyer already has. You don’t want to have to convince him he needs to be scared of the thing you’re talking about.
If your boogeyman isn’t something he’s already scared of, you can likely make a connection using the Body, Bank & Boo principles.
—
Question for you: have YOU taken any marketing lessons from the 24/7 coronavirus news blitz?
If you’re anything like me, you were utterly fascinated by the broom-balancing boondoggle that swept the internet earlier this week.
(Forgive the pun.)
You probably saw pictures and videos from astonished people who wanted to test out the claim that the earth was tilted “perfectly” on February 10th.
If you hadn’t heard about this, do a quick search and you’ll find a ton of posts and articles. Apparently the hashtag #broomstickchallenge even trended.
Only problem is, the whole thing was a hoax (which you’ll also see tons of posts and articles about).
Did your B.S. meter pick up on the hoax or did you know better because of the depth of your scientific knowledge?
I’ll admit, I was only 90% sure the whole thing was Oscar Meyer-level bologna.
So… let’s turn this into a teachable moment. Because anytime something gets this kind of viral attention (and action), there are lessons you can learn.
I see 3 major persuasion principles at play. Let’s discuss.
When “Proof” Arm WrestlesCommon Sense
One of the factors that powered the broomstick ballyhoo was the claim that NASA made the announcement.
As you know, our brains instinctively defer to authority figures… at least when it comes to topics we aren’t experts in.
NASA is a pretty reputable authority. And most of us aren’t experts on the earth’s rotational tilt or the effect it has on gravitation.
Interestingly, it would have been incredibly easy to find out if NASA was behind this announcement. And I think most people knew they could verify the story. That’s what made it so easy for them to trust without looking any deeper.
Secondarily, social proof — once it picked up steam — may have been even more convincing than the NASA angle.
Because of a cognitive bias called the “availability cascade,” we have the natural tendency to believe almost anything we’ve seen or heard enough times.
It’s hard to go against the crowd… and it’s less work to trust what everyone else is saying.
So the lessons are that:
It pays to become known as an authority or expert in an area other people are not.
Leverage social proof whenever you can — and when there’s visible, growing support for/acceptance of a proposition, see if there’s a way to use that momentum to gain traction for your own idea/offer.
Seeing is Believing… When You’re Told What You’re Looking At
Think about this…
The #broomstickchallenge starts with the little-known and unlikely-seeming fact that brooms can stand upright.
The argument goes like this: “Hey today’s the only day in this decade that the earth is perfectly tilted. Lemme prove it. Go grab your broom.”
So the hoax tells you how to “prove” the claim for yourself… by pointing you to THE ONE THING that seems to prove it. (I guess you could have used an egg, too. But there’s more work involved.)
This is similar to the way magicians direct your attention toward a specific object or action so you don’t notice the mechanics that make the trick work.
You must point to the broom specifically or the argument falls apart.
If the earth is perfectly tilted, shouldn’t you be able to make a sharpened pencil stand upright on its tip, too?
There’s a lesson here, too. You can “educate” your potential buyers to and almost define their buying criteria for them.
Point them to something that you know they’ll see. When they see it, they’re more likely to believe everything else you said… and do what you recommended they do. Just like a magic trick. (More on that concept here.)
Or, simply show your should-be buyer what you want him to see. Demonstration can be very convincing.
Take It Easy, Man
The perfect tilt of the earth, if it were true, could have been demonstrated in any number of ways. But the craze wouldn’t have caught on if “proving” it wasn’t a low-risk, easy thing to do.
The #HandstandOnTheRoofChallenge probably never would have gone viral.
When you’re selling a product, service or idea, you must be mindful of risk and perceived risk.
That’s just as much about your offer as it is about the copy.
In your copy, assure him of his high probability of success. Give him simple information he can use to justify his purchase to anyone who may ask him about it. Remind him this product was designed specifically for people like him — and the people who buy it are the admired by peers, live longer, etc.
(As long as those things are true.)
Your offer can reduce risk by including a strong guarantee. Make it easy to cancel or request a refund.
Balancing a broom is easy and no one gets hurt doing it.
Try to make it that easy to buy from you.
P.S. Did you know that versions of the #broomstickchallenge have been around since at least 1975?
There’s another lesson: when you find something that works, double down on it.
The marketing method that works better than any other in ROI terms — one that you should definitely double down on — is email. The Make Email Great Again summit officially goes live on Monday, February 17th.
“Back in the day, the marketing gurus told us we could expect to earn $1 per email subscriber per month. Is that still true?”
— question I was asked on a recent consulting call
This is an easy question to answer… but the answer isn’t easy for most entrepreneurs to hear.
Because, in truth, the answer is both yes and no.
Most marketers and entrepreneurs I know don’t come close to pulling $1 per subscriber per month.
But there are some that do significantly more than $1.
One of my clients averages $2.38
Another gets $5.27.
I’m sure there are businesses that generate even better numbers.
But this kind of performance doesn’t happen magically.
In my experience… most of these businesses share 3 characteristics:
1) They email their lists every day. Multiple times on some days. No apologies, no excuses.
2) They SELL in every email… even when the purpose of the email is to educate.
3) They’ve developed proven front-end AND higher-priced back-end offers — and they constantly promote them.
Sure it’s a considerable amount of work, but these 3 ideas will get you a lot closer to where you want to be in terms of revenue and the impact you make in the world.
Make Email a Bigger Profit Center for Your Business
If your email marketing efforts aren’t producing the kind of results you wish they’d give you…
Or if you’re looking for a way to strengthen what’s already working…
It’s a FREE online summit for anyone who wants to make more money with email.
I’m one of 15 email marketing experts sharing promotional ideas and success secrets we’ve used to bring in piles of cash for our clients and our own businesses.
The insider tips and strategies you pick up could change everything for your business.
My MEGA Con session covers what we’ve called the “Fear the Reaper” promo.
You’ll also get to go inside the minds of heavy-hitters like David Deutsch, Dan Ferrari, Matt Bacak, Kyle Milligan and more.
The summit starts February 10, 2020 but I encourage you to sign up now.
It’s January 24th in most of the world. If you’re part of the small percentage of people who hasn’t already given up on your new year’s resolutions, GOD BLESS YOU.
You’re a rare individual.
I want to share a weird twist on the 80-20 principle that you can apply to your resolutions — or anything else you want to do.
I saw a top 10 list of resolutions for 2020 (taken from a survey of 275K Americans):
1. Actually doing my New Year’s resolution 2. Trying something new 3. Eat more of my favorite foods 4. Lose weight/diet 5. Go to the gym 6. Be happier/better mental health 7. Be more healthy 8. Be a better person 9. Upgrade my technology 10. Staying motivated
For most people, at least 7 of these things will involve reading books, watching videos or buying courses.
They gotta learn a better diet, discover the secret to staying motivated, etc.
But here’s the thing (and where 80-20 comes into play):
I want to encourage you to…
… Learn LESS in 2020.
Why?
Because too often, we wait to start doing what we resolve to do… because we want to learn a little more first.
You know, to make sure we do it the right way. (That’s what we tell ourselves, at least.)
Before you know it, you’ve listened to hours of podcasts — and you’re probably more confused than when you started.
It’s easy to spend 80% of your time “learning”… and then struggling to spend 20% on execution.
Chances are you already know 80% of what you need to know. And that’s 100% good enough for you to get started.
And you’ll learn the rest once you’re in motion.
When you make your decisions in 2020, get into action as quickly as possible.
Read fewer books. Read more people. Read more rooms. Get more hands-on learning and derive data from that.
If you do that, 2020 will be like no year you’ve ever experienced before.
Sometimes it seems like I forgot about my website… like I don’t care about it at all.
I do care. It’s important to me that my site be a source of valuable insights you may not read/hear anywhere else. And maybe a little inspiration from time to time, too.
So, I find it interesting that you may have heard my voice on OPP (other people’s platforms) more often in 2019 than my own properties.
I made a conscious effort to get on more podcasts last year. I fell way short of my goal, but I did have my most active year to date.
If you’re interested in catching up on what I haven’t shared…
Here are the podcasts I appeared on in recent months (the first 2 just went live today):
Hope you enjoy and get something useful from them!
Speaking of ghost towns, did I ever show you the email I wrote for Agora Financial back in 2016? It’s a little wild, but I was pretty proud of it at the time.
Has nothing to do with anything. It’s just what I thought of when I said “ghost town.”
This goes deeper than what most copywriting and marketing experts talk about: influencing individual choices. How to get readers to read this… click that… buy the other thing.
Indoctrination isn’t telling people what to decide. It’s shaping and molding what they believe.
Let me tell you a little historical anecdote.
Alexander the Great conquered much of the known world during his reign. As he continued his conquest, he reached a point when he realized his army was stretched too thin. They were too weak to defend themselves.
The only option was to retreat. But once Alexander’s enemies noticed his retreat, they’d surely pursue and defeat him.
Alexander had an idea.
He ordered his men to make several giant breastplates and helmets that would fit 8-foot tall soldiers. When his army retreated during the night, they left the oversized armor behind.
When the enemy force found the armor, they were convinced Alexander commanded an army of Goliaths. That wasn’t a fight they were looking for.
Alexander lived to fight and rule another day.
I hope you caught the point of this story.
The giant armor changed what Alexander’s enemy believed about Alexander — and his own luck.
Granted, that’s not a textbook study of indoctrination, but it illustrates the critical point: that we can intentionally shape what other people believe.
Specifically what they believe about us.
If that sounds creepy to you, remember: you’re not installing harmful beliefs. You’re trying to improve someone’s life.
Remember this, too… SOMEBODY is indoctrinating your customers and prospects (and your children, for that matter).
In the story above, Alexander the Great’s army was already known for being brutal and seemingly invincible on the battlefield. After seeing the giant armor, it all made sense.
“No wonder Alexander has conquered the world!”
Your indoctrination attempts shouldn’t make a full frontal assault on an entrenched worldview. Rather, you want to introduce a new idea that feels right and fits into the preexisting beliefs.
As an oversimplified example, which of the following statements fits is likely to be more easily accepted by the average American?
Losing weight is easy when you [fill in the blank]…
or
Losing weight can be hard, but that’s because of [fill in the blank]…
Dealing with “categorization”
People automatically, often subconsciously, filter new facts and ideas into mental categories.
They already have entrenched network of perceptions, beliefs and feelings about those categories.
And it can be hard to compete with those existing beliefs.
As a master indoctrinator, there are two ways to deal with this:
Create a new category. If a person can’t fit you or your product or service into one of their predefined boxes, they’ll have to make a new box.
Now YOU get to directly inform what he believes and how he feels about the new category — where you stand alone.
Sometimes this is as simple as communicating with people who just haven’t formed strong opinions of your category yet.
For example, 95% of the people on the planet seem to have no idea what a copywriter is. It’s a blank slate I’m forced to define at every family gathering.
Modify the existing category. If you already know what someone believes about a topic, you can help them see the inadequacy or outdatedness of his definitions.
This can be risky, because people really likes to hear that his understanding of the world is wrong.
But think of any diet program you’ve ever heard of. Atkins, keto, eating for your blood type. They’re all championed by people trying to update your thinking about how the body processes food.
(Now think about the fact that marketers seem to have more influence over the way we think about health than scientists or doctors!)
You can control the narrative about your business by controlling which mental category your audience puts it in.
Leveraging Authority
Becoming recognized as an authority might be the most effective thing you can do to power your indoctrination efforts.
People are eager to defer to authorities and experts, often without realizing it.
I’ve talked about authority several times in the past, so I’ll just mention one thing.
Your personal story — how you came to experience and understand the idea you’re trying to share — is likely to carry more weight than scientific studies (which make fantastic supporting arguments).
Your story makes you an authority, whether or not you have credentials or position.
Time Domination
To a certain extent, you have to outcommunicate competing systems of thought.
Our brains are biased towards information they’ve heard recently and repeatedly.
You’ve heard that a lie told often enough is believed. But it’s not about the lie. It’s about the repetition.
A few things you can do to gain a greater share of your indoctrination subject’s time:
Frequent communication via email, YouTube, social channels. You don’t have to use them all, but the more you use, the more you’ll dominate time and the more opportunities you’ll have to reinforce your ideas.
Be present in the physical environment. Get a book, a t-shirt, a printed checklist, something physical into homes or offices. When you can do that, you’re in a rare group — and as a result, people convince themselves you’re more important.
Here’s a serendipitous example…
We recently bought a new home, and we received this jar opener in the mail this week as a “welcome to the neighborhood” “gift.”
Progressive wants a physical presence in our new home.
Impact ONE THING that’s part of the daily routine of the people you’re influencing. Now you own part of their day.
—
Obviously, we could cover a lot more ground, but I hope you’re already starting to get ideas to start or enhance your indoctrination work.
Now, go make the world better in a way that ONLY YOU can do it.
Who decided breakfast is the most important meal of the day?
Have you seen scientific proof?
Don’t Google it. Take a moment and search your memory.
No one proved this claim to you… but there’s a good chance you accept it as truth.
What happened is this: you heard this statement early in your life… you heard it often… and from authority figures.
Maybe you never questioned it. (Most people don’t.)
I was shocked when my youngest son brought this chart home from school…
… because this is not education. It’s indoctrination.
And — cue exaggerated rage — who are these people to tell my son which meal is most important????
(As you might have guessed, the chart came from the vendor that sells lunch to our school district. Trying to grab a bigger share of the 8am market.)
I’m sure most parents didn’t think twice about it. Why should they? It lines up nicely with what they learned in school.
There’s a useful persuasion principle at work here:
Someone is indoctrinating your children… and your prospects. It might as well be YOU.
The success of your business depends on the success of your indoctrination efforts. You must either:
successfully indoctrinate your should-be buyers — to define how they think about or make decisions in your area of expertise, or…
align your message with the indoctrination that’s already in place.
If your marketing or sales pitch has to convince someone that breakfast isn’t the most important meal of the day, you’re in trouble.
It’s worth spending time to find out what your ideal clients already believe (and why), and what they NEED to believe in order to make your product or service the obvious choice.
Time to do your research!
Here’s what I want you to do:
1) Always Be Indoctrinating. Otherwise, you could lose ground to the other voices trying to compete with you.
2) Build yourself up as an authority. That puts oomph into your statements, neutralizes some degree of skepticism/criticism and helps your message “stick.”
Don’t just BE an authority. Be KNOWN as one.
3) If necessary, re-position your product/service/self so it’s in a category all by itself.
When people see something familiar, they automatically put it into a category — and that category almost certainly has someone else’s indoctrination already installed.
When you create a new category, you get to set definitions “early… often… and as the authority figure.”
Have a productive weekend!
P.S. How does one go about this business of indoctrination? In my next article, I’ll fill you in.
That’s what I asked the entrepreneurs on my friend’s list.
This friend — his name is Mike — was a sales rep for well-known marketing guru. He needed a boost in sales for the month and, ironically, he called me to see if I could help.
(This happens more than you might think. People selling marketing info aren’t always great marketers.)
Mike had written an e-mail to send to his segment of the guru’s list. He wanted me to look it over before he sent it. He needed it to be strong.
But his copy was flat. Emotionless. It relied on a discount to do the selling for him. I couldn’t let him send out that email.
I had a little time on my hands, so I rewrote it myself.
My copy was more aggressive, which made him nervous.
But he needed sales to meet his quota for the month, so I convinced him to set up the email and hit the Send button.
I’ll let Mike tell you the rest of the story:
“The responses poured in, both good and bad. Initially, the recipients were offended the email ‘called them out.’ I never heard more, ‘How Dare You…’ and ‘take me off your list.’ But to my surprise, it awoke the giant whales lurking in my database. The email cut to the core of the buyer’s heart, and that’s what counts.
“The results: Just over $100,000 in under a week and I got credit for breaking a sales record. Thanks Donnie!”
I can’t remember exactly what I wrote. But I remember “deja vu December” — that feeling of finishing out another year in the same place as last year…
Of having to make the same New Year’s resolutions because you weren’t able to reach your goals…
We’ve all felt it. We all hate it. Leveraging that feeling turned into a BIG payday for Mike.
So here are 3 takeaways from Mike’s story:
1) Emotions sell, both positive and negative. Many of us are reluctant to “go dark,” but it’s hard to argue with record-breaking sales.
It’s not about being negative; it’s about being honest. The truth is, people have problems. The good news is, your product or service can help.
2) Strong copy might offend some people… and it will win over the hearts and minds of others at the same time. In my experience, the net result is MORE SALES.
3) When you need more sales, it makes sense to call an expert.
If you’re in Mike’s situation and you NEED more sales in your business…
If you KNOW your marketing should be bringing in more cash than it is…
Or if your sales are good but you want them looking even better…
