I first want to highlight a couple of things BEFORE we get into the meat of this post…

This is a MARKETING blog. This post is going to be quite a bit about marketing.

There WILL be some techie stuff discussed as well, but, very high level. Hopefully not too techie to bore marketing folk to death.

I AM a UBER techie, who has been working with Linux since a couple of days after Linus released his very 1st kernel on the Internet in 1991.

I have been using Linux ever since for MANY different things. I DO use Windows for much of my marketing activities, as the software I use is not yet available on Linux.

Thank goodness for VMWare which allows me to run Windows on top of Linux.

Unlike Microsoft Windows, which has a couple of live “versions” out there, Linux has HUNDREDS of distributions, better known as distros in the Linux community.

Many of them are targeted at specific audiences and market segments.

Generally Linux is free, as the main part of the operating system, the kernel, is released under the GPL.

Some companies DO charge a fee, but, this is either for distribution costs, or, for support.

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Money in the list?

There is the OLD saying: The money is in the list.

I agree with this wholeheartedly!

BUT, and you KNEW there was a BUT coming…

Most “gurus” tell you to give away free stuff to build your list. This generally works well, and if done correctly, you can grow quite a size-able list in a fairly short amount of time.

I still think there is a caveat to this bit of advice…

Let me explain by way of example….

Yesterday, a fairly big marketer, good friend, and mentor of mine, emailed one of my offers to one of his lists.

The list in question is over 50K in size, and he has built this up over a year or so period by giving away freebies. The list is very fresh, and gets marketed to very regularly.

So, the offer was for a VERY limited set of resell rights at $197 a seat. Not cheap, but, by no means expensive considering some of the BIG launches we have seen over the past couple of months.

The actual email copy was LONG, and had the link in it all over the place. The email itself was brilliantly written by said marketer. I read it top to bottom, and if it wasn’t my own product being sold, I would have bought, just from reading that email!

So, BIG list, well known marketer, GREAT email, great offer, reasonable price. What happened?

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KNOW Your Target Demographics

Assumption is the mother of all stuff ups!

A couple of days back, I was working with one of my consulting clients. We have been working together for a couple of months now, and his business has really been picking up.

His main site is an information product in the “adult” niche. NO, it’s NOT porn!

He has a squeeze page, as well as a main sales page. The conversion rate on both is OK, but, nothing to really write home about.

He does some AdWords, as well as all the usual suspects… Forums, blog comments, articles, etc, etc, etc.

Both of us thought, and ASSUMED the product’s main target audience is young, single males in their early twenties, to their early thirties.

The copy was written for this specific audience.

We started doing a bit more research as to who EXACTLY was looking for the information he is selling.

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Goals 2009

It’s that time of the year again.

Everyone is setting their goals for the year. Well most people call it their new years resolutions. I hate new years resolutions. It’s short term to begin with, AND, most people never stick to it.

New years resolutions are more wishes than they are anything else, and most people have abandoned them by March!

No, goals are the ONLY way to go.

Two types of goals

We all have personal things we want to achieve, but, for those of us running a business, there are always business goals as well.

Both are equally important, BUT, it IS very important that we keep them separate!

Write it down!

If you DON’T write your goals down somewhere where you can refer to them regularly, they again become wishes, which are QUICKLY forgotten!

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