Imagine yourself looking at your sales reports for the month. On its own, your sales figures look fine. But when you compare it with your sales and marketing expenses, it’s a little below where you expect it to be. You begin to wonder what you are not doing right.

What could be the reasons why your revenues don’t seem cooperative with your marketing efforts? Do you know who your customers are? Chances are you have already identified who they are and more so, you know them very well such that you have just the right products to satisfy their specific needs. How come, then, are you having such a difficult time pulling your sales up?

As promised, this post is going to be about positioning.

Knowing your customers is not enough. You have to decide how you want to position yourself in your chosen niche or market segment. This is what positioning is all about – it refers to “how organizations want their consumers to see their product.” You have to decide how you want your market to perceive your product or service. For example, Head and Shoulders position itself as the No. 1 anti-dandruff shampoo. Another example is Avis which positions itself as No. 2 in the rent-a-car services and appropriately carries the tagline, “We try harder.” This tagline turned out to be a very effective one for them.

When you formulate your positioning strategy, it is very important to remember that how the market will perceive your product or service will largely depend on how your competitors position themselves, too.

So what positioning strategies are available?

One strategy would be a “me-too” strategy. This happens when you position your business close to your rivals. One advantage this strategy brings is that it allows your consumers to easily compare your product with those of your competitors when they buy.

Another strategy would be to position your business “away-from-competitors.” This strategy may involve presenting a benefit or feature that is more superior in certain aspects. This move would certainly have to consider the other elements of the business’ marketing strategy – pricing, promotion, and distribution. All of these elements must echo the superiority of the benefit or feature.

According to marketing gurus, “Ultimately positioning is about how you want consumers to perceive your products and services and what strategies you would adopt to reach this perceptual goal.”

Indeed, there are so many business strategies that can help you so you can grow your business. But how would you know if you have chosen the right one for your business?

Some of Malaysia’s noteworthy entrepreneurs will come together to reveal the X-factor that boosted their business success in the first ever Thinking. Doing. Growing. Business and Marketing Conference on the 5th of May 2012 at the Berjaya Times Square Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. This is the time you can compare notes from those who are sure to be doing it right and learn how to apply their strategies to your own enterprise.

Hurry! There are only very limited seats available to date. Reserve yours now!

Brilliant. Entrepreneurial. Successful.

No, absolutely not a chronologically advanced business hot shot. But yes, he is undoubtedly a bigger-than-life business hot shot.

He is no other than Wai Hong Fong, co-founder and CEO of OZHut, a multi – niche online retail business in Australia. Embarking on a 300-word or so piece about Wai Hong seems such a colossal task considering his accomplishments. Let me try to share with you a morsel albeit, very significant snapshots of him in this post.

After finishing a degree in BA with a major in Media and Communications from Melbourne University, he started building OZHut instead of a corporate career, deviating from the mainstream career path expected of young individuals fresh from college. His uncle’s shed became his headquarters. Initially selling telescopes, OZHut eventually grew as kitchenware and jewellery were added to its product line. OZHut’s humble beginnings jumpstarted an amazing and jaw-dropping multi-million dollar online retailing business it has become today.

The most amazing thing is: He is only 25 years old!

In a very short time, Wai Hong and OZHut have achieved so many feats. This Malaysian young lad led OZHut to be hailed as a finalist in the Online Retailer Industry Awards – Emerging Star Category. OZHut was also chosen as the Best eCommerce Store in the Smart Company’s Web Awards and Best eBusiness in Price, Waterhouse, and Cooper’s My Business Award within 2 years since its founding. Wai Hong’s achievement streak seems unstoppable as he was named as among the Hot 30 Under 30 Entrepreneurs in 2010 and as he made The Age‘s Melbourne Magazine‘s list of the Top 100 Most Influential, Inspirational, Provocative and Creative People for 2011.

Behind this remarkable rise to business success despite his age and experience is an astonishing business acumen that is largely anchored on the “drive” rather than the “dream” which is quite weird but is wonderfully working for him. In an interview with Meld magazine in Australia, Wai Hong shares, “I’ve never dreamt of building a big business or achieving success in the business world, I just set out to do it.” He further admitted that, “I’m not really a ‘reach for the stars, big dreams’ kind of person. I’m more of a ‘next-step, faithful with what you’ve got’ guy.”

There has got to be some formula he’s using that we are missing yet!

Now, here’s the clincher.

Wai Hong Fong is a guest speaker in the Thinking, Doing. Growing Business and Marketing Conference!

He will let us in on how he did it – succeeding in growing his business in such an unbelievably short span of time.

Let me tell you now, there are only a few seats left as we are down to the last three days to the conference on the 5th of May, 2012 at the Berjaya Times Square Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Hurry! Reserve a seat now!

It’s so easy to fall prey into the trap of delighting customers in any way you can or retaliating to your competitors’ actions as much as you can. When this happens, we tend to lose touch with the element that gives substance to our marketing efforts – our company.

While being customer – oriented or competition – oriented is good, it is not sufficient. We must ensure that all the things we are doing for the customers or competitors shall be favorable to the company.

What do we mean by favorable?

It means earning profit at reasonable levels with honor. You see, if we don’t operate profitably, marketing cannot exist or happen anymore. Just think of this: Anyone can sell anything at very low prices, much lower than the market standard. When this continuously happens, disaster is inevitable.

The point is: the company is equally important as the customers and competition.

So what must we pay close attention to when it comes to The Business?

It is very important that the entrepreneur identifies what its core competencies are. These core competencies become the linking pin when devising strategies and tactical plans.

Let me tell you more about core competence. This is the ability of a business to do certain operational functions better and at a lesser cost than competitors. This is when competitive advantage comes in and the goal is for it to be sustainable.

How can a business achieve sustainable competitive advantage?

It can be achieved if the business hones and invests more on its core competence while ensuring that its weaknesses are identified and reduced.

On the other hand, the business must make sure that customer – orientation must not only be the concern and responsibility of the marketing department. Rather, it should be the concern of everyone in the t has been said that competitive advantage.

At this point, we have already completed the strategic marketing triad.

This framework is just a simple springboard for a many decisions to make, issues to address, and goals to achieve. Each element presents challenges by itself. But what remains as a tougher challenge is how to balance the customers, competition, and company.

The market has become more dynamic that it pays to learn from other businesses and practitioners as much as possible. Don’t worry. More exciting insights are coming up in the succeeding posts.

Right now, I would like to suggest you join the Thinking. Doing. Growing. (TDG) Business Conference on May 5, 2012 at the Berjaya Times Square Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia’s most successful entrepreneurs will show you how they were able to beat the fast-paced changes in the market in a way that you can directly apply to your own enterprise. The seats are running out fast so you better reserve yours now.

I’m a fitness fanatic these days. I live an existence of protein shakes and insane workouts. In fact, I just did the Spartacus Workout 2.0 that nearly wiped the floor with my carcass.

Another equally gut-busting workout is the phenomenon known as P90X.

I personally don’t use P90X but my wife does and so does some of my other freaks.

For those who don’t know, P90X is a killer fitness product that’s taken the world by storm, mainly because the founder Tony Horton is an insane info-marketer (that’s for another post!) and they crush it with their info-mercials.

Anyway… In a recent interview with Men’s Health, Tony revealed four P90X fitness principles. I found the 3rd one relevant to not just health but life and business as well…

Find (and Flirt) with the Line

The Line is your discomfort threshold. It’s the one pushup beyond what you think you can do. It’s that extra agonizing rep after you’ve finished a set. But it’s not just the effort that’s important; it’s the desire to want to go there again and again. That’s the secret to becoming fit.

And it’s the reason Horton scoffs at walking, riding an exercise bike while reading, or doing any mild form of cardio as a sole means of fitness. “Walking is just a waste of time for most people,” he says. “We’re primates and we walk—that’s what we do. And even though it’s better than doing nothing, it’s not enough. You have to find that Line in whatever you’re doing and continually push it out.”

P90X at your place Use Horton’s discomfort scale to gauge where you are during your workout.

10 = so brutal, so awful, you’re miserable.
9 = just short of the above.
7 or 8 = really hard, but you’re maintaining form and hanging in there.
6 = it’s not a 7 or 8, but you’re working as hard as you can today.
5 = you can do more…but you’re not.
1 to 4 = unless it’s a recovery day, you’re wasting your time.
The Line is at 6, 7, or 8 on the scale.

The main reason why our business isn’t experiencing quantum growth is because we neither find nor flirt with the line. We are comfortable with what works and stick with that, ignoring the dynamic nature of the changing rules of the marketplace.

I remembered when I just refused to outsource. Even though me and my wife were stretched to the brim from doing all the work ourselves, we were making 5 figures so why allow some random hire to screw up a good thing.

It’s only out of the threat of burn out we started outsourcing. Was it uncomfortable? You bet. Were we endlessly frustrated from our rookie mistakes? Hell yeah. Did we feel like running away from the line and doing what feels good? Yup.

Yet its when we push through that true breakthrough happens. We now have 10 people working under us and our business has grown geometrically. We deal with some of the biggest portals in our region. All because we flirted with the line and build our team.

The line can look different to you. It can be paid traffic. It can be SEO. It can be creating your very first product. Heck, it could be just getting off your bum and doing something, anything.

Find your line, and flirt with it over and over again. In the physical realm, your muscles will grow. In the self-development realm, your character will grow. In the business realm, your wallet will grow.

What is your line? And how do you plan to flirt with it?

2010 was a violent year for me.

Not literally, thankfully. But the mental battering on my ego, emotion and enterprise was a really rough one.

Here’s the thing:

I honestly have no clue how to run a business.

Granted… I’m a fairly competent marketer. Some say I’m even one of the better ones. I have even won awards for my acumen back in the day.

Yet marketing does not maketh a business.. And I realized that being an entrepreneur and building a business requires so much other disciplines.

So here are the 5 lessons I learned in the trenches last year.

The Internet Marketing Manipulation

Here’s a truth you probably already suspected in the tongue-twister below:

Most people in the make money online niche make money online by teaching other people how to make money online.

Granted… There are a select few of the CPA guys that make stupid money online… And a couple of big time info marketers in other niches that also make a killing…

But the simple fact is… a ton of them make much, much money from launches rather than the affiliate marketing techniques they teach.

In fact, most of them live from launch to launch. They make a couple of hundred grand. They live the high life. Money invariably runs out. They do another launch to pump their coffers.

The formula of getting as many JV partners as possible, push some cool sounding loophole and profiting from well-worn may not be the only way to make money online.

But it’s certainly the easy way out.

I’m not judging or condemning anyone, it’s just the way the industry works. Don’t let those “gooroos” tell you otherwise.

If you want to succeed in internet marketing on your own terms, you can… But be prepared for a world of hurt, which brings me to my next point…

Go Corporate

Very simply… To make copious money online, you need to run your website like a business.

And when you work in your pajamas and make money in your spare time, you’re going nowhere. Here’s the harsh truth:

In the past…

Part-time effort will get you part-time income.

But now…

Part-time effort will get you ZERO income.

The reason? Every amateur from all walks of life — fueled by desperation in a tanking economy — are coming online, with similar hopes and equal amounts of low commitment.

The channels are flooded, as they say. And because demand for these channels are high, your traffic cost escalate with plummeting response rates.

If you want to get an edge over increasing amount of competition, you need to start thinking like a business person.

Strategy. Processes. Hires. Project management systems. The works.

In the same way you can’t take on Subway by making PB&J’s from home, you can’t make a full-time income by doing everything yourself.

That’s why the local marketing craze was so viable last year…

A whole bunch of people trained in the tenets of online marketing, but have no idea on how to use it to build a business. My friend, that’s why you need to embrace the next point…

Be Strategic

Here’s 3 quick ways to formulate the best strategy for your business.

1) Read:

Strategies come from applying knowledge and experience into the most optimal ways. Unless you read, you won’t have the right knowledge, nor would you know what to do with them. So… the more books and home study courses you get your hands on, the more informed you will be, the better decisions you will make.

2) Rest:

The more rest days you take, the bigger your business can get. This counter-intuitive practise has been the site for some of your biggest breakthroughs. You see… A clear mind is needed in order to get ideas and find the best ways to implement them. And one’s mind cannot be clear with the rush of busyness.

3) Review:

Face it… In the world of business, everything’s a test. Something may work beautifully for one entrepreneur but may bomb for you. The key is to test quickly and adopt and reject with equal ferocity. Review ideas… Implement them… If it works adopt it throughout… If not move on.

Fail forward, as they say. Speaking of failure, I finally uttered these life-changing words a few months ago…

“I Am the Gap”

You are the reason for failure or success.

Never mind your past, or how unfair the economy’s been to you, or your bad genes.

It is human nature to scapegoat. After all, here’s something startling…

As a copywriter, it makes me more money to create an enemy my customers can throw rocks at… After all, it makes them feel good about themselves despite their massive failings.

And before I seem like I’m talking from a pedestal, I am still trudging this path.

There were many times I wanted to quit. To call Puppet String Marketing quits.

I discovered the reality is a lot of the glamourous marketers you see out there has spent years in the industry before getting a breakthrough. I only been at it for less than 2 years.

Thank God for a unwavering wife and a unchanging God.

Anyway, here are the 3 gaps you need to bridge…

1. The Character Gap. Only integrity and persistence can create a sustainable business. Moral failings will kill your success in the long run.
2. The Skills Gap. To run a business, you need to have in-depth knowledge of a lot of things. You need to know marketing. how to set up processes. How to spot for a good talent. That requires learning.
3. The Productivity Gap. It was Jim Rohn who said Time Management is the success secret of the rich. In work, you need progress, not distraction. How much time do you spend on Facebook a day?

And the biggest lessons when the dust settled?

Emails are Easy Money

Believe me…

I tried everything. Micro-sites. Auto-blogs. Clickbank. Even social media.

Yet the best way to make money really is to build an email list for cheap and monetize it using persuasive emails and other ways of follow-up.

One 20 minute email. Send it out. And boom, instant cash in my account.

To discover how you can access the easiest way to make money online, click here.

I’ll explain why my wife’s hurtful words made me thankful… Before that, there’s another reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving…

…And that’s a heartfelt thank you for sticking around for my now infrequent emails.

I just want to say I’m sorry.

It’s just that life has been pretty crazy. The business has just grown like crazy, and we’ve been trying to keep up.

Over the course of the last year… We added 6 people to the team… Became the SEO superstars to the biggest property portal in Asia… Spoke around the world… Made a killing from Adsense…

I’m not saying that to boast. Nor is it an excuse for my lack of communication.

But all I’m saying is that the internet marketing dream is possible – where you make money while you sleep, earn more in one week than you do the whole year, work from anywhere in the world.

However… the internet marketing dream is not easy. If it was–then there wouldn’t only be a dozen or so peers who are making a full time living online in my country with a population of 27,467,837.

In fact…

Here’s the no.1 reason why most people fail to make money on the Internet…

They don’t treat it like a business.

Here’s the harsh truth…

5 years ago, hobby efforts got you hobby income. You wrote a few EzineArticles, slapped on your affiliate link, and voila… You got some grocery money for the month.

Today, 5 years down the line, hobby efforts get you ZERO income. The prior hobbyist who had a little more success than average has developed million dollar businesses with an army of outsourcers and a near unlimited advertising budget.

And unless you rise above the ranks of hobbyist to become a business person, you’re never going to succeed in this space.

Sorry if I sound a little brutal.

But you know the only reason why I can say that?

I was one of these hobbyists just a few months ago.

And the only reason I’m not one anymore is because of the verbal lashing my usually demure wife gave me.

Even though it stings to admit it, for this whole year I treated Puppet String Marketing like a hobby, when I was supposed to treat it like business.

Don’t get me wrong, we make a decent living from Puppet String Marketing. The thing is… We could have been a lot bigger than we already are.

In the space of 2 years of doing business… I have passed up countless opportunities (even strategic alliances with the biggest guns on the planet), left money on the table due to a lack of implementation, and left my wife holding the bag.

And then… Came the obvious question…

Why was I acting in such a baffling way?

The answer is twofold.

1. I don’t have a “do whatever it takes” mindset
2. Action requires overcoming inertia

You see… I have always mistaken my superior marketing and copywriting skills for the actual running of the business. I ignored the “boring” aspects of cash flow in favor of cool ideas and persuasion. Even though marketing is really important, a biz owner’s role expands far more than that.

The bulk of online marketers are just technicians. Good at the theory of marketing, but unable to create a business out of it.

Now… you start to find an explanation for the local marketing boom of 2010. This industry has bred a ton of marketers with just an inkling of direct response knowledge –but no actual business acumen.

No wonder they’re doomed to failure.

And I was going down that forlorn route until my wife saved me.

And that’s my first point, that the hallmark of a successful entrepreneur is in the willingness to suffer until the business venture reaches breakthrough.

I guess I was seduced by the promise of instant riches.

Well… I did make a ton of money with my launches. But I wasn’t willing to do more of them, since it takes work.

And I wasn’t certainly investing in systems and outsourcing processes. Too much tedium. Thank you very much.

No business is going to sustain with that kind of chronic laziness.

Here’s the surprising thing…

Most of the internet millionaires you know work really, really hard.

They work when they’re on holiday. They work even crazier hours than those who are employed.

This brings me to my second point. You may not be achieving your fullest potential because its darn hard to get out of a state of stagnation.

After all… A body at rest tends to stay the rest…

That is…

Until external force is used.

In my case, it was my wife being uncharacteristically sharp. Reminding me we’re not in the business just for our own survival… But so that we can positively impact the nations with our ideas and our finances.

What’s your external force?

God? Not becoming homeless? Paying off debts?

Until you get one… Nothing is going to change. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Well… This is my thanksgiving lesson to you. To succeed in the internet marketing realm. You need these 2 things – a “whatever it takes” mindset, and a willingness to overcome inertia and take action.

And yes… Me and the wife are still very much in love.

Hope this helps you. Would love to know your thoughts in the comments section. So write away!

This concludes the end of the year. And as year-end traditions go, those irresistible “best-of” lists are everywhere.

For fun, I decided to do an internet marketing edition of one of those lists. I know it’s a little indulgent and more than a little incestuous due to the tiny size of our niche, but I bet you’re a sucker for this as much as I am.

So the Best in Internet Marketing 2009… Here’s an overview of the various categories:

• Top 10 Internet Marketers
• 3 Biggest Shockers
• Top 5 Products
• Top 5 Online Marketing Breakthroughs
• 5 Bold Predictions for 2010
• Puppet String Marketing Products of 2009

Without further ado…

1) Ryan Deiss and Perry Belcher

I know I’m cheating by including 2 marketers instead of one. But these two are inseparable and boast of some of the best “good cop, bad cop” chemistry since the Lethal Weapon series. Awesome marketing insights and sharp-as-nails business acumen make them the marketing role models I wish I had years ago. These guys are the real deal.

2) Mike Hill

Mike Hill has been the secret weapon of many, many multi-million dollar corporations. He has pioneered a lot of the CPA offers we promote today, and has paved the way for Acai Berry, Teeth Whitening and Colon Cleansing to become the million-dollar niches they are today. He’s also a really big-hearted person and has even given me an unforgettable wedding gift.

3) Amish Shah

Some people call him the top CPA affiliate marketer in the world. I’m inclined to think so. His manic testing, grasp of human psychology and business smarts have put him way above the level of many other established marketers in his hyper-competitive domain. Recent props from Frank Kern will propel his already shining star even further.

4) Mike & Vishen from MindValley

The MindValley boys are going to be speaking at Yanik’s Underground 6 event  next year. And now… the doors will be flung open to those whom I feel to are among the world’s top underground online marketers. The only reason I know about this is because I used to be copy chief for these guys. These guys are all about marrying Silicon Valley-level technology, world-class email marketing and  topgrading to create 6 figure DAYS on a regular basis.

5) Marty Rozmanith

He’s on this list because he’s the man behind 2 of my top 2009 products WordPress Direct and CPA Ninjas. I rarely follow other marketers so closely. I even more rarely buy something a marketer’s put out. Most people produce derivative info or badly-coded software but whatever this guy handles is top notch. Learned a ton and WordPress Direct is my single best investment this year, and I make plenty.

6) Tim Schmidt

He’s not one of those guru types but he’s introduced a whole new way of doing continuity programs that’s going to revolutionize the way we do membership sites in the years to come. Called Association Marketing, his 80% stick rate and other staggering figures make mincemeat out of the far inferior forced continuity models introduced by Mike Filsaime and Russel Brunson of yore.

7) “The Barefoot Exec” Carrie Wilkerson

There’s an old internet marketing adage that says “all you need is one idea to put money in your pocket”, and you see this on countless IM sales letters. Well, the reason is that it IS true. Carrie gave me just one idea in the early days of the business to come out with my flagship product the Twitter Salvation System, and we have hundreds of buyers since. Plus, of course… She has an iron-clad grasp of personal branding and social media.

8.) Robert Plank and Jason Fladien

These guys are synonymous with the words “Speed of Implementation”. In the space of less than 12 months, I’ve seen them churn out no less than a whopping 22 products between them. With them, quantity doesn’t compromise quality though, and these guys are a boundless guide to smart resourceful strategies that you don’t need a lot of money to implement.

9) Andy Jenkins

In my opinion, the former Stompernet CEO has ascended to the pantheon of the email marketing Gods where deities like Frank Kern, Matt Furey and Dave Dee now reside. And that’s for starters; his SEO and e-commerce teachings have already become the stuff of legends. After all, making $25,000 off of a fake sword site really deserves recognition of some sort.

10) Peter Parks

Though not as well-known as Amish Shah, Aymen or the rest of the CPA Cartel, he has successfully cut a swath as a really smart superaffiliate to watch out for. His mastery of little-known licensing strategies and Web 2.0 marketing has brought some much needed innovation to the tired affiliate marketing space.

Perry Belcher retiring

I consider Perry a friend. I know his name has been synonymous with controversy over the past few years, but I still consider him one of the most brilliant marketers of his generation. The next Vincent James, I dare say. So imagine my shock when all his social media accounts got deleted and the revelation of his retirement from the IM scene was written on his blog. You’ll be sorely missed, Perry.

Google shutting down 100,000 accounts

Those in the scene know Google ain’t the biggest fans of us online marketers. But what they did next was just balls out insane. In the sweeping move that may change the face of the affiliate marketing landscape forever, they shut down a 100,000 AdWords accounts of online marketers — both spammer and legit. Overnight, entire income streams disappeared. “What next?” seems to be the question on everyone’s lips for 2010.

Andy Jenkins leaving StomperNet

There have been a lot of nasty rumors and wild speculation surrounding the circumstances, but let’s not go there. All I’m going to say is that he was the face behind one of online marketing’s biggest innovations in Stompernet… Thus, forever ends the era of those awesome StomperNet emails and pop culture references.

1) WordPress Direct

The one thing I missed about working for one of my previous companies was their content management system. They could set up an entire website structure in under 10 minutes. Now… technology has caught up because we can now do the exact same thing with WordPress Direct. Of course you need to upgrade to Platinum membership in order to enjoy an optimal CMS experience. But I believe every penny spent is worth it. You can get it here.

2) SENuke

People once paid underground marketers like Jeff Johnson $25,000 to learn SEO tactics that now SENuke can do on autopilot in a span of 15 minutes…At a fraction of the cost. The single most powerful linkbuilding and SEO tool on the market today, it can easily take the place of your local SEO company. Huge learning curve, but the search engine rankings are worth it. You can get it now.

3) CPA Tsunami

CPA marketing has been the rage this year. This says something: As much as CPA marketers make a ton of money, the product owners are making much much more as they tap into their army of insane super-affiliates. CPA Tsunami is brilliant underground marketer Mike Hill’s gift to the world… On how to set up your own CPA marketing program so that you don’t have to worry about traffic again. Thank you, Mike.

4) CPA Ninja

To continue the CPA marketing craze… There has been a slew of CPA affiliate marketing products released throughout the year with exorbitant price tags attached… Ranging from the painfully mediocre to the plain darn excellent. The best of the lot to me is CPA Ninja–Marty Rozmanith and Matt Trainer have excellent chemistry together, and Trainer’s Excel tricks have revolutionized the way I set up my AdWords campaigns forever.

5) 13 Sneaky Little Email Tricks

As a highly-paid email copywriter, I have seldom come across email marketing products that are any good. This $97 package by Ryan Deiss is a hidden gem among the slew of overpriced product launches. His ninja autoresponder tricks are really cool, and have directly impacted my income more than any other product out there. It’s still available, so get it while you still can.

1) CPA over Clickbank

Clickbank has long been the default starting place of the fledgeling affiliate marketer. In 2009 however, marketers have flocked over the CPA networks instead. Why? The simple reason that a simple Zip/Email submit converts far better than trying to squeeze a sale from jaded prospects. The maths is staggering. CPA is here to stay.

2) The Rise of the Cartel

As with any industry growing up, oligopolies and monopolies will form. Whereas the internet marketing scene was the Wild, Wild West a few years back, it’s now resembling more and more the dog-eat-dog offline world. The early adopters who are now the “top dogs” have banded together to form an invincible faction with mailing lists and money in the millions. Good business sense. Not so good for the lone rangers.

3) Bleep Bloop

For far too long the IM scene has had no checks and balances. Unscrupulous marketers have run roughshod over consumers with their forced continuity and upsell hell over the past decade or so. As a consumer, I have dealt with non-existent support, terrible coding and rehashed products so much that it has sadly become an industry norm. And in comes the Salty Droid, a blog detailing the various scams and scandals of the industry. He may be vulgar and a tad mean-spirited, but he’s a much-need breath of fresh air in a scene plagued with chicken-hearted sycophants. Read his rants here.

4) The FTC

And while the Salty Droid is the voice of the grassroots, the FTC is the governmental enforcer part of the equation. To be honest… I sometimes see the FTC as an inconvenience. No more high-converting testimonials with specific results… Disclosures everywhere, etc. Yet it’s one of those painful-but-good-for-you necessities because with no guidelines, there’s just going to be wanton abuse. So a grudging thanks FTC, for keeping us honest.

5) Social Media

Twitter and Facebook. Facebook and Twitter. 2009 is the year of social media. Every other day there seems to be a breaking news story on Twitter, Facebook and other social media services. Social media marketing is indeed revolutionizing the way we do business. Even for an obscure Malaysian marketer like myself, it has catapulted me into stratospheric heights that otherwise would not be possible.

1) Greater barriers to entry

5 years ago, the internet playing field was indeed a level one. Your average industrious work-at-home mom or the unemployed bum could succeed in online marketing, given enough determination and a Clickbank ebook. Unfortunately, times have changed. With newly-loaded online marketers employing an army of article writers, backlink builders and bloggers, the one man army does not really stand a chance anymore. You need sufficient cash and stringent tracking and testing in order to compete… Now, the online marketing scene is like any other industry–competitive and cut-throat, where only the strong survive.

2) Local Marketing

I was one of the first few who hopped on the local marketing wave long before Jeff Walker and Frank Kern exposed it to the world–and I’ve profited greatly from it. Most small biz owners don’t know the different between a squeeze page and SEO. So grab these low-hanging fruit by using your knowledge, experience and expertise to charge lucrative consultation fees and stop competing against the Mike Filsaime’s and Aymen’s of this world.

3) Going to the CPA networks

If you’re an existing product or business owner, there’s no better traffic tactic then turning to the CPA networks to lend you their army of SuperAffiliates. PPC… SEO… Article marketing… All these pale in comparison to the sheer awesomeness of “having a daily product launch” (as Mike Hill says). That’s how obscure niches like teeth whitening and acai berry are now multi-million dollar industries. Once you have an offer that converts, you don’t have to worry about buyers’ traffic ever again.

4) The shift from affiliate to product owner

By the same token, being an affiliate now is really not advisable. Did you know that if you’re using AdWords, there’s an option where you can make Google your affiliate? Offer them commissions, and they will auto-optimize your campaigns while spelunking profitable new keywords for you. The big problem? When Google perfects this formula, they’ll probably start cutting out the middlemen–i.e. affiliate marketers. All the more reason for you to launch a product-driven business and let other affiliates worry about Google’s next destructive move.

5) Building your business outside Google

Face it: Google is arrogant.  They’re probably have cause to be proud because the money-loaded corporations have jumped on board and they don’t really have to take care of the needs of the small business owner anymore. Plus, their shutting down of a 100,000 affiliate marketing AdWords accounts isn’t creating any more goodwill. Good news: Google only represents 15-20% of the web, so there still a big and lucrative playing field outside of them. CPV, CPA and contextual marketing… Explore them all.

Of course, what’s a Puppet Master post without a plug eh? Here’s some of the best-selling products we have released this year.

Twitter Salvation System

The grand-daddy of Twitter marketing. The Twitter Salvation System has been purchased by the gurus themselves, pleasantly surprising me in the process. Mark Joyner calls me a “Twitter genius”, click on the link to find out why.

Twitter Mind Control

What happens when you combine forbidden persuasion with Twitter’s real-time power? Twitter Mind Control, that’s what. Use these sneaky psychological triggers to boost sales, attract prospects or carve out your niche. Your call.

Twitter Affiliate Marketing

There’s a lot of BS out there on using Twitter for affiliate marketing. Follow-spamming your prospects while spamming them with endless Clickbank offers is far from best practice. Here’s my tested and proven method to shovelling in big fat affiliate commissions to your bank account–no black hat or illegal tricks.

Advanced Affiliate Marketing

If you want to take your affiliate marketing to the next level, you should take a look at this. Judging from the number of the most prominent affiliate marketers who bought this course, the Puppet Master’s take on Bum Marketing will turbo-charge your SEO and article marketing like no other.

Email Salvation System

This email marketing home study system is one year in the making. One of my buyers told me that they can see themselves making money utilizing even a fraction of the content. Most email courses are either crap or expensive, this may be the best bang for your buck if you want to enjoy profitable autoresponder marketing for the new year.

Well, what do you folks think? Agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts for the Best of 2009? Please leave your comments below!

That subject lines sounds a little crazy doesn’t it?

But this is precisely what yesterday’s email was promising today. Go here to find out more:

http://salvationsystem.com/jayabraham

So imagine if it were true…

You’re sitting at your desk, worrying about where your next dollar is coming from, when someone taps you on the shoulder…

It’s Jay Abraham. Standing in your office with a big smile on their face.

“I’d like to help you turn your business around,” they say. “And I brought a few of my friends to assist me.”

You glance out in the hall and see 54 of the world’s foremost marketing and business building experts lined up out the door.

The faces are instantly recognizable. Tony Robbins…Jay Conrad Levinson…Brian Tracy…Michael Gerber…Stephen Covey…the list goes on and on.

They’re all here, just waiting to hand you their wisdom and insights to creating ultimate wealth and business success.

And the best part? It’s all FREE.

Now you start pinching yourself, because you know you’re dreaming.

There’s simply NO WAY all these world-renowned business experts are handing out their most closely guarded secrets–for nothing.

Is there?

http://salvationsystem.com/jayabraham

With the League of Extraordinary Minds, this dream can come closer to reality than you ever thought possible…

You see, Jay Abraham and his partner Rich Schefren have spent the last year scouring the entire business world, examining the highest echelons of reputations, skill and recognition to find only the best of the best in their respective fields.

They evaluated more than 1500 top experts choosing just 54 who (both felt) possessed the critical expert understanding and decisive, specialized business skill sets to show YOU where the big profits are hidden in your business – - and how to get them.

And now, they’re all together inside the League, broken out into highly specific panels for 6 solid weeks to better answer your questions regarding your biggest business challenges.

We’re talking 52 legendary experts who’ll carefully explain and demonstrate what to do differently right now to thrive and prosper.  And none of this expertise will cost you a penny to receive.

That’s right. It costs you nothing whatsoever. And you can only get it right here.

http://salvationsystem.com/jayabraham

With the League Of Extraordinary Minds, it’s like all these big-time consultants are right there in your office, leaning over your shoulder and showing you the map to wealth and success…

Fortune 500 companies pay some of these experts up to $250,000 a day for this type of access. And they do it without blinking, because the results they’ll get are worth BILLIONS of dollars in profits.

But you’re getting it for nothing. Nada. Zero. IF you move quickly.

http://salvationsystem.com/jayabraham

Because there’s a very limited number of people that Jay And Rich can take into this program. And the seats are filling up quickly.

So I wouldn’t wait if I were you–grab yours NOW before someone else does.

http://salvationsystem.com/jayabraham

I’ll see you inside…

P.S. Look, for years the richest corporations in the world have earned truckload after truckload of cash because of their exclusive access to this world-class brain trust…

These masterminds simply get the job done, They know how to quickly solve every problem, overcome every challenge and make the most of every opportunity.

But now, YOU have access to these experts too, courtesy of the League of Extraordinary Minds. And they’re ready and waiting to work for you–GRATIS.

You really going to pass this up?

http://salvationsystem.com/jayabraham

This is going to be candid blog post.

You see, over the past few months, me and my wife Laura have faced some of the most challenging battles in our short entrepreneurial life.

We were overworked…  Toiling 12 hours straight nearly every day…  And were on the verge of throwing in the towel.

It was as if we were sowing so much seed, yet seeing little fruit for our labor.

Yet 6 weeks ago, on the verge of hitting rock bottom… We stumbled across a startling secret that saved our skins and put us back on the track of rapid profitability.

I’ll reveal what this revolutionary principle is in a moment, for now I just want to lay the foundations.

Here’s a Biblical concept that the world readily agrees it…

“You reap what you sow…”

In other words, the more time, resources and energy you put into something, the bigger the harvest you’ll reap — be it financially, relationally or spiritually.

So if you put in your elbow grease and late nights, you’re guaranteed success right? WRONG!

Or more rather, the Sowing and Reaping analogy is only a half truth.

You see, we followed this principle to the tee… We “slaved like dogs”, yet we were “rewarded” with disappointment, stress and relationship strain.

Have you ever wondered why sometimes you work so hard, and yet don’t seem to reap the bountiful harvest you deserve?

Here’s something that may come as surprise for you…

There’s a missing dimension to the concept of sowing and reaping. If you miss this, you’re potentially setting yourself back months, even years from where you’re supposed to be.

In one of the Biblical parables, Jesus talked about the parable of the sower.

The gist of it was that the farmer was scattering seed across the land. However, he was rather indiscriminate about it and the seeds fell on stony paths, thorny soil, shallow earth and fertile ground.

The seeds that fell on the former 3 types of soil ended up with stunted growth, or worse… Not growing at all.

Here’s the awesome part…

The seed that fell on fertile ground produced a magnificent harvest of tenfold, hundredfold… and even a thousand-fold!

What made the difference?

It’s about WHERE the sower threw his seed.

That’s right. WHERE you sow is probably more important then HOW MUCH you sow.

It’s a principle we call STRATEGIC SOWING. And we believe it’s the single most important trait of mega-successful entrepreneurs.

Once you master this, you’ll get a return on investment that’ll blow your socks off. Because every ounce of blood, sweat and tears is going to give you a windfall.

One of the biggest bittersweet lessons we learned is that Laura and I may be world-class marketers, but we’re still newbies in terms of building a long-term sustainable business.

The single most vital trait that separates entrepreneurs from marketers is the ability to effectively allocate one’s limited resources. Unfortunately, it’s an ability that comes from hard-worn experience rather than any $997 home study course.

But hey, since we’re nice people and all, we’re going to reveal to you the top 5 areas you should strategically sow in (from our admittedly limited experience).

1) Alliances

As maligned as the whole “Guru Club” in our industry seems to be, it doesn’t change the fact that JVs work. In fact, I attribute networking to be the no.1 driver why the Puppet Master is where he is today in such a short time. However… Do note that you need to screen through the people you intend to partner with. Some are a complete waste of time. Some are middling. A few will deliver the breakthrough growth you crave.  Just don’t be over-eager especially if you’re new.

2) Content

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, it’s about articles, articles, articles. Google cares more about frequency of unique content than about the quality. So invest in a reliable ghost writing team, a spinning service like HumanSpinner and submission services like Easy Push Button Traffic, SENuke or Unique Article Wizard. As article marketing guru Jeff Herring says, “the bigger the number of articles, the bigger your other numbers will be.”  So get crankin’.

3) Basics

Ignore the fads out there. Marketers have made pushing your emotional buttons such an art form that they can make any product “the next big thing”. Learn to resist. Stop grabbing at every push-button solution. Most of it is crap. In fact, 90% of what I study seems to be just rehashed information. Master your internet marketing basics.

• Are you doing PPC?
• Are your sites optimized properly?
• Heck… Are you even using the right keywords to promote your site?

As a sidenote, keyword research is the most important skill you need to master. Get this wrong and all your efforts will be flushed down the loo.

4) List

Social media seems to be the craze, but honestly, the best response rates seem to come from the humble email mailing list. Even though open rates may be down industry wide, your autoresponder service is the most potent income-generating asset you may have. Build up the numbers and you can honestly pay off your mortgage, go for a safari in Kenya or buy yourself a new car with just ONE email blast.

Of course, don’t make it a pitchfest and give good content to build up the relationship you have with your list.

5) Character

This may sound surprising, but according to Seth Godin’s excellent blog post on the Hierarchy of Success,  without good character your strategies, tactics and execution are going to fall flat on its face.

I mean… If your mindset is “I’m doing this on the site for some (hopeful) part-time income”, you’re not going to make a million dollars online, are you? I knew a guy who was eager to learn so I hooked him up with some of my $1997 products. Guess what? Because he has such a crappy attitude, he’s now worse off than where he started. Read the Bible or listen to Dan Sullivan (my entrepreneurial guru du jour).

Whew, that comes to the close of my rather lengthy blog spot. Hope the Strategic Sowing principle impacts your business the way it did for the Puppet String Marketing business.

As an aside, I’m going to introduce something remarkable that’s worth the strategic sowing. I may not be the biggest fan of its title or its positioning but the principles inside contain some of the biggest shortcuts to running a super-profitable business.

Indeed, what I’m about to introduce is fertile soil, and every dollar you sow in WILL result in a bountiful harvest if you do what it says. Just opt-in to my mailing list by clicking on the button below to get further details soon.

So back to this post… What do you folks think? What are the biggest areas of strategic sowing you think I might have missed out? Feedback is most welcome, as always.