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!

You discovered the Brandagon. You know how to create a personal brand that can help you dominate your marketplace.

Now, in this video sample of my spanking new Branding Salvation System, you’ll learn how you use social media to spread your brand EVERYWHERE. Watch the stunning Stranglehold Strategy in action:

Remember… Just 2 more days until the unveiling of the Branding Salvation System. Here’s a sneak peek of what you get:

Module 1

C2C Branding 101: Unleashing the Ideavirus

• The dirty little secret of Ogilvy — revealed. This simple positioning tweak can double your response rates nearly instantly.
• Introducing the C2C Brand. This stands for Consumer-to-Consumer branding. This is the quickest, easiest way to attract a hungry mob of buyers–without spending a red cent.
• “Oh no, not another life coach?!” Lower barriers of entry means that you’re probably experiencing escalating levels of competition. Discover the amazing “big boy” strategy that’ll leave them to eat your dust!
• PLUS: What’s the ultimate leverage point for your business? The startling answer is probably not what you think.
• The Unique Selling Proposition is dead. Why? Too many competitors with similar function. The amazing alternative here.
• And much, much more.

Module 2

Beyond the Purple Cow: The DEA Personal Branding Structure

• Branding gurus Al Ries and Jack Trout says this, “If you can, be first. If you can’t be first, create a new category in which you can be first.” How to use the astonishing “Unique Emotional Proposition” principle to rapidly become the rock star in your niche.
• How to exploit the crucial relationship between the UEP and C2C Brand for unfair competitive advantage.
• Imagine playing soccer upside down… What Adidas can teach you about profitable differentiation.
• PLUS: Astounding 3 step DEA Process that can help structure your personal brand. Easy way to stand out like a Purple Cow.
• PLUS: How does weeping and heartbreak help in building a formidable brand?
• And much, much more.

Module 3

Intersection of Realities: How to Uncover Your Target Market in Minutes

• Intersection of Realities: 3 stunning secrets to read your market like an open book. Easiest way to craft hyper-targeted blockbuster campaigns that your prospects will devour.
• Your prospect are at their most “eager-to-buy” state when you scratch their Immediate Itch. Simple yet reliable technique to uncover what it is — every single time.
• The hidden, high risk of of a Frank Kern video. You can bungle your marketing campaigns if you don’t take into account which gurus your market listens to. Subtle differences, huge implications!
• PLUS: How playing God can help you create the most optimal positioning for you in the marketplace.
• And much, much more…

Module 4

Behold the Brandagon: Your Inception Weapon

• Working with designers doesn’t have to be torture. How to use a mood board to effectively communicate your visual needs.
• 3 surprising websites to outsource your design work–for as much as 78% off market rates!
• Behold the Brandagon. The 5 little-known ways to spread your brand like an virus in your prospect’s minds in under 3 seconds.
• WARNING: Big business are all part the Acronym Conspiracy, ensuring that their ideas have a vice-like grip on your mind. How you can apply this strategy to your business for extremely lucrative ends.
• PLUS: Being a friend to everyone increases sales, right? WRONG. Why polarization is profitable.
• PLUS: Avoid paying for overpriced stock photos. 2 overlooked sources of free graphics.
• And much, much more.

Module 5

Stomp the Yard: Massive Syndication Secrets

• How to “drown” your prospect by flooding the net with your content. Quick way to transform the entire internet into your own personal stomping grounds.
• BEYOND THE BLOG POST: The single fastest way to syndicate your content everywhere–and I mean EVERYWHERE
• Studies have shown in the knowledge economy, information overload is the biggest side effect. Why taking the “art gallery” approach can create a stellar reputation for you
• PLUS: Do this to become the head of a tribe of evangelists. No idea gone un-retweeted from now on.
• PLUS: How to effectively monetize social media with the 3C technique
• And much, much more.

Module 6

Three Degrees of Conversion: How to Boost Response Rates to the Moon

• Mass Conversion: Automate this system to create a daily flow of prospects, buyers and evangelists — without spending a single extra dime.
• Why the brutal action of “twisting the knife” helps in creating a deeper, more ravenous hunger in your prospect for your product–and your product alone!
• The number one way to boost the clickthroughs in your content by as much as 124%. (CONFESSION: It’s rather rude!)
• PLUS: How the Super Six Persuasive Content Framework structures your articles and blog posts to make people flood you with cash.
• PLUS: Did you know video constitutes a whopping 25% of the content online? 5 simple steps to achieve staggering Youtube success.
• And much, much more…

Module 7

The Bloghound Model: Curating Your Way to Cash Flow

• Create an authority blog in under 5 minutes a day. 3 sneaky ways to decrease writing but increase traffic
• The pro-blogger model is dead. Why writing long, high-quality blog posts are a waste of your precious time. What do do instead.
• Filter over filler. How popular blog Boing Boing paved the way for bloghounds to thrive. The quickest, easiest to get in on the scoop of the hottest news stories.
• PLUS: 5 seconds = 120 visitors? How to write Tweets and Facebook status updates that unleash a floodgate of clicks
• And much more.

Get ready to get your mind blown and wallet filled up

In the meantime… Leave a comment if this video has helped you.

Obama has served 100 days in the White House.

A 100 days. "Success or failure?", the 2 camps are still debating.

A policy here. A ruling there. Intervention all around. Some people call the President’s moves brilliant. Others call it plain dumb.

Yes, the voices are crystal clear. The first 100 days are always forgivable ones. You need to get your feet wet, to clean up the mess of the previous administration, just to learn to juggle the various egos of the others in power.

The first 100 days are about research, and policy discussions, and rounds and rounds of meetings to fix what’s wrong about the country.

Yet, the same media voices claim the next 100 days are THE MOST CRUCIAL ONES to determine whether Obama succeeds as president  or is a flash in the pan.

You see, the next 100 days are about IMPLEMENTATION. To stop talking and take action. And the anticipated results will determine his destiny.

How have you spent the last 100 days?

Did you set your goals? New Years Resolution? A fierce determination to succeed and prevail through this difficult recession period?

Now, whether you see results or not, it’s crunch time.

Just like Obama, it’s your next 100 days that determine whether you sink or swim in this moment of crisis. Whether you make a comfortable living or become yet-another-statistic.

It depends on you.

And right now you want to take the street fighter route and use any weapon to not just survive, but thrive.

This is when Twitter comes in. A marketing channel that doesn’t cost money, yet has unprecedented opportunity. Oprah, Ashton, CNN… Twitter’s now mainstream baby, and it’s time to learn how to harness Twitter for maximum ROI.

Internet wealth specialist Stephen Pierce says that its far easier to dominate a marketing channel that it is a niche. In other words, you reap more profits from focusing on one channel than trying to challenge the existing Goliath’s in their niche.

They’re probably going to clobber you.

You still have first-mover advantage on Twitter. In fact, I guarantee you that if you focus on Twitter marketing for the next 100 days, your business will accelerate in a way you never thought possible.

Picture this… Once you master Twitter… Your prospects suddenly transforming into evangelists… A steady flow of leads without spending a red cent… Your personal brand spreading like wildfire across the Internet.

It is possible. In fact, in less than 100 days after coming on Twitter as an unknown, I established a 5 figure business from scratch–with no name, no list and no website. And a 100 days later, I’m among the elite marketers in this world.

I’m handing you the keys to the kingdom. This is the age of acceleration. The whole old-fashioned, white-knucked slave-till-dawn was the old rule of successes. Now, it’s to springboard off the opportunities and devices that make leapfrogging your predecessors so much easier.

So come on! Your next 100 days is do or die. Seize the moment and take that step of faith to succeed today.

—–> Carpe Diem!

P.S. 100 days may seem short. But miracles can happen in that time. A 100 days ago I was still unmarried. A 100 days before that I was still an unknown copywriter trying to make a living. Take the 100 days challenge and rise up now.

Twitter Salvation System. Doors Now Open.

Twitter gives you a lot of opportunity to be famous in your niche.

In fact, they seem to have an organic system that actually rapidly elevates you to maven-hood if you play by their loosely defined rules.

There are several ways to put your personal branding on steroids, but one of the best ways is through Follow Friday.

In case you do not know what Follow Friday is about, go here. This blog post however is for those who not just know what Follow Friday is about, but who also want to be the belle of the Twitter ball.

#followfriday

Getting endorsed on Follow Friday really reaps tremendous benefits. And it’s not just for stroking for your own ego, even though that’s nice.

For starters, you not only enjoy an easy way to gain followers, you get ‘em WARM. Master persuasionist Joel Bauer says that you “live vicariously through the opinions of others”. In other words, the more endorsements you get from an outside party, the more credible you become. As a result, those who follow you from a recommendation are  likely to be more predisposed towards you. Consequently, that means they are more willing to ReTweet your Tweets, listen to your (marketing) message and eventually–BUY YOUR STUFF.

Here’s something even more potent. Dr. Rachna Jain, president of MindShare and social media expert, says that familiarity leads to likability. This means that the more people see your @username appearing in Tweets, the more they’ll actually think you’re cool. This is because they’re thinking that if large amounts of people are endorsing you, you must be a pretty okay person. So even if they don’t bite the bait and follow you the first time round, they will EVENTUALLY come to you because they keep seeing your name everywhere.

I’ve personally experienced all the social proof positives. @emailcopywriter is a frequent fixture on the #followfriday listings, with an average 15-20 shoutouts from people per week. As a result, I’ve been making pretty brisk sales with my products–nearly exclusively through Twitter–since I not only get followers, I get FANATICS.

You probably think that you must do something really spectacular to get that kind of word-of-mouth treatment. Or be one of those internet celebrities. Far from it. Honestly, it takes very little to appease the human mind. Here are 3 shortcuts to pull off some voodoo to make your Friday the best of the week!

1) Give a lot of quotes, especially inspirational ones

For some reason, the human mind is attracted to inspiration. We live in big bad stupid world, so when it sees something that’s positive, insightful and thought-provoking, it’s like an oasis in the desert of the mind. Quotes get ReTweeted A LOT. And there is a measure of gratitude for the person who introduced the quote, which you can cash in on later. Becoming a treasury of quotes is easy; just log on to BrainyQuote.com, Tweet the quotes you like on the front page and voila, #followfriday magic!

2) Be a Twitter gossip

For perhaps obvious reasons, Twits dig Twitter-related Tweets a lot. Be it a how-to, news items or blog posts, anything Twitter related gets tweeted a lot. The rationale is simple–your followers are probably thinking, “I’m here on Twitter, so what I can do to maximize the Twitter experience?” They will appreciate any help they can get. Better still, you don’t have to come out with any of your own, just ReTweet someone else’s. Bonus if it’s in list form (3 ways, 5 secrets, etc). Lists are irresistible.

3) Get personal

Unless your mom is on Twitter (and mine is), you can tweet your hopes, fears, dreams, aspirations, failures, success, etc. Vulnerability is seductive and will set you apart as human in a world of bots. People are attracted to nudity. Do a twiptease dance and dazzle people with your heart-to-heart spell. DISCLAIMER: Just veer away from emo teenage brat territory, unless your target audience is other emo teenage brats.

Now, these 3 ways should get you more #followfriday recommendations nearly effortlessly.

But you know something? #followfriday is really child’s play, relative to the sheer moneymaking potential that Twitter can offer your business.

Through Twitter, I have made friends with the top dogs in my industry. Through Twitter, I have BECOME the top dog in my industry. Through Twitter, I have been able to carve myself a nice living when the world outside collapses. Honestly, right now I have to turn down projects since I already have so much on my plate.

There is such a wealth-attracting force to Twitter that goes beyond any “15 k followers in under an hour” BS or some rehashed Clickbank eBook.

With a few simple tricks, you can unleash 5 different income streams through this micro-blogging platform.  call on Twitter Marketing; monetizing Twitter the RIGHT way.

There’s too much fluff out there, it’s time to bring some proven techniques on maximizing Twitter for your business to the table. I want you to be sure that each and every piece of marketing material you send out hits its target point blank.

… Wait, did I just say marketing material?

Yes, I must admit I am selling something. And what I’m doing now is to whet your appetite. Twitter Salvation System is now available, and I’ve worked day and night to have all the components in place.

However, instead of doing tired “Buy or Die” tactics, I decided to give you some sound advice to demonstrate the full potential that my little labor of love can do for your business.

Indeed, I used these very same principles to launch a 5 figure biz from scratch nearly exclusively using Twitter—and that was even before I discovered any of the Twitter tools. Purely by using the web interface we’d made $10k in 3 weeks—with no list, no name and very little money. And now by replicating these same techniques over and over again, I have got a sizable income rise, speaking engagements and more JV projects that I have to turn down.

Here’s a sneak peek of the 3 BRAND NEW MODULES that I included with the package:

• How to get 1000 followers in a day, and transform them into evangelist—with just 1 Tweet? Yes, it’s possible. A sprinkle of persuasion magic is all it takes!
• How to unleash the power of social influence marketing. Often, it’s not the what but the who that matters in marketing. If you’re respected, everything you say holds more weight. A simple way to accomplish mavenhood in as little as a month.
• A step-by-step Twitter for newbie’s module. Look, I know some of you came in from the nudging of Ashton  and Oprah. It’s nothing to be ashamed about. Here’s a quick and easy blueprint to get you up to speed. You’ll be tapping into Twitter as a lucrative marketing channel in no time.

Here’s the thing. There are strictly limited copies available.  We’re limiting it to 500 copies because me and my wife Laura do all the customer support ourselves –we believe in personalized support for each and every client we handle.

There’s been quite a bit of buzz about the Salvation System so I want to make sure you get first dibs on one of the hottest Twitter products around. Don’t miss your chance.

Twitter Salvation. Here.

One of the benefits of Twitter is spreading your personal brand like wildfire.

However, if you don’t have a compelling personal brand to begin with, you’re just wasting the immense word-of-mouth potential of Twitter.

here’s the thing–the marketing experts tell you all about the USP, your Unique Selling Proposition. Heck, even Jay Abraham credits himself for popularizing the term. So you use the USP as your branding device.

But is it really giving you the attention you deserve?

You see, when DM legend Rosser Reeves invented the term around half-a-century ago, the world was still relatively competition-free. So those who implemented the USP then went on to be wildly successful.

However, in a world of sheer clutter and information overload like hours, the USP is as good as gone. I mean, every other brand and personality has the same features and benefits as you do!

If you’re a life coach, there’s probably a million of you out there with the same benefit of empowerment.

If you’re a chiropractor, there’s probably a million of you out there with the same benefit of healing.

If you’re a marketer, well, don’t get me started.

As you can see, having a USP really doesn’t cut it in a world with nearly zero barriers of entry in every niche.

How bummed out are you feeling right now?

Good news. There is life beyond the USP.

You see, I worked in one of the biggest ad agencies in the world as an award-winning creative. And scoff all you like about “the big players don’t get marketing”, because when it comes to branding and positioning, Ogilvy, Saatchi and the rest of the gang are gods. And they have spent BILLIONS of dollars to get there.

And the biggest challenge they attempt to overcome everyday? How do you make a brand stand out in their niche in a world of saturation?

What I’m about to reveal to you is the Madison Avenue secret, a result of years and years of expensive research.

Here it is.

The Unique Selling Proposition is dead. But the Unique EMOTIONAL proposition is very much alive.

What is the UEP?

It’s  a concept that differentiates yourself in the prospect’s mind by a specific emotion you trigger, and not by a mere benefit.

When the prospect think of you, they associate you with a SPECIFIC emotion.

Let’s take the running shoes market for example.

Nike, Adidas and Reebok should have a hard time, shouldn’t they? I mean, a running shoe is a running shoe is a running shoe. Yet, you can tell them apart in your head.

Why? Because each of them manifest a different feeling within you.

For Nike, it’s “Just Do It”, about taking initiative and making something of your life.

For Adidas, it’s “Impossible is Nothing”, its the tenacity to overcome to most imposing of obstacles.

For Reebok, it was “I Am What I Am” and this year it was changed to “Your Move”. It evokes the feeling of the ball is in my court, and I ain’t going to drop it.

Are you getting something out of this already?

So have a think about the UEP and strategize on how you can apply it to your business.

In the Twitter Salvation System, you’ll be learning far deeper things about the UEP–how to generate a compelling one, how to tie it in directly to your prospect’s dominant emotion and how you can put your personal branding on steroids with just a few 20 second tweaks.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the videos and posts about using Twitter as they get done.

Don’t forget the contest to impress me still continues.

Just tell me how the UEP (or any of the blogged) principles can help your business and I might give you my Twitter Salvation System home study course for free.

Thanks, hope you got something out of this post today. Get emo with your prospects now!