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A change coming?
By admin | August 9, 2008
I was happy - delighted actually - when I saw a clip of a video from Tim Brocklehurst - the ‘my viral spiral’ bloke (don’t worry it’s not a plug) showing his email account.
I thought that these big guru types would have neat organised inboxes - a bit like the neatly organised desks they show in their blogs that overlook the Florida coastline etc.
Well Tim’s inbox looked (to me at least) as though somebody had dropped a bomb on it. It was a googlemail accoount too (we use those 
) and contained Spam, personal messages - the whole thing. The video also showed his personal Googlemail address so I presume he’s getting a few JV offers by now!
Joking aside - the perception of how internet marketers want you to think they are, and how they actually ARE is a really interesting subject.
Would you have less faith in a marketer who recorded a video from a messy office and a computer that showed a desktop full of icons with files all over the place?
Maybe I’d think twice about that too. Not sure.
But if I imagine a famous writer or painter - maybe Picasso or Albert Camus I’d be suspicious if their studio was immaculate with all their notes or prelim sketches were neatly labelled and files into drawers and arranged alphabetically.
The difference is that we don’t perceive internet marketers as being creative.
Sure there’s an element of creativity in there that we recognise and admire but I think we mainly see IMers as organised, methodical and disciplined.
Artists and writers are seen as creating their best work out of drug or alcohol influenced stupors, tortured romances and creative destruction.
Would you buy an ebook on ‘how to write a killer autoresponder series’ from a marketer who smoked a couple of joints, knocked back a pint of absinthe and stabbed his lover?
It STILL might be a great read and contain priceless bits of information.
And I think it suggests that people perceive internet marketing as being less creative than scientific or at least a ‘discipline’ like architecture or website building.
And it’s nothing like that.
The best marketers I know think outside the box most of the time and outsource the ‘disciplined’ part of the process to people who are technically brilliant but perhaps lacking somewhat in the ideas field.
You can outsource almost everything in IM except the idea. And if it takes a wild weekend in Amsterdam to get the creative juices flowing then (speaking as a customer as well as a marketer) then that’s OK with me.
There’s no real point to this except to say that I bought an ebook the other day. My payment went through but the download failed to connect. When it did there was another technical problem and the ebook itself was peppered with typos and even had ‘Insert link here’ at one point where the author had obviously forgotten to put a link in before he put it on sale.
Now I didn’t have any problem with this because (yes you saw it coming) I’m not the best at presentation or grammar. It was the book I wanted.
And the book helped me to put together a page in a certain way and to add some HTML to make it do something I wanted. Following the book I did this successfully and far cheaper than outsourcing the task would have cost.
It delivered exactly what i needed.
Surely that’s what’s important, or are we buying the IM ‘experience’ with all singing and dancing products?
I’m referring to products that boast ‘72 hours of video included’. Who the Hell has time to watch 72 hours of video? If you watched 3 hours a day (which is a LOT of IM video) it would take you the best part of a month to watch the lot.
I think there’s a trend coming in IM. And it’s about concise - laser focused INFORMATION, with no fluff, bonuses or add-ons. The smart gurus are already getting on board with it now.
The only question is, will the customers accept it?
Would you rather have bulk or focus?
Comments welcome.
Topics: Uncategorized |
August 9th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Hi Sara
Good post, as usual. Speaking with my customer’s hat on I for one would rather have less quantity but more quality. I’ve thought for some time now that the amount of bonuses was becoming ridiculous. In fact, it actually puts me off a product to see a zillion e-book bonuses and umpteen hours of free videos. Like you I realised that I would need a free week or so just to get through them all. Frankly, I’d rather stick pins in my eyes. Less fluff and filler and more meat is what’s needed and that’s the road I intend to take (with my marketer’s hat on!).
Regards
Ray
August 12th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Oh yes, Sara. You hit the nail on the head once again.
Good concise information is what I need. I prefer print because it is quicker to read than to watch rambling videos.
Regards, Jean
August 13th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Hi Sara
For me ‘focus’ wins every time, and I think I can safely say that most people think that too. You’re right that it is almost impossible to sit down and watch 72 hours of video, but I do think that different people enjoy different types of products though. It’s still possible to have a concise video product, and I think you need to offer a range of different media types because different people learn in different ways. I’d really like to see a few more Laycock videos. I remember the one on creating a blog, and I think it’s great to be able to hear the marketers voice and adds more personality to the marketing mix.
Dan