Archive for March, 2009

Posted by: Michel Fortin, Guest Blogger

Do you know the most important marketing strategy in your business?

In a world filled with marketing experts extolling the virtues of duplicating proven practices, I have a bit of a contrarian view. That’s because relying too much on copying others can actually work against you in your quest for long-term success.

Whether you are marketing your own products or services or promoting other people’s products as an affiliate, positioning is key in determining your long-term success.

By developing an intimate understanding of positioning and applying it to your writing for your own marketing materials and to those of your clients, you’ll build stronger and more persuasive campaigns.

What is Positioning?

Positioning is the process of placing your firm or product above your competition in the prospects’ mind in a way that pulls prospects to you.

Marketing pioneers Jack Trout and Al Ries wrote the definitive work on the concept, entitled: “Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind.” Even though this book was written several years ago, it is still vital in business today.

In every business or product category there are thousands of competitors fighting for the same market. The goal of positioning is to be the top choice to do business with and buy from.

Positioning is not about competing, but differentiating. To be specific, the goal is to differentiate yourself (or the product you are promoting) to the degree that you become the only viable choice in the customer’s mind.

Many companies try to outperform their competitiors by offering discounts and lowering their prices. Positioning, on the other hand, eliminates the need for price-based promotions and focuses on creating a consumer mentality where you are considered the most desirable option, no matter what the cost.

Pretty powerful stuff!

Of course, understanding what positioning is does nothing in and of itself. You need to learn and apply the tools of positioning in order to gain any benefit at all. It’s the application of these strategies that will put you in the favorable position of being that top-of-mind choice within your target market.

Vive la Difference?

Loosely translated from French, the phrase “Vive la Difference” simply means “celebrate the difference.” The first step towards the effective use of positioning within your marketing is to define how you are different from your competition.

Without differentiation, there can be no hope of achieving a strong positioning edge. As I often say in my work: don’t duplicate, differentiate. Be different so that you gain, and maintain, a top position in the mind of your market.

It’s quite common to receive marketing advice telling you to research your competition, but without care, this can be a deadly practice. It’s all well and good to know what your competitors are doing; after all, no business exists within a vacuum. You should absolutely keep tabs on and know what your competition is doing.

What you must avoid, however, is the trap of assuming that in order to be successful you should be replicating what the leaders are doing.

All this accomplishes is the creation of a series of copycats that remind the consumer who the leader is, and reinforces the message that they should buy from the leader. When you engage in such practices, you’re effectively paying for the advertising edge of your competition.

In other words, copy what others do and you’ll only remind people of them and not you.

The only way to avoid becoming a victim of copycat syndrome is to develop your core identity based on how you are different from your competition, and create a unique identity on which to hang your promotional hat.

Anything else is bound to come across as less than genuine in the minds of your target market and certainly won’t help you rise above the crowd.

Determining Your Positioning

Determining your positioning can seem like a daunting task, especially in a highly competitive market. Fortunately, it often isn’t as difficult as it initially seems.

For one thing, most businesses don’t spend much time at all developing their competitive edge through positioning. This means that as someone aware of positioning, it’s usually fairly easy to spot an opportunity.

For another, even if a strong, marketing savvy competitor exists, as a copywriter or marketer you likely already have the creativity you need to make the breakthrough you are looking for.

Before you begin brainstorming ways to help your audience come to a favorable impression, it’s important to note that differentiation need not be drastic. This is where your research skills and any experience you have within the industry is priceless.

In some cases there may be no difference at all other than the fact that no one else in the industry is actually stating it. For example, several years ago there was a car campaign that used the statement that seven out of 10 drivers who test-drove their car, bought one.

What the campaign didn’t say is that the statistic was true for everyone else in the industry, too. It was just that no one else had used this little-known fact before in their promotional efforts.

The best part is, it would be impossible for anyone else to successfully come in after the fact and not sound like a “me too” copycat. If they do they will only remind your market of you.

This brings about another factor that is essential to positioning. In order to gain the most traction from your efforts, you must be first. Or, at least, be perceived to be the first in some way, shape or form.

The difference you choose to exploit needs to work towards the building of a perception of originality. Granted, differentiation is only the beginning. Being different than or superior to the competition is one thing, but to consistently maintain that position is another story altogether. But that is a story for another day.

Until next time, practice unveiling the differences that can set you apart from the competition to develop a strong foundation and create top-of-mind-awareness. As a result, you will have a stronger marketing edge in your copywriting efforts.

Michel Fortin is a marketer, copywriter, and author of many books and courses. For more information about Michel, including how to get your hands on several free ebooks, visit his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com.

Posted by: Terra Goeres, Manager- Client Account Management

When I was a kid, my brother and I used to look forward to report cards coming out each quarter. If we did well, my parents would recognize and reward us for our efforts. We would get dressed up, go out to a fancy restaurant, and spend a leisurely 2-3 hour dinner as a family. Even today, I still have great memories of those reward dinners. While they weren’t the reason I worked hard in school, they sure were a nice bonus, and I appreciated the recognition of my efforts.

Being recognized and rewarded for loyalty, hard work, and success is a universal desire that manifests itself in several different forms throughout our society. Whether it’s a family celebration, a frequent flyer program, a punch card for your favorite coffee shop, or an invitation to join an elite club, we all like to feel valued by the people with whom we associate most. It is in that spirit that ClickBank’s business development department created the Premier and Apex programs.

We started the ClickBank Premier program in 2008 as a way to recognize our top vendors and reward them for their loyalty, ingenuity, and hard work. The program was so successful that we extended the idea to ClickBank affiliates and started the Apex program in 2009. We also increased the number of benefits awarded, and we’re in the process of dedicating more resources to each program.

The programs have also delivered huge benefits to us, as we’ve been able to build closer relationships with our top clients and work with them to make sure ClickBank remains the best solution for selling and promoting digital goods. In fact, we’ve got some exciting new features and enhancements coming out this year that are a direct result of our communications with Premier and Apex clients!

As with status levels in frequent flyer programs, members of the Premier and Apex programs must requalify each year. Every fall, we look at our sales for the previous 12 months and invite the top 100 vendors and the top 100 affiliates to participate in the programs. Current members who did not requalify are notified of this fact, while new qualifiers are invited to join.

If you’re reading this post and you’re not a current member of either program, I hope this inspires you grow your business with us and achieve Premier or Apex status. ClickBank will reward you for your loyalty, your hard work, and your ultimate success!

We are very pleased to announce that we now support vendors and affiliates from 30 new countries around the world! ClickBank is now more global than ever before.

The new countries are:

• Albania
• Armenia
• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Cambodia
• Colombia
• Comoros
• Falkland Islands
• Georgia
• Honduras
• Haiti
• Indonesia
• Kyrgyzstan
• Lebanon
• Montenegro
• Macedonia
• Mali
• Nicaragua
• Peru
• Philippines
• Pakistan
• Paraguay
• Russian Federation
• Swaziland
• Ukraine
• Uzbekistan
• Venezuela
• Vietnam
• Yemen

Welcome to all of our new client countries!

Earlier this week, we updated our Client Contract with a number of changes, so in this post we’ll summarize what these changes were.

Almost all of the changes we made to the contract were merely changes to legal language, and didn’t change the existing meaning of the policies we had in place. For example, we added several of our existing policies to the Client Contract, as opposed to having them in separate places on our website. We also added a new policy which did not exist before, which is the Return and Cancellation Policy. The items in this policy, such as ClickBank’s 60-day return policy, were stated elsewhere, but were not previously included in the Client Contract.

We strengthened the legal language of certain parts of the contract, including Intellectual Property (IP) rights, the DMCA Policy, and confidentiality rights to protect ClickBank, our clients, and IP owners. We also updated wording about spamming and sending unsolicited messages to be consistent with current laws.

In addition to the legal language changes, we made a few policy changes you should be aware of.

1. ClickBank now no longer allows the sale of any product that, in ClickBank’s sole judgment, encourages the unlawful transfer of copyrighted media, such as music, movies, video, and games.
2. We now allow the sale and promotion of website templates, which were previously prohibited.
3. In the past, we required a $50 fee to transfer an account to a new owner. This fee is no longer required, so you can transfer an account to a new owner at no charge. The new owner will need to accept the Client Contract in order to use the account.

Due to changes in legal language, we have received questions about offering non-cash bonuses, such as ebooks, as incentives for customers to purchase a product. ClickBank’s policy regarding affiliates giving “bonuses” to customers for purchasing a product has not changed with the new contract. Affiliates and vendors cannot offer cash or cash equivalents (e.g., “Buy now and receive a $15 rebate to your Paypal account”), but it is acceptable to offer bonuses such as ebooks or audio programs as an incentive to buy.

Additionally, some clients believed that they could no longer transfer their account to another person. However, this practice is still allowed, and in fact has been made easier, since it no longer requires a $50 transfer fee, as it did previously.

If you have any questions about specific changes to the Client Contract, please leave a comment below and we’ll answer as quickly as possible.

Please be aware that ClickBank introduced a new Client Contract yesterday, updating some of our policies and terms. By creating a new account or logging in to your existing account, you agree to the new contract, so please take a few minutes to read over it and familiarize yourself with it.

ClickBank Client Contract

In spite of all the great tools that have been developed in recent years to help Internet-based entrepreneurs connect with each other and increase their productivity, there is still a lot of value in old-fashioned, face-to-face meetings. In-person discussions with other entrepreneurs can help you get your questions answered, find new partners for joint ventures, or teach you powerful new techniques for growing your business. Many successful ClickBank publishers and affiliates have already discovered the value that comes from starting or joining these kinds of groups.

One of the best ways to meet and interact with other like-minded entrepreneurs is through the Web site Meetup.com. No matter where you are in the world, you can create or join a group in your city and start meeting and working with other ClickBank publishers and affiliates. Starting your own Meetup group costs as little as $12/month, which could pay for itself if you make just one extra sale a month through ClickBank. Joining an existing group is free!

Some of the ways a ClickBank Meetup group could benefit you include:

• Finding new products or niches to promote as an affiliate
• Getting feedback on your ClickBank product prior to release, or getting advice on improving an existing product
• Brainstorming ideas for new products
• Meeting people who can teach you new skills or assist you in areas that aren’t your strength (for example, if you’re a great copywriter but don’t know anything about Web design, you might meet someone with the opposite skill set who would love to work with you on a new product)
• Discussing the latest and greatest techniques for promoting products inexpensively

These are just some of the many ways that working directly with other people can help you grow or strengthen your online business. If you’re interested in starting an affiliate marketing Meetup group in your area, click here to get started. Since you have to choose from a list of pre-defined topics for your group, we suggest “Entrepreneur,” “Network Marketing,” or “Internet Professionals.”

If you organize or are a member of a Meetup group that discusses ClickBank, fill out the form below and give us a link to your group on Meetup. We’ll list existing groups so that other people in your area can join up and grow the network of ClickBank publishers and affiliates helping each other succeed!

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