As an Internet marketer, a "customer" is
critical. A customer is what earns you money as an affiliate or merchant
and are the reason people either become successful or not.
One of the most common mistakes we see people make is
promoting to a customer (or audience) before they fully understands who their
audience is. It is very easy to waste money promoting what you
"think" people want, rather than what they are actually looking for.
Remember, you are not selling a product. You are
acquiring a customer! If you think of helping a customer versus
trying to sell something, you will be much more successful in the online world.
There is something that we like to call the "CustomerPurchase Life cycle" and it consists of 3 phases. These are the
phase someone goes through when buying something online.
People love to learn before they buy. They are hungry for
information about the product/service that they may decide to purchase.
Although some purchasing decisions are more spontaneous than others, people
learn about a product before they purchase it, and this "learning" is
done using many mediums. These could include television, magazines,
friend referral, recommendation from a celebrity, a roadside billboard,
etc
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However, as mentioned in the keyword section, the greatest
medium of all for research is the Internet!
85% of all people naturally gravitate online to complete
their research, as it is the "information highway". You can find
information on virtually anything through a simple search in Google, thus why
the majority of the research is done on the net.
Ideally you don't want to catch people during the research
phase, as they are the most difficult to turn from "information
seekers" into "customers".
Some people have already made up their mind as to what
product they are going to buy, and they want it now. These are rapid
buyers (which we will discuss in more detail ahead).
Most people, however, go through a decision phase where they
research a number of products/services and decide which one best suits them.
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Think about the way you decide on buying something.
You typically rank, review and analyze until you know exactly what you are
getting. If you were buying a TV, you would look at brands, prices,
consumer reviews, guarantees, quality ratings, etc. before you DECIDE to buy.
Someone's decision can be easily persuaded by reviews and
personalized opinions of others. This is where a good Internet marketer
can intercept an individual, showcase certain products that are similar, and
deliver a convincing and informative review to promote a decision.
The final phase is the one that is the MOST PROFITABLE
to us as Internet marketers. No commissions will be paid unless there is
an action that takes place! Whether this is a click, a lead, or a sale, a
visitor needs to perform your desired action or become a customer to fulfill
the life-cycle.
During the purchasing/action phase, it is very difficult to
detour someone from their purchasing decision.
They have done their
research, made the decision, and now are fully prepared to buy. In many cases,
they have their credit card out and are ready to use it!
In an ideal world, you would be able to target all the
people within this phase, but often times the research and searching is
complete at this point. An example of a search term that would
target people within this phase would be "purchase product_name, order product_name,
buy product_name".
For example if someone typed in "buy Sony Cybershot
DSC-H20 Camera", chances are VERY good of making the sale
If you are trying to sell golf clubs online and deliver
traffic coming from general keywords like "golf" or even a keyword
phrase like "golf clubs", chances are you will not have a high
conversion rate. The reason that "golf clubs" won't
convert is because you're picking up this visitor too early in the purchasing
life cycle.
At this point, they are typically looking for information
about golf clubs. They are not looking to buy, and will usually perform
several more searches before they do decide to make a purchasing decision.
Let's drill down a little more and catch someone a little
further along in the purchasing life cycle. We now know that
"golf" & "golf clubs" won't convert very high.
After visiting a few forums, you can easily discover that people are searching
for irons, putters, drivers, wedges, or specialize clubs. So, chances are
that the keyword "golf clubs" (although seemingly targeted) is
actually way too broad.
If you start promoting too early in the cycle, it will take
a lot more work to actually sell than if you were to dig a little deeper into
the purchasing life cycle.
Drivers, wedges, irons, and putters are still too broad, as
people want to learn about brand names, types, loft, and reviews before they
make a purchase. Ideally, you would hyper-target someone who types in
Taylor Made r5 Driver, or someone who is searching for a 56 degree Cleveland
Gap Wedge. People that are searching these terms are SERIOUS buyers and
are on the edge of the transition between a researcher and a customer.
It is much more work to walk someone through all the stages
of the life-cycle then it is to capture someone that has already done the
research!
Many advertisers don't take advantage of product related
keywords. When we say "product-related," we are referring to
search terms that include the product name or the company name of the product
that is being searched. For example, if someone was searching the term
"OBS Review", this would be a product-related keyword
for OBS, as would "obs", "obs program", etc.
People who search product-related keywords are typically
very far along in the purchasing life cycle because they are already
knowledgeable in the subject area and they have already been exposed to some
form of branding or advertisement.
Someone who is searching the term "obs" has probably already done a significant amount of research.
They may have started by searching the term "affiliate
marketing" and found a website promoting OBS.
They then did some additional research and analysis on
Internet marketing related schools to decide which program would be best suited
for them. Finally, they search the program they are interested in
joining OBS.
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As you can see, people who are searching product-related
keywords are usually on the verge of becoming a customer. If you can deliver
the information that they are looking to find (the program is excellent; the
program is good), then you will likely convert this visitor into a customer.
Note: Some affiliate programs have policies against
promoting under their search terms, but MANY do not!
You could create a
very profitable campaign using this technique alone!
Take a look at the last purchase that you made online.
- Where did you start and where
did you end up?
- Did you purchase the same day
that you started looking, and why or why not?
- Were you exposed to positive or
negative advertising about a product?
- Did you see the product/service
in a magazine or on TV before you saw it online?
- Was the price an issue for you,
why or why not?
- What was the last phase in the
analysis process before you actually purchased the product?
There are many things that you can learn from taking a look
at how you purchase something online. You probably follow many of the
steps that your visitors take when purchasing. You will find that you may
research things slightly differently from others in the early stages, however
the last few steps in the process before you make the purchase, will probably
reflect that of all customers.
If you can answer the questions in respect to your
purchasing life cycle, it will provide valuable insight into other potential
consumers life cycles.
Today's Task:
(1) Record your last purchase, from start to finish
(2) Analyze this and recreate what a consumer within your "niche" might do (on paper)
Read to learn how to succeed for the long term?
There is no point in going into business if you can't create
longevity?
Expand Your Learning
Trying to guess what your visitors are difficult because you
just can't be an expert on everything.
Learning to do proper research for each and every Internet
marketing campaign you create needs to be done in the right way. Without proper
research you are essentially gambling on whether or not you will earn money.
Successful Internet marketers understand the importance of
research and spend a considerable amount of time learning about who their
customers are, what they want, and why they want it. Once you are strapped with
this knowledge all you need to do is connect with your audience.
To make the research phase easier, you need to have access
to tools, systems, and techniques that will give you data on WHO is looking for
WHAT online.
With a full research suite
available to you at OBS, you can mine for keywords, dig down and
find the most unique Niche, Spy on your competition, and then act on the data
you have collected.
Success is not a guessing game at OBS because
you are getting a world class education in Internet marketing.
And So On...
Many people ask us "How have you been able to remain
successful for over 9 years on the Internet?".
This is a fair question. 80% of businesses fail within
the first 5 years, and 80% of those businesses fail within the next 5
years. This means that 96% of ALL business fail within the first 10 years
of going into business.
This is a pretty scary number!
What we can tell you is that the online world is a bit
different, and we have followed ONE MAIN PRINCIPLE to retain our success and
create longevity in our online activities.
This is going to seem really simple....
The reason why we are so successful and able to LIVE LONG is
that we:
If you are not having much success online, we want you to
answer ONE simple question.
Here is the question:
WHY ARE PEOPLE WANTING TO ________?
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...sorry we forgot to finish the question, but that is the
point. Now apply this question to your niche.
Why are people wanting to lose weight, buy an iPhone, make a
lot of money, buy dog clothing, quit smoking, get a better education, buy
insurance...
If you can answer the "WHY" within any industry,
we can guarantee that you will have given it enough thought to succeed. We can
safely say that a good deal of our long term success is a result of
understanding the audiences we are marketing to, regardless of the industry.
We think that you will find that there are several answers
within any particular industry, and this is where you can start catering to
smaller audiences.
Let's just take a look at a couple industries:
Why are people wanting to lose weight?
Well, there are several reasons...
One, they may want to fit into a bikini for the upcoming
vacation or nice summer weather. They may have just been dumped and want to
improve their dating life. New Years may have just passed and they could be
losing weight as their resolution. What about weddings...people lose weight for
weddings.
If you read into an industry like this, things that do not
seem so apparent will become quite obvious very quickly. You could easily
target these five or six components of this niche now with very targeted
campaigns.
THIS IS MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PROMOTING TO PEOPLE TYPING
IN "DIETING"!!!!!
Why are people wanting to make more money? Well, the obvious
reason would be so that they can have more freedom, more stuff...this is true,
but you are not answering the real question here.
People want to make more money because they have just lost their
job. People want more money because they want to get out of debt. People want
more money because they hate their existing jobs. People want more money
because they don't want to work forever. People want to make money when they
retire and do not want to depend on social security. People want to make money
to help with tuition fees or for extra money while they go to school.
If you promote the term "make money" in Google,
you are not triggering an audience...you are triggering a market. There is a
big difference!
You want to target a specific audience if you plan on
becoming a successful marketer. People typing in "make money" do not
know which audience they are part of and will determine this after they do a
few more searches.
A college student might type in "easy way to pay
tuition bills" or "earn money while going to school". If you can
deliver a targeted site for college students, you could really tap into this
niche...
If anyone is having difficulty creating a successful
campaign, they should think about the "why" before promoting to the
audience. If you cannot figure this out, then chances are that you will not be
able to deliver the right info to the right people. If this is the case,
pick-up and move to the next industry!
Learn the WHY! All successful online business
regardless of what niche they are promoting to understand their audience!
The big boys and girls of the Internet understand this and
create long term businesses based on this principle.
Your tasks for this lesson:
(1) Answer the WHY Question within your niche
(2) List at least 5 reasons why someone would want to do something within your niche (ex. lose weight, buy a car, get their teeth whitened)
Ready to stomp on the grass?
Expand Your Learning
There are millions of people online looking for ways to
educate themselves.
Why do people use the Internet?
They use it for a number of reasons but two common reasons
are:
a) To learn something
b) To save money
Understanding the "WHY" of marketing will most
likely be the defining reason why you succeed in earning money as an Affiliate
online.
There are people who want to build their own septic tanks,
install their own sauna, grow their own rose garden, groom their german
shepherd...
But WHY are they researching online?
WHO are these people?
HOW do you connect with them?
WHERE are they located?
WHAT exactly are they looking for?
This is what you will learn by joining the community at OBS. Not only will you arm yourself with the skills to research
the hottest niches out there, you will learn WHO your potential customers are
and how to effectively market to their specific needs.
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