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Discover the $80,000,000 Secret
Filed Under (Relationship Marketing, Web Design) by Traffic Guru on 30-06-2008
These are my notes from a call between Frank Kern and Clayton Makepeace. Clayton has done $1.5 billion in sales in his career and Frank has done $30,000,000. So they know their stuff.
First I’ll cut right to the chase and give you the highlights as I see them. Then you’ll have access to my full, unedited notes I took while listening to the call.
Like icing on the cake, here’s the highlights:
1. Tie Your Promotions/Offers in with Current Headlines which are agitating your market
2. Plan out your email campaigns so multiple messages build to a free event
3. Tie entire campaign into timely news events, tell them what will be true after the event for them which isn’t true now, only build the value and excitement for the free event…no ulterior motives should be apparent
Unedited Notes: Clayton Makepeace & Frank Kern interview call
Clayton did $80,000,000 in sales between 2 clients in 2007 alone!
campaigns 4-6 weeks in length, 10.5 mil, last month did a campaign for 2.5 mil in 3.5 days
works with client’s customer files, most qualified prospects, bonded with his clients for months & years
Frank’s done $30,000,000 total sales in his career
4-6 weeks, centered around an online event of some kind, other people center theirs around a free gift or series of free gifts, he spends 1-2 wks not selling anything, just uses the email to invite people to the online event, register for it for free, sense of obligation created because they’ve registered, leaves them alone until day of event, do get confirm reg msg, in editorial content emails he continues to build up the value of the event, never does a pitch in these msgs
financial one is 200k subscribers, 6 days/wk, 1 in morning 1 in evening, moneyandmarkets.com, morning is market commentary on various markets, clarifies days events where markets are going and where opps are; may do P.S. about upcoming event;
in afternoon has dedicated emails to sell the shit out of the free event, all reasons if they don’t attend they might as well shoot themselves
1-2 weeks during each cycle where they are begging people to accept the value for free, builds trust, bonding, momentum, demonstrating good will, creating obligation
Events - vary format to keep them interesting, around 1 hour long, live con call, they did Berlin, Brazil, Shanghai, U.S. market advisors, they called into report on the markets; at time those markets were exploding; used the drama, intensity and “boots on the ground” aspect to build the event
45-50 minutes of content, last 10-15 min is offer of prod that lets you capture this opportunity
low key offer last 10-15 min of call
segmented list - former customers offered $2500 service; subscribers/prospects offered $1,000 service
Next Event - straight webinar, 2 advisers talking about the currency markets FOREX, “how to make money as the dollar falls”, printed pics of Bernanke as the enemy printing money and inflating dollar “to bail out the stupid lending institutions”; used him as enemy to energize their people, followed the basic template
3rd Event - opps in commodities and natural resource discussion, had a panel of experts in that area
last month - currencies topic and had a new advisor for that one
next one - live audience, video, and live questions; FOREX forum
How to get high registrations and the high attendance
20k reg he had, 10k showed up
it’s all in the copywriting, 3-4 week series, he has an adv. because it’s never positioned with any ulterior motive, only thing is to help you as a subscriber, all content is written in advance, benefits of attending, at end of this hour he’s what will be true for you that isn’t true right now
his adv. is there’s news in the investment market everyday, they see the headlines and are afraid, confused, or excited about those headlines, Clayton uses the current feeling of his list to get them juiced up to attend the event and solve the feelings they currently have
product niche with constant headlines & news, constant change, things for people to deal with, dominant emotions they have about those things, multiples can be huge since people are really engaged
In their launches have the day of the event, give them something to do right on the call, call your broker and do this, given them for free
5 minutes after the call an email goes out to the list, “wow, did you see that, 20k people signed up to attend, Tony Segami from Shanghai was on fire, named his 3 favorite stocks to buy now, event was so good we’re leaving it online for a few days, it’s very timely so we can’t leave it up for long if you missed it or want to watch it again go here”
has a countdown timer for when the event is coming down, usually 7 days, during that week they usually get as many views as they had signups, when event comes down then they do a launch timer for the recommendation service for 7-10 days, after that they may do a 2nd countdown timer if response is still high
has a serial product so it’s updating and changing, he’s not offering the same thing on the 2nd countdown, same service but does updating recommendations and stocks to buy
tantalize them with facts about the company:
- had a company that makes batteries for hybrid fuel cell cars
- has a contract to provide batteries to GM, and 3 Japanese automakers
- noone knows about this contract right now
- this is a no brainer of a good deal
- Don’t tell them the name of the company, just tell them the facts about it and that it’ll be revealed on the call
Want launches to be fresh & timely, tie into current headlines and the fears those headlines create in the market
Find a potential virgin audience, dealing with changes in their marketplace, incorporate these proven techniques to that industry, 1st ones to do that will have $100-$200 million launches
Tie things to overall topical events in the news, it legitimizes you because the person associates you with the news story and you must know what you’re doing as an expert since you’re talking about this great news headline, positions you as serious broker in this field
what kind of headlines could you write which makes attending mandatory; for the FTC change to the CAN-SPAM Act, headline can be “Is Something You’re Doing Now the Way You’ve Always Done it Capable of Landing You in Jail in the Next 60 Days…or Costing You a Huge Fine?”
could be topical stuff they’re already aware of, or can be something they don’t know about, “here’s how not to do it…from Apple, IBM” their tech invitations blow and here’s why…
reasons why Makepeace’s promotions work:
- topicality
- info is dyanmic
- not just appealing to 1 emotion greed, also appealing to fear “if you don’t make right financial moves you will lose money”
- product launch strategy is so powerful the technique itself works, quality of the copy, texture of the campaign with some that are warm & intimate and other messages that are all trumpets blaring generating excitement for the event
- great strategy combined with great salescopy yields exponential results
Guthy-Renker does nothing with their backend stuff, they generate millions of new customers each year, send them no other offers, makes so much money on the front-end they don’t care about that. This comes straight from Bill Guthy. Leaving 90% of their money on the table.
strategy and killer copy at every level gives explosive results
ripoff copy rings hollow, people know it’s “fake” they feel it just isn’t quite sincere
when mail the same promotion (exact same copy) to the same people 30 days later, 20%-30% of the list opts-out, he has written entirely new email copy based on the same theme, has gotten similar attrition
copy doesnt feel fresh or new, doesn’t feel sincere, market remembers and has a long memory, response plummets
coming up with something fresh can create an instant incremental response at every level; more people in, more people convert, more people attend and buy, more people come back for a 2nd sale
copy is king, every new medium attracts enough attention you can throw anything up there and get money; then market becomes crowded, response and results plummet, then you have to get good and bring better copy
copy’s goal:
- grab attention
- convert attention to readership
- engage prospect in my email
- move them to action
been in the game 37 years, $1.5 Billion in total sales in his career, adds $100 million every year, does it for 10% of revenues, spends 3-4 hours every weekend writing an article for total package, all the rest of his time is in the trenches designing strategy, looking at copy, studying results, finding the holes, improving the process; doing that for clients at 10% revenue
PHilips, Agora, Nightingale-Conant, KCI, Rodale Press are big copywriting companies; royalties can be enormous because you’re going up against the best like Bencivenga, Carlton. He got $50 for every 1,000 pieces mailed, 50,000,000 were mailed out so Clayton made $3,000,000 for a month’s work
the big boys are thrilled to write checks to copywriters because they understand it is the most important thing to the success of their campaigns and profits
when things stop working well it’s a good thing, because then only the truly skilled will be making money
writing copy is the hardest thing, it’s like opening a vein and bleeding onto the page
people sending out mediocre stuff will have to get good in order to survive, then they’ll realize the full potential of the product launch formula
stop sticking .22 caliber bullets into the Howitzer cannon we have
Drayton Bird is another big-time copywriting giant, works with Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic, outrageous guy, has bought a new Rolls-Royce every year since the 1950’s, trained most creative directors at the top agencies in Europe
www.birddroppings.com
CLayton’s launches www.moneyandmarkets.com, sign up for ezine to be a “fly on the wall” of his $10,000,000 plus campaigns
