APD-Marketing Newsletter

 Hello and welcome to the April newsletter.

I thought long and hard on what to talk about this month, as without being too obvious…there is one hell of a lot of shit going on “out there” at the moment.

This recession is now becoming the topic of choice almost everywhere you turn.The doom and gloom merchant media are having a “field day”!

It’s time to shake out of it! Yep, things ain’t so good if you believe what’s being written, but…I have some interesting insights for you this month, along with a damn good dose of kick ass positivism.

Are you ready?

Good, them jump aboard because it’s gonna be a lot of fun!

First up, an observation.

I made a quick jaunt to New York a couple of weeks back. Just for a weekend of shopping and fun, weather was awful, but the Big Apple was true to form, it never slept and I didn’t much either.

So, it was a good job I was able to have a good sleep in the first class on the way back (those “cubes” are brilliant).

And, as I was about to doze off, something struck me. New York was as mad as ever. People were flying around enjoying themselves at the shows and spending money in the numerous shops. Bloomingdales was heaving!

Then there was the first class cabin I was in – full. 30 odd seats at $2,500 a pop…sold out, no room.

Business class and even economy plus – full up.

Economy, spaces!

That got me thinking a little bit more, just the first class cabin paid around $75k to travel. So what?

Well, think about it…There is money about! A lot of what is being written and peddled in the media is complete and utter crap!

Yes, I know some people are hurting, but when I think about it, most of the people that are hurting are doing so because of their own bad decisions!

O.K I know you’re thinking Derek is being a bit harsh here, a bit controversial. And, I have written about the “banking crisis” because I have some insider knowledge from the financial markets, but that is to help you understand.

You see…it is all about perception. Remember way back in August 2007 I warned you it’s how you react to what happens that is the key, not what is actually happening or indeed has happened.

There is money out there. The Internet is booming (go back and read last month if you’re not sure about this) and people are making a bundle online. I have some recruitment friends (yes recruitment) who have just raised £3.5 million for a new online project.

Sadly, I had to endure a drive around the M25 (London’s orbital motorway) on Friday, it was chaos. People were rushing around all over the place, it’s the same in the rush hour, it’s a crowded and as busy as ever.

So, what about perception?

Well, if I hadn’t noticed that first class was bursting at the seems and that economy was half empty…I might well have not noticed that all the crap that is currently being written about the recession, is just that…crap!

There is money about lots of it. However the media are battering us into believing it really is financial Armageddon out there.

And guess what?

If you keep reading day after day and seeing it day after day on the TV news “there’s no money”, “we’re all doomed”, “it’s financial meltdown” blah, blah, blah…you are going to start to believe it.

In fact you start to focus on that negative “no money” scenario, guess what…you’ll get exactly what you focus on…no money.

It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You see you have to get your mind right. If you’ve read my stuff regularly you will know that I think you have to base your thoughts in reality. In understanding reality, making rational choices and then taking massive action to make your plans, well, a reality!

Indeed, my Total Control product shows you in fine detail how to control time and money and build systems of cash production in simple, easy to understand step-by-step detail.

But, if you are totally focussed on having no money no matter how much you try you will not generate money!

I heard it called “stinking thinking”, that made me laugh. It’s so very descriptive!

I remember last summer at the Andrew Reynolds bootcamp Pat Mesitti told a story about a boxing world champion (from recent years) who had earned $400 million in a glittering career.

However, just a few short years after retirement he was in and out of jail, flat broke and filing for bankruptcy.

He had allowed $400 million (and some) just slip through his fingers. How?

Drink, drugs, hangers on? Whatever, he didn’t have the “millionaire mentality” so…he ended up with what he thought he was worth – nothing!

You do have to believe you have both the ability to earn the money and the mentality to deal with it (successfully). If you want to be wealthy (wow, doesn’t that sound good…I am wealthy!) that is what you need to focus your thoughts on.

Not the poor stuff, no money clap trap that is being peddled by the doom and gloom merchants!

You simply have to get your thinking right. Now I am not going to give you a load of fluffy PMA here (there is far too much of the “feel good” stuff around), but I am going to refer you to a few books that offer true values in this area.

First up, if you don’t know how to deal with money, you MUST read “The Richest Man in Babylon” by George S Clason. ISBN 0-451-16520-9. I believe this may be available for free download on the Internet now, if it is, get it – urgently. If you can’t find a download, buy it anyway!

This book will cost you a few bucks but is worth millions. Quite simply, this book will teach you how to deal with money. Total Control will teach you how to break money making situations down and use them to your advantage and turn time into money. “The Richest Man in Babylon” will teach you how money works at a very basic level. This book should be high school reading…if it was the media wouldn’t have anything to talk about right now :>) – Oooo, more controversy, we are going for it this month!

Secondly, you need to know how the minds of the great entrepreneurs and multi millionaires work. The best book by far is “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. The great Dale Carnegie charged young journalist Napoleon Hill to find out the common traits of highly successful people.

“Think and Grow Rich” took Napoleon Hill many years of researching and interviewing the most successful people, the book is a distillation of what he found out. It is a must read.

It is available in the free download area of the main APD site. Click the link below to get your copy

Free Money Making Information

One of the main reasons people fail is fear. Most fear is fear of the unknown, going outside of your “comfort zone”. The only way to get rid of this (irrational) fear of the unknown is to do the thing you fear!

“Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway” is a great book by Susan Jeffers. I found this book a great help when I was first starting out in sales and I found talking to people a bit awkward. If fear is stopping you, read this book. ISBN 0-09-974100-8

And finally, be happy! Success is a journey, it’s not a destination. If you are not going to enjoy the journey then there is very little point.

It brings me back to a point I made last month, particularly with Internet Marketing. It’s a proper business and there is stuff you need to learn, a set of key skills. You also have to work at it once you have learned those skills. It is a proper business not a get rich quick scheme.

Although funnily enough I heard a story from the Vancouver Internet Summit which suggested that people looking for a business opportunity love all the hype!

This particular speaker said he gave 90 minutes of hard money making content whilst on stage and then sold virtually no product afterwards as he “gave it to the audience straight”.

However, some Guru’s stood there and spouted 90 minutes of fluff and hype and they sold by the bucket load.

Why is it that the “Biz Opps” buyers seem to be suckered by hype? Mind you, I tried a no hype approach on a couple of recent referrals and my figures were well down on my usual more “in your face” approach.

How brutally honest can I be with you?

But, I want you to be under no illusion; you cannot buy a $47 eBook or $167 video course, know it all and get rich in 3 days!

So, be prepared for a journey, enjoy it and be happy. I know there will be times when you feel like giving it all up and packing in. However, it’s the people (like you) that keep going when it gets tough that succeed.

I had so many set backs when I was starting out online, but I just kept getting up (I am a dogged old so and so). After all, you only have to get up one more time than you are knocked down to win.

So, enjoy the journey and be happy. You’ll be surprised at how others react to you if you are a happy individual.

The book “Being Happy” by Andrew Matthews is a wonderful guide to being happy on your journey.

I picked up this little ditty in 1988 and it has been a constant companion. It has brought me so many benefits and helped keep me happy in some dark times. I highly recommend you have a read. ISBN 981-00-0664-0

One last thing, I have re-hashed the Write for Riches product somewhat. I’m “experimenting” with Google at the moment (don’t tell them). Go have a look as I reveal some “Copywriting Secrets” and there’s some great free copywriting info for you there!

You don’t need to sign up as you get all the info that people of the Write For Riches list get, but if you want the MP3, email me and I’ll send you a link. I am just so good to you! Who else gives you all this great free stuff??

O.K, that’s it for April, I’ll be back in May with more rantings to help YOU get rich!

Go for it…as always to YOUR success

Cheers now, and…have fun!

Derek

One Thing At A Time!

Many, many moons ago (and I mean many), when I was setting up my first direct response business, I was given one piece of advice that has stayed with me throughout the years. That advice was as follows:- “Only ever give your customers one thing to do at a time”.

At the time I wasn’t quite sure about this, but, ask yourself, what are you like as a customer?  Yes I know we all want quality service and think we are discerning consumers, but….. and you know this is true, we can all be pretty stupid on occasions. And, yes…I do include myself in this bracket!

This entire matter was brought home to me very firmly recently when I was
having a chat with one of my colleagues in this great industry of ours. He’d just set up a new website and had two very similar domain names to make sure he caught all customers who tried to type in the variations or had mistyped the URL.

I thought this was very sound marketing indeed.

However, after a while, he changed the offer on one of the domains to something different. Now I think he thought he’d just like to test a variation on the offer, however….

This is what happened. On the Monday morning, the ‘phone became red hot.
Ahh, good you might think. However, people were looking at both and trying to compare one with the other. So, the ‘phone was hot, but with questions like:-

“What’s the difference?”

“Which is the best product?”

“Which product would be better for…?”

“Why is A more expensive then B?”

And so it went on, question after question after question.

When my colleague finished, totally exhausted many hours later than normal that day… sales had slumped through the floor. Very few sales had closed, but web site hits were great. Not good marketing!

The bottom line?

Well, my friend had loads of prospects ready to buy, but they had got confused about the nature of the offer(s), so being unsure, they ordered nothing at all.

So, the message has to be, once you want a prospect to take action, make it as easy as humanly possible for them to do so. Tick this box here, put this
information in there, click this link – sale done!

Make it as easy as possible. As soon as you add some twist into the process
prospects fall out of your sales funnel at an alarming rate.

I remember from my sales days, a saying we used to employ – K.I.S.S.

It stands for Keep It Simple Stupid.

In other words, make it EASY for your prospects to buy from you. Make forms as easy to follow as possible, put instructions in words of few syllables and make sure they have all the information they need to make the right decision. Reinforce the sales message (benefits) at the point of sale.

My friend knew all of this, but thought he would be clever and try to give himself a little sales boost. It backfired badly and is a timely reminder to every one of us in this wonderful business of ours. Always keep K.I.S.S in mind!

By the way, I’m not advocating that you shouldn’t test. You should…but always make sure the tests are separate and you always have a control to refer back to. However, this is a different subject that I’ll cover in a future newsletter. It is also the subject of an entire DVD in our upcoming Copywriting product, more on that later though.

I mentioned last month that the APD Portal should have been live by now.
Unfortunately, it’s still not quite made it. This is the price you pay for trying new technologies – well new to me anyway!

We’ve been trying to build the portal in something called PHP-Nuke. It’s a great tool for building websites that need to hold a lot of information, but…it’s a bit of a law unto itself. The problem has been getting the PHP-Nuke environment onto the APD domain. It’s been quite a challenge!

Anyway, we’re very nearly there now, and I hope to be able to announce the
launch in a few days time. Perhaps another timely reminder to K.I.S.S!

On a different subject entirely, despite my lack of time this last month, I just had to have a dabble with some of the Day Job Killer methods. I am pleased to report that without dedicating that much time or effort, I have managed to mount three campaigns.

I’m still waiting for the sales to complete on two campaigns, but they do look
encouraging. The first campaign made just over £30 in one day. OK, that may not sound like much, but if you tune the methods more finely and get them exactly right, that £30 could easily be £60 or £70. And..if you multiply that over numerous campaigns as suggested, that quickly becomes an awful lot more.

The DJK manual actually suggests that you should be running approximately 100 campaigns at any given time. Each takes between 1 and 2 hours to research and set up.  I reckon if you average out at £45 / day over 100 campaigns that would be £4,500 / day. (Maths GCSE you see).

£4,500 per day for, say 150 hours work, residual type income as well. That
sounds like very good business to me.

I’m not sure if it would deliver at that level day in / day out yet as I’m still testing, but the figures do look good.

So, once I’ve got the portal up and the Copywriting product launched, guess what I’m going to be dedicating some time to? I’ll give you three guesses, I reckon you’ll only need one!

If you want to have another look, here’s the link again.

Day Job Killer – Click Here To Find Out!

I’ll make sure I keep you posted with my progress on this one.

If you want to contact me about anything in this newsletter, please feel free to drop me a mail on  derek@apd-marketing.co.uk  I look forward to hearing from you.

OK, that’s it for March, more next month.

Until then, cheers now and have fun.

Derek

Derek Armson

Internet Marketing From APD

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