Yesterday, my husband and I had a little chat about Internet marketing products – ebooks, programs, systems, courses, etc – aimed at teaching you how to perform some aspect of Internet marketing. This, in turn, led to a discussion about ‘the dirty little secret of Internet marketing products’…

Now, Simon is a rather skeptical guy. And he generally shies away from any kind of ‘how to make money online’ product. That said, he has certainly invested in a number of products over the years that, while not promising to turn you into a millionaire overnight, teach practical skills e.g. how to do Google Adwords, how to do search engine optimization, and so on.

So, I guess he’s that breed of Internet marketing customer that is turned OFF by cheesy headlines. I’m similar, but since I’m more familiar with who’s who in Internet marketing I’m probably not as skeptical as he is about certain things (although I’m probably more skeptical about others!).

When it comes to high profile Internet marketing products, Simon says that, by default, he doesn’t believe most of the claims made in sales letters and other promotional materials.

And that’s where we differ. Depending on the Internet marketing product in question – and, in particular, the Internet marketer behind the product – my default position is that I DO believe the claims made in the sales letter.

But here’s the thing: while I believe that so-and-so Internet marketing guru probably made the money they said they did by following the system or using the program they’re selling… I also think there’s a rather significant piece of information missing from the sales letter.

It’s the dirty little secret of all, if not most, Internet marketing products, and it’s simply this: for the system or program to work… YOU have to work.

YOU have to roll up your sleeves and put time, sweat, tears and perhaps even money into learning, understanding and applying the steps… YOU have to persist when the program or system doesn’t yield instant results… YOU have to innovate when, for whatever reason, the cookie cutter approach is no longer effective.

Search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, copywriting, affiliate marketing, article marketing… they all require work!

Now, admittedly, there IS an alternative to you doing work. It’s called: paying someone else to do the work.

But even that doesn’t let you off the hook. Having worked purely as a consultant to at least one large organization where just about every aspect of Internet marketing is outsourced to various different agencies, I can honestly say there is STILL a lot of work to be done.

Coming up with new ideas… strategic planning… managing all the agencies… evaluating their results… reporting to other parts of the business… troubleshooting… and that’s just SOME of what the Internet marketing people do. It doesn’t even approach what everyone else does in the business – producing the products, delivering customer support, building the business, and so on.

So if we need to do work – and often a lot of work – to achieve the results so-and-so Internet marketing guru has achieved… why don’t they tell us that in the sales letter?

Well, firstly, if you read through the sales letters put out by the most respected Internet marketers you’ll see that some DO actually mention that work is involved. They might say something along the lines of “Don’t read this unless you’re serious about making 7 figures this year and are prepared to do what it takes to make it…”

But that doesn’t sound too much like hard work does it? I mean it’s not as if the copy says “Don’t read this unless you’re serious about making 7 figures this year and are prepared to: stop watching TV, halve the time you normally spend with family and friends, work at least 60 hours per week, cold-call at least 10 people a day…”

(Am I exaggerating? Well, depending on the aim of the Internet marketing product in question, I’m just touching the surface…)

That said, there are two main reasons why Internet marketing product sales letters – and, indeed, sales letters for most other ‘how-to’ products – don’t and SHOULD NOT emphasize the work involved.

Firstly, as indicated above, you CAN indicate that work is involved without needing to spell it out. Anyone who’s hot for your product will still see what they want to see, and will likely skim over the ‘work’ bit and focus on the ‘end result’ bit.

Secondly, what IS selling if it’s not harnessing the prospect’s emotions – their hopes, desires, fears, etc – in order to persuade them to take a certain action step (e.g. buy your product). You’re not seriously going to do anything – like talk about how hard it is to make your system work – that sabotages your ability to sell, are you?

I mean, does anyone really expect ads for Coca-Cola to talk about how much sugar the drink contains, and how excess sugar intake is linked to tooth decay and obesity?

It just makes sense to emphasize the positives, and avoid or neutralize the negatives, in order to persuade someone to buy.

BUT… if you’re both an Internet marketer who sells stuff AND an entrepreneur who looks for tools and information to help build your business… it probably doesn’t hurt to occasionally repeat the dirty little secret of Internet marketing products!

Related Posts

• What Are The 3 Biggest Trends in Internet Marketing?
• Do Sales Letters Really Work?
• Internet Marketing: 5 Reasons Why Internet Marketing Systems Fail
• Is The Internet Marketing Niche Saturated?
• Should They Quit Internet Marketing After All?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 7:00 am and is filed under Feature, Internet Marketing Niche. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.