MindValley Labs Internet Marketing Blog

Most Internet-based businesses have TONS of testimonials sitting in their databases... and these testimonials have no other purpose but to be featured in their sales letters.

But how many people actually read sales letters? The more sales-y a page is, the odds are against a person actually reading it.

So here's a simple, but pretty wild idea about how you, your organization and your brand can utilize your testimonials and success stories to

• create a storm in your targeted markets
• drastically increase your credibility
• attract mass attention
• develop an offline presence

And all you need are a handful of spectacular testimonials. Enjoy.

If you remember, some time last week I posted a video of Max Simon from Get Self Centered presenting his awesome method to effectively and significantly reduce your unsubscribe rate and totally boost your profits.

Yes, there were a few problems with the video, and I totally apologize for the glitches... but it's been fixed and if you haven't seen it yet, you can check it out here >>

For those of you who don't know who Max Simon is, he's the man who helped build Deepak Chopra's products division into a multi-million dollar business. Max struggled to build a successful business and in 2008, he lost some $80,000. He then realized a few key ingredients that helped him ultimately turn his business around. In 2009, Get Self Centered did not only break even, but generated $500,000 in revenue.

Now, Max travels the world sharing these amazing ideas to help conscious entrepreneurs...

• Create thriving and authentic businesses that are in complete alignment with their personal values and spiritual path
• Experience great wealth and abundance
• Have a powerfully positive impact on the world.

Anyway, Max will be conducting a teleseminar with me speaking about The Enlightened Entrepreneur Experience and how you can experience the turning point in your business journey.

The FREE teleseminar will take place on Tuesday, January 26th  at 5 pm Pacific / 8 pm Eastern

You can sign up for it here >>

Here's what we'll be talking about:

• Why most entrepreneurs will never experience "the turning point" and what you can do to guarantee your place amongst those who do.
• The 5 necessary ingredients that absolutely must be present for you to experience "the turning point" in your business (and you wouldn’t expect many of them).
• How you can create a business that gives you complete freedom.
• A simple (yet potent) technique to overcome your fears, which has to happen for you to facilitate the shift (and it’s easier than you think).
• 3 simple and easy to do action steps that you can take right now to facilitate the turning point in your business immediately.
• Market Sophistication Levels: The one key idea (identified by marketer Eugene Scwartz), that causes countless people to fail with their online business.
• And much, much more...

Join us on Tuesday, January 26th  at 5 pm Pacific / 8 pm Eastern

For Those of You Who Want To Discover The 5 Necessary Ingredients To Create A Business That Gives You Complete Freedom, Click Here >>

Update: Hey guys, sorry about the audio earlier, but it has now, thankfully, been fixed thanks to our awesome video editor, Julian. You can now check out the video below.

I know what you're thinking… ethical?? Will that even work?

YES. And I'm about to tell you why Max Simon's new concept of "Tribal Marketing" will actually work far better than any other short-term, shortcut, flavor-of-the-month marketing strategy that we often see come and go.

But first, a quick intro of who Max Simon is.

A couple weeks ago, Max Simon from GetSelfCentered.com came all the way over to Malaysia to hang out with me, Mike, and the whole MindValley crew.

Let's just say we had a lot of fun

And not to mention a lot of shared learnings. The people at my office loved him.

It was a great experience. You see, Max, who's a great entrepreneur, marketer, and personal growth junkie, taught us this awesome concept that he calls "Tribal Marketing".

So I thought I'd share this video of Max's training to MindValley so you can learn EXACTLY what he taught us.

He's a pretty cool kid, as you'll see in the video below. It's 30 minutes long, but Max shares with us his amazing secrets to Tribal Marketing. Be patient, let it load and let me know what you think.

Tribal Marketing by Max Simon

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9DFB27D7C5AF1E32

BTW, It's a YouTube playlist and should run seamlessly. However, if you run into any problems, you can also click next to view videos 2, 3 and 4. Alternatively if the playlist does not work at all for you -- check below. I've posted individual videos

What to look out for in this video:

• Why mass marketing is dead and how tribes have formed in its place
• Top 5 outdated fears that still control many marketers (and how these mistakes actually hold them back from having a LOYAL and RESPONSIVE following)
• 7 qualities you should (and CAN) attract so you won't ever again worry about squeezing dimes out of your following cause they'll be more than happy to throw dollars at you

Read the rest of this entry »

Hey guys

Recently, MindValley's innovation team has been trying out something new. We're already amazingly successful online so we thought of applying what we know about Internet marketing to the offline world. So we're getting our hands dirty with the good old direct response marketing. Yes, I'm talking about mailers, magazines, catalogs and postcards. We're talking Hybrid Marketing - mixing direct response marketing (DRM), and the Internet.

We're now looking to launch direct mail campaigns for some of our businesses. Some initial ideas that we're testing out are "Thank you for purchasing" postcards and "Happy Holiday" mailers for special promotions.

Why are we going back to a decade-old technique when the Internet is the place to be?

1. Covering all bases
   We're not relying on DRM to generate sales, we're using it to strengthen and energize our Internet marketing and sales. Depending on your target clientele, using DRM in addition to the Internet can help you expand your customer base beyond the technologically savvy.
2. Relationship Building
   DRM can help you build REAL-lationships. When a customer conducts an online purchase, sending a simple thank you letter or postcard to your buyer is a pleasant surprise. They think, "Wow, these people go the extra mile and seem to really care!"
3. Increasing deliverability
   Emailing and sending them direct mail might seem like overkill. But it really is not. Instead, what you're doing is increasing the chances of them receiving your offer. The post office is no Google. "Taboo" words such as "FREE!", "SALE!", "$$$" and "ACT FAST" won't be blacklisted as spam. As such, there is a 98% chance of your offer landing in someone's hands!
4. 100% profits
   The wonders of the offline world is that it's all Do-It-Yourself. While you may have to invest a bit of time in studying and structuring your action plan initially, the profits are 100% yours because you don't have offline affiliates waiting for you to pay them.

There are probably even more awesome things that we'll discover about hybrid marketing once it's completely up and running. Many businesses have been amazingly successful using either online marketing, or direct-response marketing alone. So it will be really exciting to see what happens when you integrate the two.

Hey guys,

Yes, I know. It's been months since we last posted something on this blog, and over 6 months since we last sent out anything to the thousands of you who subscribed to our "7 FREE Chain Reaction Marketing" lesson series.

Let's just say that MindValley as a company has grown so rapidly during this time that things became pretty overwhelming... in a very good way.

We've had a completely spectacular time and I can't wait to share it with you. Here's what MindValley has been up to.

That's me with Mike and Sir
Richard Branson on Necker Island

This one was taken after I got invited to speak at the Tony Robbins Ultimate Business Mastery Summit in Las Vegas in April

This one is with Robin Sharma, author of the best-selling book "The Monk
Who Sold His Ferrari"

And that's just really the tip of the iceberg, plus we're super excited to be back, and look forward to sharing with you lots of cool things we learned.

Seriously though, it's crazy what can happen in just a few months.

And in many ways it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for all the love, tears and sweat we invested into researching the best in internet marketing, conducting rigorous split testing, and a bunch of many other stuff we've been sharing with you here for over 3 years now.

Lastly, this would also not have been possible without your support guys, so thank you all.

Stay tuned for the return of our famous posts on split test results and internet marketing voodoo.

Should be fun.

Jack Canfield asked to interview me recently on the topic of social media. I did the interview but stressed that I really DISLIKE being asked to talk about social media marketing. I consider the whole social media marketing industry over-hyped.

I'm one of the most-in-demand speakers in this space (as I write this I'll be in Vegas on stage in a few days with Tony Robbins to talk about social media marketing). But I want to emphasize the PSYCHOLOGY over the TECHNOLOGY.

Too many people fall into the trap of getting overly enamored with Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the social media to-do list, that they end up neglecting the importance of applying persuasion psychology to actually make the traffic deliver. I'm interested in response rates first -- traffic second.

So, in this interview I reveal how I apply specific patterns of influence (psychology) within a framework of social media like blogs, Facebook and YouTube, (technology), to help many of the celebrities and best-selling authors I work with build a closer relationship with their audience and get far better responses.

Listen on!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

WARNING: This post is not for the “good enough” minded. Why stop at good enough when you can push for great, leveraged, or better yet, integrated?

I started toying around with social media early back in 2005. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was just having fun throwing aimless punches blindly in the dark, in misguided hopes of hitting the jackpot.

Stupid me, it never happened. I lacked direction and had no system in place.

But I persisted, and learned from my many mistakes. Eventually, one thing led to another and I ended up working with MindValley. Not to mention, along the way, I also got invited to new media related conferences, including ones co-organized by Harvard University.

Long story short, I gained a good amount of experience and insights into the world of social media. And now, yours truly, the Social Media DJ, is about to reveal to you a few of his key learnings, so please... pay close attention.

What I’ve Learned from 4 YEARS of Stupid Painful Screw Ups

1. Base Your Efforts on the Triple B Formula

Social media marketing is mainly a long term affair. It won’t bring you sales overnight like PPC-driven affiliate marketing for example (although there are some exceptions). It takes time and persistence. Hence, the need for passion.

Burn, baby burn.

Passion is your fuel, your sense of direction, and ultimately your vision. Plus, it will help you determine how you’re going to use social media, better shape your marketing message, and pick the relevant allies to network with who share similar passions.

More importantly, when you’re passionate and genuine, it shows in your communication with others. You’re likeable. You’re fun, and that my friend helps your message spread further and makes it more well-received.

That’s precisely one of the critical reasons why deeply passionate guys like Gary Vayner Chuck do well with social media.

Keep it real. Keep it human.

Now, if you don’t know what your passion is yet and need to know, that’s ok. My friend, Chris Attwood explains how you can discover it and start living it in his NY Times best-seller, The Passion Test. Check it out if you want to.

Alrighty then, next.

2. Don’t Sprawl the Mall

Social media is a broad game. You’ve got Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, Facebook Profiles, Facebook Groups, Facebook Fan Pages, StumbleUpon, MySpace, Ning, Digg, LinkedIn and the list goes on.

All have their weaknesses and strengths. Which will you pick?

See, you won't know accurately until you clearly specify your intended business goals. Otherwise, it’s going to be difficult to select the appropriate social media channels for your unique needs and measure the ROI of your efforts.

Here’s what you can you use social media in business for:

1. branding
2. community building
3. attracting new prospects
4. networking with potential JV partners
5. generating buzz and unleashing the viral monster
6. involving your customers in the product creation process
7. listening in on current conversations about your offerings to gain valuable feedback
8. boosting relationships with your customers to increase retention and life-time value

Selecting from the above what you desire in a prioritized fashion will determine which social media channels you should pick, focus on more, and integrate together.

Moving on.

3. Prove. Improve.

Try not to reinvent the wheel. Go for proven strategies, and once you’ve implemented them successfully, improve upon them.

Hence, prove, and then improve.

The following are three simple examples of proven social media marketing strategies.

STRATEGY #1 - Use Blogs to Increase Interaction

Old news. Nothing revolutionary here. Blogs are lovely flexible publishing platforms that create interaction. For more on using them effectively, read this:

• Positioning, “Social Polarity” and Vibrant Blog Communities
• 7 Ways to Increase Your Blog Comments
• Blog Marketing: Monetize The Comments On Your Blog

STRATEGY #2 - Use YouTube to Attract Traffic

Being one of the top 5 most visited websites on the planet, YouTube is a serious source of traffic, so if you're not marketing yourself there, you're missing out on significant eyeballs. To use YouTube in cool profitable ways, read this:

• How I Made A Dollar From Everyone Who Watched My YouTube Video

STRATEGY #3 - Use Facebook to Build a Community

There are countless ways Facebook can be used for effective marketing, if you do it right. Here's one that's bound to spark some creative ideas in your head:

• Facebook Marketing: How Smart Restaurants and Bars are Using “Birthday Marketing” on Facebook

Okay, so now that I've quickly demonstrated three strategies, let's go to the fourth step.

4. Integration - The “Popeye Spinach” Effect

Aha, now here comes the fun part. This is where many experts have short-comings, because they're too focused on a few social media websites and miss the big picture.

Thing is, the three aforementioned strategies are good. In fact, for many experts or so-called experts, they're "good enough."

Not for me.

Yours truly, the Social Media DJ, doesn't want to stop there and doesn't want you to either. Throw in some "Popeye Spinach" and watch the magic unraveling before your eyes.

Integrate the three individual tactics strategically. There are obviously a number of ways to do that. Here's a simple one you can use if you're an internet marketer with an email list.

1. publish a blog post that includes:

• some useful text-based content
• your own optimized YouTube video
• your Facebook profile badge

2. blast the blog post to your list
3. sit back and enjoy!

Your blog post should look something like this. The example below is from a MindValley-owned website with Burt Goldman aka The American Monk. It leverages a lot of integrated social media marketing.

Here are the benefits of integration and the "Popeye Spinach" Effect.

1. You interact with your email list via the comments in your blog post.

2. You instantly create thousands of views and momentum for your optimized YouTube video. This pushes the video higher in rankings, meaning it will continue to attract many more views for months, if not, years to come, which nicely translates into more targeted visitors to your website via your YouTube links.

3. Converting more of your list subscribers into Facebook friends, so you can better interact with them and have a closer relationship.

It all works. Here's proof. Have a look at the number of blog comments (42), YouTube video views (22,575), and Facebook friends (1,294) in the screenshots below:

Are you beginning to see the power of integrated social media marketing? The "Popeye Spinach" Effect is yours for exploitation. Use it, my friend. Use it!

5. ROI. Tweak, Tweak. ROI.

Your ROI is a critical important number. It doesn't really matter if you have 5,000 "friends" on your Facebook profile, unless you can measure the ROI of your social media marketing efforts. How do those true friends or so-called friends impact your business?

Come up with your suitable standards. Measure. Tweak to improve, and then measure again. That way, you won't be aimless.

Now go, and have some fun.

Aim for maximum impact through the strategic integration of your social media marketing efforts. Are we clear, my dear friends? If not, drop your questions, and the Social Media DJ will answer them.

If you enjoyed dancing to my beats, I urge you to stick around. You’ve only just seen the tip of the iceberg. And for those of you on Twitter, the Social Media DJ has just joined the party there. Add me @passionomics for more profitable meat.

See you at the Land of Tweets.

Lately, we've been pretty busy behind the scenes working on putting together something new and revolutionary.

I've already unveiled a great deal of this stuff at an exclusive, private event. However, some of the basic tricks were already published here in this blog.

In this post, you'll find a list of those useful tricks compiled for your easy access.

Before we begin though, here's just some of the feedback I've received about my social media marketing presentation at the private event in Napa, California.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yi0tkTO8os

And now for your reading pleasure... the following complied list. Everything from leveraging blogs strategically, to the basics of YouTube and Facebook marketing is included.

1. Succumbing to EVIL Shortcut-ish Temptations and Forgetting the “Social” In Social Media

2. Positioning, “Social Polarity” and Vibrant Blog Communities

3. Facebook Marketing: How Smart Restaurants and Bars are Using "Birthday Marketing" on Facebook

4. 7 Ways to Increase Your Blog Comments

5. Blog Marketing: Monetize The Comments On Your Blog

6. How to Get Traffic from Web 2.0 Sites like Digg, Reddit & StumbleUpon

7. How I Made A Dollar From Everyone Who Watched My YouTube Video

Remember, the above posts only cover the basics but they contain tips you can implement today to boost your website's performance.

Look out for the complete system in early 2009 when it will be launching.

If you liked this post, we'd greatly appreciate a Stumble. Thanks.

If you're running an online business, then you probably know the importance of productivity when you're working in front of your screen. In this talk I share ideas that will help you become more efficient through task prioritization.

Size Doesn't Matter?

It does. Here's why.

A few weeks ago we started helping one of our partners set up a successful presence on Facebook. His name is Burt Goldman, The American Monk.

I'm guessing he's probably the ONLY 81 year old monk with more than 1,000 true friends on the social network, which brings me to my story.

Owen Thomas, a blogger at Valleywag (the Silicon Valley version of Perez Hilton), a tech gossip blog, published an amusing post about The American Monk which cracked us up over here at MindValley Labs.

He did this after I quickly pitched him - and other tech bloggers - our unique Facebook story. We'll take his post as a compliment. You can read it here.

The funny thing is (besides all the exaggerations of course), is that they're implying Burt Goldman may not exist. After all, this is what you'd expect from an amusing tabloid-like blog. Well, I've got news for Valleywag. He's real, and here's a video of him celebrating his 81st birthday.

All in all, Owen's post was a good read with amusing comments. Do check out Valleywag if you'd like to keep up with tech gossip and be entertained. It's fun.

PS - Thanks for the exposure Owen. We appreciate it. Already, just from your post, we have people approaching us for advice on social media marketing.