PLF2)!">The Startling Secret of Eight-Figure Product Launches That Jeff Walker Never Taught You (Yes, It’s Not Found in PLF2)!
April 18th, 2008 by Kenneth Read more about Branding and Positioning, Make MoneyWhat makes a product launch mega-successful? Not just a $1M launch, but a launch in the vein of StomperNet and Mass Control. Everyone else makes $1M but Mass Control makes $23M. What makes all other launches seem so small in comparison to Mass Control?
Obviously, many Joint Venture Partners (JV’s) were involved and the whole world was promoting it, but there is another reason why everyone promoted it. I had an epiphany recently about the secret behind a launch that makes $10M and above; I’m talking about the eight-figure product launch. I would almost bet that if Frank Kern had called Mass Control “Email Marketing Power” or something, it might not have done as well as it did.
Using Product Launch Formula –using the tactics and implementing the strategies – you can easily get a million dollar launch. If you want to take it to the next level, if you want an 8-figure launch, there must be more to it than the product launch formula. I came up with a principle I believe all 8-figure product launches have in common, although so far very few product launches have hit that mark. I call it the Magic Position.
The Magic Position
Yes, it’s about positioning. Most people already know that you need proper positioning for your products. But, this is different: it’s magic positioning. It is the rocket fuel to your product launch, and it’s crucial that you establish your magic position before you do anything else.
The magic position principle is to position your product to start as close to the finish line as close as you can. You have 100% control over your positioning –you can choose to position as far from the finish line as possible, or you can position it at the finish line itself.
What is the finish line? It’s the Sale. How do you make a product as Surefire a sale as you can? I believe it involves 2 things, and it’s inspired by Frank Kern’s formulas and Mass Control in terms of presentation.
MC + CF = MP
which is,
Miracle Cure + Cool Factor = Magic Position
What exactly are these things? Your Miracle Cure is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), and your Cool Factor is your Unique Emotional Proposition (UEP).
The multimillion-dollar question: what makes a person want to buy your product?
What causes a sale? There are 2 basic factors in play.
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Firstly, a consumer in the marketplace is asking about your USP, “Which product will benefit me most?”
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Second, they’re asking, “Which product will make me feel good as it benefits me?” ‘Feeling good’ in this context means that they are thinking, “I have a significance which gives me the edge over every other person who didn’t buy the product.”
This, in essence, is Mass Control. You can have a standard USP –an amazing benefit that will rock your customers’ socks off and make them feel good, or you can have a UEP for your product that makes your customer feel good using it. When you have both of these in play, the benefit and emotion/coolness, you will get a magic position. You can have either, a very unique USP or a very unique UEP. Doing both, however, is slightly overkill.
The “Miracle Cure”
This is as close to a magic bullet as you can get. Frank Kern says, for example, that for the Internet marketing crowd, a magic bullet is as close to, “When you press this button, money will fly out” as you can get. But, how do you determine the miracle cure?
Bert Goldman remedies this with the golden ladder technique. He says, be first in the prospect’s mind for a particular category. If you’re not number one in something, create something to be number 1 in. You need to know the dominant emotion of the market, and from there, devise a miracle cure that is directly attached to the needs of the market.
The “Cool Factor”
Your product should address the needs of the market in a cool way. Cool means ‘strange in a good way’, not just strange for the sake of being strange. It means different –but not too different. These are branding principles in play.
The designer market is one of the most booming industries. You could make high-end matchsticks, for example, and people would pay three times the price. Why? Because they feel it gives them an edge over everyone else.
If your product has a USP that makes it stand out and a really good UEP, you need to make sure it sounds cool but still believable. You must get your positioning right because if you mess it up, people won’t even realize how great your product is, and such an opportunity is wasted. Even in ready and willing market, if your product is compelling you can get a lot more people interested.
It’s hard to have a really good USP in Internet marketing because most physical benefits are now mostly commonplace. There are still a few unexploited niches; for example, Pipeline Profits did very well because it was about co-registration. They got their millions because their USP was the first of its kind in the market. Their UEP was ‘two average guys bumbling around and getting it right’.
On the other hand, Mass Control’s miracle cure was email marketing. It’s a good miracle cure, but PLF has taught it before, so Frank Kern decided to add some personality and talk about Mass Control to control people’s minds, and how unethical it can be, if exploited.
Remember that the Magic Position isn’t the be-all and end-all of your product. It is the best first step of the product launch, propelling you to make more money than you otherwise would make. People will want to buy your product, right from the start –that’s the power of the Magic position.
What is your product’s USP? What is its UEP? How can you apply the Magic Position principle to your product?
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About the Author
Kenneth Yu is a tormented artist, but he was determined not to be a starving one. This is the primary reason why this D&AD award-winning advertising creative has plunged into the world of Internet entrepreneurship, and the rest -- as they say -- is history.
Straddling both the creative and business realm, Kenneth combines bullet-fast ideation and his vast experience working with the big brands to alchemize marketing gold as the Head Copywriter and Marketing Strategist in MindValley.
He shares more out-of-the-box marketing and copywriting tips (plus cool irreverent stuff) on his Twitter
Check out other posts by Kenneth
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Mike Reining
Vishen Lakhiani
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “We boil at different degrees.” People are influenced and persuaded in different ways.
As Frank, Jeff, and all of the other launches you will see it’s extremely important to use all types of mediums such as video, audio, blogs, voice broadcast, and yes even using myspace to launch products (Neill Strauss ‘Rules of the Game’).
With costs to produce video, audio, and to send emails to hundreds of thousands is close to zero it’s imperative to use each medium to “cover your markets bases.”
In this day in age you MUST be different to succeed or else …well …you’re just a me-to.
Great article!
- Chris
Wow there is some good information here. I am always looking for Online Internet Marketing Information.
This is all true.
For some years I have been saying to marketers that they almost all fail to anseer the question in every customer’s mind: why should I choose you?
If you are the same as evceryone else, why?
Take copywriters.
There are quite a few claiming to write better copy or teach you how to write copy. But they all make pretty much the same claim: “I’m number one”.
This is just confusing to the prospects. And I might add that not one of these writers would say to a client, “The secret of succes is to boast.” They would all remember the words of Claude Hopkins about people who speak in loud voices. Screwy
Years ago when most people knew Bill Jayme was the best around, John Francis Tighe very cleverly said he was the second best freelance in America.
Positioning is the first thing to get right. Everything follows from that.
And getting as close to a sale as you can is intensely important. That is a chief reason why long copy works better, by the way.
You’re kidding…there’s nothing earth-shattering in this — just more hype. “USP”???that shit went out with “The Hucksters”.
What he said ^^
This article has nothing of substance other thatn to say; if you have a good product and a customer wants it, they will buy it. No shit!
This is the first blog that compelled me to read more.
Quite frankly I’m surprised — no, shocked that anyone could get my attention in the sea of mediocrity we surf through daily.
The instant riches mindset that prevails online is constantly supported by the mindless crap marketed by Gurus. Most new marketers have no grasp of the real work involved in marketing a business.
I read your other post: “How Internet Marketing Gurus are Screwing The Public and Making it Increasingly Harder for Newbies to Gain Guidance” and couldn’t agree more.
We run a list building program but find that continual education of the basic is vital for our members.
My partner and I are veteran internet marketers who know that continual education, application and persistence are the keys to success.
Great job Kenneth!!!!
Kudos to Chris Brisson — very important comment!
Les and Ben… I understand you were less than impressed with this article.
Thats okay. Kenneth’s philosophy is not for everyone. Unless you’re an experienced marketer and/or are familiar with Jeff Walker’s theories — this article will probably not help you much.
Our blog tends to get great comments from experienced marketers but a lot of frustation from opportunity seekers. Because we’re not going to claim to give you the “key” to instant riches.
Nope. This is about strategy, the right thought process, branding philosophy and the core of internet marketing. Read my post on “Why Internet Marketers are Screwing The Public” to learn more.
The 3 of you who left positive comments — thanks. I notice you’re all experienced marketers. Especially Drayton, quite an honor to hear from one of the top 50 marketers of all time and the founder of Ogilvy Direct.
Very informative article kenneth…
Anish
With all due respect to Les and Ben’s biting wit, only when customers stop asking themselves “What can you do for me that no-one else can do?”; or “What can you do for me better than anyone else?” will the USP be irrelevant.
As John Caples remarked about 30 years ago in a Wall Street Journal interview, “Times change. People don’t”. The free enterprise system is about choice; these questions lie at its very heart; those who fail to ask them and answer them tend to regret it.
Incidentally, I am pretty sure that the USP, popularised in Rosser Reeves Reality of Advertising in 1961 was never even mentioned fourteen years earlier in The Hucksters.
I have never bought any of Jeff’s products or Frank’s for that matter so my comments relate th the general concepts described here.
Always remember when I first came across Cialdini’s book on influence. I thought it was the most powerful piece of research into human behaviour I had ever read.
Recently saw a research film which was also about human behaviour. The focus here related to framing and how we think we reach decisions. Eight people were filmed (covertly), everything remained the same apart from one thing. Four of the people were asked to hold a cold drink whilst they took the elevator and the other four were asked to hold a hot drink.
The end result was that the people were asked whether they liked someone and would take them on as a temporary project manager?
The four who held the cold drinks all said they didn’t like him and would not want to take him on.
The four who held the hot drinks all said they thought he was okay and would take him on.
Spooky stuff or not. Such a simple change seemed to affect the outcome!
And we like to think we make logical decisions.
Best wishes from a warm sunny UK:-)
Steve
An interesting perspective, and definitely something to think about, thanks Kenneth.
If anybody wants to know more about Mass Control and how it works — without spending $2,000 for the privilege — then this interview with Frank Kern at
http://www.Mass-Control-Exposed.com
exposes many of his secrets.
It’s fascinating stuff, and once you understand the techniques you can see them working in the Mass Control launch itself, everything! If you’re smart you can unpick many of the master’s secrets (and at $23M there’s no denying that Frank is a master) and boost your own business as a result.
Keira
Thank you for your insights & honesty.
Blessings,
Jeri
@Drayton — re positioning: just like Avis “We try harder”?
How’d that work in the case of following along in Frank’s slipstream?