Marketerize

Wednesday, 20 July 2022

How to create a marketing strategy

A marketing strategy can set you up for marketing success. As you are creating your own marketing strategy, consider the following steps to help guide your process.

1. Define your business and marketing goals.
The first step in creating an effective marketing strategy is to clarify what your overall business objectives and marketing goals are. In other words: what is the end outcome you are trying to achieve with your market growth strategy?

The answer to this question will inevitably depend on your particular place in the market and your own comfortability with different risk levels. 

Some examples of business and marketing goals include: 

Grow customer base 

Increase sales 

Increase brand awareness 

Whatever you ultimately decide are you objectives, though, the purpose is simply to take time out and consider what you want to actually accomplish by expanding your marketing efforts. These overarching goals will guide you as you further develop your marketing strategy.

2. Conduct market research. 
Strategic marketing requires a comprehensive understanding of the marketplace, its economic and political context, and your place in it. So, market research is a must.

As you are conducting market research, some of the factors will want to consider include: 

Competitors, particularly their value proposition and market share

Market size, including the realistic number of customers that would be interested in your products  

Market gaps where you can provide value

Possible economic and political realities that could impact the market in the long-term

 As you gain a better understanding of the market, you will also better understand how you fit into it and where you can grow in it. 

3. Create a customer profile. 
The purpose of every marketing campaign is to connect with a consumer. To help guide the development of a strong marketing plan, then, your marketing strategy needs to include a comprehensive profile of your target audience.

It is helpful to consider your target audience in relation to the four Ps. So, you might ask yourself the following questions: 

Based on what you know about the market, who is your target audience? What are their key demographics? 

What is your product’s value proposition to your customer? (Product)

How much is your target audience willing to pay for your product or service? (Price)

Where does your target audience shop? (Place)

What marketing tactics are most persuasive to your target audience? (Promotion)

As you research and consider these questions, your customer should come more clearly into view. A comprehensive understanding of you target market will help you create a strategy that has impact with those you are trying to reach. 

4. Synthesize and strategize. 
Finally, you will take the goals you have outlined, research you have conducted, and profiles you have created to construct a marketing strategy. The critical question you will want to answer is: how will you align with your target market to meet your overall objectives?

Your answer to this question will be your strategy.  

Ultimately, your marketing strategy should cover the following: 

Business and marketing objectives

Market overview, including key facts and figures

Competitor research 

Customer profile

General statement of strategy highlighting the product’s value proposition to customers

While you may have collected much information as you were conducting research, your marketing strategy doesn’t need to be too long. In fact, a strong marketing strategy can be as short as one to two pages. Remember, the marketing strategy is meant to act as long-term guide for directing specific marketing tactics, not an action plan of how a marketing campaign will be done. 

Get market ready 
A great market strategy sets the stage for future marketing success. Whether you are seasoned marketing pro or a budding entrepreneur, develop your marketing prowess with Developing a Winning Marketing Strategy 

Marketing strategy vs. marketing plan

People often use the terms “marketing strategy” and “marketing plan” interchangeably, but, in reality, they are two different processes.  

A marketing plan describes the concrete actions and marketing tactics undertaken to complete a marketing campaign. A marketing strategy, meanwhile, outlines the big picture of a marketing effort, such as the business's target audience and their product’s value proposition for customers. 

As a result, it is common to refer to an existing marketing strategy when developing a marketing plan. While the strategy describes what the marketing objectives are, the plan describes how those objectives are going to be achieved. Without a well-thought-out marketing strategy, marketing plans are in danger of missing the mark. 

For example, imagine an e-commerce business that is trying to grow its customer base. They start using marketing tactics like a referral program to encourage positive word of mouth. But their efforts only have marginal success. 

If they had created a marketing strategy, then the company may have realized that they actually needed to grow their customer base by appealing to an untapped target audience. As a result, their marketing plan would have instead outlined a digital marketing strategy focused on content creation through targeted blog posts and search engine optimization.

A great strategy can lead to a great plan. 


Types of marketing strategy 
There are many different approaches to marketing – such as social media marketing or content marketing – but the most elementary strategies for market growth are found in Ansoff’s matrix. These four strategies are: 

Market penetration 

Product development 

Market development

Diversification

H. Igor Ansoff created his matrix to help businesses understand the different strategies required for market growth. Ansoff made two basic assumptions about how growth could be achieved: firstly, by varying what product is being sold and, secondly, by varying who the product is being sold to [2]. As a result, each of the quadrants in his matrix feature a mix of these two factors.  

In outlining these four growth strategies, Ansoff’s matrix also emphasizes the different marketing tactics that business and marketers must consider when undertaking them. Each strategy requires a different consideration of the the four Ps, also know as the “marketing mix,” which marketers should consider together to ensure an effective marketing strategy. The four Ps are: 

  • Product: What is being sold 

  • Place: Where it is being sold 

  • Price: What the product costs

  • Promotion: How the product is marketed to the target audience

The exact way that a marketer defines the four Ps for their marketing efforts will depend on the growth strategy they are using and the political and economic outlook of their market. 

Let’s take a closer look at each strategy from Ansoff’s matrix. 

Market penetration strategy 

Market penetration strategy is a growth strategy that involves selling existing products to existing markets. It is considered the least risky of all the strategies in Ansoff’s matrix. The strategy is typically considered most beneficial if the market is either growing or the marketer alters its promotional efforts through existing marketing channels [2]. 

An example of a market penetration strategy can be found in McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign from 2003. 

In the early 2000s, McDonald's faced flagging sales and plummeting stock prices. Rather than creating a new product (product development strategy), McDonald's instead focused on attracting existing customers in an existing market with a catchy ad campaign. The result was their wildly successful “I’m Lovin’ it” campaign, which featured a catchy new jingle sung by Justin Timberlake [3]. 

“I’m Lovin It” has since become McDonald’s longest-running marketing campaign since its founding in 1940


Product development strategy

A product development strategy involves the development of a new product for an already existing market. Typically, it is considered riskier than a market penetration strategy because it requires the creation of a totally new product. In order to be successful, product development strategies typically require innovation and further research into the existing market, including the profiles and needs of the target audience [2].  

An example of a successful (and surprisingly interesting) product development strategy can be seen in the Uni Kuru Toga mechanical pencil. 

As odd as it may seem, in the mechanical pencil world the Uni  Kuru Toga is something of a star. “[T]he Uni Kuru Toga is the best mechanical pencil for every day writing,” opined the New York Time’s Wirecutter in a 2018 article [5]. Wired, meanwhile, called it “the ultimate geek tool” [6]. 

What makes the pencil so unique? A specially designed internal gear mechanism that rotates the lead so it stays sharp as you write and diamond infused lead that doesn’t easily break under pressure. In effect, as a 2009 commercial for the pencil demonstrated, it was meant for people concerned with even handwriting and durable lead [7]. 

While the market for mechanical pencils was already well-established, the Uni Kuru Toga was able to find success through a product development strategy that offered consumers something new and useful.


Market development strategy

A market development strategy takes an existing product into new markets. Much like a product development strategy, a market development strategy is considered riskier than a market penetration strategy because it involves introducing a familiar product into an unfamiliar marketplace. While the product remains the same, the new place it is sold requires possibly new pricing and promotional efforts [2].  

An example of a market development strategy is when Microsoft introduced its Hololens technology to an additional 29 markets in Europe in November of 2017 [8]. The augmented reality headset provides a unique user experience that allows professionals to work in a “mixed reality” environment. To promote their efforts, Microsoft released a YouTube video showcasing the unique use cases of the product in the workplace, such as through interactive employee training programs in industrial environments 


Diversification strategy

A diversification strategy involves the development of a new product for a new market. The novelty required of a diversification strategy means that it is also the riskiest of the Ansoff matrix’s four strategies. Diversification strategies require full attention on all of the four Ps – product, price, place, and promotion—but the biggest risks can also lead to the biggest rewards [2]. 


An example of a diversification strategy is when Apple introduced the first iPhone on June 9, 2007 at the MacWorld Expo. At the time, Apple was new to the mobile phone market, but they innovated in the space by adding a music player and web browser to their new touchscreen phone [10]. 


“Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone,” CEO Steve Jobs declared before an audience of reporters [10]. Through much of the presentation, Jobs outlined the phone’s unique value proposition to customers.


It worked. As of June 2022, there were an estimated 1.8 billion active iPhone users







Marketing Strategy: What It Is and How to Create One

marketing strategy can set your business up for success. Learn why and how to make one for your business.

A marketing strategy is a long-term vision outlining a business’s value proposition to its customers. Rather than describing the concrete actions required in specific advertising campaigns, marketing strategies are used as a compass to direct overall marketing efforts. 

While it may be tempting to jump ahead and hash out a marketing plan right away, marketing strategies have been shown to improve success. Read on to learn more about what marketing strategy is, why it matters, different types of marketing strategy, and what you need to do to make one yourself. 


What is a marketing strategy? 

A marketing strategy is an overview of how a business or organization will articulate its overall value proposition to its customers. Generally, a marketing strategy outlines the business’ goals, its target market, buyer personas, competitors, and value for customers. It provides a long-term vision for overall marketing efforts, often looking many years ahead. 


Advantages of a marketing strategy

Marketing strategies can have a measurable impact on success. 

In 2022, for instance, CoSchedule surveyed 3,599 marketers and bloggers to identify their most successful marketing practices. They found that marketers who documented their marketing strategy were 331 percent more likely to report success than those who didn’t. Furthermore, marketers who were the most organized were found to be 674 percent more likely to report success than those who weren’t [1].

Taking the time to create a marketing strategy can pay dividends in the future.

Marketing Trends You Need to Jump on in 2023

The dramatic growth of digital platforms offers new strategies to play with to grow your presence online.


Social media is constantly evolving, and keeping up with the trends is difficult. People who deliberately made marketing plans for 2021 had to accommodate many shifts to make through. As an industry expert, I helped many influencers and businesses to formulate strategies to enhance engagement and growth. A plan must focus on long-term goals and be subdivided into short-term welfare.

So, as we proceed to a new year, what marketing trends will pervade in 2022?

1. Personalization, a way to win a place in the heart

When a choice is given, a customer chooses a product that shares a relationship with them. Ads and campaigns that evoke a particular emotion or hook consumers to the content are more likely to succeed in this game.

One of the most recent technologies that enable advanced personalization is Deepfakes. It uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to generate visual and audio content that can be leveraged for marketing. Even though it's infamous for its exploitation, this technology can do wonders with the right strategies.

2. Using video-based content, live streaming, and more

People spend most of their time at home instead of attending live events or product launches. The key to marketing is focusing on influencers with a loyal audience. When surveyed, 80% of the people like to engage with live videos instead of pre-recorded ones. This allows them to engage with the influencers, talk about the product, and shop while watching the live streams.


Since most of the targeted audience is millennials or the Gen-Z, you can tap into the 'FOMO' and use it advantageously to familiarize them with the product. Instagram and Facebook saw a hike in users' engagement with the live videos; TikTok's advances in live video features can also become a sensation in 2022. Brands should also utilize OTT platforms to generate more live video content, for instance, using Amazon live to organize promotional events.


3. Discuss what matters; sustainability, goodwill, and more

As people acknowledge different perspectives regarding sustainability, goodwill, climate change, body-shaming, and many other issues, they are also scrutinizing the brands and businesses to choose the good in all standards. It's hard for the consumer to connect with brands that are irresponsible towards humankind or the environment. Many brands have started designing cruelty-free products that resonate strongly with consumers' choices.


4. Content that takes no effort

While brands are recommended to put their best in strategizing content, they should make sure that their audience is consuming it effortlessly. I would never prefer anything with a fancy word or an incomplete message.


Related: 5 Marketing Tips to Boost Content and Promote Your Blog in 2022


More than 55% of Americans listen to podcasts while traveling or commuting. Also, using visuals and avoiding paragraphs of information can allow users to consume information within 10-15 sec. Though Gen-Z doesn't completely occupy the working population, it certainly dominates social media. Targeting them with graphic designs and pictorials can lead you to success.


5. UGC at your disposal

User-generated content is a compelling way to build your brand's social credibility. What's more, it is relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain. Think about this for a moment:



Every time you post something you're selling, try to include what customers say about the product. This will make your readers want to purchase the item even more because they can see people reacting positively to it on social media.


Some benefits of UGC are listed below:


Boosts sales

Increases brand loyalty and recognition

It makes your social media posts more appealing

It helps you win over influencers and partners

6. Using keywords to drive traffic

It would be best to start by making sure that your webpage is relevant and targeted to the keywords you want to rank for. This will ensure that you get visitors from search engines.


You should also check your current website ranking for the targeted keywords. If you don't rank in the top 10 of Google, then the chances of getting ranked significantly are almost impossible.


An excellent way to find out what it takes to rank better is to use your competitor's webpage as a measuring stick. You can use the same or similar keywords and see how they are used in their webpage. This will tell you if they are targeting those keywords effectively or not.


7. VR and AR

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are essentially the same things but with different technology. It isn't easy to separate the two because they can be used for one another's purposes. VR usually consists of simulations or digital worlds that you can see and get immersed in, while AR uses digital information overlaying physical information to make a virtual environment that you can interact with. A well-known example is Meta, which will become a successor of social media.

privacy. The main objective of these systems is to keep the customers secure while they provide their personal information to the company or business concerned. This will allow consumers to use services without speculating on data leaks or identity theft. Companies are now looking for the best systems that will ensure their customers' complete security and privacy.

8. Privacy issues need to be solved

Many controversies regarding privacy control and security have proven terrible news for companies. Keeping the same in mind, companies, and businesses should focus on preserving the customer's privacy. In this context, the development and implementation of a system for the customer is an excellent way to keep them safe in this era.

Representation in the advertising industry is more critical than ever. Yet it's still an issue that needs to be improved. Promoting inclusivity will ensure that the audience you're targeting isn't missed.

What is Inclusivity in Influencer Marketing?

As influencers become increasingly popular within the influencer marketing industry, it's essential to recognize that specific segments of society are being left out. Whether it be for being a person of color or not living in the city, brands still need to appeal to specific groups of people. Representation in influencer marketing is the importance of catering to the needs of your target market. The more inclusivity you have, the more appealing your brand is.

5 Ways You As a Marketing Leader Can Drive More Value in 2023

As we begin 2022, we face the third year in which the pandemic is transforming our business reality. The acceleration of digital behaviors isn’t abating, nor are your customers’ expectations.



As the crisis persists, this is a year for marketing leaders to redouble their commitment to accelerating transformation at scale. With the widespread recognition of their impact on sales, outcomes, and growth, marketers have a new mandate to take center stage in their organizations, connecting the dots across customer needs and data, business priorities, and the digital agenda to aggressively drive growth and create value.

The question is: How can CMOs drive change and create value fastest? Based on what I’m seeing as I work with CMOs on data-driven transformation of marketing, e-commerce, and every aspect of the customer journey, I recommend marketing leaders consider five actions to drive more impact:

1. Your company now recognizes that marketing drives revenue. Seize the shift.
It wasn’t fun when marketing was a cost center, particularly when the CFO needed to cut an area of discretionary spend. But now, marketing is understood as a revenue driver, integrally tied to sales.

Today’s media types, like social, search, and programmatic, are all highly measurable and have positively habituated leaders across the executive team to expect results from marketing spend. Certainly, over-indexing on performance-only spend (like last-click online sales) can sacrifice brand health and equity. The best strategies balance short and long-term results. But the productive impact of the performance dollar swing is that leaders outside of the marketing function now see the tangible impact of marketing at work.

This offers an opportunity for marketers to be on more equal footing with the traditional revenue leaders of the organization — sales — and marketers should seize this shift. In 2022, the key will be to make results understandable to broader audiences across the company. Attribution, or the math that allows us to know which marketing efforts drove results, continues to challenge us all, as mobile platforms, browsers, and walled gardens in e-commerce and social media continue to change the rules and fragment the landscape. But marketers shouldn’t be afraid to create “good enough” math to understand dollars throughout the full funnel — from top-of-funnel brand awareness to bottom-of-funnel click-to-purchase moments. The more holistically companies see spend as driving some form of performance, the better. The key is to focus less on each individual line of spend and more on the predictive and collective value of them in combination.

2. Grab the end-to-end growth agenda as the rightful domain of marketing.
Today’s growth agenda doesn’t respect prior organizational boundaries confined to conventional notions of marketing or other adjacent functions. Marketers must stake an explicit claim to drive the growth agenda and provide cohesive business leadership.

This is not about building a fiefdom to grab the data, analytics or technology agenda, teams, or budget. It’s about building the right internal connectivity through the lens of the customer journey. Customers don’t care about internal organizational boundaries — they expect their experiences to be intuitive, anticipatory, and relevant. Handoffs across organizational functions often stand in the way of that goal.

Take the fast-paced growth of social commerce, which is a great example of the seamless new growth agenda. Media put forward to consumers is targeted with tremendous precision and should connect directly to an effective, personalized e-commerce experience. The connected social commerce journey should also recognize users are most likely on a mobile device and therefore require a fast, frictionless, mobile-first payment experience. Any barrier to check-out prevents marketing from turning into a sale. Marketers must work with their colleagues who create online product pages and payment mechanics to create an experience with minimal friction. Simply put, it all must flow naturally and that will take more real-time coordination than most current organizational boundaries allow.

A recent EY/Financial Times survey of approximately 200 senior marketing executives showed that 77% of the respondents believe the marketing function needs a stronger voice in setting corporate strategy as owners of the customer journey. Areas like data-driven marketing, e-commerce, and CRM cannot afford to be led in silos given how quickly friction must come out of the customer journey to accelerate topline growth.



Scaling results requires that the data, technology, and business transformations are fully in sync — and the answer is not simply a better “dashboard” or data visualization. The work to integrate data into digital technology and process can be daunting, particularly at global scale, but if done right, the value creation will build momentum and belief.

4. Prioritize talent issues ASAP, and don’t be afraid to try something new or radical.

For all the talk about data and technology, the talent issue is likely to be the most vexing challenge in 2022. Based on extensive conversations over the last year with CMOs across sectors, from consumer goods to technology to manufacturing, there is wide agreement on the talent challenges, including data-driven skill scarcity, overall retention challenges, and incentive alignment.

To succeed, today’s marketers need both diverse and detailed expertise, breadth, and depth. This is forcing leaders to look at how they structure and train their teams, manage and collaborate with external partners, like agencies, and embrace new labor models, while driving the right balance of consistency and independence. Many leaders are taking matters into their own hands, creating new curricula to transform their current talent to become modern, full-stack marketers. These actions create more consistency, and even mobility, within the company.

5. As you get more data driven, don’t lose that creative spark.

The data revolution means that there’s far more future-forward thinking. Today’s marketers should spend less time looking in the rearview mirror to analyze prior results, and instead use predictive analytics to forecast the future. These new superpowers allow marketers to drive both growth and operational efficiency in profound ways as they, for example, can not only target advertising, but also make sure that they’re only running it when the company’s supply chain is positioned to deliver the products.

However, if marketers become unilaterally data driven and lean too far into automation, they will lose their most differentiating skills around human intuition and creativity. The art of the storytelling craft will be more important than ever to ensure that, even when targeted well and at speed, creative messaging still connects with humans. New marketing options and formats will continue to emerge, from retail media networks in the physical and digital world to virtual branding and transactional experiences in the metaverse. There must be space to take risks and be distinctive, regardless of whether the math is fully understood from the start.

In 2022, marketing leaders have the opportunity to connect the customer journey to the full-growth agenda, retaining their creativity while scaling data and technology in more meaningful ways than ever before. The speed with which decisions need to be made will only become faster, while also becoming more multivariable, connected, and complex. Those who can build the internal connective tissue will transform their companies to be dramatically more competitive and unlock new levels of value creation, taking center stage in the growth strategy and C-suite.

7 Best Marketing strategy to Jump on in 2022-2023


1).Video marketing

2).Content is still king

3).Harnessing the power of data

4).Social media content

5).Virtual events

6).Influencer marketing

7).Personalisation 
 

1. Video marketing

Video marketing is widely recognised as the future of marketing activity. Our report found that 26% of respondents plan to increase their in-house online video skillsets, which is a response to just how powerful video can be. In addition, Google reports that YouTube reaches more 18–49-year-olds than all cable networks combined. Photo and video posts also generate more engagement than those using just text.

Incorporating video into your strategy cannot be an afterthought for any organisation. It provides a huge opportunity to connect to a wider audience and build trust. It helps give customers a better understanding and feel for your brand and humanises it.

 

2. Content is still king

Nearly half of the respondents in our State of In-Housing Report said demand for content has increased in the last twelve months. Content marketing is the cornerstone of an effective strategy and connects companies directly with their customers. Good content builds credibility for any company. A consistent supply of high quality, well-researched and relevant content shows new customers your experience and credibility. Effective storytelling helps to make your company something others want to engage with, whatever channels or media you choose to use.

 

3. Harnessing the power of data

36% of respondents in our report confirmed they are advancing their data-driven analytics strategy to create more personalised content. Data is one of the most powerful and valuable assets any company has and making the most of it is vital to inform an effective marketing strategy. One respondent, Rob Foster, senior consultant at marketing and communications management consultant at The Observatory International, told us, “Having data, analytics and technology experts sit in-house is a smart move…because if you understand your consumer business better, it gives you a better platform to think about what your marketing and communications to consumers should look like.”

Furthermore, harnessing the power of your data helps to paint a better picture of your customers and their behaviour. This allows you to tailor your digital marketing initiatives more directly.

 

4. Social Media Content

The hard sell on social media is a thing of the past. Instead, marketing needs to approach social media content with a story-driven approach to attract customers and increase engagement across the most popular social media channels in 2022. Social media is also another space where you need to think about your video and visual content. High-quality images must be part of your strategy, especially across LinkedIn and Instagram, and to stand out amongst competitors, you must optimise every element of your social media strategy. You can’t simply schedule occasional posts or share things when you feel like it. You need to build a solid schedule that is just as well-designed and thought out as other aspects of your digital marketing strategy. Furthermore, a well-planned out strategy is easier to manage and deliver than ad-hoc posting.

5. Virtual Events

A study by Bizzabo found a 34% increase in virtual event attendance in 2021 and a more than 250% increase in live-streaming attendance. People appreciate and enjoy the opportunity to attend events that may be impossible to access in person. Virtual events are also a cost-effective solution for businesses and increase reach and brand awareness. Virtual events aren’t simply an option for small organisations. Increasingly, bigger companies are also recognising their value. Success in virtual events is tied closely to the quality of your video content and ensuring there is sufficient budget to succeed in this medium. Our research recognises that companies are more committed to investing in online video skill sets in-house. These skills can also be put into practice hosting and organising virtual events. Platforms like YouTube Live, Twitter Live, and Zoom increase opportunities for participatory virtual events.

6. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is an integral part of some companies’ marketing strategies. However, for others it is an entirely new initiative for others. In 2022, influencer marketing is set to become a common marketing tactic. Our Report found 38% of respondents are increasing their online influencer engagement in the future. Above all, your business’ aims will drive your approach to influencer marketing. Still, companies are recognising the power of influencers who aren’t necessarily hitting the hundreds of thousands or millions of followers’ mark. There is a growing trend towards micro-influencers that allow businesses to tap into their niche more closely. Micro-influencers have smaller follower numbers but a great track record for their level of engagement with the followers they do have. Finding the right micro-influencers for your brand can give you direct access to targeted leads perfect for your business.

 

7. Personalisation

Driving all trends in digital marketing is a commitment to and move towards personalisation. Amplifying your message to reach as many people as possible simply isn’t effective in 2022. Personalising your marketing campaigns delivers higher levels of engagement, sparks conversation and attracts new customers. A great example of personalisation is the much-loved #SpotifyWrapped feature that generates a buzz every year. To achieve personalisation in your marketing campaigns, you need to make the most of your data and analysis and recognise the value of design. Personalised campaigns must reflect your consistent branding and design, which also goes for your advertising too. Our creative management platform makes it easy to create real-time updates to your consistently branded advertisements and campaigns with ease.

 

 

Sunday, 17 July 2022

How To Give Great Affiliation Disclosure


Less I forget to mention this critical piece of information in conducting any type of affiliate marketing-based business 
whatsoever through a US-based server, such as:
 JV Give-Away events,
 Monetizing with affiliate offer reviews,
 Receiving free Professional Review products, etc, etc...
Then the SEC and FTC have distinct jurisdictional powers over your affiliate 
marketing endeavors. It's important to note that this is regardless of where 
you reside.
Consequently, be sure to properly disclose your affiliate marketing connection 
clearly, concisely and plainly; in a non-obfuscated and easily-viewable manner. 
To put this into perspective, your disclosure must be in obvious proximity (aka 
“clear and conspicuous”) relative to any affiliate link (aka “triggering item”). 
One of the easiest ways to maintain compliance, is to simply post a plainly 
obvious affiliate earnings mini-disclosure at the very top of any page/post that 
houses one or more affiliate links.
Your mini-disclosure would then link to your full disclosure page, whereby 
helping to build trust with your readers (due to the very fact that you are making
it so plainly obvious).
Which brings us to...
Key Elements Of An Irresistible Traffic Funnel
A properly-designed Traffic Funnel can mean the difference of adding another 
zero to whatever you are currently used to generating online annually. 
The most lucrative Traffic Funnels have the following traits in common:
• Are fad-neutral / season-neutral.
• Contain no hype, visual noise, or “click me” distractions. 
 Address the Top Four Consumer Questions (covered below).

 Are benefits-bullet packed, with one very specific (unified) call to action.
 Build trust every step of the way, while totally avoiding information
overload.
Remember the old saying about “Honey attracts more than vinegar”? The same
holds true when creating Traffic Funnels. How so? Selling online is similar to
offline dating. Unless you're into “dating” hookers or bar flies... you usually do
not start out jumping in bed.
In other words, you have a much greater chance of monetizing your list if you
love and nurture your subscribers because you truly care. If you start by building
a strong trust-based relationship with your subs, they’ll eagerly look forward to
hearing from you again and again.
And that’s when you’ll really start seeing your traffic, subscribers, social shares,
linkbacks, and profits skyrocket like a bat out of hell. Rather than merely a list of
email addresses only there to make you money... on the contrary. Serious Bank
emerges when you develop a heart-felt relationship with your list and truly help
them achieve their goals.
The rewards are breathtakingly splendid, to say the very least. You’ll then have
yourself a bonafide cash-crapping Goldmine of Opportunity at your disposal.
Remember your #1 Greatest Asset is a responsive, targeted subscriber list eager
to spend money with you. Get that right, and the rest is biscuits, gravy and apple
pie (with ice cream on top).
Top Four Consumer Questions
In order to achieve maximum conversions, the Top Four Consumer Questions
must be answered. Below is a short excerpt from “The Irresistible Offer: How to
Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less”, by Mark Joyner, to put the
importance of this into perspective.

Question 1: What are you trying to sell me?

Question 2: How much?
Let’s look at these questions in tandem. Put them together, and your buyer is asking, “What is your
offer?” Your communication must reassure that ongoing Unspoken Inner Dialogue that you are offering a
commodity of acceptable quality for a reasonable price.
 Give me five dollars, and I’ll give you a glass of water.
 Give me $5,000, and I’ll remove your swollen appendix.

 Give me $100, and I’ll (deleted!) . . .
If, at the core of your sales process, your offer is not a good or a fair one, then only fools will buy. And, if
you have fooled someone into buying your product, you won’t have that customer for very long.
In the long term, a business built on such a shaky foundation will not last. You can always sucker
someone into giving you money, but you can only do it once.
A master — one who knows how to make a quality offer — will wow the customer once, and wow him
again and again and again until both buyer and seller have happily prospered.
Such is the way millions and billions are made. Once the offer has been made, there are still two
questions that must always be addressed in the prospect’s mind.

Question 3: Why should I believe you?
Indeed, why should someone believe you? This question goes to the core of buyer insecurity.
Sometimes, offers can sound fantastic on the surface, but therein lies the problem they sound too good to
be true.
People have to trust that they’re not dealing with a charlatan peddling snake oil before they are willing to
hand over their money. An offer only works if it has credibility behind it.
Again, only a fool would hand over money for nothing, and you don’t want a fool for a customer.

Question 4: What’s in it for me? Wait a minute... We just answered the question, “What are you trying to
sell me?” Isn’t this the same thing? Not exactly. When people ask, “What’s in it for me?” they are trying to
figure out how they benefit.
People buy products, but what they want are “benefits.” You buy the Bentley, but what’s really in it for you

is the prestige that comes with owning one.
You buy the health food, but what’s really in it for you is a better quality of life (and more of it). Most

marketers see this as the core question to be answered.

Its importance is obvious — if there is nothing in it for me, why should I waste my time listening to you?

This question is so often pondered by marketers that we shorten it to “WIIFM.”
However, to focus on this question alone is folly. If you focus solely on WIIFM, your marketing will seem
pitchy and solicitous.”
Although the above excerpt was framed in the context of a Premium Offer, all
four of the above questions still apply to Freemium Offers just the same.
Sales Funnel Aesthetics
Without a doubt, the aesthetic appeal of your site can massively turbo-boost your overall conversions across your entire Traffic Funnel:
 Genuine end-user testimonials.
 Crisp, clean, non-convoluted layout.
 Site owner graphical signature and photo.
 Alluring professionally-designed eCover graphics.
 A compact main heading/sub heading combo minus the annoyingly hokey-
looking red headline.

You'd think the above tips would be plainly obvious. Point of fact: The vast
majority of web marking sites I've checked out look like they belong in a circus
freak show. So do yourself a favor and strip your sites down to a crisp, clean,

easy-on-the-eyes trust-building opportunity.
Deploy all of the above and amaze yourself with the resulting conversion boost.
Pure and simple.

Hot Tip: For self-hosted WordPress users, I have found the s2Member plugin
absolutely indispensable for creating Traffic Funnels. Amongst numerous other
highly desirable capabilities, it can be configured to seamlessly collect leads

completely in the background (via MailChimp).
Granted, it does take a bit of work to initially get everything set up right. But

once you've done it as many times as I have, it flows like clockwork; whereby
providing a remarkably smooth end user experience.

Special Thank You Page Considerations
Thank You pages should not have any affiliate offer pitch whatsoever (except as
noted below). Its sole purpose is to over-deliver real value and build rapport with
your subscriber as the Go-To Girl / Guy within your niche.

It's not so much the “what”, but rather the practical value of the information and
resources you're providing for your subscribers. Buyer resistance is rapidly
reduced when you are always truly helpful, and never pushy:

• Keep your hard-pitching down to a minimum (i.e. once every seven email
sends)

• And always be extremely generous with high quality no-strings shares
each and every mailing.

Hot Tip: Let's say that you found a really excellent Love & Romance niche
product that you felt was worthy of promoting. To instantly discover a treasure
trove of freely available goodies, I'd go to Google and type in the following two
searches verbatim (with quotation marks)...
 “love tips” filetype:pdf
 “romance tips” filetype:pdf

Just those two searches alone will produce many dozens of freely available L&R
tips PDFs. I'd then select the direct links to the very best dozen or so, and create
a highly-focused “mini resource directory” right under the main Freemium Offer
download link.

Naturally, each resource would have a brief couple-sentence explainer on why
it's being recommended.

Now you might have to experiment a bit with different keyword combos (for the
best resources), but this has always worked without fail for every niche I've done
this with. In some cases, it's produced some pretty amazing results.

At the very bottom of your value-packed Thank You page, you'd have a discreet
teaser linked to your no-holds-barred brutally honest affiliate offer review page

on whatever you're genuinely excited about.
Now, for this to really work like gangbusters - the affiliate offering must perfectly

resonate with your free offer. And on that note, most so-called “reviews” are

snake-oily and do not actually help the end consumer. So dare to be different.

In other words, write real reviews that openly discuss the draw-backs AND extol

the virtues of the reviewed product or service. Your customers will admire your

honesty, and your wallet will prove their loyalty.
Before you start building your own highly profitable Traffic Funnels:

• Have a clear picture of a specific problem your ideal subscriber is facing.

• Have a clear picture of what your typical web visitor is going to experience
when they land on your site (i.e. your “Funnel flow”).

• Strongly consider the real value of your offers (which is not to be confused
with 'perceived value').
Going about it this way helps to ensure maximum receptivity and minimum
unsubscribes.