Sunday Email #40
If you’re new to my subscription and wondering what is a “Sunday Email”, it’s an email full of my rants, personal tips and opinions on marketing especially in the “internet marketing” niche. Sometimes, opinions on life. Whatever it is… it’ll give you value after spending time reading it. To make sure you won’t miss any future issue, subscriber for free at www.sundayemail.com. You can still read the archive at my old blog.
You know– sometimes my Sunday Emails can be harsh. Cuts through like a ninja’s blade. But come on, they’re my rants. If I want to keep everyone happy and write about the colorful rainbow, birds chirping, flowers blooming, etc then I should just opens up a nursery home and take care of children.
So if you can relate to what I wrote when reading it– good because I know it had just served the purpose of helping people.
Re: Video Salespage Works?
Have seen those webpage that uses videos purely to sell their products?
I know many marketers are getting huge sales by using that strategy. And if they read what I’m going to say, they’ll say this to me, “I don’t care because I’m laughing all the way to the bank with my sales, dude!”
Well, good on ya then.
But I think those who use that strategy is leaving money on the table. Why? Because not everyone appreciates watching a video and would want to waste their time watching a sales pitch!
Yeah… I know what’s going into your mind:
“If they’re not willing to watch, they’re probably not potential buyers anyway.”
That’s the single biggest mistake a marketer can do – relying on assumptions.
Just think – do you want to ‘risk’ throwing away your valuable 30 minutes and find out at the end that the offer (or the investment) is not right for you?
Dude, I rather sort my physical junk mails then wasting my time watching a sales pitch video. (By the way, I actually sort my junk mails while letting the video to play till the end 
).
Secondly, there are still many people out there running on slow internet connections so literally, the marketer who just use video has just wipe off ALL of their prospects. Might as well say, “I don’t want you as my customer because you have slow internet connection.” LOL. What kind of crazy message is that for a marketing guy?
But I’ve seen sharper marketers do it this way – if the visitor exit, a salesletter comes up with an unblockable pop up.
That’s marketing with a brain, not with assumption.
Don’t get me wrong – use video, it rocks. I love it and I use it. But think of your prospects too when you’re using that (if you like to make more money.)
Re: I Don’t Buy “Hot” Products In The Market
Actually, I do buy but I just don’t buy ‘hot’ products that are affordable and sold in thousands of copies. Let me tell you why:
Imagine there’s a new course on how to get JV Partners to promote your latest gizmo by using a very easy-to-implement tactic that everyone can do if they just know this ‘secret’. You read and you were so excited because it sounds full-proof. Bzzz… wrong, bucko. 5,000 other people think the same too and your JV Partner is going to be swarmed with the same approach tactic. Instead of becoming effective, it backfires because you lack of originality and you are now viewed as ‘just one of them’.
Yeah, yeah… I hear you, you’re about to say this to me, “But the market is so big and there are plenty of niches out there! You’re thinking small, Patric.”
RIGHT. That’s the same piece of advice I give to people who do niche marketing. But guess what, most of these ‘marketers’ are circling in circles… most of them just promote in the same ‘internet marketing’ niche. Heck, they just promoting each other to sell more! Why? Because the courses released are mostly about making money in the internet marketing niche. And here’s the fact – if you take away most of the gurus’ lists and brand, they would be struggling to make even $1K a month online.
Now, even if you apply it in other niches, you’re going to bump into some other fellas and that’s the fact. But that’s not bad at all because you’ll still be able to apply that tactic to get good result. The hint here is this – if you’re going to buy another hot product, use it in some obscurer niche. Then you’ll have a home run winner.
Conclusion? Think smart…. stop thinking like a herd mentality.
*BUT* if the product is not the latest fad but based on real marketing principle, then it doesn’t matter how many people are using it. That’s the different from learning a tactic and a strategy.
Here’s the difference:
Strategy: Follow others to get Twitter followers through the concept of reciprocation.
Tactic: Use a software to follow others to get followers.
If you’ve find value in what you read today, please leave a Comment or feedback? Needless to say, I will definitely appreciate it because I read all Comments personally and gotten the chance to know you at the same time.
Patric Chan
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By the way, these are all of the hot products I saw being promoted (I haven’t bought or reviewed any of them):
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Hi Patric, it’s great to see your sunday email again. It’s been such a long time since you last blogged.
Anyway, I have tried on the video sales letter and I was thinking along the same line that prospects may not be there long enough to see the sales pitch at all.
My video is around 20 minutes long and the buy now button only comes out at around 17 minutes. Analytic show that the visitors average time on the page is around 8 minutes which mean most of them never stay through to watch the video.
I’m going to insert a exit pop so that I could show them the salesletter as well.
I’m not sure you would be replying to this but I was wondering, does Asian making the video salesletter going to affect the conversion rate? Our accent are different and westerners may not understand so well. And if we are doing niche marketing, won’t it be harder to convert when they hear an Asian voice?
Hope all is well for you
Cheers!
George Tee
Wow, Patric, awesome message! I’m glad to see someone else feels the way I do.
I know video is effective, and I use it as part of my overall marketing strategy, but I personally won’t take the time to sit and watch a video sales pitch…so the current trend has actually been good for my bottom line in both credits and debits!
One thing I am currently testing is putting a link to the text version of a sales page on the video sales page. I’m trying it above, beside, and below the video. I’ll let you know my results if you want.
I did get one message from a client that made that little bit of extra work worthwhile…he can’t hear, and a video sales page means nothing to him — he thanked me for giving him words to read. I hope our fellow marketers might think about those potential clients as well.
Thanks again,
SaRita
I always like your rants but on this one I have a little different opinion
I hate a site trying to force me to stay! If I don’t want to view their sales pitch I should not have to. Blocking my exit feels like the gestapo is in on this tactic.Even if I were thinking of returning I won’t if they do that ,as it sets me in a bad frame of mind to ever do any business with them.
I feel like Anyone who feels as if they have such a bad product, that they have to try and force you to but it !No thanks once should be enough.On videos I don’t mind if they don’t start playing on their own, and there is text to read when listening is not on the schedule, of what I want to do.
Faith Mc.
I like the design of your affiliate URLs. They work in Web CEO and most others don’t.
Videos don’t work for me. Mostly they’re about some guy’s long story with nothing about what we wanted to see until we’ve clicked it off. Aggressive popups don’t work on me so I wouldn’t use them on others.
Any clues on using the ClickBank articles? Do we need to spin or rewrite? Are they all public domain?
To respond to George Tee above: Asian voices and presentations are fine. I like them because they are aware that there is a real person on the receiving end.
p.s. Getting a native English speaker to proofread your copy would make for a smoother presentation.
Videos! I hate them. I am busy and they take up too much time. And some of the actually come from slow hosts.
If you cant write, just get someone to transcribe your video and give the option of watching a video or reading the pdf.
@Steve Jared : Yup, I think it’s a must to get someone to proofread the copy. There’s a very big difference when I got someone to proof read for me even for just a normal written salescopy.
Which clickbank articles are you talking about? are you talking about the affiliate tools the product owners created? I would usually just plug and play, adding to my followup messages or just put up as a blog entry.
@SaRita Hartin: another way is to combine both video and written salesletter together. Just put the video on the top of the salesletter. and if the visitors hate it, then can just scrow down and read the rest of the message.
Hi Patric, nice to hear from you again!
If a video is short and to the point, then it’s ok. One thing I really hate is video that starts loading as soon as I open a page. I live in Australia and bandwidth is expensive here. If I see a video loading I’m outa there!
It shows lack of consideration. Give me a choice whether to watch or not and I probably will.
Sorry about the rant!
Wendy
Patric,
You hit 2 hot buttons.
Video sales pages suck. I look and then leave, if I do not know there is a video. I simply throw away all email pitches that say “video.” The problem I have is that most of the videos are pompous glorification s of the video makers. They do not sell me anything with their bragging about the cars, houses and vacations they have taken, supposedly as a result of the product they are pushing. And then they have to brag about all the money they have made. Big deal! Nice for them, but I know that there’s was a unique situation that I probably will not be able to duplicate. It is all just pie in the sky! And I hate braggarts!!!
Even if there is a real sales pitch, most of the marketers have no clue about how to make a good video. Oh, the actual video is outstanding, but the speaker rambles, says umm several times while trying to make a point, and has some of the best video screw-ups I have ever seen. They belong on “America’s Funniest Videos.”
The problem is that they have never tried to prepare there video in advance. As a retired teacher I know that preparing for a talk is more important than the actual talk. Good preparation will overcome poor presentation every time.
One final thought, many of the speakers have never heard their voices as the sound to others, and it is horrible. If they had someone listen and critique their presentation, they would know how horrible they sound, and they would get a professional speaker to make the video presentation..
Pop-ups are a different animal. I have no problem with 1 pop-up. When I have to click out of 5 or 6 I get pi****. I also never go back to that web site, ever.
They remind me of the door-to-door salesman who continues their pitch to the door after you have closed it in their faces. Really tacky and a complete turn-off.
Ken Seal
Hi Patric,
Welcome back and as usual a pretty good rant.
I must agree that getting on some marketers sites is like sitting through an endless number of TV ads.
In fact I find myself generally clicking away just as soon as I see that the only thing they have on their page is a video. Reason I click away is because I don’t have the 15 to 30 minutes to waste for them to finally get to the point which is just to sell me something that is either way over priced or most likely not even worth the asking price to begin with!
On some of my sites what I do is create just a small teaser video (30 sec to 1 min max) and place it right near the top of the page. This way the customer can watch the video and still browse the page or just browse the page.
Big names will say this is the wrong way to do it but my number 1 answer is that I only respect and listen 100% to about 5 gurus and if it isn’t for them then it isn’t for me.
Just my 2 cents!
Keep up the good rants!
Gary aka…The Nutty Markerter
P.S.
Note to George Tee:
Hi George!
Hey, don’t worry about your Asian accent. If I come to your site I’m not there to listen to how you sound but to hear about what your offering.
As far as accents go, I have the most difficulty with some of the British accents and English is my native language!
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Gary
I’m one of those people who really votes “NO” for video sales pages and I especially dislike the ones with no controls.
I understand that some people are visual people and have high speed internet connections and would prefer to watch a video.
I am interested in tools and products that could help me with my online business but I’m seriously working on that business and don’t have time to just sit around and watch a 20min, 30min or 1 hr. video just to see what their product is all about. If I do that 2 or 3 times a day then that is an hour or two that I could have been working on my own business.
When there are no controls and the phone rings you can’t pause the video to answer the call and come back and pick up where you left off. You also can’t scan forward through the stuff you already know and just get to the sales pitch.
I had an email the other day from a marketer who had a video and right under it he had a link that said something like “For those of you who like to read click here”. That was smart marketing. I was able to avoid the video and read about his product. I usually can read much faster than people can talk and it really saves me a lot of time.
I find videos to be somewhat good as instructional videos after I have purchased the product. But, not wihout an accompanying PDF. You can’t make notes on a video and you can’t refer back to a spot easily on a video.
I agree with Wendy, I usually close out when I see a video. There are too many products on the market that teach the same thing (even though they claim to be unique) to have to watch a video sales page.
And, I seldom promote a product as an affiliate that is just a video sales page.
Well, that’s my rant for today too.
Jackie
hi Patric
nice to hear from you again has it been 6 months time really flies what have you been up to?
regarding your post above i totally agree i was reading an article the other day on the web where some one was saying that gurus normally promote there new project to each others lists
like whats happening with Frank Kerns latest greatest thing you have about 30/40 top gurus busy emailing each others lists having said that frank Kern is one of the greatest internet marketers around today and watching his prmo videos can teach you a lot
well thats my view
great to have you back
regards
peter mcgrath
I appreciate what you’re saying a lot. As a newbie to the whole scene I’ve gotten a barrage of mail from these guys with video links, ads galore and forced pop ups trying to sign me up. I can’t keep up with who’s the best ones, or afford to keep trying them all out. After singing onto maybe 50 pages
mostly what I’ve gotten is just heart sickening continuous links never really going anywhere except to another link to take my tiny income. Sure I’ve learned some, but putting it all together has been beyond my skill and patience. Sure I’m now an affiliate on several good programs, but finding my focus on a couple to pay my way is becoming a pain in the ass.
Hey Patric, Great Post!
Although I am one of your resent Clients ( “1 Click Upgrade”) this is my first time receiving your “Sunday Email Newsletter. I think that it’s very informative and I really give you my highest praise for speaking truthfully about the marketing practices of most “So-called GURU” Internet Marketers.
However, I feel compelled to address the response made by “George Tee” and I agree with him that many Westerners really enjoy the GREAT Products/Services that are offered by Asian Marketers…
However, there is a strong disconnect when we try to listen to some of the audios, and videos that some Asian Marketers provide. The Information is VERY GOOD, but the verbal message is sometimes lost in their accent.
I’m one of those Westerners (American) who enjoys and appreciates GOOD Content, no matter who provides it, as long as I can understand what’s being said. And I am very patient when it comes to learning, because if the information is good, I absorb it like a sponge
As a matter of fact, I am a University Professor, as well as an Entrepreneur and I have taught in Beijing, China where I really enjoy working with my Chinese Colleagues. I also Hosted my Chinese colleagues in my home, in Michigan (USA) in January, and I am planning to return to Beijing, this summer..
Moreover, I work regularly with a VERY TALENTED Graphics Design Professional, in Indonesia whom I am making a special video that reviews his website and the EXCELLENT products that he provides. This video is short, informative, and includes exciting background music along with my audio narration.
I said all of that because…
I KNOW that Asian Marketers and Business Professionals have a HUGE amount of VALUABLE knowledge, information, and Products to share with the WORLD and I am willing to help them share that information!
I enjoy providing “Voice Over” work for Internet Marketers, and anyone else, who is interested in producing very GOOD QUALITY:
Audio-books (Short Form)
Informational CDs
Audio Special Reports
Audio Sales Letters
“How To” Video Voice-Overs
Audio Product Descriptions
Audio Website/Blog Summaries
Interviews
…and lots of other FUN STUFF
If anyone is SERIOUS about getting YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE out to the world, in a CLEAR, EASY-To-Understand Voice that uses American English, then send me an email, and we can explore how I Can Help YOU!
BY The Way…
I am VERY SELECTIVE about whom I work with. I only work with people who want to have FUN, while they earn MONEY from selling their VALUABLE Products and Services to help other people, to HELP THEMSELVES…
Think about it, and send me an email and let’s explore how we can help each other!
Michael
Dr. Michael A. McMorris
“Keep On, Keeping On…”
Glad to see the Sunday Email back. I have missed it and I am sure many others have too.
Your “Re: Video Salespage Works?” section was refreshing to read. You have said it as it is for me. I agree with your sentiments 100%.
I just hope that we all don’t have to wait ‘a month of Sundays’ for the next issue
Jeff.
I totally agree with you about how annoying videos can be–I rarely listen to them and, even rarer, listen from beginning to end. I echo the posters who dislike videos without controls; it annoys me no end and definitely inclines me to close the site. I’m usually OK with one pop-up but more than that just makes me angry.
Keep on telling it like it is! Obviously, your English skills don’t keep you from getting your message across.
The Sunday video is not working…
Hi Pat,
May I know which video is that? There’s no video, all text for Sunday Email #40…
Thanks
Patric Chan
Seems like most people don’t like video salespage too.
And yes, it’s especially annoying with the ones without the control buttons. Sometimes, you’ve missed what the video said and you wanted to hear again but guess what… you can’t rewind! LOL
Anyway, regarding video voice, it’s cool if your English is ‘understandable’. I mean, we can’t expect others to tolerate trying to figure out what is being said. So the point is, it should not prevent you to do video if you’re ‘okay’ with English.
Thanks!
Patric Chan
http://www.youchandoit.com
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Oh yes, I am one of those who use “slow internet connection” >.<
Thus, I prefer downloading videos slowly and watch whenever I please, offline.
But well, it's kinda rare….
Nice ranting and easy to relate for me.
Regards,
Lukman
Thank you for your rants. Personally I understand the use of video in the sales process and use them myself in some of my products. However as a blind person I find that I would rather read through a sales letter than be stuck with a video. Videos are great and have their place but I believe that place is along side of a written sales letter.