The Ice Cream Chronicles: Marketing Edition

[IceCreamKid]

Dollar Shave Club has sales of over $1M a month. Anyone making sales like that is worthy of an inspection. Watch their marketing video really quick then think about my thought process as I tear it apart, piece by piece.

Beginning: Mike the founder introduces himself. We’re taught to respect authority figures. We’re trained since youth to believe they are honest and hold credibility.

Using authority figures for your business is POWERFUL. Imagine if you were selling pills that claim to make you faster and stronger. Do you think having Michael Jordan represent your product would help sales? Yup, try to get authority figures into your business if you can.

Introduce Promise: "What is dollar shave club? For $1 a month we send high quality razors right to your door."

BOOM! This is the hook! This is what gets you saying, "Wait, what? only $1? Tell me more, I'm curious". Promises are quite useful for getting your company remembered. When I think of Zappos, I think about how cool their promise is...free shipping both ways, 365-day returns, etc. Promises are effective for marketing.

P90x- Ripped body in 90 days.
Turbotax- 100% accurate calculations and your maximum refund, guaranteed.
Domino's- Pizza to your door in 30 minutes or it's free.

Address Objection: Are the blades any good? “THEY’RE F*ckING GREAT.” LOL this had me laughing. You need to address the customer's biggest objections if you wish to make a sale.

Discuss Features: I advise people only to discuss features after you have emotionally hooked them in. By emotionally hooking someone in, you now have their full attention. Describe the features of your product at this point...stainless steel blades, aloe vera strip, pivot head

Attack Competition: "Do you like spending $20 a month on brand name razors? Do you need a vibrating handle, a flashlight, a backstratcher, and 10 blades. Stop paying for extras you don’t need."

Attacking the competition totally works. That's why you see it so much in presidential campaigns. Instead of focusing on why the candidate himself is qualified for the job, they often spend a ton of time discussing why their opponent sucks. Be careful though, don't spend too much time focusing on attacking the competition or else you will brand your company as the jerk on the block.

Remind Customer of How Simple Your Product Is: "So easy and simple, you don’t have to worry about forgetting your blades every month. We ship them right to you".

The majority are lazy as hell. They want to cheat the grind, find the fastest/easiest way to get what they want, and get everything for free. Focus on how easy and simple your product/service is to use...you will stand a far better chance at entering ice cream heaven if you do this.

Introduce Social Charity Movement: "We’re not just selling razors, we’re creating new jobs"

People like being part of a charity movement. Study the story of TOMS shoes. For every pair of shoes they sell, they give one pair to a needy person. The shoes are ugly as sin, but the guy made millions just off of that little concept. Dude, promoting something charitable about your business works. In a few months my company will start giving children's playhouses to needy kids. They're cheap to produce and leave a lasting impact. Being charitable is not only good for business, but it's good for the soul too. Give back to the people. It will come back in spades, alcohol, and ice cream.

Re-Introduce The Promise and Benefits: "Stop forgetting to buy your shavers every month and start thinking of where you can stash all the money you saved"

People have a short attention span. Repeat the promise and benefits! I was listening to the radio the other day and they were talking about how the attention span decreased from 12 seconds to 8 seconds from 2012-2013. Not sure how they conducted this experiment, but I found it quite fascinating.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Welcome to the next chapter in the ice cream novel. SALES and MARKETING! Wee! I haven’t quite determined what I’ll be teaching just yet, but for now I want to reveal to you the underlying lessons that you can learn from REAL, SUCCESSFUL marketing campaigns that aren’t outdated.

I got a degree in marketing and one of my biggest issues with it was that we were always taught using outdated marketing campaigns as examples to learn from. Lame. Let’s talk stuff that’s working right now! Stuff like how to host effective online webinars or how to create a compelling and convincing offer. That’s what gets you the ice cream.

I invite you to participate and discuss marketing ideas that are actionable. If you wish to discuss mindset stuff then please discuss it in the other ice cream thread, The Astonishing Secrets of zen*******. My hope is that this thread stays clean with actionable ideas. Motivational stuff like, “you have to want it as badly as you want to breathe” is cool and all, but put it in the other thread.

I ask that you shift your mindset and become more open to new things. The most common limiting belief that I hear when I mentor people is, “I can’t get into that business. It’s outside my scope of abilities”. Stop limiting yourself to only what your current skill set is. If there’s something you don’t know, chances are there’s a tutorial for it on YouTube. Learn it bro! The ice cream there is free and it comes in a lot of great flavors!

Develop an “I don’t give a shit” attitude towards the little voice in the back of your head that keeps feeding you BS stories about why you can’t do something. Focus on pushing your boundaries and constantly learning new things. This means you have to leave the 1st grade mental masturbation classroom and start chillin’ with the sales/marketing kids in 2nd grade. 2nd grade is a new and scary place to be at the beginning, but that’s where growth comes…there is no growth without exposing yourself to scary things.

It is essential to stop giving a shit. Otherwise you get stuck in “analysis mode” and retreat back to the learning loop with zero action. Stop giving a shit and just move fast…you’re gonna like who you become, I can promise you that! BTW, thank you @JasonR for teaching me to stop giving a shit. I felt truly free after learning how you roll the dice day in and day out. Huge respect for that.

I hope you guys enjoy the stuff I teach here. I enjoy teaching so much that I end up doing a little dance and get really loud at the ice cream shop...the police won't stop walking in to tell me to quit disturbing the peace. I don't care, this is fun stuff!

Lastly, all the glory and credit goes to the big boys on the playground...Zendizzle, JackEdweezy, Vigilunky, BioPhrasey, JasonRizzle, MJ DeFunkyBoy, AllenCrawfish, and all the others.

Stay drunk. Entrepreneurship is supposed to be a fun process.

And remember: take ACTIVE action daily. I'm talking about picking up the phone and making things happen! Not filing mindless paperwork, reading motivational books, copying sales letters, etc. Nothing wrong with that stuff and I'm certainly not against it, but active action is what takes you to the next level.

On to the lessons…

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[IceCreamKid]

Lessons On Selling The Dream

Another person approached me to join his MLM cult this morning at church. I immediately recognized the red flags, but the kid seemed pretty ambitious so I let him talk for a few minutes about his “opportunity” that will allow everyone he recruits to become multi-millionaires. It blows my mind that these MLM's can pull in people who have an Ivy League education. Comes to show that you can pay a ton of money for business school and still not know anything about business.

Once you get some real business knowledge you begin to see how ridiculous the MLM schemes really are. They provide nothing of value to the world which is why they resort to brainwashing and manipulation to get people to buy their crap. I decided to check on YouTube to break down the schemes of these fools.

Note: I do not endorse or encourage joining MLM's unless your goal is to have a .01% chance at breaking even. On the flip side, you can learn a lot about sales/marketing by studying these dudes and that’s what this post is for.

This couple is responsible for extracting millions of dollars from the pockets of hopeful wantrepreneurs. Their intentions are sleazy and dishonest, but the psychology behind their marketing is timeless and proven to work.

Watch this short clip and think about my thought process as I tear it apart, piece by piece.

Husband’s introduction to establish authority and build rapport: “I lived up here working as a psychiatric nurse for 15 years. Worked crazy hours including the graveyard shift. Then a few years ago I got to become a full time dad because of what the opportunity provided for us. It came at the right time because I had been looking for a business since I had been through layoffs, pay cuts, etc.”

He gives himself a title (Psychiatric Nurse) to establish himself as a respectable authority figure. Then he talks about how he was just like you: working crazy hours, pay cuts, etc. Instead of talking to you like a salesperson, he’s approaching you like a friend who is just like you. We’re more likely to trust friends than salespeople.

After the introduction to build rapport, he hooks in your curiosity by hinting that he has a solution to your problems. He says it works because he’s done it himself! He’s a respectable psychiatric nurse so obviously he’s not lying.

Establish some kind of authority position then talk to the customer like a colleague.

Wife’s introduction of the system: “With the Team system I had some wonderful examples to look up to, just who they are as wives and who they are as mothers. Having our time back has been an absolute blessing."

Here we go again, people selling SYSTEMS! Are you starting to see how powerful it is to sell something as a system? The masses are lazy and want millions handed to them in an easy, step-by-step fashion. Give me the system so I can press the buttons A,B,C so ice cream can start falling from the sky.

Make your product/service look easy and simple to use. It appeals to the greed, laziness, and instant gratification needs of the masses.

They grab at your emotions by mentioning your key desires such as the ability to have your time back. Make sure you understand the key desires of your customers, bro.

Husband: “When I listened to the first CD, I realized everyone in the community had each other’s backs. They spoke like a real team. You have a turn-key system, it’s so easy. You can be a 9-year old on the beach and still make money. I’ve had businesses where I had to work 40 hours a week without similar results. I have great kids and I can directly attribute that to having good mentors through the books and CD’s AND a system that provided us the opportunity to grow.”

Wow, the system even comes with mentors who will hold your hand throughout the whole process? It’s a turn-key system? Once again, they appeal to the laziness of the masses. They also calm your fears by saying the community has your back and will be there for you like a real team. People are scared and don't want to do shit alone. MAKE YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE AS EASY AND HASSLE FREE AS POSSIBLE. Calm their fears in any way possible.

He then attacks the “competition” which consists of the businesses he started before that failed. I’m telling you, attacking the competition works…not for all industries, but for some it just works.

He then pulls on the emotions and key desires of the victim again by mentioning how his kids are fantastic thanks to the system and mentors. Key desires. Key desires. Key desires.

“We had no idea how powerful the system would be. I am astounded with how much R&D went into the product”.

I see this all the time in copywriting where the seller discusses how shocked he was about how powerful the product really is lol. I just think it's funny as heck.

He mentions how much R&D went into the product because we’re trained to respect scientific data. The product sounds less believable if they were to say, “oh yeah we created this magic drink in our garage on weekends”.

Try to get scientists or some data that proves how amazing your system will be for your customer. They’ll trust you more.

“We’re going to Hawaii in a few weeks and the company is paying for the trip. I can’t believe that!”

Here we go again…more key desires and a display of proof that the system really works. They wouldn’t be able to make those trips if the MLM scheme didn’t work, right?

Display proof that your product/service is effective in the form of testimonials and real evidence.

“It’s the best way to lead people the truth and give them an amazing opportunities of travel, family, choice, freedom, and friends”.

Key desires. Key desires. Key desires.

“Thank you for giving us the opportunity to give back. This is the best opportunity I’ve seen out there”.

They finish off with this to appear that they have good intentions and only want to give back to the people. It builds trust with the customer.
Do you guys see how they didn’t discuss anything about what the business really is? They spent a full 6 minutes just talking about what you can achieve so easily with the system…totally appealing to the greed and laziness of the victim.

You don’t see anything about features and what tasks the victim must accomplish. That doesn’t get sheep to sign up for the MLM.
Sell the dream. The key desires.

Happy Sunday everybody. I know today is the day of rest for a lot of you, but how about you take some action and get some ice cream.

p.s. Don't go selling the dream, but delivering crap products/services. That's the fastest way to go broke. It's about quality bro. Sell the promise and deliver on it too.

p.p.s. If I suddenly disappear for no reason, call the police because the MLM gurus have probably kidnapped me and kept me in a dungeon for exposing the scam. I will never give up on you guys unless somebody locked me up haha

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[IceCreamKid]

We Ran Out of Ice Cream So We Decided To Sell Stories And Dreams!

This post is a reflection on part of the conversation I had with JackEdwards.

Once upon a time there was a dude named Andy and a ladybird named Raggedy Ann.

Andy worked at a Mercedes dealership and sold plenty of $100k Mercedes cars every single day. These vehicles would depreciate to $50k within a few years. GUARANTEED. What a lame investment. It didn’t matter though…he still sold them with ease.

Raggedy Ann was a financial planner selling investment vehicles that had a high probability of appreciating in value for many years to come, but she would ALWAYS struggle to make sales. What the heck? How can this be?

Andy was selling a story. He was selling a dream that the buyers envisioned for themselves. He understands how the customer’s brain works and taps into their emotions. He grabs their key desires through the story.

The story is everything. I need to incorporate more of this into my business.

I had a crazy idea immediately after I hung up the phone with Jack yesterday. I really like this $2 wine from Trader Joe’s called Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon. It has consistently won in blind taste tests against much pricier wines.

Why not purchase some cheap wine from a winemaker then put it in the most beautiful packaging the world has ever seen? Beautiful packaging, an amazing story inscribed on the bottle to accompany it, and an inflated price to justify everything. Become the Tiffany & Co. of the wine world. Just a crazy thought…too much on my plate right now to even consider taking on a 2nd business. Why not do this with other businesses too?

The story is what sells the alcohol...and ultimately gets you the ice cream.

Stay thirsty, my friends.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

You forgot the most important .... VIRALITY! (Or HUMOR!)

The sharing of this video, cuz it's FN hilarious, is what catapulted these guys on the radar. The VIRALITY turns a good ad into a blockbuster because it turns into FREE marketing, and you don't need to spend a dime.

Rep Transferred! $$$$!!!!

 

[IceCreamKid]

You forgot the most important .... VIRALITY!
The sharing of this video, cuz it's FN hilarious, is what catapulted these guys on the radar. The VIRALITY turns a good ad into a blockbuster because it turns into FREE marketing, and you don't need to spend a dime.

I wanted to touch on the virality aspect of the video, but I had no idea how to put it into words because virality is more of an art than a science. How would one quantify virality? How does someone become the next Rebecca Black? I'm still trying to crack the code for that and break it down into an actionable science.

I've pretty much cracked the code for virality in the offline world to some degree. I discussed it in the Secrets thread.

Basically I would perform some ridiculous stunt, but call the local news stations to let them know what I was about to do so I would get free TV exposure. My first stunt was probably the most successful one. I filled 2 garbage bags with $2 bills and stamped my company message on there. I slowly unloaded the bags from the top of a building onto a crowd below that was listening to the local mayor give a speech.

Virality is so much fun. I love being insane. I'd rather live my life as bright as a 10,000 watt bulb and burn out in an hour than live the next 40 years like a 15 watt bulb.

Can someone please help me crack the code to online virality???

 

[AllenCrawley]

I've pretty much cracked the code for virality in the offline world to some degree. I discussed it in the zen******* Secrets thread.

Basically I would perform some ridiculous stunt, but call the local news stations to let them know what I was about to do so I would get free TV exposure. My first stunt was probably the most successful one. I filled 2 garbage bags with $2 bills and stamped my company message on there. I slowly unloaded the bags from the top of a building onto a crowd below that was listening to the local mayor give a speech.

I love these types of 'stunts'. @snowbank has had some successes like this...

Fox News: Bluefirepoker challenges Obama to $1,000,000 poker

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JasonR]

It is essential to stop giving a shit. Otherwise you get stuck in “analysis mode” and retreat back to the learning loop with zero action. Stop giving a shit and just move fast…you’re gonna like who you become, I can promise you that! BTW, thank you @JasonR for teaching me to stop giving a shit. I felt truly free after learning how you roll the dice day in and day out. Huge respect for that.

So much this. My topic at B&P will be somewhat related to this.

Keep this thread going, man. It's highly entertaining/valuable.

 

[IceCreamKid]

I LOVE MARKETING !

I love the science behind it..the creativity...and the madness. Great start and perfect example.
This will be a fun ride. Thanks man.

I love studying marketing too! It's what separates the kindergarteners from the big 8th graders.

You'll find that the kindergarteners focus 90% of their energy on the product/idea and 10% on marketing. These are the guys that think the idea is everything. The 8th graders focus 90% of their energy on marketing and only 10% on the product/idea.

Dollar Shave Club is a very simple concept...in fact they didn't even invent a new product, but their execution with marketing and the subscription model is the stuff ice cream dreams are made of.

Process and execution is the key to unlock the doors to Candy Land. I hope my Dollar Shave Club example is helping the masses realize that the idea is almost insignificant.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Ice cream kid - could you post a link of the coverage you rec'd from the 2 dollar bill stunt? I tried googling it and couldn't find anything. Im just curious about the type of buzz you received. I may do something similar. Thanks for all your helpful posts.

I don't feel like exposing what my business is to the thousands of lurkers on this forum so that they can create a clone of my company. On top of that, it was all television coverage and I don't have any of it recorded. I actually don't own a TV...I got rid of it along with my video games when it occurred to me that the success cost of owning that stuff was too high.

I'll tell you this: the buzz was awesome. Do it.

People will think you're Santa Claus making it rain money.

EDIT: If there's one thing that I would've changed about that stunt is I would've used $1 bills instead of $2 bills. I formerly thought that the $2 bill would have an extra impact because they're unique, but it didn't seem to do anything special.

 

[IceCreamKid]

This is a great point but can (should) you apply this to any business? Do customers searching for software care about the story behind it. No one else that my software will compete with has a story on their website. Possibly something I can use to my advantage. Thanks @IceCreamKid

What's up bro! I think there may have been a misunderstanding with my post. I'm not saying to tell a full fledged story...I doubt that Andy tells the story of Mercedes when he sells cars. What I mean is he taps into the inner emotions of the customer by indirectly telling them how amazing their life would be if he purchased their product. Selling the dream basically.

Check out Salesforce.com's homepage. They pulled in $3B last year btw so I think they know what they're doing.

Do you see how they don't even list exact features on their homepage? Listing out features doesn't fire up someone's emotions and tap into their key desires. We NEED to tap into the key desire to get the ice cream, my brother! I'm working on this right now for my current business. I'm a blockhead so I didn't realize the weight of how important this was until Jack told me the Mercedes story...I subconsciously knew that it was important, but hearing it come directly from the guy's mouth pretty much validated it for me.

Instead of listing features, they're selling the dream of how you'll have the best, freshest leads so you can be the top 1% of salespeople. Only the best of the best.

They say nothing about features there. They're selling the dream...the story of how amazing your life would be if you only gave their product a shot. Make sense? If not, PM me. I don't have a lot of time though so if you do PM me please be respectful of my time. In other words, I expect you to take some action. I want to create a legion of drunken action taking ice cream lovers!

 

[IceCreamKid]

@IceCreamKid One of the things you mention on our call was that the best copy comes from the mouths of customers. Assuming that a person has interviewed a handful of people in their target market and identified a common pain point, how would you go about testing your written/online copy for efficacy without blowing a ton of money on ads with poor copy and/or driving traffic to your poorly written site? (Or do you simply have to accept that you'll have to spend $100's/$1,000 honing your message while split testing?)

What's up man! My ice cream shop exists in the offline world, but if I were in the online playground like yourself then I would create multiple landing pages. Each landing page will have its own unique copy. Try to put a limit on how much you are willing to spend when you buy media. I'm not the expert on buying media at this point...I've been quite successful at burning through a lot of cash while trying to figure out Google Adwords. Heck, you might call me a professional failure if you list out how many things I've tried and sucked at.

You might want to reach out to JasonR, he really knows his stuff. He's a really busy guy focused on building a solid business so you might have to propose something of value in order to make it worth his time.

Be careful not to be penny wise and dollar foolish. When I started that property management company years ago, I spent months learning how to code the website when I should've outsourced that stuff and focused on sales/marketing.

I wouldn't outsource my copywriting though. I really enjoy writing copy because it's my opportunity to really get into the mind of my customer.

p.s. I'm about to use the last of the Starbucks gift card tonight. Thanks man!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[IceCreamKid]

At this point I'm still working mostly on coding the application (I know learning to program is stupid) But once that is done-ish and I am getting the sales website on the go would you mind a phone call? Thanks again for all the awesome content you give us. I'd never want to be the guy that takes hours of your time and gives up or spends time making business cards.

Bill Gates didn't learn to code when he made his first software deal with IBM. I'm not saying that his way is the only way, but I try to model my actions upon others who have gone before me so that I minimize my mistakes.

PM me your name and number then we'll set something up. I actually have a backlog of PM's to set up phone calls with.

It's true, you don't want to be that guy who takes hours of my time and gives up. All of those who did that ended up mysteriously dying of natural causes 1 month later. I have deep connections with the ice cream mafia...not that it's related to those deaths or anything.

 

[Chris R]

Virality is so much fun. I love being insane. I'd rather live my life as bright as a 10,000 watt bulb and burn out in an hour than live the next 40 years like a 15 watt bulb.

I can't agree more with this! The $2 stunt is awesome! Just like something I did with a business I keep talking about over and over (sorry but once more!) In my successful brick n mortar business I would put filled boxes of CRAZY bumper stickers out almost every week for all of my customers to put on what I thought would be guitar cases and drum cases. But instead they ended up ALL OVER TOWN!!!! Everywhere. I'd be miles and miles away and see them. I really didn't have a clue as to what I was doing... I was just doing. And I ended up with a waiting list so deep that I was forced to grow. (The stickers had a very crazy/rebellious photo on them with a crazy slogan) Stickers I know aren't the greatest of ideas because people do have to scrape them off but the idea behind the concept of virality is what I'm trying to point out, too. The slogan became a bit of a joke, which was the intention, and bands would say it up on stage when they were playing to sold out venues - I'd even get back stage passes and invited on stage. I even had radio personalities as customers, and would mention it on air. It was crazy what being crazy had produced.

 

[benh]

Marketing is the king of Candy Land. This is how you can easily pinpoint in the middle of a conversation who the newbie entrepreneurs are because they focus only on the idea.

I need help finding an idea. I heard there's a lot of money making t-shirts and creating the next iPhone app hit.

People come on here constantly posting about ideas even after reading MJ's book. People can't seem to let go of the fact that it's about getting sales. I could easily outsource my website focus only on marketing and make the ice cream rain down way sooner. The only reason I don't is because I find programming fun. I live in the middle of no where British Columbia. And I don't think I'll be moving any time soon. My wife's family all lives near here and most people consider getting smashed and watching TV to be the best hobbies. Not that there is anything wrong with drinking but hey I like my coding.

When I first started looking into being an entrepreneur I found this book called Far From It (By the way please don't think about buying this it's total bullshit). I Just had to buy it as soon as I read the copy on the landing page



Building Rapport

The introductions show that like the target market they are just you people like me. To show authority they talk about their achievements. Robert having started multiple businesses. What he's young and he's started more than one business and doesn't work a 9-5!

They Are Special

The copy talks about them meeting only because of their mindsets which make them different from everyone else. Oh so if I red this book I can become special like them. Everyone and their brother these days thinks they are special so this is very appealing.

Selling The Dream

Fly around the world meet girls drive fast cars?? Take my money already!

Super easy to fall for this when you are first looking at trying to get out of the rat race. I spent like $40 on this crap. Total fluff and the authors appear to be fakes. This is why their forum is dead while the fastlane forum keeps growing. Both market well but the fastlane has real value.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[IceCreamKid]

Now harness that power in selling your product and bring in truck loads of ice cream. I had no idea how powerful marketing was. I love all the real world examples and videos. I'm noticing common themes and really starting to see why I buy so much shit haha.

Marketing is the king of Candy Land. This is how you can easily pinpoint in the middle of a conversation who the newbie entrepreneurs are because they focus only on the idea.

I need help finding an idea. I heard there's a lot of money making t-shirts and creating the next iPhone app hit.

EDIT: If I lost everything today and had to start from scratch, I probably wouldn't focus on trying to invent the next big idea. Instead I'd service the masses who are trying to jump onto the next big idea. Who got the rich during the gold rush? The people selling the shovels and that guy Levi Strauss selling jeans to the gold diggers.

 

[xaviel]

Thank you IceCreamKid! Solid value and breakdown.

There is even more to the video.

What creates a laugh/entertainment is the unexpected. (And it makes it memorable)

• He catches the tennis racket, yet misses the ball (you expect him to hit it).
• Pulls a machete out of nowhere.
• Bear catches the package
• Guy is rolling in the cart

The OldSpice commercials are ALL about that as well.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[IceCreamKid]

I witnessed an MLM guru preaching to a married couple he'd never met before, then another woman joined, in at the airport a few months ago. They were drooling on themselves. I mean it was amazing...in a very sad way. They were physically on the edge of their seats.

LOL I am always amazed by how far an MLM zombie will go to get a client...I had to let go of one of my closest buddies a while back because he wouldn't stop harassing me. These are the exact words he told me:

"2,000 years ago Jesus got his Apostles together and started a revolution. This is the next revolution. You're either with me in this or you're against me". MLM's sometimes use religion as one of the tools for manipulation. Eek.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Fox]

Thought I would add this in as a personal example...
@IceCreamKid

The Best Car You Will Ever Own Fact For Sale in Ballinasloe, Galway from therobfromireland

I made this back in 2012 when I was broke as can be. I had to move house across the country and didn't want to pack my things on the bus so I bought the cheapest car possible (literally sorted by price for the entire region) and drove all my stuff home. The drive was so amusing since the car is a wreck that that night I was inspired to write an ad that I sent to my brother for fun. Within two days it had 20,000 views and within a week I had multiple radio interviews, press stories, calls from the head of Volvo, a gift packet from the owner of the website and even some professional voice guy made a YouTube video version.

I sold it for more than it says in the updates - the company wanted me to send traffic their way but didn't want to look like they over payed for the car. I made more in one week than the few months working prior.

I have used this tactic multiple times since in different ways and love viral marketing. I think its possible for any company to get massive coverage on a small budget if done correctly. I have been in Maxim, sold products directly to the CEO of a major company and been threaten with legal action by very well known brands for small viral campaigns of less than $500.

 

[Bigguns50]

Charlie Sheen.
Chuck Norris.
Dude that shot his Daughter's laptop.

As everyone goes "Ahhh"..lol.

Viral is fascinating. I know people like 'different', 'colorful', 'entertaining', 'truthful', 'outspoken', 'crazy', etc. My uneducated guess is there is no real formula. Although, I think the stronger the emotional response something gets, the better the chance it has to go viral. Some things catch on..some don't.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[IceCreamKid]

Wow @IceCreamKid - this is exactly what I needed. I'm working on a video similar to Dollar Shave Club for my product. Thanks so much for this thread! $$$Transfered!!

I don't want your rep bank...I want 10% of your company's profits jk lol

I really enjoy your progress thread btw. Neat to see somebody out there shakin' and bakin' making some moves. Holler at me if you need any help.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[IceCreamKid]

@IceCreamKid This thread is awesome. Rep $ transferred.

Will be keeping a close eye on this for getting sales with my new products! I found the benefits over my competitors but I still have that little voice in the back of my head saying it won't work.

There will always be that little voice of fear. It still calls to me. You just can't let it paralyze you.

I wrote another marketing article for this thread, but have been hesitant to release it because I use MJ DeMarco's success as the case study to prove my points. Not sure if he'll take it the wrong way haha gotta ask his permission first.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[bensonj]

Welcome to the next chapter in the ice cream novel. SALES and MARKETING! Wee! I haven’t quite determined what I’ll be teaching just yet, but for now I want to reveal to you the underlying lessons that you can learn from REAL, SUCCESSFUL marketing campaigns that aren’t outdated.

Wow @IceCreamKid - this is exactly what I needed. I'm working on a video similar to Dollar Shave Club for my product. Thanks so much for this thread! $$$Transfered!!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[throttleforward]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonah-berger/virals-secret-formula_b_3052685.html

"If you ask most social media "gurus," they'll tell you it's all about getting lucky. Viral isn't a strategy, it's like buying a lottery ticket. Or they'll talk about cats. Lots of people share videos of funny kitties, so cats must be the reason things go viral.
All these theories are great, except, well, they're not really backed up by anything. No data. No analytics. Just old fashioned guesses based on looking at a couple particularly noteworthy successes. It's like the idea that the Earth was flat. It seemed right until someone actually looked deeper and showed, well...it wasn't.
Virality isn't luck. It's not magic. And it's not random. There's a science behind why people talk and share. A recipe. A formula, even.
My colleagues and I have analyzed thousands of news articles and hundreds of brands, all to understand why some make the most emailed list or get more word of mouth. Again and again we found the same principles at work. Six key drivers that shape what people talk about and share. Those six principles are the basis of my new book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On, and the first principle is Social Currency."

 

[IceCreamKid]

I’ve been applying everything you told me in real life, the results are starting to reflect the process you gave me.

My brother, you will do just fine. You got the mindset, the drive, the network, and the hunger.

All you gotta do is continue to pound the pavement hard just like you have been for the past few weeks.

You're awesome man...just awesome. I have no other words.

 

[Oztrepreneur]

May I suggest a book, once suggested by a wise man (MJ I believe):
Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Quite interesting. May have some hints to virality and sticking in peoples minds. Refers to why 'stupid' urban myths make it global and are treated as gospel.....

ICK, another great thread btw

 

[throttleforward]

And that in itself is a great example of an ad.

That's the insidious thing about products geared toward marketers. You know you're being marketed too, you can identify the steps, techniques, tactics...but it's still effective.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Bigguns50]

MLM gurus have probably kidnapped me and kept me in a dungeon for exposing the scam.

Hehe...THIS is where I come in and orchestrate a rescue mission. If this happens...'trip word' to text me is 'Asparagus' (because it doesn't go with ice cream) and the team will be dispatched immediately.

I witnessed an MLM guru preaching to a married couple he'd never met before, then another woman joined, in at the airport a few months ago. They were drooling on themselves. I mean it was amazing...in a very sad way. They were physically on the edge of their seats. I listened and watched until I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed a Cinnabon and took a seat far far away and went back to reading.

 

[Bigguns50]

I LOVE MARKETING !

I love the science behind it..the creativity...and the madness. Great start and perfect example.
This will be a fun ride. Thanks man.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[benh]

What's up bro! I think there may have been a misunderstanding with my post. I'm not saying to tell a full fledged story.

Instead of listing features, they're selling the dream of how you'll have the best, freshest leads so you can be the top 1% of salespeople. Only the best of the best.

Okay I get it now. And yeah with those sales figures they know what they are doing. $3 Billion with a B! That's a lot of ice cream. Bookmarked that site for further research. Once I clicked on one of their products I expected to see a bullet list of features there, not so.



They'll let you view the feature list but the default if still to sell you the lifestyle. I really like this concept and I realize now how effective it is in making you buy something. This thread is already so full of gold.

I don't have a lot of time though so if you do PM me please be respectful of my time. In other words, I expect you to take some action. I want to create a legion of drunken action taking ice cream lovers!

At this point I'm still working mostly on coding the application (I know learning to program is stupid) But once that is done-ish and I am getting the sales website on the go would you mind a phone call? Thanks again for all the awesome content you give us. I'd never want to be the guy that takes hours of your time and gives up or spends time making business cards.