Yesterday I came to a startling realization. I have serious mental blocks about money and selling. I can write about marketing and promotion. I can create great marketing strategies. I can promote the heck out of a product or service – mine or a client’s. But I balk at selling.
What made me recognize this?
I was sitting down to write my More Effective Marketing ezine. A new promotion came in from Brian Tracy (Speak to Win — PLUS Bonus CDs!). I’m an affiliate for his products. He’s someone I like and respect. I’ve purchased several of his books and audio programs myself. He’s knowledgeable, entertaining and I always learn something from him.
But for some reason, I couldn’t make myself include information about this product in my email. If you and I were sitting down for a coffee I’d probably tell you about it – not because I’m an affiliate but because I like his work. I’d recommend him even if I wasn’t an affiliate.
But this time I hesitated. I didn’t want to seem pushy. And yet this is The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur. It’s not The Baby Boomer Hobbyist or The Baby Boomer Philanthropist, its The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur.
The entire purpose of being in business is ultimately to make money. Sure, my mission statement doesn’t actually say anything about making money. But I’m not independently wealthy. I have a mortgage, bills and groceries to buy. I can’t pay for those things if I don’t make money. And still I balked at sending out information about this affiliate product.
It’s good enough for Brian Tracy
The funny thing is, Brian Tracy sells affiliate products. Long before I became an affiliate for Brian Tracy I subscribed to his ezine. Several weeks ago he sent out an email promoting an affiliate product. And Brian wasn’t shy about it. He talked about the product, how he and his staff used it themselves and how I should consider buying it too.
If selling affiliate products is good enough for Brian Tracy, it should be good enough for me.
So I started digging. I read back issues of ezines from other internet marketers. All the top level people – people in Brian Tracy’s league – promote products in their ezines. Sometimes it’s their own products, sometimes it’s affiliate products, sometimes it’s both.
Yes they all provide useful quality information in their ezine, but they don’t balk at selling as well. And clearly it doesn’t deter me from reading their ezines. I hadn’t fully registered they were selling to me. I just enjoy their ezines and even find the affiliate information useful. And yes, sometimes I’ve even purchased the items promoted.
There is one notable exception.
There is a guru in the copywriting world. Anyone who is a professional copywriter knows his name. He’s written over 70 books, several of which sit on my bookshelf and are well thumbed.
Recently this guru has jumped on the internet bandwagon. He is selling his products online. I was one of the early subscribers to his ezine. But I’ve seen sorely disappointed. The only reason I haven’t un-subscribed from his ezine is because he’s such a leader in the industry I keep expecting to find some gem of information in his ezine – but I don’t.
Why? Each “ezine” is really just a sales letter for one of his products. There is no free information. There is nothing of value to me unless I purchase what he’s offering. To be honest, I feel gypped.
And I’m not the only one who feels this way. I belong to a discussion group for copywriters. Periodically someone makes a tentative negative comment about this guru’s ezine. They obviously feel the same way I do. Clearly this guru doesn’t get it when it comes to creating an ezine.
How to Sell Effectively and Ethically in Your Ezine
From looking at the ezines I subscribe to, I’ve noticed what works and what doesn’t when it comes to selling your own and affiliate products.
1. Provide great content.
If your ezine doesn’t provide useful, interesting content for your readers, they won’t stay readers for long. The number one priority must be to give your readers good value so they keep on your email list and keep opening those emails.
2. Have more content than selling.
From looking at other ezines, the ones I like best have about 80 percent content, 20 percent selling. Occasionally they’ll have an email that is entirely a sales pitch, but they keep these to a minimum. And even the sales pitches are entertaining and provide some valuable information.
3. Choose your products wisely.
When choosing to sell affiliate products, be sure they are compatible with your target market. Brian Tracy is a well known business guru. His products are very much in line with the type of information I offer on this blog and in the ezine. On the other hand, selling a weight loss program or car wax would not be.
4. Be authentic in your endorsement.
Be sure to choose products to sell from people and companies you truly admire. Preferably from people you’ve actually worked with or who’s products you’ve used.
In Brian Tracy’s affiliate promotion, he was clearly personally enthusiastic about the product. True, it could have just been great copywriting, but I don’t think so. The personal comments about how he and his staff used the product just rang true.
How can you decide whether a product is right for your blog or ezine? Ask yourself: if your best friend had a problem this product solved, would you recommend it to them, even if you weren’t an affiliate? If the answer is yes, go ahead and promote it. If not, don’t.
What next for The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur?
Cleary I’m not entirely phobic about selling. Yesterday I wrote a post about looking for advertisers for this blog. But it was really hard to hit the publish button in WordPress.
And I have promoted Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind program. However, this was terribly difficult for me, even though I wrote about it several times long before I became an affiliate. And I can’t count how many times I’ve sent people links to his Blog Profits Blueprint just because I found his program so useful myself.
Yes, I need to keep my audience in mind when writing for my blog and ezine and make providing valuable content my number one priority. But as Barbara Stanny writes in her book Overcoming Underearning: A Five-Step Plan to a Richer Life
, I also need to develop a profit motive.
I suspect it will continue to be difficult for me to “ask for the sale” by providing affiliate information in my blog and ezine. And even harder when I start selling more of my own products. But I just need to suck it up. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
I just need to follow my own advice and be sure I’m selling in an ethical manner along side providing valuable information to my audience. And trust that if I make a mistake along they way, my audience will both forgive me, and let me know when I’ve strayed.
Andrea J. Stenberg
Do you struggle with selling – whether in person or online? Please share how you have (or are struggling to) overcome this problem by leaving a comment.
