Using a free loss leader with Lists – Viral List Builders, Opt-In Lists, and SafeLists
by Silke Stahl
What is the best way to lead when using Viral List Builders and SafeLists? After all, you are not marketing to fresh leads – your demographic has already joined an affiliate program and has joined the list program to market it. You need and angle, and offering a freebie could well be the best way….
The main point I would want to get across is that we lead with the free SIM - Secrets of Internet Millionaires - pack, which backends the SFI free trial. It then makes it very easy to do the followups and encourage the customer to give the business a proper try, because the initial contact and first followup has been made and trust established.
We have found this works best for VLB and SL users because all they have to do is give away copied of SIM through the Lists. Whatever they are offering through the mailshot itself, there is nothing to lose by offering the SIM at the end of the message. Often readers with no interest in the main offer will sign up for the SIM.
Even if SFI is only a second business to them, they end up building strong downlines in it. The common thread in my marketing group is that they all promote SFI - and the SIM offer is the way they do it through lists. Many people have done what I and my frontline did and switched to SFI as their primary opportunity as they have bigger downlines and more money coming in for less work.
Before this sounds like it is turning into an ad for SFI, that is not my intention. What I am doing is giving a clear definate example of this strategy in action - no theories, no guessing - pure facts based on continued results.
The theory now is that this should work for ANY business - if they lead by giving away a freebie - whether it be a pack, ebook, or course - and then a free trial for a business - no obligation to upgrade.
In SFI, members are encouraged to upgrade to MIQ, and offered benefits, but it is never an obligation, and it can be done by sales rather than HAVING to make a personal purchase. Similarly although it is technically possible to buy PTL status - Powerline Team Leader - no-one does, they do it by sales or signing up members who MIQ.
Because I ran Network Marketing offline for years and had a successful business, when coming online I wanted to make the process as close as possible, rather than these new wild Internet Marketing schemes.
VLBs and SLs work great using the "freebie" lead method such as SIM and are unique to IM, better and cheaper than the old "mailshot" methods used offline.
As long as it's used properly.
So my strategy now is to promote just SFI from my homepage:
first offer the SFI opp direct;
second offer SIM - those who are happy with their current opp and don't want anything else often sign up for the free SIM pack and many go on to try SFI as a second income stream as it builds downlines so well and is free to run - who wants to throw away free commissions?
third offer IAHBE memberships - those who really don't want another bus opp and are focused often sign up for IAHBE to help them with what they already do.
Other pages contain the marketing tools, information pages, and even a bookstore, and PTR programs for those wanting some extra cash.
The strategy here is to make the biz opp - in this case SFI - "Rome" and all roads lead there.
To quote a line from The Matrix:
"all I offer is the truth nothing more"
What you do with it is up to you.
Silke Stahl is an International Internet Marketer and Home Business Entrepreneur.
Visit her website at: http://www.SilkeStahl.com
and her forum at: http://thestork.proboards20.com
Her own Safelist can be found here: http://www.safelistbuilder.com/StorkList
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
More Newsletter Marketing Articles
More By Developer Shed
developerWorks - FREE Tools! |
<a href="http://zeus.developershed.com/shonuff.php?blackbird=3853&zoneid=442&source=&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ibm.com%2Fdeveloperworks%2Fspaces%2Fjazz%3FS_TACT%3D105AGY31%26S_CMP%3DDEVSHED&ismap="><img src="http://images.devshed.com/corp/img/news/jazz01.gif" alt="developerWorks Jazz space" align="left"></a>You've heard the buzz about Jazz... want to know more about it from a developer's perspective? Check out the Jazz space on developerWorks. This space is an up-to-date resource for developers, including technical information about Jazz and products built on Jazz, like Rational Team Concert Express. The Jazz space includes content from a wide variety of sources, including links, feeds, and comments from experts. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
You'll get answers to many questions and more from David Barnes, Lead Evangelist for IBM Emerging Internet Technologies. David will discuss aspects of Web 2.0 that bring value to corporations, academia, and government. He'll also discuss IBM's vision around Web 2.0, including the importance of remixability and consumability. The discussion will culminate with examples of various IBM Software Group solutions you can use to get ahead of the Web 2.0 adoption curve. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Attend this launch webcast with Scott Hebner, Vice President of IBM Rational Marketing and Strategy, for an overview of Rational’s new software offerings and resources to help modernize and accelerate software innovation on i on Power Systems – while ensuring past application investments are protected and continue to grow. Learn how these solutions are helping customers extend their core i5/OS solutions toward modern architectures such as SOA and web technologies to deliver business improvements that stand the test of time. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Effective governance for lean development isn’t about command and control. Instead, the focus is on enabling the right behaviors and practices through collaborative and supportive techniques. Hear from Scott Ambler on how it is far more effective to motivate people to do the right thing than it is to force them to do so. Learn how to form a lightweight, collaboration-based framework that reflects the realities of modern IT organizations. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Visit IBM developerWorks to download a free trial of the latest release of IBM Lotus Sametime Standard V8.0. Lotus Sametime Standard V8.0 is a platform for unified communications and collaboration that combines security features with an extensible, open solution including integrated Voice over IP, geographic location awareness, mobile clients, and a robust Business Partner community offering telephony and video integration. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
This webcast outlines the best practices that must be instituted to gain the maximum benefit from SOA while maintaining high quality of service. Whether you are deploying new applications or managing and monitoring your existing infrastructure, learn how you can ensure high quality of services with SOA based solutions from IBM. All registrants who attend this live Web Seminar will receive complimentary access to a white paper titled “Maintaining QoS in an SOA Environment”. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Learn how to do more with your reusable assets with the free Rational Asset Manager eKit. The eKit includes demos on how Rational Asset Manager tracks and audits your assets in order to utilize them for reuse. Plus you’ll find white papers and a Webcast that discuss the challenges of a Service Oriented Architecture and how Rational Asset Manager can provide quick and effective solutions. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this Rational Talks to You teleconference on December 6 at 1:00 pm ET to participate in an agile application development discussion and get your questions answered on using IBM Rational Method Composer in a distributed environment.Get your questions answered! FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this webcast to discover the key requirements for successful change and release management. Learn how to extend your .NET environment to improve productivity and collaboration, and address core problems afflicting team development. In this webcast, we’ll review typical challenges faced by customers and how to resolve them with the IBM Rational Change and Release Management solution, including Rational ClearCase, Rational ClearQuest and Rational Build Forge. Replay is available for 9 months. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Explore how Rational and WebSphere software enable enterprise documentation in SOA environments. Specifically, a new integration between IBM WebSphere® Business Modeler and IBM Rational® Method Composer software can help technical writers more easily keep enterprise operations manuals in sync with changes that are made to business processes, resulting in more accurate and timely documentation that benefits the entire enterprise. FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools! |