Leaving money on the table…
That’s what we’re going to solve here.
In last week’s post, we talked about the foundation of successful marketing—relationships.
The power of relationships in marketing cannot be overstated.
Relationships represent trust and build credibility. They warm a list up so they are more receptive to the offers they receive. And when people are warmed up and trust someone, they are more likely to buy from them. I have been building relationships through email marketing for years.
And I successfully built a relationship with my email list that enabled me to earn $36,000 in five days!
But while this foundation needs to be firm, relationships are just the beginning. We need to build off this foundation.
Once the relationship is established, there are ways to maximize profit potential. And the BEST way is through…
Event-Based Marketing.
Event-based marketing is a concept that I have used repeatedly. It is so successful that I have made more money with it than with any other strategy I have ever used.
Event-based marketing maximizes the sales potential of the high-quality products we choose to promote. It makes it easier to sell high-ticket items that are difficult to sell using written or video sales letters.
I’ll show you how. But first…
What is Event-Based Marketing?
Event-based marketing is a strategy that few people use. Most people don’t even know it exists. Those who do often think it’s too difficult or too expensive – It’s not.
Event-based marketing has been the most lucrative form of marketing I have ever done.
To put it simply, event-based marketing is a combination of two things:
- The declaration of an event with a defined period - It has a beginning and an end.
- Webinars - Learning how to run powerful webinars is a MUST to get the most out of event-based marketing.
Essentially, event-based marketing provides the audience with a limited opportunity to learn about something of interest. Then they can take advantage of an offer related to what they have learned.
The offer should be a high-ticket item. Consumers are being asked to part with a lot of money, which is why the webinar is the best vehicle. This type of sale takes more than a simple written or video sales letter.
Through event-based marketing we can make a deeper connection and that connection makes a huge difference in our profits.
My Event-Based Marketing Story
In 2013, I accidentally stumbled upon the concept of event-based marketing. This totally changed my life.
I was still relatively new to affiliate marketing and I always used the marketing funnel the product creator had set up. It was all I knew.
One particular product I was promoting had a price tag of $3,497. The product creator asked me to send out their pre-launch promotion. I did.
Every piece of content they wanted emailed out for the promotion, I sent to my list.
The pre-launch lasted two and a half weeks and during that time I generated 30,000 clicks. When the product launched, they were selling that $3,497 product via a video sales letter.
Most affiliates promoted the VSL (Video Sales Letter). I certainly did and I did it well. Or so I thought. After all, I had generated more than $60,000 in commissions.
But then I took a look at what the other affiliates were doing. There was a handful who were reporting earnings 500% to 700% higher than mine. And their email lists were smaller than mine!
Naturally, I had to know how they did it so I studied their model. They had never promoted any of the launch-based content sent out by the product creator. Their success came from the fact that they created their own sales funnel.
And they were using webinars.
To connect on that level with the consumer when selling a product that cost $3,497 made sense to me. That is a difficult price tag to sell via VSL.
Right then and there I transformed my entire email marketing model and I never looked back.
When the same product was launched again six months later, I chose to promote it again. I knew it would be a good test of the new marketing model. I would be promoting the same product at the same price to the same list of subscribers.
Now, my email marketing model went beyond just using webinars. I created a model that I call event-based marketing.
I never promoted any of the content the product creator released. I never sent an email to their pre-launch or website. Instead, I decided to hold a 1-week training event and I let everyone on my list know about it.
This event was a series of webinars that I personally hosted. I kept the whole thing personal. And I created a list of FREE bonuses that were worth over $16,000.
I emailed my list for only nine days and I generated around 30,000 clicks. This was the same number of clicks I had previously generated in two and half weeks. So, promoting the same product at the same price to the same list for fewer days resulted in the same number of clicks, but…
I made an astounding $610,000 in commissions! $610,000 in pure profit!
That’s 10 times the profit I made during the first promotion in about half the time. And I did it because I spent the time and effort to deepen the relationship I had with my list. I gave them tremendous value and harnessed the power of event-based marketing.
Why Event-Based Marketing is So Effective
Clearly, event-based marketing works.
The key is to announce to the email list that a virtual event will take place. This is an invitation to a webinar (or a series of webinars) that has a clear beginning and an end. The commitment is there to teach list subscribers about a topic they are interested in.
These webinars are LIVE events and will be announced to the list in advance so they can register for it. Prizes and knowledge will be given away. Experts can be brought in. The goal is to bring something of great value to list subscribers.
This is gold! It works so well and here’s why…
#1 – Events Create Excitement
The people who sign up for an event already want to learn about the topic. They are already interested. They are already excited.
And it is made even more exciting by the fact that the event is exclusive to that email list and that it is FREE.
People love free, but they love the feeling of community even more. And they are a part of a community!
To help generate that excitement and raise it to the highest possible level, the event must be announced ahead of time. The topics, dates, and times must be announced multiple times. This creates a serious buzz.
And announcing prizes and hinting at special guests can increase that level of excitement even more.
This is about getting the list so worked up and curious about the event that they simply can’t say no. And it’s FREE so why would they?
#2 – Events Create Expectation
People want to know what to expect when they sign up for an event. And they want the truth. Otherwise, they will think they are wasting their time.
Even though an announcement of an event edifies and creates expectation by default, this expectation can be built on.
Be upfront and honest. Tell the list everything that will happen at the event. Something like this: “Here are the 6 things that we will learn in the next 10 days.”
Tell them they will receive an email every day. Tell them how many webinars there will be and that they need to commit to each one of them.
The key here is 100% transparency. This builds even more trust and increases people’s chances of attending and buying.
The biggest advantage to creating expectation is that subscribers will be mentally prepared for what is coming. And they know a sales pitch is coming. So, when they sign up, that means they are giving their permission to sell to them.
This is huge! It makes people far more open to the message that will be delivered to them.
#3 – Events Create Massive Clicks
The number of clicks that are generated via events are incredible. But the event must be strategically planned and run properly. This means devoting a certain number of days to emailing about the event.
Every day for the duration of the event, send an email every day. People will be expecting it and they will see it. After hosting the webinars, replays can be sent to the list. The clicks generated will go through the roof!
Of course, event-based marketing takes planning, preparation, and time. And as a result, it packs a big punch.
Due to everything that goes into it, event-based marketing should be reserved for high-ticket items. It simply isn’t worth doing for low- or mid-ticket products.
4 Steps to Planning a Killer Event
Step 1 – Pick a Product
The first step is actually choosing what it is you want to promote.
Take care in choosing a product to promote. Clearly, this should be a product that can be promoted honestly. Try it out if possible.
This should also be a high-ticket product that costs $2,000 or more. Event-based marketing is designed to promote these higher priced products.
The ideal product will be in launch mode. This is far more effective than simply promoting a sales page. When a product is being launched, it is easier to generate excitement. Others in the industry will be creating a buzz about it and that will feed into the excitement.
There will be so much value added during the launch that we’ll attract traffic before they even hear about other affiliates promoting it. Other affiliates will be promoting the basic pre-launch content. That can’t compare to hosting LIVE training sessions.
Essentially, this event will be like doing a launch within a launch. The teaching of something new to list subscribers will build excitement and credibility. So then offering a new product that will help those subscribers is a natural progression.
A new product promoted effectively through teaching and the offering of knowledge will make people want it. It is not some product they are cold to. They have valuable information. The product will help them take what they have learned to the next level.
Step 2 — Create a Name for the Event
After choosing a product, the next step is to give it a name. However, this isn’t just any name. Think about this carefully. Brand the event. Make it stand out. Make it unique.
Let’s say the product you chose is related to building traffic. In this case, the event might be called, “The Free Traffic Builder Workshop.”
Having a name makes the event more professional and more enticing. It also makes people more likely to trust it and want to take part.
The event name must have its own URL. So, the URL might be www.TrafficBuilderWorkshop.com.
All email promotions will go LIVE at that event URL for the duration of the event. This raises the credibility of the event in the eyes of subscribers. It will also raise the credibility of the product itself.
Step 3 – Bonuses
People want huge value for their money. Bonuses provide this value and more! And they generate excitement.
When promoting a product, create a stack of enticing bonuses to go with it. There should be a minimum of 7 bonuses. And the dollar value of these bonuses should equal a minimum of 3X the product price.
Using the traffic builder example again, some bonus ideas could be workbooks, ebooks, resource lists or even video/audio interviews related to traffic building. Just make sure it’s relevant and provides value.
In a way, these bonuses are more important than the actual product. People love to think they are taking advantage of the marketer. When they feel this way, the conversion power goes through the roof. And they will definitely feel this when they see all of the bonuses.
Step 4 – Lay Out the Webinar Schedule
It is critical to understand that the webinar is a LIVE event that is not only about selling. Remember this. A webinar is about teaching. It is about training list subscribers, teaching them the “what” while the offer will provide the exact “how to.”
Back to the traffic builder example. The webinar would teach what the system is to build traffic and why it’s important, but not the exact “how to” of building traffic.
Plan multiple events. Each event should be able to stand on its own. This is important for the subscribers who attend one or two.
However, each of these live webinars must build off the previous. They must offer a progression of information and value for the subscribers that attend all of them.
And multiple events will give people more chances for interaction.
But remember, these free events are meant to be a trailer, a tease. They should provide the subscriber enough information to know why they should buy.
And at the end of each webinar, the product should be presented—along with the bonuses. This is where a mental image of the entire offer is created in the mind of the subscriber.
At this point, the subscriber should be thinking “If I got this much value in just an hour for Free, imagine what I can get after I make a small investment into this program!”
That’s what we want to aim for.
Benefits of Event-Based Marketing
Event-based marketing is so powerful! And it is loaded with benefits for both the affiliate and the subscribers.
Obviously, event-based marketing is incredibly rewarding for the affiliate. It is designed to generate high numbers of clicks and sales. But it does more than that.
Benefit #1: Sales will surge. The biggest sales days will be the first day and last day. This is the way it works every time.
Benefit #2: Conversions are going to be radically different and ridiculously higher than any of the other affiliates. This is because the webinars offer more value than other affiliates provide.
Benefit #3: EPC (Earnings Per Click) will be much higher than that any other affiliate in the program.
Benefit #4: Event-based marketing builds an incredible, long-term relationship with the list. The effect that an event has on deepening relationships is unmatchable.
This brings us back to the importance of relationships. That face-time with subscribers during the event is simply invaluable. The effects of that relationship building last years. It carries through all future emails.
But event-based marketing is also incredibly beneficial for subscribers. This form of marketing delivers the following:
- It creates excitement and engagement for the subscriber.
- It provides the subscriber with valuable information they won’t get through other forms of marketing. Even if they decide not to buy, they walk away with more than they had before.
- They are better educated on how to use the product. When they buy it and begin to use it, they will see better results.
The Power Can Be Yours
The power of event-based marketing is immense. Creating a sales funnel that caters to the unique needs of an email list maximizes profit margins.
Just think about my 10X increase in profits, promoting the same product for the same price to the same list. My profits went from $63,000 with the VSL to $610,000 with event-based marketing - in
half the time!
And subscribers will get more from the experience than just a product. They will get useful information. They will get training. And they will walk away feeling valued.
Event-based marketing is a NECESSARY and CRITICAL part of the email marketing model.
It’s so important that I’m doing an entire workshop on it, which will only be available for a limited time.
Sign up for my workshop and learn how to fully harness the power of event-based marketing.
See you there.
