The Butterfly Marketing Phenomenon is well known in the internet marketing space. Not so in the "regular" marketing world, but there are a lot of valuable lessons in the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript for those of us who operate "real" businesses, even those who hold our noses when forced to witness the hysterical hype filled squeeze pages produced by internet marketing types.
I have been curious about "internet marketing" all along, and include a number of newsletters from the gurus of "IM" in my regular reading - partly to see if there might be wisdom to tease out and apply in my own marketing efforts, partly out of fascination - like watching a really slick and slimy used car salesman at work - irresistible.
When I came across it in 2006, the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript stood out for a few reasons, and I'll mention a few in a moment, but one visit to the sales page cured me of my curiosity for years. The level of hype and heavy handed psychological pressure made me dismiss it completely. The tricks the creator of the page used to slide the prospect down the slippery slide to the order button simply made my BS detector light up like a box of fireworks.
Now, recently, I happened to get a chance to check out the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript. I expected the same sort of bunk and hype as the sales page indicated to me: a cleverly packaged screed formulated to appear valuable to its buyer for the minimum of effort by its seller.
I was surprised to find some real meat in there. Butterfly steaks, you might say.
Next post, I'll go into details about the two types of lessons we in real world marketing can take from this bible of internet marketing. One is the actual content and strategies outlined in the manuscript. The other is the packaging, presentation and sales of the product itself.
In the meantime, you can now pick up a copy for yourself here. At $47 it is half the price it was originally launched at, and is now sold through an army of resellers. Think of it as a study aid. You can refer to it page by page as I go through pulling out the good stuff, and who knows, maybe you can get an internet marketing operation off the ground with its surprisingly well thought out tactics.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sales and marketing. Two ends of one animal.
Two trick ponies
Look at any company of more than a few people and you see a curious thing - curious to my eye anyway. Sales and marketing are two different departments. Different people with different responsibilities. And the reason it doesn't make any sense to me to organize sales and marketing that way is that the two are always in conflict.
Marketing is seen as the process of creating leads.
Sales is seen as the process of closing them.
So sales people need large numbers of leads, and they have to be good leads. Good leads don't take so much work to close, of course.
Marketing is always under pressure to supply more leads, and the sales people always complain that the leads are not good enough. Marketing complains that the lazy ***s in sales just cherry pick the easiest leads and if they would just do some work they have plenty of leads. And their position is that if they are asked to increase lead volume, quality goes down, increase lead quality, volume goes down. Makes sense.
I think of the story about the group of blind men who feel an elephant to learn about it, and since each feels a different part - tail, leg, trunk, side - they have completely different, conflicting ideas about what an elephant is all about.
The people who set up a sales team and a marketing department, then set them free to fight for power and waste time and effort arguing, must have a strange idea of what this sales and marketing animal is.
So, what does this mean for us, as solopreneurs?
One two trick pony
I see marketing as the conversations you have with many people at once, and sales as the conversations you have with people individually. The thing is, it's a smooth path from one to the other. I don't want to stretch this animal metaphor far enough to suggest which end is which.
Let's just say that sales and marketing is all one process, with different tools and techniques at the beginning and the end.
If we look at the process from the viewpoint of our customer it becomes clearer. Now we see a process of first making contact with many people, who move along a path of awareness, interest, belief and trust, until finally, in much smaller numbers, all at their own pace, they are ready for a one on one conversation that results in a transaction.
Seems to me, if the people who have the conversations that result in signatures on dotted lines have more to do with creating the initial awareness, it will be a smoother process. And if the people responsible for developing relationships with many prospects are on the same team as the people who do the handshakes, surely there will be a better balance of volume and quantity of leads.
As solopreneurs, or small business owners, harmony between sales and marketing is built in - it's just us doing both! Here's how that benefits us: When we understand that marketing is a sales conversation with more people than we can talk to in person, it becomes far more effective.
Take good care of that little sales and marketing critter.
Look at any company of more than a few people and you see a curious thing - curious to my eye anyway. Sales and marketing are two different departments. Different people with different responsibilities. And the reason it doesn't make any sense to me to organize sales and marketing that way is that the two are always in conflict.
Marketing is seen as the process of creating leads.
Sales is seen as the process of closing them.
So sales people need large numbers of leads, and they have to be good leads. Good leads don't take so much work to close, of course.
Marketing is always under pressure to supply more leads, and the sales people always complain that the leads are not good enough. Marketing complains that the lazy ***s in sales just cherry pick the easiest leads and if they would just do some work they have plenty of leads. And their position is that if they are asked to increase lead volume, quality goes down, increase lead quality, volume goes down. Makes sense.
I think of the story about the group of blind men who feel an elephant to learn about it, and since each feels a different part - tail, leg, trunk, side - they have completely different, conflicting ideas about what an elephant is all about.
The people who set up a sales team and a marketing department, then set them free to fight for power and waste time and effort arguing, must have a strange idea of what this sales and marketing animal is.
So, what does this mean for us, as solopreneurs?
One two trick pony
I see marketing as the conversations you have with many people at once, and sales as the conversations you have with people individually. The thing is, it's a smooth path from one to the other. I don't want to stretch this animal metaphor far enough to suggest which end is which.
Let's just say that sales and marketing is all one process, with different tools and techniques at the beginning and the end.
If we look at the process from the viewpoint of our customer it becomes clearer. Now we see a process of first making contact with many people, who move along a path of awareness, interest, belief and trust, until finally, in much smaller numbers, all at their own pace, they are ready for a one on one conversation that results in a transaction.
Seems to me, if the people who have the conversations that result in signatures on dotted lines have more to do with creating the initial awareness, it will be a smoother process. And if the people responsible for developing relationships with many prospects are on the same team as the people who do the handshakes, surely there will be a better balance of volume and quantity of leads.
As solopreneurs, or small business owners, harmony between sales and marketing is built in - it's just us doing both! Here's how that benefits us: When we understand that marketing is a sales conversation with more people than we can talk to in person, it becomes far more effective.
Take good care of that little sales and marketing critter.
New to sales and marketing? Starting a business? Here's help!
Welcome fellow solopreneur!
I created this blog for two reasons: to share what I have learned over the last 25 years of self employment, first as a freeleancer, later as a business owner (yes, there's a difference); and to continue my own learning in the art and science of finding and keeping valuable customers.
I have come to realize that of all the factors that can make or break a fledgling enterprise, sales and marketing is the area that has the most impact. In fact, if you look at any successful business, marketing is the driving force. You can figure out accountancy later, you can modify product lines and service particulars as you go, but without effective marketing leading to closed sales, your new startup doesn't get to live long enough for other ingredients to be improved.
Sure, you can crash and burn a business any number of ways, but very little you can do as a bootstrapper or solopreneur will have as much to do with your success as effective marketing, and very little will sink your little ship of commerce more surely than ineffective marketing.
The odds are against you.
I came across a daunting number when first starting out - only 5% of new businesses survive 5 years. And the main reason all those businesses fold is simply too little cash flow to keep going. That problem has a simple solution. Sell more. Not necessarily easy, but simple.
That's what makes this knowledge so critical, especially now, during this prolonged recession. Alarming numbers of people have lost their jobs, and for many, the best option for future prosperity is to take matters into their own hands and support themselves through their own ingenuity - to create their own security through self employment.
For those already in business independently, the downturn has turned the pressure way up. It's time to figure out how to do more effective marketing and close more sales, for less outlay, and in a hurry.
Whether you are starting your own business out of desparation, because of a long held dream, or you are getting serious about wearing the sales and marketing hat in your one person business, I want to help you get results fast.
Now you can take the short cut to success.
I have learned a lot over the years, tried lots of things, wasted plenty of time and money on non-starters, and have finally established a couple of niche businesses that support a very comfortable life style.
The knowledge that got me here is not rocket science. It's simply a long list of things that work and don't work, things to try, ideas to adapt to your situation. Instead of taking years to figure it all out on your own, learning the hard way, you get to take the short cut.
Welcome.
I created this blog for two reasons: to share what I have learned over the last 25 years of self employment, first as a freeleancer, later as a business owner (yes, there's a difference); and to continue my own learning in the art and science of finding and keeping valuable customers.
I have come to realize that of all the factors that can make or break a fledgling enterprise, sales and marketing is the area that has the most impact. In fact, if you look at any successful business, marketing is the driving force. You can figure out accountancy later, you can modify product lines and service particulars as you go, but without effective marketing leading to closed sales, your new startup doesn't get to live long enough for other ingredients to be improved.
Sure, you can crash and burn a business any number of ways, but very little you can do as a bootstrapper or solopreneur will have as much to do with your success as effective marketing, and very little will sink your little ship of commerce more surely than ineffective marketing.
The odds are against you.
I came across a daunting number when first starting out - only 5% of new businesses survive 5 years. And the main reason all those businesses fold is simply too little cash flow to keep going. That problem has a simple solution. Sell more. Not necessarily easy, but simple.
That's what makes this knowledge so critical, especially now, during this prolonged recession. Alarming numbers of people have lost their jobs, and for many, the best option for future prosperity is to take matters into their own hands and support themselves through their own ingenuity - to create their own security through self employment.
For those already in business independently, the downturn has turned the pressure way up. It's time to figure out how to do more effective marketing and close more sales, for less outlay, and in a hurry.
Whether you are starting your own business out of desparation, because of a long held dream, or you are getting serious about wearing the sales and marketing hat in your one person business, I want to help you get results fast.
Now you can take the short cut to success.
I have learned a lot over the years, tried lots of things, wasted plenty of time and money on non-starters, and have finally established a couple of niche businesses that support a very comfortable life style.
The knowledge that got me here is not rocket science. It's simply a long list of things that work and don't work, things to try, ideas to adapt to your situation. Instead of taking years to figure it all out on your own, learning the hard way, you get to take the short cut.
Welcome.
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