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One of the most powerful forces in marketing is a deadline.

Like other skeptical observers of the techniques Internet marketers pull to land more sales, I feel a sense of discomfort when told that a product is going off the market at a certain date. Yet, at the same time, I feel compelled - if I really want this product, and that isn’t necessarily today, but any time in the future - shouldn’t I buy it now so I can lock in the cheaper price or secure my order because there is “very limited supply” on offer?

Now that I am an Internet marketer myself, I sometimes sit on the other side of the fence. I’ve played with the scarcity trigger like the best of them, telling my audience that there is only so many days or hours before a deadline comes, at which point things will change forever.

And wow, is it ever powerful.

Just last month I was faced with a decision. I knew Blog Mastermind, my membership site for bloggers, needed some changes made to the back-end that handled the membership and the affiliate system. During this time it would make things a lot easier if I did not let new members sign-up. There were also other elements that needed considering because of my plans for 2008 and the evolution of the Blog Mastermind program itself.

Needless to say, due to a variety of reasons, some I can’t talk about at this time because details are not cement, I decided the best plan of action was to close up shop to new members. I told my team the deadline so they could prepare for the technical changes and then proceeded to construct a plan for a mini-push to drive new sign-ups before the deadline.

Having been a participant, victim, casual observer and customer in many product launches dating back to the Butterfly Marketing launch in January 2006 and then conducting my own launch in June 2007, it’s safe to say I know product launches in the Internet marketing industry pretty well. Oh, and of course, I bought Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula home study course too (you can read my review here).

I never had a second thought about doing some promotion for my membership site once a deadline was in place, it was simply a matter of brainstorming what to do and then doing it. If you read my blog in early December or subscribe to my newsletter, then you already know what I did to convince people to join Blog Mastermind before the deadline, perhaps you even joined and are working your way through the program right now (hi students!).

Here’s how I rolled out closing doors promotion…

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I have to hand it to Edmund Loh and Vince Tan for coming up with a slightly different spin on the traditional namesqueeze page for their new Internet marketing newsletter launch - IMGuerilla.com.

If you are not familiar with the namesqueeze, it’s a very common technique in the Internet marketing world for capturing (squeezing) the contact details of people who show a predisposition for what you offer and/or in exchange for information about a topic. You can read my more in-depth explanation of a namesqueeze page here - What Is A Namesqueeze?.

David DeAngelo’s (or really Eben Pagan’s) namesqueeze page at DoubleYourDating.com is considered the de-facto benchmark for a successful namesqueeze. It’s been tested and tested and tested and performs amazingly well, so well that there are hundreds of copy-cats (me included) who replicate David’s techniques. You shouldn’t just copy it blindly, although I expect you will still do okay if you do - it’s that powerful (elegantly simple is more like it).

That being said, the namesqueeze is undoubtedly becoming boring and stale, especially in the Internet marketing niche - it’s everywhere. Which is why when I went and had a look at what Edmund and Vince had come up with that I actually stopped and read the page from start to finish.

These two Asian Internet marketers have used a comic strip instead of copy (well they used a little copy) to capture opt-ins to their squeeze page, and I think they have done a great job. It’s interesting, entertaining and best of all - stands out from the crowd as different and hopefully sets the tone for a unique newsletter launch too.

Here’s a quick sample…

You can read the whole comic at http://IMGuerilla.com/.

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Download the MP3 [ 37 Minutes - 9 MB]

Steve Iser has been online since he was 9 years old. Now he’s 21 and makes money using social media sites like MySpace and Facebook as marketing tools to promote products.

I called Steve up to do an interview after I finished reading and listening to his Ready.Aim.Wired information product, which teaches how to use social marketing sites to drive leads, build a list and make sales. The book is solid and presents a system that I can actually see working in MySpace because it uses the same language and “model of interaction” as Steve calls it, to establish relationships.

Just like with email marketing or any form of online marketing, you have to build relationships in order to get a positive result and if you are using sites like MySpace to do so, then you have to use the same language and community behavior. Ready.Aim.Wired is a great introduction to how to execute this concept based on what Steve has done in the past.

In the call I wanted Steve to break things done for us because I still didn’t quite understand how his methods work. Steve explained things really well in this interview, so I expect after listening you will have a solid grasp of what it takes to successfully market using social networking sites. There’s a lot more to it than just broadcasting messages to as many people as you can - spamming MySpace, not surprisingly, won’t work.

Here is a breakdown of Steve talked about in the interview. I think you will enjoy the podcast, so make sure you slot in half an hour on your drive to work or when you go walking to have a listen.

Show Notes

1. How Steve first made money on the Internet
2. Why Steve entered into social media marketing
3. How to use MySpace as a direct response marketing tool
4. The importance of natural communication in a social networking site
5. Steve’s model of interaction for attracting targeted friends (leads) from MySpace
6. Outsourcing your MySpace marketing
7. Facebook as a marketing tool
8. What Steve is currently working on

Click Here to Download the MP3 [ 37 Minutes - 9 MB]

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It’s been a long time coming, but Rich Schefren finally released his Attention Age Doctrine second installment.

You can get your copy for free by clicking here -

www.strategicprofits.com/doctrinenew/

As you may remember I wrote about the first part of this Doctrine back when it was released in July. The first report thoroughly delved into the world of information overload and highlighted how critical it is to find a way to cut through the noise and get attention.

Rich promised that the second part would provide solutions and recommendations for how to deal with the situation. It took him nearly six months to finally finish it and today he released part two.

The reason it took so long is Rich had a lot to say about this issue - in fact his draft version of the document was up to 300 pages at one point - but he’s cut it down to the most important bits in the final release and it’s now well under 100 pages.

How Will This Document Help You?

I was lucky enough to get a preview copy of the Doctrine part 2 a few days in advance and I read it from start to finish. I also briefly chatted to Rich on the phone about what he is doing.

I’ve been very excited about where Rich was going with his business focus because Rich really is a thought leader when it comes to business strategy. He sees what is going on in the marketplace and then produces reports to tell us about it.

Obviously he has products and seminars to sell as part of these report releases, but they are entirely optional - you can enjoy and learn from the lessons without spending a dime. If you want help and more advice along the same lines, you can join Rich’s program or attend a seminar or purchase one of his study packages. That’s exactly what I did after he released his first Internet Business Manifesto report - I joined his business coaching program after reading it (and I had no idea who he was before that!).

The reason why I am so excited about this new report is the heavy focus on the importance of Web 2.0 - social media, online communities and of course, my favorite topic - blogging.

The main reason you need to download this report, especially if you are a blogger, is to see how important you are and how vital what you write on your blog is to business.

Blogs Are The Focal Point

The Doctrine Part 2 highlights several case studies where the power of the web community has impacted business.

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Do you know what ubiquitous means?

Ubiquitous

“Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time”

When you apply this term to business, to be ubiquitous means to dominate your niche.

If there is a conversation going on anywhere in the world about the thing that you do, your name comes up. When people ask where to find help with something your name comes up. People talk about you, reference you and discuss your actions. You dominate the conversation, occupy mindspace and are a thought leader.

Do you think that leads to more sales?…Ahh, yes it does.

Today with the Internet it’s much easier to become ubiquitous because of the free flow of information. Thanks in part to Google style algorithms and a conversational blogosphere, in general the cream should rise to the top, so provided what you do has substance and you know how to position yourself, you can become ubiquitous, to a degree at least.

Ubiquitous At What?

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