Read This Article Today Or You Miss Out! Deadline Driven Marketing
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…
