Archive | March, 2022

When you learn martial arts or most any form of fighting, one of the techniques they teach you is to punch through your opponent.

For example, instead of aiming to punch your opponent’s face, you aim to punch a point just behind their head.

This gives your punch much more force, because your target is well beyond their face. You need more effort to make it happen.

And in exerting more effort, you make your punch stronger.

Plus, if your target is their nose, you will subconsciously pull your punch, meaning your fist will actually slow down as it approaches its mark.

Now then, let’s say your income goal is $1,000 a week. Instead of aiming for $1,000, aim for $1,500.

You will have to work harder to reach this goal and push further, with higher expectations. All of which will lead to a better result.

And even if you ‘pull your punch’ before you hit $1500, you will still exceed the $1,000 goal. I know this sounds strange, but try it.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at your results.

Picture this…

You’re watching a television show and it ends with a dark scene of a hand firing a gun at the hero. You don’t know if the hero lives or dies.

You don’t know who shot the hero or why.

And you’re in suspense.

So what do you do?

You watch the next episode, of course.

Humans have a desire to KNOW stuff.

When they don’t know, it bugs them. It’s like an itch that needs to be scratched, and they’ll do whatever it takes to scratch that itch.

You can do the same thing with your emails – make it so your readers MUST read not only the email you just sent them, but also your next one and the one after that.

Andres Chaperone does a great job of teaching this email marketing technique.

In fact, here are three different open loop methods he recommends:

The Fake Out Open

You start out telling your readers that you’re going to tell them something. But then you tell them something else, instead. For example:

“Dear Reader,

I’m going to show you exactly how I managed to lose 83 pounds while watching television, eating whatever I wanted and never exercising – other than to go to the fridge.

But right now, I want to tell you about my 21 year old college roommate who died from a heart attack because of a single Oreo cookie.”

You’re telling them what you’re going to tell them, but you’re not telling them right now.

That’s because you have something else to tell them now.

This is an open loop – the magic 3 words that caused the 83 pound weight loss – combined with value stacking. They get a secret tomorrow, and they get a story about the dead roommate and the Oreo cookie today.

This makes the recipient feel like there’s a ton of great stuff coming from you.

This creates surprise, curiosity, desire and anticipation.

And they love you and your emails for it.

Delayed Gratification

For this one, you’re going to throw in an open loop somewhere inside your content. It could be almost anywhere – near the beginning, in the middle, near the end… where you place it will depend on what it is and how it relates to the rest of your email.

For example, let’s say you’re writing an email about weight loss, and you’re telling the story of how one of your weight loss students lost 143 pounds thanks to your coaching. In the middle of your email, you might write…

“And when I told her how to perform the belly blaster technique in the shower every morning, and that she would effortlessly lose another pound of ugly fat every week… well, she just about lost it.

***If you’re not familiar with my belly blaster shower technique for losing fat, tomorrow I’ll tell you exactly how to do it. You’ll be shocked at the results.

So she tried the technique anyway, even though she thought I was crazy, and a week later she called with the results.

‘I lost 2 inches off my stomach, and I didn’t do anything else differently!’”

Notice how we mention something that’s bound to provoke curiosity, and then we tell the reader they will find out all about it… tomorrow.

3. Cliff Hanger P.S.

This is perhaps one of the most commonly used techniques for creating an open loop. It’s easy to do and keeps you on the minds of your readers long after they close your email.

You simply tack on a P.S. with a teaser for whatever you’re going to share with them tomorrow, like this:

“PS: Did you ever hear about the guy who decided to tie balloons to a lawn chair, to see if he could fly?

He did, with unexpected and totally scary results. In fact, he even scared the heck out of an airline pilot at 30,000 feet!

See you then!”

It’s easy to create open loops in your emails.

And don’t stop there. You can place open loops everywhere. For example, at the end of a blogpost, in your videos and so forth.

It’s a great way to get people to read several posts instead of just one, or to watch several videos.

You just keep ‘open looping’ them, and they keep clicking to satisfy their curiosity.

It works almost like magic.

Sorry, But You’re Too Late

It’s a fact that the vast majority of the great online marketing ideas have already been thought of and executed.

Do you really think you’re going to invent the next greatest thing?

Maybe the social media platform that puts Facebook in its grave?

Or the marketing course that makes everyone else throw up their hands and go home?

Or maybe the dating app that makes all the other ones shut down?

Nope.

Sorry, but the odds of that are about as good as getting hit by lightning twice.

Mind you, I’m not saying it couldn’t happen. I’m just saying it’s not likely.

But here’s the good news – you don’t have to invent something radically new that changes the world as we know it.

You don’t even have to have an idea no one else has thought of before.

The smart marketer knows that you can take the best ideas out there and re-use them to make them new again.

Now before you get in a tizzy, let me say this: It’s not unethical to repackage information or use someone else’s marketing techniques, as long as you change it.

Obviously you’re not going to just rip something off and do exactly what’s been done, or use exactly the same copy, the same product, etc.

No sir. You’re not going to rip anybody off.

But the fact is, the best ideas have already been used. But there is no reason why you can’t make them your own.

Walk into a bookstore, go to the non-fiction section and you will find hundreds of books that have basically the same information as thousands of books that came before them.

Yet these books are selling.

Why? Because the authors put their own unique spin on the information.

Let me use a cake recipe to illustrate: Let’s say you want to sell your own cake recipe. Are you going to start with a whole new list of ingredients that no one has ever put in a cake before?

For example, “To bake this cake, you’ll need 2 cups of chopped chicken, a package of onion soup, 6 fresh catnip leaves, one half cup of coffee, 12 dill pickles, 2 boiled eggs, a pound of potato peels…”

You get the idea.

Of course you’re going to start with flour, sugar, butter, baking soda or baking powder, etc.

You’re going to use the exact same basic ingredients that a million chefs and cooks have used before you.

But you’re going to put your own twist on your recipe.

Maybe you add maraschino cherries and cinnamon. Or peppermint extract and dark chocolate. Or blueberries and lemon juice.

It’s still a cake recipe, and it’s not all that different from other cake recipes, except that you put your own twist on it.

Stop trying to come up with a world-shattering idea and simply look around at what’s working and what resonates with you.

Take that information and make it your own.

And then teach what you learned.

It’s so simple, and you don’t need an amazing idea.

Now here’s where a lot of people get bogged down – they think it’s unethical to take information they got elsewhere and make it their own.

So let’s put some context on this…

You go to college for 4 years. For this privilege, you pay a great deal of money. Professors and textbooks teach you a whole lot of knowledge that THEY DID NOT THINK OF FIRST.

That’s right – it’s what you might call regurgitated info, in that other people discovered it, came up with it and so forth.

But they are getting paid to teach it to you anyway.

Then what happens?

You go out and get a job, where you use this same information. And you get PAID for it, too.

So now then, here’s your question: How is this any different from taking information that’s already available, putting your own unique spin on it, and selling that same information?

You are doing the same thing the professors and the college are doing. And you’re doing the same thing anyone who gets a job and uses this info in their job is doing.

You’re just doing it online.

Now then – feel better?

Good.

Because for many of you, I have just removed your very last excuse for not making your own product.

Assuming you already have your niche picked out, go find your very favorite products in that niche. Study them. Learn all you can. Put the information to work in your business or your life.

And then make your own product with your own unique personality and skill set.

I know you can make it a success, and you don’t even have to invent the wheel to do it.