Unbelievable "JV" email

Tina,

Paul actually did this a couple of months back in his ezine.

In a nutshell (from what I remember)

• Don't be presumptious
• Show respect
• Show you have researched the marketer and his/her field of expertise
• Give the marketer a concrete and beneficial "reason why" - an irresistible offer
• Demonstrate that you have something to bring to the table - you're not just after a free ride
• Don't highlight money to be made. Highlight the benefit to their list
• In this particular case, spell the word "Myers" correctly

Martin

Tina, That's one of the reasons I picked the book I did as a prize. Well, that and the fact that this guy is missing exactly those points...


Paul

Paul,

Unreal.

Although, I suppose, in its own mind, a flea might believe it's having a JV with the dog




Frank

Garrie,

PM'd. Just in case you were serious. (I assume very little when my brain is in shock.)

I need to go take an aspirin.


Paul

If I remember correctly Paul's class does not start until June ..lol Last time I heard there was 4 or 5 people that was going to be in the class.. Looks like Paul just found another one with that email..lol

James

That's absolutely Hilarious Paul! The guy's got some pretty big cajones, that's for sure. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be blessed with a brain that's even half the size...

Cheers to being completely and utterly oblivious!D

He's also likely gone to a forum (this one?), asked how to make a product when he doesn't know what to do - and been advised "just ask some good marketers to let you interview them."

At least he's put a unique twist on it....odd, but unique.

kay

With those resources he can create separate offers for each interviewee.

Each interview can be transcribed into a bonus for purchasing the product. He can also write a short sales letter promoting the interview along with the product. The interview can contain useful information on how to use the product, features, how it's best used, and other exclusive information.

In order for the list to get access to the bonus interview they have to purchase the product through an affiliate link on his site.

He can get a small fixed commission from the sales of the product, and both sides win because the interviewee will get better conversions from recommending a product with this unique bonus.

Guys, how is anybody supposed to concentrate on work when there is such an interesting thread lurking in the forum?

If this guy is able to put up a decently looking web site (or able to pay for it), he might also be able to produce good-quality videos, small scripts etc. As offering to write something for Paul is ridiculous, maybe offering to do some video, audio or some small programming stuff would do the trick?

In any case, it might be a wise move on his part to approach one other marketer at a time. Once the first person has agreed to a JV, I guess it'd be much easier to convince other people, too.

As for a JV with Paul: Paul values his list very much. Maybe he could offer to produce something that Paul could give away to his list? Something related to Paul's other products or to things he was recently publishing in his newsletter?

Maybe take a particular aspect of "Need To Know". Do an in-depth interview with Paul about this aspect (audio or video, with transcript). Depending on the topic, this guy could also produce another video showing step-by-step how to do some technical stuff with relevance to this problem, or some small script which would help with the aspect in question.

Then, he could add a small and unobtrusive subscription link to his own sign-up page (and of course links to Paul's stuff where appropriate). Paul could give the bundle to his list, and maybe they could agree that parts of it could be used for marketing purposes, in a newsletter or in this guy's blog.

If the stuff is well done, I'd suppose that quite a few people would sign up to his newsletter just from the included links.

Paul, this might be attractive to you as you would (with very little effort) get a product for your list that is very specifically tailored to you. It would elaborate a particular point that you care about and give more in-depth information to your list. At the same time, if it was connected to one of your products on sale, it might convince some members of your list who had not already done so to purchase the original product in question. And you would not have to send your subscribers to somebody else's blog.

In a second step, this guy could suggest the same thing e.g. to Paul Hancox. Do an interview about split testing and some video which shows people how to set up an easy split test. Include a small link with his opt-in information. Proceed from there...

Btw, Paul, I did not thank you above for offering prizes, but for turning such an uninspiring email into such a wonderful and inspiring thread. And thanks to everybody for making it to one of the best threads I've seen here for a while!

milkyway

Dere Mistur Meyars,

I is knowed you for a good numbor of yers now and I bought a bunch of yore stuf.

Sence we is such gud buddies and i is direcly sponsible fer your oppulunt lifestile i think you shud borrow me one off yr lists so i culd make some money to.

since yore a sorta buzy feller i dont want to empoze on you a bunch so on of yore small lists would be fine to borry. if you will also include a five-hunnert word testimonial abuot what a giood guy i am and anything i sel will make mone fer someone i'd appreeshuate yr doing so.

Sensear warm regrds,

Yr pal,

elmer

Okay. I took the weekend (mostly) off. Let's re-start this.

I did a series on this topic that was 15 pages long. I kind of suspect that a group this smart could come up with at least as many ideas as I did on my own.

Some questions to ask to see if we can come up with more ways this guy could make the deal attractive:

How could he narrow the focus?

How could he broaden the focus?

What could he add to the site before sending these requests out that would make it more credible/interesting?

What service could he develop quickly that might make for an attractive exchange?

How could he better target the approach to each prospective partner?

How could John's concept of the guy as a broker be expanded or focused?

What could he offer that would be attractive to my subscribers? (Big, important question.)

What could he ask for instead of interviews, and what could he offer in return?


Paul

Okay. Seems to have lost a little steam. Here's an example idea:

Suppose we narrow the focus a bit. What do you think he could offer if he signed up for these folks' lists and did something that benefitted them in advance? For example... Reviewing their newsletters or other content?

If he does honest reviews, whose help will he be likely to get, and what will that mean to him?


Paul

Back again with some more ideas. I'm not sure how useful they are, so feedback would be appreciated...

He could broaden the focus by taking a step back from IM and approaching potential partners in related areas: General marketing, website programming, technical stuff,... If chosen well, this would make up for a nice package of related content.

He could add as much relevant content to the side as possible (blog entries, articles, etc.), in combination with links to the products/newsletters of the potential JV partners, where appropriate. Or comment on their blogs or newsletters. Or include the free reports that a lot of people give away for redistribution with links to their sites included.

Or he could add content that has nothing to do with the JV partners, but would be helpful to their subscribers. Link lists to relevant resources. A list of helpful blogs in this market. A collection of useful "how to" videos available for free.

He could add a service to the site like a survey whose result is relevant to more than one of his potential JV partners (and then give the results to everybody who sends subscribers to him).

You mean, other than including their names into the emails?

The people he approaches probably have a lot more contacts in IM than he himself. So to figure out whom they don't know and to bring people together based on that is probably hopeless -- again, unless he tries to connect people from related areas. Programmers, designers, copywriters, ...

I wonder if it would make sense to offer sort of an "expert panel" concerning a specific question where some experts would give their opinion/share tricks/discuss the matter (whatever is appropriate to the topic). Where they could send their subscribers to and of course have links to their own stuff.

If the more experienced people think that some of this is not feasible or plain crap, please let me know...

milkyway

Some really good stuff going on here. I'd like to see some folks expand on some of the ideas presentd. How would you improve them or add to them to make them even better?

I'd also like to expand a bit on the idea I posted about doing a newsletter review site. There are a number of things that could make that an effective idea, the most important being that it's a viable model even if no-one ever JV'd with the guy.

If you do honest reviews, you're going to point out the good and bad points of any product, including telling people who will and won't benefit from it. Some products are very good, when looked at for one audience, and worthless for another group.

Reviewing newsletters this way does a few things. First, it gives you practice, and lets you stay focused and objective. By including links to the subscription page for any publication you see as being useful for any group, you send those people subscribers, or at least make the attempt.

You can start such a review site without needing any budget beyond hosting, and you can get used to the idea of giving negative or mixed reviews, which will help you to stay objective when you get to reviewing products.

Add a link to a page for people to submit publications or products for review, along with your terms for doing them. When people approach you to review their offerings, the dynamic is very different than if you go to them.

When you've reviewed a publication, notify the publisher, whether it's a completely positive review, a mixed one, or a negative one. Some folks may want to avoid posting completely negative reviews, which is understandable. If something is that bad, you may want to not mention it at all. If that's the case, you might want to say so in your terms, to make it clear that you're not guaranteeing anyone anything.

If a review is mostly positive, you will find some of the publishers offering you their products to review. In most cases, these will be as good as the publications, if not better. And they'll usually have affiliate programs.

If you want to have some fun, have a script made or installed that visitors can use to vote on a publication after you've reviewed it. There's a good reason for publishers to send people to your site, yes? Assuming, of course, that you handle the reviews with sufficient consistency and honesty that people trust you to be telling the truth as you see it.

Doesn't take long to start looking like an authority site with this approach, does it? That's what we in the trade call "leverage."

That gives you something to offer. In fact, before you approach anyone, you've done them the favors of reviewing their site, newsletter and/or products, given them a link, and sent them subscribers or customers. And, if you've got somewhere for your visitors to sign up, you've got a list of people wanting to hear from you.

If you do really effective reviews, and promote the site properly, the products you recommend will sell, making you an in-demand affiliate.

You now have something to bring to the table.

A very useful part of this is that, assuming you stick to the rule about honest reviews, you are operating as an equal, from a position of mutual respect. And you've demonstrated that you actually know something about the person you're approaching.

You can do the same thing in any niche. You may need to start with a combination of email and web-based publications or sites, depending on how much content is available, but this model is very flexible.


Paul