The Maverick Marketer Blog

So the other day I invited you on short notice to listen to Noah St. John interview me and Joe Vitale about our new book, "Inspired Marketing".

I’ve gotten a ton of emails from folks who missed the call or couldn’t listen the whole time.

Great news…

Noah’s already got the call available to hear or download (and you don’t have to opt in or anything - gotta talk to Noah about his missed list building opportunities, lol).

Why should you listen in?

Joe and I answered questions that I know pretty much everyone starting or running a business wrestle with.

For example… do you have a day job and want to find a way to get started in a business of your own?

Do you wonder how to come up with products and services that people will want to buy (so your business can succeed!)?

Do you want to feel happy, satisfied, inspired or do you want to stress out, worry and feel like you’re constantly ’selling’?

These are just some of the submitted questions that Joe and I answered… and the feedback from folks who listened to the call is that it rocked.

Nuff said.

Put it on your iPod, mp3 player or listen to it online… as you wish.

The audio is at: http://www.NoahandJoe.com

I’ve got more calls and webinars coming up… and even a TV show next week to tell you about so ’stay tuned’

Craig

If you have kids who watch Disney then you most likely have been Hannahtized.

Hannah Montana is Disney’s uber-popular sensation that not only fills the space left by Hillary Duff but appears to be doing so with greater success.

It’s probably not fair to compare Britney Spears with Hannah Montana as she was with Disney as a little girl… but there is a definite lesson that is being taught about brand management and it seems to be working brilliantly.

I’m no pop music historian but I can tell you from watching the career arcs of girls like Debbie Gibson and Tiffany in the 80’s and Britney these last few years and of course Hillary Duff and now Hannah, there is a real problem for teen girl pop stars to transition to ‘grown up’ star status without imploding.

(I almost said ‘adult’ star status… but thought better of it)

Take Britney for example… she was larger than life… but her audience was young girls.

When she became a young woman and introduced overt sexuality into her act it went over pretty much like a lead baloon with parents and the younger girls.

She went straight from ‘virgin’ to her audience to ’slutty’ and in our culture, that’s a tough transition, however unfair.

Even Madonna struggled with this issue when she released her controvertial book, SEX, which to my mind she never really recovered from fully.

While Madonna survived and reinvented herself several times, the jury is definitely still out on whether Britney will revive her career and brand.

Problem for Britney was, the ‘grown ups’ saw her as ‘kids music’ and instead of finding an audience she seemed to devolve into a deeper and deeper downward spiral as she integrated marriage, kids, and fame into her poorly ‘rebranded’ career.

I don’t know the whole story on Hillary Duff… just the snippet that she used to be with Disney shows and did several movies… and then left over contractual disagreements (My understanding is that her parents wanted a better deal and Disney was not playing ball).

She wisely hasn’t followed the Britney model of branding either, but then again, I don’t see much buzz about her these days either.

Ok… so enter Hannah Montana… or, uh, Miley Cyrus… who plays Hannah both on stage and in the hit television show.

What Disney has done wonderfully is blend fiction with reality.

Miley plays a girl in her TV show who leads a dual life… as a rock star Hannah and her secret real identity as herself Mylie ‘Stewart’ in real life within the show.

The show is about the tension and triumphs surrounding living two lives.

She’s a pop icon and has a Disney show that is probably their top program.

Here’s where it gets interesting… Miley also peforms as Hannah in REAL life at concerts… and has several hit songs on the radio as Miley Cyrus.

So what?

So… I bet you that this is not just clever marketing but is also forward thinking brand management, too.

Hannah is branded to the tween and teen market… and Miley is my bet going to evolve as a star in her own right beyond the teen sensation of Hannah.

Truly the best of ‘both worlds’.

Like I said, I’m not a ‘teen pop’ expert, but from the consumer and spectator point of view, and as a parent of ‘fans’, this is what appears to be happening and I bet I’m not far off.

What’s amazing is that both brands are the same person and coexisting at the same time… and apparently not confusing the marketplace.

Why?

Because the fans recognize them as distinct characters.

Google their sites and check out how Disney is marketing to the teens and building their list online.

Just thought I would post about this because so much of our marketing online is based on personality and the character we project to our market.

It’s worth watching the culture and the media to learn what works and doesn’t work and why.

The lesson from the teen pop sensations is that it is very tricky to change your branding… and stay true to who you are (especially when you add in age demographics and sexual mores into the mix).

It’s especially rough to consider that child stars inevitably age and have to find something beyond cuteness to build their careers on when they age themselves out of their market.

I’ve said many times before that every character has an Achilles Heel.

If you are a teen girl known for being innocent and girlish… it’s gonna be tough to add in red hot sexuality into your brand because it is 180 degrees opposite from what the market expects… (or parents will accept for their kids to watch!).

Addmittely, the examples I’m using here also happens to involve the bizarre and contradictory maze of gender role expectations in American culture that women (and men) navigate every day. It’s the whole ‘virgin or whore’ syndrome… and I’ll leave that up to the shrinks and sociologists to figure out.

Make no mistake, men can screw up their brands, too, though the hot button issues are not as much sex but deviant behavior and violence toward women.

For example, if you are a male star, like say ‘Peewee Herman’, probably best not to get caught in, uh, compromising situations.

Or if you are a male sex symbol like Jean Claude Van Damme, probably better not to become known for smacking women around.

So, to the extent that you are conciously creating a brand or character for yourself in your marketing, give some thought to how you will evolve or stay true to that brand in the future.

Markets shift and often have a life cycle of their own so it’s important to pick elements in your brand that match with a core appeal your market will always have.

In Internet marketing, for example, you may want to be careful branding yourself on ‘black hat’ techniques to getting traffic or on short term strategies or tactics that won’t stand test of time. Many have come and gone in our niche when their 15 minutes of fame and usefulness went away and they didn’t reinvent themselves.

My suggestion is to study enduring brands… like Oprah, Mercedes, Rush Limbaugh, CNN, Budweiser, and see how they are managed and kept ‘fresh’ and profitable.

Be objective… detach yourself from how YOU feel personally about brands, just notice which ones have stood the test of time.

And, if you have Hannah Montana coming out your ears because it is on TV every time your kids watch it… watch between the lines as a marketer and see what some pretty savvy folks are doing behind the scenes.

I sure hope they got it right this time and have built a brand that talented young girl can take into her future.

- Craig

P.S. I know somebody is going to email me about the evils of television and that kids should be playing with wooden blocks instead… so for the record, my kids draw, read, play outside, and have an active imagination and love nature… and they own wooden blocks, too Both my younger boys favorite pass time is searching for and collecting sticks and rocks!

 

I got a flood of emails after my last minute email last week for the Warrior Weekend I spoke at… so let me follow up on that.

It was everthing I’d hoped and more… Eric Louviere and his team put on a great event and raised good money for the Austism charity.

Very cool.

I took some heat from folks who couldn’t be there and I do apologize for the short notice.

The good news is that I got to meet everyone who could get there and I autographed copies of my new book Inspired Marketing until I ran out… so I’ll have to bring more next time

I could take a whole blog post to tell you about the great people I connected with and the amazing breakthrough I had on a project I’m working on… but I’ll have to save that for another post or this will get too long (that’s how cool the people were that I got to connect with).

One of the takeaways from the event came from Willie Crawford’s talk about joint ventures.

His number one recommendation for establishing solid joint venture relationship is to, well, build a real relationship, especially with the ‘bigger names’ in your industry.

I couldn’t agree more!

I continually get emails from folks that are clearly form templates touting how much money I’ll make if I just pimp their product to my list.

Problem is, I don’t know who they are and it’s clear they don’t know me very well either.

I never promote anything I haven’t personally had success with and while I want to help the well meaning candidates who approach me, there simply isn’t enough time for me to investigate every opportunity so these kind of emails just get deleted.

Unfortunately a lot of the advice in ‘how to joint venture’ products out there seems to encourage this blind shot gun approach.

Internet marketing is a very isolated niche and it’s easy to get lost going down the wrong path like that.

What does work?

Meeting people in person and connecting in the ‘real world’.

Here’s a synchronistic example.

I met Eric Louviere as an attendee a year ago at an event I spoke at.

I was with a couple of the other speakers in the hotel bar on the Friday night of the event (don’t ask me why I remember that) and he was literally the ONLY attendee there.

Begin mini-rant…

Why more attendees don’t make an effort to hang out after hours with speakers and other attendees at the hotel I’ll never understand!

That’s where connections are made!!!

When you are at an event with fellow Internet marketers who have joint venture potential, not to mention hard won knowledge that can seriously speed up your path to profits online… why not make the most of every minute?

You don’t have to have a drink or stay up till all hours… but do stop by and visit next time you are at an event, ok?

I had to get that off my chest…

Anyway, back to Eric’s cool success story.

In the bar that night he was listening in to our conversation and decided to join in… and he had the good sense to buy me a scotch when mine ran out inexplicably

I remember talking with Eric and he said at his event this weekend that it made a big impact on what happened in the months that followed.

Funny thing is, I don’t recall saying anything particurally brilliant… but I do remember part of our conversation was about what I just ranted about.

And I remember telling Eric that he really stood out and impressed me by putting in the time and effort to network and pick the brains of the speakers in the bar.

Turns out… Eric was as impressive as he appeared.

After the event he took action, started a business that is well into the six figures now and had the further sense to leave his cushy carreer to become a full time entrepreneur.

So in February of this year he contacted me and asked me to speak at his event… because I remembered him favorably it was a no brainer to take the time to consider it… after a few minutes I realized it was a good fit.

I know he has relationships with the other speakers at his event… including Marlon Sanders, Dr. Mike Woo Ming and many that weren’t there, like Mike Filsaime.

If you’ve been involved in Internet marketing for more than a month or so you probably recognize all those names… and if you don’t, let me just say they are highly successful great guys, and hard to get a hold of… but within a year from getting started Eric pulled these folks and other greats like Willie Crawford into one place and hit it out of the park with his first event.

Not bad.

If you missed the Warrior Event, I apologize as I did not give you much notice… if the DVD’s come out I’ll be sure to tell you about it.

Now, I’ve been around this industry since 2003 or so actively and in that time I’ve met just about anyone you can name and have built a fun and profitable circle of friends.

Want to know where I met 90% of them?

Big Seminar… which is Armand Morin’s premier event that is now being held for the ELEVENTH time next weekend.

I’m not speaking there but I did a few years ago… in fact, I’ve been to every one except the first one.

Why?

Here’s my top three reasons…

1) If you want to know what is working NOW online (instead of being behind the curve all the time) you’ll hear about it first from the A List speakers Armand attracts.

2) It’s the one place I can count on reconnecting with my friends in this industry because they all go time after time…

3) Each time I have gone, I met a NEW friend and or business partner that has been invaluable. I’ve watched many go from being in the audience to being on stage, like Joel Comm and way to many to list here.

See, I follow my own advice and seek new joint ventures by meeting people in person.

If you’ve been to a Big Seminar already you know all this and no doubt have received emails from Armand about this one.

But if you have never been, let me encourage you in no uncertain terms to attend on the 25th through 27th of April.

(Full details are at: www.maverickmarketer.com/big)

There is a training call tonight if you can attend, go check it out.. and if you can’t make it live on the call, by getting on the list you’ll be notified of the replay times.

Again, if this is your first time attending Big Seminar, go to this link and check out what Armand’s got in store for you this time.

Get your ticket right away and then email me at craig -at- maverickmarketer.com because I’ll arrange to sit down with you there and help you get the most out of the event and some other goodies, too.

I’ll help you determine who of my contacts would be good for you to meet and open any doors I can.

Even if you don’t have a clue what you want to do online I’d suggest you attend if you can because you’ll get a quick 72 hour orientation on what’s working now.

In my experience, over 60% of the audience is new to Internet marketing… and what’s really cool is that many in the audience are as or more successful than the heavy hitters on stage.

I connected with a guy last time who just did a product launch in a niche for over 2 million dollars (which reminds me I need to follow up with him ).

If you are a long time reader of mine you’ll know how strongly I endorse Armand Morin and his products and seminars… and if you are new to all this, just go check out the site because what you will see says it all.

At the Big Seminar 11 website you’ll see the first video salesletter of it’s kind… proof enough that Armand is on the cutting edge of what’s working online today.

After you’ve checked out the page and if you are serious about going for the first time, email me at craig at maverickmarketer.com with any questions you have.

If this is a good fit for you right now I’d like to see you there!

Oh, and if you go there and get on the list, you’ll get notified about tonight’s call details for Armand’s final free training call before the seminar next weekend.

See you there!

- Craig