One way to STAND OUT is to TAKE A STAND…
Recently, my good friend Armand Morin took a stand against unethical marketers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. You may know Armand as the mastermind behind all the ‘Generator’ brand software products for Internet Marketers… or for his famous Big Seminar that he’s turned into the most successful Internet Marketing seminar in the world.
All over the net in blogs and ezines the reaction seemed universally positive. He certainly hit a nerve in the Internet Marketing community.
Here’s the email he sent out…
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I’m sharing this with you for a couple reasons.
First, I agree with Armand 110%. Anyone who confuses helping disaster victims with making a profit needs a wake up call (and none too gentle, either). As a list builder, I know the importance of building a list for following up with people who are interested in what you have to offer, but you have to draw a big fat red line where suffering is involved and never, ever cross it. The only thing worse in my mind than the suffering of your fellow humans is trying to profit from it!
Second, let’s take a step back and look at what happens when someone read’s Armand’s email. Those who disagree might unsubscribe from his list… no big deal. These are Armand’s values and anyone who doesn’t agree with him on a subject he’s so passionate about should not be on his list anyway. (So if you’re afraid of alienating people by taking a stand, don’t be.)
Those who DO agree are going to get a window into Armand’s deeper feelings about morality, business ethics, and helping those in need. These days it’s easy to know a thousand people by name and not know a single one of them personally or feel you are connected in any way. When you take a stand like Armand did, people feel like they know you better and that creates a tighter bond. (See, it’s the folks who are going to feel closer to you that you want to focus on… not the few who will leave.)
From a business perspective, we buy from people we know, like and trust. While I know Armand wasn’t sending this email out as a promotion for personal gain (obviously) I would expect that down the road, an unintended consequence of taking a strong moral stand like this on something his subscribers care about will help to deepen his relationship with them so they know they can trust him, perhaps even more than they did before.
Let’s use a different example that I’ll make up…
Say you are concerned about a new law that would require all websites to be registered with the Federal Government and all content approved prior to being able to publish to your site.
Imagine that you are afraid that having to get approval by a government agency for everything from your choice of domain name to what words you upload to your site because you fear it will massively interfere with your business and your First Amendment right to freedom of speech (remember, I’m making this example up, ok?).
If you then write a blog post that captures your passionate feelings about this proposed law and you rally support for opposition and word of your blog post is spread far and wide in your niche, driving tons of people to read and comment on your posting… you can imagine that you’d have a great opportunity for a lot of exposure to people who had never heard of you before.
And, if you have an opt in form visible on your blog, for example, they might chose to join your list if they like your post enough (though I would not put the article ‘behind’ an opt in form where they had to opt in to read it… keep it voluntary).
At a minimum, if you sent out an email to your list, your subscribers would know what you stand for and they would connect with you at a deeper level perhaps.
In other words, you stand out in their mind and you’ve made a human connection.
The result?
Next time you promoted something they were interested in, they might very well be more inclined to buy because they feel they know you and are less resistant because they trust you.
My point is, if you find an opportunity to take a stand about something, do it.
Write to your subscribers or write an article or a blog post and let them know how you feel. I’d make sure you had your facts straight and be careful about directly insulting anyone, even if you are ‘right’ because that kind of thing can backfire on you and harm your reputation or land you in court.
In fact, I want to make sure I’m clear on this… taking a stand isn’t the same thing as picking a fight with someone or getting into one of those forum cat fights. I’d suggest taking a stand about something were you can help people or make folks aware about something, as Armand did. You might praise someone or an organization doing some real good in the world. Or you might acknowledge some help you’ve received and credit someone or their business.
Make sure you clearly explain what you are saying and back up any statements with facts or examples people can see to help them decide whether they agree with you or not. It really helps if what you are taking a stand on relates to the topic your subscribers want to hear from you about… as Armand did by talking about ’scumbag marketers’ to a list of marketers (notice he didn’t name names).
And of course, it helps if you actually are ‘helpful’ as Armand was by including some links at the bottom of his email where you could go to make legitimate donations to victims of Hurricane Katrina. If he hadn’t have done that, he’d just have been bitching without offering an alternative.
The bottom line goal when you take a stand like this is to let people know about something in a way that makes your opinion clearly known with the intention of helping people or a cause in some way. As a side benefit, you’ll help yourself stand out as a three dimensional person which will help people become aware of you and your business in a ‘non-marketing’ way.
So give it a try. Sure, some people may be offended or even hate you. Some will learn to like or even admire you… but at least you won’t be ignored like everyone else who didn’t take a stand.
Craig Perrine
P.S. By the way… in my next post I’m going to tell you about my very favorite and most powerful opportunity to get your business to stand out and get a ton of free, targeted traffic eager to buy what you have to sell. This one thing has put six figures in my pocket (and it keeps on getting better) so watch for my next post because it could literally change the direction of your business forever.