Kenneth from LeapsLeap.com posted an interesting article about how Ewen Chia added a twist to the traditional method of selling seminars via previews. It’s a very creative way of using online advertising strategies to build offline businesses.

This is in fact very similar to the way that I have used online advertising to build my own list by offering free 7 Great Lies of MLM e-Book and 7 Hard Facts of InterNETwork Marketing e-Course, and then using the opt-in list to build my offline network marketing business.

Committed to Your Freedom,
Willy Lim

The Financially Free Advisor
Bridging InterNET to Network Marketing in Asia

Effective Online Advertising Strategy

Recently, Ewen Chia advertised with us again in one of our advertising channels. He was trying to promote one of his offline seminars in Singapore.

Whenever Ewen advertises, there is something we can learn.

In Singapore, most seminar organizers sell their seminars via free previews. I believe this method of selling was copied from the US. The idea is to give you a 1-2 hour free seminar which will then upsell you with a $1000+ full seminar. This method works.

Of all the seminar organizers who advertise with us, almost all of them advertise their free seminars directly. That means they advertise a sales page that tells you about their free seminar, how you can benefit and how you can register for free.

This method of advertising is direct and you get attendance to your free seminar immediately. But it’s a short term strategy.

Guess what’s the long term strategy?

It is to put list building as the first priority.

Here is what Ewen did - Instead of advertising a free seminar, he advertised to give away an ebook that he is currently selling in the market for $19.90. It’s a no brainer, even I opt-in to download the ebook!

And here is the smart trick - As a ‘bonus’, those who opt-in are entitled to attend a free seminar by him!

Can you see how powerful this strategy is?

If you simply promote a free seminar, people will check their schedule and if they can’t make it on that day, they will not sign up. On the contrary, if you give away an ebook that you are currently selling in the market, many people will opt in to your list to download the ebook. At the same time, they know that they have the privilege to attend your seminar for free. If they can’t make it this time, you can always follow up with them for your next seminar.

Building a list is no longer a secret. But when it comes to paid advertising, most people still tend to sell the actual product directly instead of giving away something of value to build a list. I believe that’s because most people have the mentality of “if I pay to advertise, I want to make sure that I earn back the fee.”

This mentality is not wrong. But there are smarter ways to do it.

Like what Ewen has done, instead of selling the product directly, you can give an irresistible offer to entice people to opt-in. Once they opt-in, I rephrase, immediately after they opt-in, you can show them whatever offer that you want to sell to them. This way, you can build a list and make sales at the same time.

An important thing to note in this strategy is that you must present your offer immediately after your prospects opt-in, not via autoresponder or after a day or two. This is because if people bother to opt-in, you have already gotten their full attention. You want to continue showing them your offer when they are still with you. Once they divert their attention to some other things, it will be harder to sell to them again.

To make sure that you grab the concept behind this strategy, here’s the flowchart:

Give an irresistible offer > Opt-in > Once prospects opt-in, show them your offer (it can be an affiliate product you’re selling, a network marketing opportunity, a seminar you’re promoting or your own product) > Follow up

If you put list building as your first priority whenever you advertise, your list will eventually grow and when that happens, you can do traffic exchange with other list owners and grow your list even bigger.

Look at your advertising campaigns today and ask yourself if you are putting list building as the first priority. If you are not, you may want to re-think your strategy.

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