I received an email from a well-known figure – or, more accurately from the headquarters of a well-known figure – and it got me thinking about the RIGHT way to build a team.

The email started off on the right foot, sortof, with a subject line that said “Unacceptable Affiliate Advertising Methods.” We won’t tell you who it was from…so we’ll use the name “Joe Shlabotnik.”

It has been brought to my attention that some affiliates are using unacceptable advertising methods to promote my products.

The incident I’m referring to was when an Affiliate used a picture of a well known author along with a picture of his book in a PPC ad driving people to a training webinar with Mr. Shlabotnik.

Interestingly enough, I knew the exact thing to which Joe Shlabotnik was referring: an ad on Facebook from a week earlier. It looked a lot like this:

Did they ask him first?

It annoyed me at least a little – since I’m a big fan of Tim Ferriss, the author whose image was being used.

But what was even more interesting here was the chain of events leading to this email. In fact, it went something like this:

1. Dave sees PPC ad.
2. Dave signs up for webinar from advertiser.
3. Dave listens to first few minutes of webinar, throws up a little in his mouth when watching Joe Shlabotnik talk about his 14,000 square-foot house.
4. Dave exits the webinar, only to receive a few more emails from Shlabotnik Worldwide.
5. Dave opts out of future emails from Shlabotnik.

All this happened, mind you, before I got the scolding email from Joe Shlabotnik himself.

This, Gentle Readers, is no way to build a team.

What’s the takeaway here? A couple things:

1. Guard Your Brand Carefully

Joe Shlabotnik himself told us he created so many techniques that are being used by Internet Marketers that we’re probably using them right now and don’t even know it. So why does he need so many Affiliate Marketers to help make things happen for him?

In this case, he probably decided that he needed to “Funnel” us all through his marketing program, casting such a wide, uh, funnel that it was a pure numbers game. Get 1,000,000 eyeballs and even if you convert at a tiny tiny number (let’s say 0.1%) you still have 1000 paying customers.

But at what price? Did the guy or gal who was sending out the offensive emails really need them to draw eyeballs to a marketer so successful he practically invented Internet Marketing?

2. Choose Your Affiliates Carefully

We are in the middle of our Affiliate Recruitment campaign for 12 Minute Marketing right now, and I can tell you this: we are turning some people down. Once you get too big, you lose control of who is saying what about you – and that may have been the case with Mr. Shlabotnik.

Or, it may not matter to him – it may be more important to grow a big team and have no control over it. Don’t know, but that’s no the way we plan on doing it.

3. Have a Moral Compass

And use it. Whether or not this was authorized by Mr. Shlabotnik – and maybe it was – it’s definitely toeing the line.

In this case, using someone else’s image to sell your own product? Not cool.

What’s most interesting here?

Shlabotnik doesn’t need to use another author’s image to get ahead.

Learn from this, fellow marketers. Guard your brand carefully, Choose your affiliates carefully, and have a moral compass. Please.

The Legacy of Steve Jobs is without question. But the comeback from failure – lost in all of the discussion of product development success – is a book we can all take a page from.

When Steve Jobs passed away yesterday, the world mourned a titan of industry – and, when the San Francisco Chronicle’s article on Jobs’ life mentioned his name in the same sentence as “Ford, Edison and Disney,” well, you have no argument here.

Read the article from the Chronicle Here: SF Gate Link.

His successes were much ballyhooed, and rightly so; when people like President Obama and Mark Zuckerberg are mourning your loss, your legacy is safe.

Zuck Status Oct 5

NeXT

The NeXT Computer was a high-end workstation that, frankly, didn’t catch fire. At a cost of $6500, it was too expensive for a world that, in the late 80s and early 90s, didn’t have the concept of the office computer fully ingrained into the culture.

Didn't work like a charm

As a consumer product, it failed.

We’re all going to fail. It’s what comes next that’s important.

Jobs once said that “getting fired from Apple was the best thing that happened to me.” The firing led to the launch of NeXT, which, while not a commercial success, did have a good chunk of infrastructure that was trailblazing.  In fact, the intellectual property at NeXT was valuable enough to get the company bought by Apple Computers in 1996. (Another Wikipedia entry here.)

Turns out there wasn’t much of a market for the computer itself – 50,000 units were sold. But the operating system served as the precursor to Apple’s OS.

Failure Is an Option.

Failure to Learn From Failure Is NOT an Option.

We’re all going to get dealt cards in life. Businesses rise and fall. Promotions come and then the new boss comes in and they’re meaningless. Your startup will be groundbreaking but it won’t make you money.

You may not be as gifted and brilliant as Steve Jobs, you may not give a rip about computers or tech or iPhones or what have you.

Whether you sing on stage or sweep up after the performance, you’re going to screw up – and you’re going to get the chance to learn from the screwups.

Fail miserably then ask…

What’s NeXT For You?

Sponsored Hashtag

Ready to take your marketing viral? All you need is a tweet…

Actually, the Tweet is just the beginning. You probably need a few thousand other things.

Behold: Wendy’s, the American Burger Chain, launches new burgers today.

Here’s a video where Wendy herself explains the new burger.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2U4cR2c20s

Now, before you say “that’s cool” or “that’s lame” or “I don’t eat meat,” you probably need a little more background. Like what you’ll find in this video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oFxSKrMv5Q

If you weren’t alive way back when the very first Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” ad aired (January 10, 1984, starring Clara Peller), you probably think the guy in this commercial is just wearing an ironic throwback T-shirt of some sort. But it was huge, an amazing cultural meme (before the word “meme” really meant anything), and it gave rise to all sorts of pop culture awesomeness.

So…why NOT? Seriously, if you’re Wendy’s and you can bring a hefty dose of nostalgia, why wouldn’t you?

Photo by alanwhitaker, used with CC License

In fact, this campaign is borderline brilliant, and definitely meme-worthy, for a couple reasons.

1. “Engagement” at the point of purchase is what it’s all about. Right?

By resurrecting an old campaign and breathing new life into it, imagine the types of responses Wendy’s front-line employees will get at the store when someone buys this new, beefier burger.

“Here’s the beef!”

“You call this beefy?”

“Your tweets are dumb.”

The immediate ROI from this campaign isn’t going to be evident. You need to give this time -- people need to try the new, beefier, jucier burgers before deciding to come back again. Or not.

But the engagement here is all about the discussion…at the point of purchase…about the actual product. Good use of dollars. But why else is this brilliant?

2. The “Where’s the Beef” Throwback doesn’t show the original commercial!

I’ve got to say that might be the coolest part of this campaign. You have to start looking for the ad on YouTube -- the commercial with the young man wearing the shirt doesn’t show the Clara Peller commercial at all.

The old ad stands on its own merits -- and the phrase became a catchphrase -- so why grab the actual old commercial? Even more interesting when you visit reason 3:

3. The “I didn’t know that!” Factor.

Yes, Wendy’s was named after Dave Thomas’s daughter, Wendy. So they don’t revisit the old Clara Peller ad, but they do revisit the pig-tailed little Wendy ad -- serving as a means of re-introducing Wendy, Dave’s daughter, AND the new burger. You’re bound to find something you didn’t know: There was an actual Wendy! She was Dave’s daughter! She’s now a spokesperson for Wendy’s!

Even if this is all just common knowledge, you actually have, in this marketer’s opinion, a BETTER throwback: to days where a guy starts a burger joint, names it after his daughter, and focuses in on quality food.

What can we learn here?

Time will tell if this is a breakthrough success, and if the “social” element of this campaign catches fire.

But, if you integrate with old content you have -- “repurpose, repurpose, repurpose” -- and you get “Holistic” with your social media (it’s not just one thing, it’s multi-faceted, etc.)…you have a chance at success.

You DO Have Something To Lose

I’m getting them again. Emails that grab me with subject lines that are misleading as heck. As a marketer, you’re better than that.

Let’s dissect a couple of these.

“You Have Nothing To Lose.”

That was the subject line of a recent email that begged me to take advantage of a coaching program with a guru. It costs me absolutely nothing to do – it is, in the style of the Internet Marketer, “FR.EE.” The calculus behind this, and other emails like it, is that I’m going to take a flier on your event, course, value-added service – and that I won’t think of my time as something I have to spend.

This is a problem. This is not an Empathy Marketing tactic. This is just lame.

See, I don’t know about you, but I choose to invest my time wisely. The reason I have nothing to lose, in your opinion, is because you know what’s on the other side of this offer, and it’ll only take an hour for me to find out.

If I ever fail to take your time seriously as a marketer, you can ignore my message.

What’s sad about this particular message I received is that the guy behind the curtain is probably someone I could learn from. But, because I got flummoxed by the email arrogantly telling me I had nothing to lose, I put the message into the mental circular file.

Let’s take a look at another one:

“Numbers Don’t Lie.”

Oh, don’t they? Peeling back the onion in this particular email and it’s even scarier. “9000 people visit this site every month!” “50 people have qualified for the bonus already!” I’ll agree: Numbers Don’t Lie.

The 9000 people who visited your site every month: are they bots from another country?

The 50 people who qualified for the bonus: what did they do to qualify?

Let’s amend the statement: Numbers Don’t Lie, but you can sure as heck use whatever numbers you want.

How About This? Let’s Take Each Other Seriously

My time is something I take seriously. 3 minutes reading your email from top to bottom are three minutes I’m not there for my wife and my kids.

Truth is something I take seriously, too. Mislead me with numbers that I can EASILY CHECK on the Internet and I’m going to lose respect for you.

We’re all trying to make a living. We’ve all got lives to lead. Take me seriously and I’ll do the same to you.

But Act on What?

We have seen the first deal from Groupin.pk. It. Is. Epic.

Background: Groupin.pk is not to be confused with Groupon. And, even if we have Groupon fatigue in the States, Pakistan is ready for their own Daily Deal Empire.

So we got the note today – after signing up what seems like ages ago and joining the ranks of the 75,000 or so who had signed up in the past 24 hours. (A figure they didn’t verify, but, in the interest of US-Pakistani relations, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.)

Here’s a link to today’s deal. Natasha’s Salon and Day Spa, Islamabad.

So…

Well, let’s start with a few positives:

1. Don’t Know if Pakistan is Ready, But…

I’ll give the Groupin team a few points for starting with as much info as they possibly can. It’s a nail spa, you know what you’ll get, and it sounds like you could actually eat off the floors.

Note to my Pakistani friends: “eat off the floors” means the same as “very clean.” We Americans speak funny.

2. It appears to be a pretty good deal.

At the current exchange rate, you’re getting US$11.80 worth of services for US$3.54. So, factoring in the exchange rate, your 70% savings in Pakistani Rupees equates to 70% in US Dollars.

Note: I realize that should be obvious. But you never know.

3. These are probably the best types of services to try out. Right?

Not an expert on the Daily Deal space – friendly plug for our pals over at DealRadar, who follow this for a living – but it sounds like a good place to test market your offering if you’re Groupin. A spa or salon might be a better hook than a restaurant – plus, getting women on board first is one of the keys to Groupon’s success.

Now, for the negatives.

1. What’s next?

Given their history, we don’t know what the next deal will be. The last Groupin deal was on sugar. They appeared to have some success with it – but whether or not staples work better than destination is something that will remain to be seen.

2. Radio Silence.

We waited for quite awhile to get either a confirmation or a deal sent to our inbox from Groupin. We figured that, since we weren’t in Islamabad, we weren’t going to get anything at all.

So, when today’s deal arrived in our inbox, we were surprised. But what took them so long?

Area 224 will continue to cover this breaking story. Go Groupin!

Photo credit - Mayakamina - CC License

The thinking behind it was rather simple: the stuff can’t be that good for you, and water is a great alternative. So, after what turned out to be very little deliberation, there it was…

No more soda.

Withdrawal? Sure, some. Caffeine wasn’t cut out, so that meant more coffee throughout the day. Water made up for this quite a bit – always having a water bottle or a big cup on the desk can help.

Savings? Heck yes – why “super size” when you can order tap water instead? Why order bottled water, either, when you live in a city whose tap water is 7000 times less expensive than bottled?

Habit-breaking? This might be the toughest – so easy to run to the machine, grab a can out of the fridge, even “switch to diet” because that can’t be bad, either. But it can be done.

What does all this mean for you?

Feature vs. Benefit

Rather than dissing sugary sodas – there are countless nutritionists and food blogs to do that – instead, let’s focus on the concept of “Feature” vs. “Benefit.”

Most of the time, even soda marketers get stuck in the “Feature” department. This beverage features “zero calories.” That beverage features “great cola taste.” They don’t tell you the benefits of zero calories (less of a waistline), they point back to another feature-rich product, and tell you that theirs is similar – but zero calories.

Shiny pop cans are features.

“Naturally sweetened” – feature.

The benefits are almost always subtly – or NOT subtly – communicated in the vein of “Lifestyle.” Drink this and be like the rich athlete. Drink that and become cool like the guys in the commercials.

Are you communicating benefits?

If not, why not?

How will the prospect Benefit from signing on the dotted line with your firm? How will the customer have a better life or a better lifestyle with your product?

Even if you don’t have the marketing budget of the big boys, that’s okay. In fact, that might be even better.

The benefits of a soda-free lifestyle

You will have more money in your pocket.

You will feel better because you are consuming less junk.

You will be able to redirect time and money to pursuits that can add value to your day.

Heck, you’ll contribute to a better world because you’re contributing less cans and bottles to the recycling bins.

Communicating how the world benefits from your unique contribution? That’s uniquely valuable. Tell us how we’ll benefit.

By the way, the launch of 12 Minute Marketing is here. You can redirect some of your soda savings toward becoming a better marketer, in just 12 Minutes a day.

Click here to take advantage of the special offer. And stay hydrated.

This is a brand accident waiting to happen.

Already, as of Sunday Night, March 13, 3800 people “like this.” And, if Instagram can get 1,000,000 users to take normal photos and make them all Polaroid-y and Olde Timey, then, Sealy must figure, why not?

This. Is. Potentially. Bad. News.

For, maybe, forever, the mattress universe has steered clear of stuff like this in their marketing. Sure, if you are IN the mattress business, you probably swap these sorts of one-liners all the time.

AND, we have always advocated TO brands that the brand is out of your hands – especially in this public, social media, app-driven world.

BUT, to equip people with the means to make a joke out of your own brand – to invite them to do so at your expense and, we fear, to dare people to cross the line – which they will, it won’t take long…

This is a brand accident waiting to happen. Agree? Disagree?

Lowbrow marketing is one thing. This, quite another. And a bad idea.

Thanks, quest.com

CEO of Quest Software. Watch the video to get the background, then, after the jump (that makes us sound cool, but we don’t really have a jump here), let’s talk about why this is awesome.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez2MCnE7Apw

Why This Is Awesome…

1. This is a subtle dig.

Really, making fun of a logo because it looks 1992? (And it’s actually from 1987?) Okay, but, do we have better things to do?

Subtly, the CEO (a/k/a my new hero) tells us this: I don’t know what you bloggers do for a living, but we’re so focused on creating a great product that, well, we really don’t care what you think of our logo.

2. “It’s on my surfboard.”

Maybe the greatest line in the whole video -- though the LOL-worthy moment where they show an animated logo is also priceless -- is when Doug Garn shows you his surfboard with the logo on it.

This is the whipsaw effect that video marketers are always looking for; and, in one fell swoop, he took this from “CEO who might be hip” to “this guy has a surfboard, he can’t be a goober.”

And you forgot what we were talking about. Bad logo? Old? Outdated? What? Let’s go surfing!

3. He’ll buy the blogger a cool watch.

Was he digging on the watch that the blogger owns? Maybe. Is he offering to buy a new one for the blogger? Yes.

Did he create a meme-worthy video? Ab-so-lutely.

Thanks, breakthroughlifecoach.org

We have a bone to pick with the “coaching” profession – and anyone else that discounts like crazy.

Yes, that means you, person who sent me the Twitter Direct Message saying how you can help me by coaching me to live my BEST life! Of course, to do that, you’re giving me a link to my FR*EE Coaching Session.

First of all – aside from the fact that you spelled “FR*EE” with an asterisk in it, to get past the spam filters – you’re leading with the wrong thing. Free is not the unique selling proposition here. Discounting your services to get us in the door I understand – but I don’t think you’re doing it correctly.

Might I suggest this approach instead…

1. Make the Free Stuff Standout.

Yeah, we’re back on our high horse about FREE and Paywalls and The Free Line. Start by showing us what you can do, what you propose doing, little and big changes you have helped clients make. White papers, blog posts, newsletters – things of value. Free, sure – but valuable so that the time I invest reading your stuff gets me thinking you might be worth hiring.

2. Don’t Start by Discounting.

Similar to our continuing study of Gilt Groupe vs. Groupon – once you get people (clients) in the door thinking that you have a value of “x,” it’s really tough to get them back in the door at a value of “x divided by 2.”

Note that a Free Assessment or similar tool is great – but don’t call it that. “No Obligation [insert name of tool].”

We once had a session, we were the client, and the coach said this up front: “I want to work with you. Let’s spend the first 15 minutes off the clock, then, if you and I agree that we’re compatible, we can have the next 45 minutes at my regular rate. If not, we’ll part as friends.”

3. Make Us Pay to Even THINK About Working With You.

I absolutely love this. Dead Serious. An application fee.

We filled one out a couple weeks ago – a coach who we have been following for at least a year, we like what this person’s up to, and we thought we might want to hire them.

We knew their going rate – posted at the bottom of their application – and it cost us a refundable $19 to fill out the form.

Not a gimmick; this isn’t something done so that we’d forget about it and the statute of limitations on getting a refund would run out.

We actually had a chat with the coach, found out we were not a good fit for each other, and got our refund 10 minutes after our call ended.

4. Oh, and Don’t Be A Coach if You Can’t Coach

Did you know that you can get a Life Coach Certification on the Internet?

This reminds me of the Diploma Mills that we used to bump into during our Higher Education Marketing days. There are respectable groups – ICF and ICA for the Life Coaching types, franchises such as The Growth Coach and The Strategic Coach, and there’s Vistage and others.

But there are crappy designations out there, many of them available for a few bucks.

Coaches are a dime a dozen. And, if you don’t communicate value, you’ll never be able to charge what you’re worth.

Is THIS even worth it?

A couple weeks ago, Area 224 purchased a product that continues to puzzle us: a piece of software that made pretty substantial claims. You can read the post here: http://area224.com/crappy-product-avoidance/

What has been interesting is how the company has handled this whole process – and what we can all learn from it. We’ve sanitized this post to keep names and identifying information out of it. Highlights:

1. Software Purchased, But Keeps Breaking.

What the software was supposed to do – automate a repetitive process using a combination of API calls and the like – ended up being something it was not at all good at. Queue it up to do that once, find that it shuts down, you need to restart.

Our email to the company: Help, please.

Their response: Try again, it works fine for us.

2. Product still breaks, proves ineffective.

Still has us puzzled, as we’ve tried all the recommended tweaks. Manual is not much help – in fact, the manual looks like it was written for a different process altogether.

Our email: We’d like a refund, please.

Their response: Well, we’ve had to change the product entirely. Please try the new version. Download here.

3. New Product is for something entirely different.

Imagine you order a mobile phone. After learning that the mobile phone doesn’t work, you send it back to the company and ask for a new phone. In return, they send you an extension cord.

That’s the best analogy. This thing is not gonna work for us, not what we ordered, and really would be a waste of our time here at HQ.

Our email: Please for the love of Mike give us a refund.

Their response: Hold on, we’re going to give you complimentary “coaching” that only “members” pay for.

4. The complimentary “coaching”? Send us an email. No more than one email per day. We’ll respond as soon as we can.

I “get” coaching. I think it’s a really valuable exercise. I have interviewed people who could potentially be coaches to the team here at Area 224, and to me personally. BUT, in all honesty…I’m not interested in coaching around a product that has changed drastically since I purchased it.

Our email: We’re done here. Please send us a refund.

Their response: ?

We’re giving them one last benefit of the doubt, and we’ll post the update once we get it. BUT…

We talked earlier this week about The Free Line. In this case, even if this were a “Free” product, there is no value exchange. Brand, Product, Value, Experience – all of that is absolutely horrible.

If you’re in the business of selling stuff, or giving away free stuff, or whatever your business is: are you focusing so much on the “upsell” that you forget to add value?

Maybe – FREE or $39 – the focus needs to be on making it insanely valuable – so that the “upsell” is easy.