Imagine the biggest, juiciest, most delicious meatball you can imagine. Now picture covering that meatball with caramel, hot fudge, whipped cream and colored sprinkles.

Pretty disgusting, huh?

That’s the picture that Seth Godin painted in his new that seller Meatball Sunday. He makes the case that new media marketing options like blogs, online video, social networks, and all of the Web 2.0 social media marketplace are like the toppings at an ice cream parlor.

If you start with ice cream, adding sprinkles, cherries, hot fudge and whip cream will make it tastes great. But if you start with a bowl of meatballs, it becomes messy, disgusting and ineffective.

Seth’s message is directed at corporations who sell basic staples like cereal, beer, cars and toys.

But this analogy is even more applicable to entrepreneurs and small-business owners.

Here’s why…

It’s OK to market like a meatball - IF…

Imagine again that same big, juicy, delicious meatball. Except now this time picture that meatball surrounded by fresh handmade spaghetti, covered with the tastiest tomato sauce you’ve ever had, dusted with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and accompanied by a great glass of Chianti.

Quite a different experience now isn’t it?

You see, for the solo-preneur, start-up entrepreneur or small-business owner; the fact of the matter is YOU are the business. You are what you’re selling.

Why?

Because the fact is —

people by WHO you are before they buy WHAT you’re selling.

If you’re marketing in today’s new media marketplace, it doesn’t matter if you’re marketing as a meatball, tofu, or ice cream.

What needs to come first is you answering the following three questions:

- What is my personal brand? (And how well is that packaged?)

- How effective are you at gathering a Tribe that passionately connects with your style?

- Have you chosen the right “toppings”?

Look - the bottom line is pretty simple. It’s human nature for you to want to hang out with people who are like you. The same is true in business. We want to do business with people who are like us… or at least people who we like.

How well you package and present yourself will have a major impact on your success in today’s New Media Marketplace.

What about you?

What are your answers to the questions above?

And what else do you think is crucial to persuade people to to buy WHO you are before they buy WHAT you’re selling?

Share it in some graffiti down below.

I was shocked by a quote I read today. It was given as advice to business people, and it went like this; “emulate, do not innovate, be unique, but not original.”

Now as soon as I read it, the hair stood up on the back of my neck and I started to shake with frustration. I got control of myself and commented to the person; “that’s good advice — if you want to be a follower!” (And I don’t mean a Twitter follower either. )

I mean, really! Do u think Apple, Virgin, Chris Angel, Martha Stewart, Oprah or any other standout company or personal brand adheres to advice like that?

No, of course not. The “nots” in that piece of advice will limit your success by making you a follower, not a leader.

Look… watch the 2:30 minute video and you’ll understand better the life-sapping trap of being trapped on the path. Then let’s chat.

It’s the worse thing that can happen to you…

You’re trudging along day after day, thinking you’re on the right path because someone else beat it down for you. Finally one day you get to the end, and you realize your destination is not what you were looking for. And you have to start all over again.

Not good. Not good at all. Modeling is great, but only when you innovate using your own strengths as the basis.

Being unique is terrific, sure. But my dogs leave unique piles of poo every day. If they were original and used the toilet - that would get my attention!

Beware of using cute little quotes as the basis for your business strategies. Dissect them and make sure they’ll work for your style.

Use common sense to map out each piece of advice to its’ conclusion. That way you’ll see if the end point aligns with your goals. If it doesn’t, either learn how to modify them to work with your unique strengths, communication and motivation style, and personal brand… or trash it.

What’s your story?

Have you ever gotten trapped following someone else’s trail? If so, how did you break free and cut your own path?

Are you already leading the pack? If so, how are you proving yourself and your products as innovative? What are you doing to create a personal brand that makes you stand out as both unique AND original?

Watch Now:

 Is The Sick Sense Scarring Off Your Profits? [4:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Today’s marketplace is a radically new world for sales professionals. Making sales requires a different vision and marketing mindset. New Media has created a whole new paradigm in the world of marketing and social media. If you can embrace it - there’s hope for you and your business.

But some, I fear, have been inflicted by the “Sick Sense” and are suffering as a result.

It doesn’t matter whether you do business online or off-line, the old-school style of interruption marketing (molestation) will not be tolerated. At least not by me. Will you tolerate it?

Have you ever noticed how some sales people (network marketers more often than not) suffer from the Sick Sense? Instead of seeing dead people (like Haley Joel Osment did in the movie Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis), they see something very similar. This illness immediately kills their chances of increasing their profits or gaining more clients.

I share what they see in this video. Let me know if you’ve ever come across people like this - so I know I’m not alone in my frustrations.

Watch to see if you’re been afflicted with the Sick Sense from past old-school marketing training, and learn the cure.

Then answer the question that will determine how much success you achieve in today’s New Media Marketplace — What do you see when you look across today’s marketplace?

The Sick Sense is a horror story you don’t want to live with.

@CoachDeb

Let’s face it, in today’s’ world of politically correct speech most people walk a line that’s so bland, they blend into the white walls they’re standing in front of. Most people are afraid to say anything that they’ve been indoctrinated to believe is “wrong” or “evil” or… God forbid… something that some man, woman, child, (or cross-dresser, molester or red-footed blue-nose field mouse) may take as “offensive.”

The good news is that this makes it really easy for you to stand out from the crowd. And actually, if you stop being a squishy Jello-like person and stand for something — you’ll attract a crowd.

When you speak your mind, unfiltered and unabashed, you’ll be surprised to see you’ve got a Tribe of raving fans who’ve quietly been thinking what you’ve actually had the guts to say.

The Gabby Cabby example

My good friend Wayne Kelly over at On Air Publicity has a great example of this “get-real” approach. It’s a quick radio interview with the Gabby Cabby.

In the 3-minutes of audio that Wayne shares, you’ll see how a strong, straight-shooting Personal Brand transformed a NYC cabby into a internationally known “expert” on the streets of New York City.

Of course, when you decide to be different, to be edgy, you’d better be able to back up what you’re saying.

• Be passionate about your niche, know your stuff, and use facts to reinforce what may “seem” like outrageous comments.
• DON’T rattle off facts or opinion to hammer people over the head with your views.
• DO use facts to make people think and come to a conclusion on their own.

I have a saying that I’ve used for years… “Most people think in screams, and speak in whispers.” In world dominated by brainwashed Jello-minded people, you don’t need to scream to get noticed. (Leave that to the Marketplace Molesters.)

Just speak what your Tribe is thinking and you’ll not only get attention — you’ll be remembered.

When is the last time you spoke without filters? And what happened?

What makes a Marketplace Molester? And how do Tribal Seducers act in contrast? Knowing the difference can set you up to attract crowds of raving fans… or be scorned and hated by the masses.

Here we’ve got some examples of a Marketplace Molester, Physical Spammer, and a legendary Tribal Seducer in and about Sydney.

Now with New Media… it’s easier than ever to be a Tribal Seducer. Why would anyone want to take the Marketplace Molester approach?

Have you seen them?

So know that you know what a Marketplace Molester looks like in the real world, can you think of some that you’ve seen online?

What about Tribal Seducers — online or off-line? I bet they’re fewer you can think of. But the ones that do pop to mind, you’re probably a fan of (or at least respect.)

Madison Avenue advertising firms do it. Mainstream marketers do it. Political campaigns do it. They all piggy-back on the emotional anchors established by famous singers, actors, and sports figures. It’s a marketing play that’s run over and over again off-line because it works. People bond emotionally to people, personal brands, and your Primal Key.

But what about online you when you’re marketing with New Media? How can you piggy-back off of words, quotes, images, or sounds that people are already familiar with.

People buy what they like, and they like what they know. Familiarity and established emotional bonding is why this type of marketing works so well. It’s automatic, subconscious, and it feels “right.”

You may not be able to afford to pay Beyonce to appear for you, like Dish Networks in their current TV campaign. But you CAN leverage established emotional bonding along with visual and auditory anchors. And you can do it in much easier, and much more cost effective way!

Here’s an example to get those little Tribal Seduction wheels whirring around in your head.

“A Few Good Ideas”

One of the most often quoted movie lines is “You can’t handle the truth!” from the movie “A Few Good Men.” On the outside chance someone hasn’t actually seen the movie, they certainly know what movie it came from and the context in which it was said. It’s familiar and it’s comfortable because it’s known.

The line was used in the climax of the movie. In what also was the most emotionally charged scene of the movie.

So where does New Media come in on this?
And how does this help you with your marketing?

Well, lets take a look at a couple examples of how this famous movie quote was used in online videos. A few notes on what was done right. What could be done better. And what creative ideas you can come up with after looking at this mini-case study.

First the original clip

Let’s put things in context with the actual unedited clip from the movie.

OK, pretty powerful scene right? One of the most memorable in recent movie history.

So what can be done with this in New Media?

Follow along with me for a few minutes and find out.

Two ideas — the good, the bad, and the “could be better”

#1: First; here’s funny adaptation that you’ll get a kick out of… especially if you’ve ever been attacked for being a good creative marketer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Seeing that this week was kicked off with Veterans Day here in the U.S., I thought it would be timely to share a quick New Media Marketing example where over $4.2 million dollars was raised for military families in 7-days! It is a good example of how New Media combined with Tribal Seduction strategies work with any size Tribe.

Rush Limbaugh was the catalyst for this big charity drive for the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. (An organization dedicated to helping the children of Marines or Federal law enforcement personnel who lost their lives while serving our country.)

Now… love him or hate him — no one can deny that a loyal Tribe of 22-million weekly listeners is pretty solid evidence that Rush is a master at playing the Tribal Seduction game.

I’m a big proponent of modeling success to cut the learning curve. I’m impatient and I don’t like to work any harder than I have to. So I’m always looking for real-life examples to get where I want faster and with fewer mistakes. I don’t care what side of the political isle, industry, business, or obscure niche I find an example.

In the case of this charity fund raiser case, Rush developed a New Media Marketing strategy that you can learn from and model, no matter what the size of your Tribe.

Extensive details leading up to this 7-day campaign aren’t necessary, but I’ll add some of the most surprising to the story as we go along.

So let’s get rolling. You with me?

Record breaking charity event — New Media powered…

Five channels were used to make this game plan work. One “traditional” channel, and four New Media channels.

The traditional:

• Radio

The New Media channels:

• Podcasts
• Online Video (YouTube)
• eBay
• Blogs

What’s encouraging for small business owners and entrepreneurs about this example? It’s that mainstream, traditional media outlets had nothing to do with the success of the effort.

Getting the word out was a grassroots effort. It spread virally when the Tribe (and those sympathetic to the Tribe’s cause,) began using New Media channels like blogs along with additional podcasts and online videos.

The result — 201,000 pages created in one week around a unique keyword developed for this campaign. You can see this awesome display of the power of New Media power in the actual search results on Google.

Yes, yes. I know. You might be thinking, “Yeah, but Rush has a Tribe of 22-million people. That won’t work for me.”

Am I telling you that you can go out and make millions of dollars in 7-days? No way! That would be a load of BS. ;-P

What I am saying though, is these New Media channels work in proportion to the size of your Tribe. They work every time you use them. Yet, you do need to be using them in a strategic way.

Here’s what I mean…

Tribal Seduction in action

Technology only goes so far. It’s the publicity and marketing strategy of this 7-day campaign that really yielded the results. Makes sense, right?

There were a number of Tribal Seduction principles employed to get the word out, raise awareness and raise the record-shattering money in 7-days. But three really jump to the forefront.

Follow along with me here for three minutes and you’ll see all three principles in action:

Read the rest of this entry »

Do you remember hearing in part one of this article why old-school interruption style marketing is dead? It’s true, especially online. We looked at one cause, the “Delusional Coma”. Then we showed how you can reverse that common online marketer disease and use it to your advantage with the Tribal Seduction Formula; CHARM (Captivate - Hook - Advance - Reinforce - Motivate).

As you read through part two here, you’ll quickly see how to turn the challenges of marketing and selling online into big advantages for you.

Let’s get right to the second major cause for the death of interruption style marketing…

Reversal #2: The waves and the weather

In the regular off-line world, weather is simply a set of meteorological conditions we experience in any geographic area. The marketplace is no different.

If you were to assume the conditions of the online marketplace are the same as last year, that would be just as silly as crossing the Rocky Mountains in January without checking the weather forecast. Don’t try this at home kids… either one will lead to injury or death!

Today’s online marketplace is a new world thanks to the influence of New Media and Web 2.0. And this is a big problem for many marketers.

Old school marketers resistant to marketplace changes are like Eskimos building igloos in Hawaii. They can be the best at what they do, but continue to rebuild what won’t work in this new online environment.

Three years ago a shift in the mainstream marketplace began like tiny waves lapping away at the shoreline. Today, those changes have become a tsunami of change sweeping across the business landscape.

That tidal wave of transformation is powered not so much by New Media itself. But by the illusion of control that New Media gives to the “man or woman on the street.” (Yes, it is an illusion, and we’ll be discussing in detail how you can covertly harness and benefit from this sociological fact as time goes on.)

The reality of the marketplace is this; the “average Joe and Jane” have grabbed their surf boards and are freely riding the waves of the New Media marketplace. They “get it.” The ones sitting on the shoreline watching in fear are small business owners, marketers, and sales professionals.

Some eager marketers do dive in. They doggie-paddle furiously, trying to peddle their wares using New Media channels with old-school marketing tactics. But as they flail about in the fast moving waters, they’re caught up in hidden rip-tides and swept away very quickly. Their videos, posts, podcasts, and entire web presence flounders as the marketplace pummels them like a 40-foot wave on a black-flag beach day.

There are only so many more days they can crawl back up on the beach of constrained thinking and return to poorly veiled versions of their old tactics. Soon the rising tide consumer control will swamp the beach, and their businesses. Trust me — you DO NOT want to join them.

So how can you dive in to the New Media marketplace and not get swamped?

Well, there is the obvious — following along, engaging, and making connections here at Tribal Seduction.

But the most important action you can do is to grasp this simple Tribal Seduction mindset:

People buy WHO you are, NOT what you are selling.

Re-read that and let it sink in for a minute.

No matter how good you are at what you do in life, it’s not as important as who it is you are.

once you grasp that mindset, get out into waters of the New Media Marketplace. there are three ways for you to start applying this new mindset to make a heck of lot more money (and make it easier too.)

1. Find the influence leaders (those who gather Tribes of raving fans in social networks, blogs, podcasts, online video, and even off-line on specialized cable channels. Observe who these people are, what they do, and how their fans respond.

2. Start interacting to establish your online persona and brand.

Scott has a great series filled with lots of tips and strategies for networking in online communities. And Deb has a great video series on how to harness the power of MySpace and its’170-million+ members.

3. If you’re the sharp marketer I know you are, (and yes I know that you’re a savvy person because you’ve read this far,) then building a true “Web presence”, not just a Web site should be tops on your list too.

“Web site” vs. a “Web Presence”

A Web site sits there and you work for it. You drive the traffic, the content is only seen by people who come to it, and it is a one-way channel.

A Web presence on the other hand — it lives and works for you… 24-7-365! Add content to different New Media channels and each channel will work for you, bringing people from targeted Tribe to you. You can use individual channels like blogs, podcasts, online video and social networks combining them on your own with list-building and conversion sites. OR you can use a complete integrated Web presence builder like the BLOG i360 New Media marketing system.

No matter which route you start with, remember the Tribal Seduction mindset of “WHO is more important than WHAT.”

Don’t worry about finding people succeeding in Tribal Seduction in your niche. It’s actually an advantage to model ideas from outside your niche or industry. Just start out with two or three of the most popular shows, sites, or personas for each channel and follow them regularly.

When you do this you’ll begin to see the “Who you are, not what you’re selling” principle at work. And as you learn more secret tells of Tribal Seduction, you’ll be able to put it to work for you.

You can use both the Delusional Coma and the Waves and Weather to your advantage. These two factors are working together, and they’re changing the rules for marketing online.

No longer can you just be a product-pusher or info-pimp.

It’s true both online and off-line, (unless you want to work 4-times as hard for a fraction of the results.) The big bucks and the big fame are being garnered by those who use the Tribal Seduction Formula of CHARM to continuously move people to higher and higher levels of seduction.

If it’s not obvious to you yet, it will become crystal clear as we begin to reveal more of the Tribal Seduction mindset needed to win friends and influence people in today’s marketplace.

As we roll into Tribal Seduction strategies, and various studies or commentaries on online marketing strategies that work with people (instead of using them) — you’ll see how you can win where yesterday’s gurus are faltering.

John Paul Micek is a co-founder of the international business coaching company RPM Success Group ® Inc. He and his partner Deborah are authors of the hit book Secrets Of Online Persuasion. They are creators of the ONLY Web site system to put New Media to work marketing FOR you — BLOG i360™. For media contacts or speaking requests & partnering inquires, contact J.P. at [krazycapitalist@gmail.com]. Or, share your thoughts & comments below.

Previous in Series

Interruption. Abuse. Molestation. We don’t tolerate it face-to-face. So you’d think it would be common sense to avoid such things when marketing online. Sadly, many business owners and marketers still don’t get it. And New Media evangelists don’t help since most miss the mark with their advice too!

Rare thinking people like you already realize, the interactivity and illusional control of New Media require that your marketing methodology change.

The toleration level for interruption marketing is getting lower and lower. Abuse of customers and molestation of prospects meets with retaliation by hordes of people rapidly spreading warnings across syndicated channels.

Yet the typical old-school marketer reacts by showing you that you’re #1 in their unique way.

Look around you. Locally or nationally, inside your industry or outside your niche, it’s the same. Online and off-line you see response rates for mainstream businesses and major online marketers alike plummeting.

For example, have you heard that “the conversion rates for the top internet marketers in many cases are down as much as 40% over the last 24-months?” And “list churn” (the constant loss and replacement of new prospects) due to overly-aggressive marketing has turned from being an “equally balanced loss and gain” to a carnivorous cancer that is “slowly and consistently eating away at list size.”

Just imagine. If old-school interruption marketing methods are becoming less and less effective for the “big players,” how much more of a negative impact do you think it has on the average small business owner, sales professional, or online marketer?

Delusional comas, pimps and waves of persuasion

If you’ve ever felt like you’re at a disadvantage to “more experienced” marketers — good news! There’s no need to worry!

The less you know about old-school marketing time-lines and the thoughtless application of persuasion triggers, the better off you are. That’s because marketing with New Media is, in many ways, the reverse of traditional marketing. It’s easier to start out fresh in a new direction than to slow your momentum and do a complete 180-degree turn.

Yet even if you are a more experienced marketer, there is not only hope — you can have an even greater advantage once you reverse your mindset.

Now — whether you are a New Media marketing newbie, experienced marketer, or even brand new to branding and business online — I would like to help you experience the growth and profits that can come from applying the right formula with the right mindset.

The sharp decline in the effectiveness the traditional interruption style marketing has two root causes. Two causes that, with small actions on your part, can be reversed.

Let’s take a look at both of these causes, and some New Media marketing and Tribal Seduction solutions you can use reverse both of them into advantage FOR you!

Cause #1: The Delusional Coma

When you look at the tactics of “marketing gurus” or online heavy hitters, anyone with common sense can see why their conversion rates are plummeting. Their mindset is to think of people as a “herd.”

Now, there is validity to the idea that “group think” and emotional triggers cause subconsciously automated reactions with groups. It’s true. (*Note: these psychological truths are used in New Media marketing to effectively persuade people into action. But it is done through seduction instead of coercion.)

But that does not mean that you abuse those psychological loopholes solely for your advantage. And picturing your prospects and customers as a herd of unthinking cows is not going to break you out of a delusional coma.

That mindset is downright offensive. And marketers tactics spawned by this thinking are no different than pimps who exploit the base needs of teen runaways.

Most valid persuasion triggers have been abused, overused, and perverted online into subversive tactics that are haphazardly tossed around like pixie dust. Like a soldier in battle who no longer flinches at gunfire, the average person becomes desensitized to the bombardment of manipulative methodology.

The Reversal

So how do you know if you’re living in a delusional coma? And how do you break out of it?

It’s simple. If you continue to do things the way they’ve always been done, refusing to reverse course even in the face of a rapidly changing marketplace — you are in a coma!.

And notice, we are talking about the ability to “reverse,” not just adapt. That’s because the aggressive battlefield-like marketplace of the 20th Century has been replaced. Today’s marketplace has an environment more like a noble court structure, where courtesans and coquettes hold the real power.

The battle for hearts and minds still rages on. Except now it requires a covert, seductive approach. Breaking free is a matter of reversing your mindset. And this my friend, is easier than you might think.

Take for example the normal “relationship building” sequence of the typical online marketer.

An old-school marketer manages to “capture” your attention and get you to subscribe to a “free” offer. Next, what follows week after week is a constant barrage of self-serving, contextually disconnected sales pitches.

Remember, with their mindset, you’re assumed to just be another “cow” in the “herd.” So if you liked free offer A, then just like all the other cows, you’ll moo for product B, C and D too.

There’s no serious effort or energy dedicated to connecting with you and building a bridge of friendship, or likability. And there’s certainly no effort to win your trust, other than tricks and triggers and the stacking of dubious “proof.”

Instead as an active New Media marketer… you reverse your mindset, and not necessarily the delivery channel. Here’s what I mean.

Email is not the problem in this example. It’s just a delivery channel. Blaming email is like blaming a gun for killing someone. It’s the person pulling the trigger that’s the problem, not the tool.

The Tribal Seduction Formula

The point is not to stop using email, as many New Media marketing “experts” would advise. What you need to do is to time your email offer based on C.H.A.R.M. That is the Tribal Seduction Formula of: Captivate - Hook - Advance - Reinforce - Motivate.

In this example we’ll assume the email is to your own subscriber list. So we’ll assume that you’ve applied the formula at the first Seduction Level; converting a visitor into a friend (subscriber.)

At this 1st level of list building, you are looking to gather members of your target Tribe from the open marketplace. To apply the Tribal Seduction formula you:

1. Captivate attention
2. Hook emotions
3. Advance trust
4. Radiate desire
5. Motivate action… which in this case was joining your subscriber list.

All this can be done in one single interaction at this initial level… IF, and ONLY IF you have an actual Web presence (not just a plain old Web site.)

Now, let’s see how the CHARM formula works at the next seduction level. That is converting a friend to family (which means they become a customer or client.) People have become a subscriber, a friend, because they had a high enough level of trust to be moved to a 1st level action.

If you don’t apply the entire sequence of the Tribal Seduction Formula again at this 2nd level, you’ll be trying to Move them to action (the last step in the formula) based on the lower level of trust established in the Level 1 Seduction.

Basically, it’s cheating.

You’re cheating your Tribe, and you’re cheating yourself

You can try to move people to hte next level without repeating the CHARM Formula, but count on your conversions being a fraction of what they could be if you applied the formula again. (Keep cheating like this over and over again and you’re smart enough to see how this approach quickly destroys even the largest of prospect lists.)

We’ll be going into the Tribal Seduction Formula in much more depth here at TribalSeduction.com as time goes on, and showing how to apply it at all seduction levels.

For now, just understand that every point where you are attempting to move a person to action is a gap. Picture a deep gorge or ravine. That gap must always be bridged with trust. The trust built at the 1st Seduction Level is just a rope bridge. You can’t drive a bike or car over it yet, and you certainly can’t cross with a tractor trailer full of products.

By repeatedly applying the Tribal Seduction Formula you are nurturing relationships to turn visitors into friends, and friends into family. And all things being equal, people will always buy from friends and family. That is a an irrefutable and incontrovertible fact.

Applying the Tribal Seduction Formula of “Captivate - Hook - Advance - Reinforce - Motivate” doesn’t mean more work. It just requires a little different strategy applied with the right mindset. Both of these are the opposite of the way most marketers think. Repeated testing shows the Tribal Seduction Formula yields an increase of 800% to 1000% higher response than old school online marketing methods!

Wouldn’t you be willing to take a little different set of actions, to make a lot more money?

In part 2 of this article, we’ll reveal how you can win more business with Reversal #2: The waves and the weather.