The Challenges of Marketing ThePowerMoves

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on December 26, 2021, 3:24 am

Quote from Ali Scarlett on December 25, 2021, 5:47 pm

Quick note on the TPM lead magnet

I wasn't planning on sharing this yet, but I don't want to forget it.

The "carrot" (lead magnet) that TPM is currently using doesn't feel like it follows the "rule of crunchy solutions."

The "crunchy solutions rule" is the idea that when people want a "real" solution, they'll buy your product. And, when people are only looking for a "crunchy" (a quick and easy) solution, they'll look for resources that require little effort on their end before they can see results.

The current lead magnet, if I'm not mistaken, is an email course. And, the value-proposition to get people to opt-in is that you'll "learn the skills of the top 1% to become more powerful and successful."

But, the problem I feel there is with that is:

• The solution to their problem isn't quick and easy: it's OK that it's an email course, the main issue is that it's a course that promises to teach you "skills." And, that implies that they'll need to put in effort, work, and energy to develop those skills before they can see results. (And, the harder something is to do, the less likely people are to do it.)
• It feels like it sells the product, not the problem: the product is an email course on the skills of the top 1%. So, saying that is only selling the product. The problems they might have from a lack of social skills could be a lack of sales, dealing with a boss they hate, no romantic dates, and so on. So, pitching that might be more persuasive.

A potential crunchy solution

An eBook of power scripts.

Lucio has given tons of scripts around the forum and they're just sitting here, going to waste, in my opinion.

Here's an idea:

And, on the inside:

--

To Get the Job:

[How to rebalance the job seeker power dynamics]

You: Actually, I'm happy where I'm staying, I'm fast tracked to take more responsibility, and I think we're going to do great things. But I also love what you guys are doing here, especially the XYZ you've done. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to talk.

[How to respond effectively to trap questions]

Interviewer: what will you do to grow our business / fix this problem / implement this solution

You: Well, having done something similar before I have different ideas in mind (first hint of you holding a valuable bag for him). Of course, I'd first have to et more details about your company (great frame: so if you say something wrong, you preframed it as you not yet having the full info)

For example, one of thing I'd consider... (bla bla bla.... )

(...)

That is just one thing I'd consider doing. Then I've got a few more ideas depending on the details of your business (ie.: don't keep grilling me, I'm not going to share everything easily unless you also share juicier details). And of course, much of it is about the execution (ie.: I'm far more than ideas and plans, I execute well), and flawless execution is what I like to focus on.

How about you, do you have something already in mind?

To Collaborate with An Influencer by Guest Posting:

Hi Lucio,

I recently discovered ThePowerMoves.com and man, what a great website! I love your work! (standard shit, but you never go wrong with that).

You have already written on topic X (balance the "you" and "I", make sure you start some sentences with "you" so it doesn't seem like a "me, me, me fest"), and done so very well, for example your article X, Y (shows she has taken some time to assess the publication, and she doens't seek random writing opportunities)
As a psychologist/attorney/sociologist/whatever, I have 20 years of in-field experience on X, and my latest research has expanded on Z, Y.

Do you think that could add value to your readers (pitch as adding value to the readers first, or, a distant second, to me. Don't make it about money right away: the best websites seek quality, not a few dollars)?

Let me know if you think so (puts the power back on me, so it doesn't feel like pushing stuff on my plate) as I would love to share my expertise with your audience.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Best Regards,
V

To Get A Refund:

You: "Look man, from what I'm seeing, I like you and your products so whether I buy here or not, I will come back in the future. But I expect honesty from the people I deal with, so please be honest, and you will gain a long-term customer."

--

Then, we could update the list of scripts as new case studies, situations, and examples come up in the forum.

I think this could be even more valuable than the forum thread compilation idea I had last year.

Really wish I could flush out this idea here and now, but I'll have to come back to it.

In the meantime, if you guys have any thoughts, feel free to share them below and I'll get back to them whenever I can.

BOOOM!

This is gold Ali, thank you for sharing!

I marked this as the #1 marketing priority to work on, so I think I'll try it out very soon.

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on December 26, 2021, 3:52 am

Quote from Matthew Whitewood on December 25, 2021, 7:26 pm

A PDF format may introduce another step for the user to go to the website.

Email -> PDF -> Website

Rather than

Email -> Relevant Website Article

That's also a good point.

And the case studies in the different emails is also a really good idea -I'd personally prefer that to a PDF-.

The thing is that it would be more similar to the current format, which doesn't seem to convert all that well.
Plus, it's not a standard format for marketing -doesn't mean it doesn't work, but it means you should do all the testing yourself, and that requires time and effort-.

On the other hand, if the PDF is good, it presents ready-made solutions.
People think "wow, this might work, let's see some more where that came from".

And another check for the PDF is that it's a well-tested marketing approach -"lead magnet"-.
So one could look up what other successful websites are doing with the lead magnet, and adapt it for social strategies / power dynamics.

That doesn't necessarily mean it will work, of course.
But it seems to be an option that is both easier to implement, and with potentially higher odds of succeeding.

And if the PDF doesn't work, then the case studies might be the second best thing to try.

Edit:
Lots of them as I think it over as I type.

Quote from Matthew Whitewood on December 26, 2021, 4:53 am

I am on the same page as you with going ahead with the PDF in this specific scenario too. I see what you mean and how the PDF is a faster and probably more effective approach.

Maybe you have more experience in this area. And, for case studies, the lead magnet approach may work better in general.

I do see companies using the email case studies approach. Sucuri Cybersecurity WordPress course for example.

And Productive Collective uses a combination of email cases studies with the lead magnet in the email marketing campaign. So, one could do cases studies in both formats like I mentioned above.

So I brought that up as an alternative angle. Also because I have used the current approach of email case studies for my mobile app so I'm a bit biased. And it could be a sub-optimal approach altogether.

In this case, I also think that this would involve more work to set up the email campaign and do testing. And that Ali's idea as a PDF lead magnet with your advice is the fastest, most effective way.

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on December 26, 2021, 5:16 am

Quote from Matthew Whitewood on December 26, 2021, 4:53 am

I am on the same page as you with going ahead with the PDF in this specific scenario too. I see what you mean and how the PDF is a faster and probably more effective approach.

(...)

In this case, I also think that this would involve more work to set up the email campaign and do testing. And that Ali's idea as a PDF lead magnet with your advice is the fastest, most effective way.

Exactly.

Plus "faster" when you're without a team and prioritizing discipline advancement / product is a big plus -if not the #1 priority-.

And potentially down the road a combination of both might turn out to be even better.

Quote from Matthew Whitewood on December 26, 2021, 11:36 am

I wasn't clear in my thoughts and writing.

I thought that the lead magnet is a genius idea by Ali and further refined by Lucio.

I was thinking that we can explore other forms of the lead magnet:

• Email case studies - we discussed to be unsuitable because of time required, testing, similar to the current format
• Article requiring a password - Something like what the members get for this website.
  This will encourage users to jump to the website.
  I think this can go hand in hand with the PDF idea.
  Maybe we don't even need a password.
• An unlisted YouTube video
  We can bring them to YouTube.
  Alternatively, we can put this on a website article with the video so that the users are on the website.
  This again can go hand in hand with the PDF idea.
• Quizzes
  I brought this idea up before.
  Getting people to take a quiz could make them understand how nuanced power dynamics and social dynamics are.
  I think I suggested putting a quiz on top of Power University and making that free before.
  It's also good for current customers to monitor their progress with a "quiz benchmark".

Feel free to decide whether you think it's time-efficient and effective for marketing.

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on December 28, 2021, 1:29 pm

Quote from Transitioned on December 28, 2021, 6:15 am

I am a little surprised that more customers are not beating down your door. I think the core challenge is that this site is so far ahead of the curve.  Prospective customers don't know what they don't know.

I remember having a similar experience when I stumbled across a red pill site in the mid 2000s.  There were some clever guys there but it was so far outside of my experience that I couldn't process it and I just thought they were all mad.

And it's amazing how we silo our knowledge.  As you ve seen from my replies in the dating forum I built those skills.  You d think I could have cross pollinated into my work life but nope.

I know nothing about being an entrepreneur and the challenges of marketing a site and generating revenue streams from it.  I am curious did you ever play with the idea of putting the forum behind a stronger paywall with maybe a teaser like you can see the top 3 topics or whatever?  Basically bundling to add a high value USP to PU.

Of course this would be counterproductive if you see a good conversion rate from people just googling threads that lead them into the forum and then they buy power university.

On the other hand if people come to the forum and articles and think they can get their answers for free maybe they don't understand that it is of limited value without the foundation, framework and shared vocabulary that power university provides.

Thank you for the feedback Kevin!

I think it might be dangerous of me to think "this is too advanced for people to realize", but... There definitely might something of that.

Plus, the fact that many think they can put it together with articles / forum entries, which is a far, far less effective way to go about it.

I haven't thought deeply on locking the forum since I see the forum more as a community for idea-generation and advancing the discipline rather than a selling tool -but it might be an idea to work on-.
And whether the forum helps or not with the conversions, I have no idea since I'm not spending much time looking at conversion data -but my guess would be "not much" :)-.

Quote from Ali Scarlett on January 4, 2022, 12:41 am

Quote from Ali Scarlett on December 25, 2021, 5:47 pm

Quick note on the TPM lead magnet

I wasn't planning on sharing this yet, but I don't want to forget it.

The "carrot" (lead magnet) that TPM is currently using doesn't feel like it follows the "rule of crunchy solutions."

The "crunchy solutions rule" is the idea that when people want a "real" solution, they'll buy your product. And, when people are only looking for a "crunchy" (a quick and easy) solution, they'll look for resources that require little effort on their end before they can see results.

The current lead magnet, if I'm not mistaken, is an email course. And, the value-proposition to get people to opt-in is that you'll "learn the skills of the top 1% to become more powerful and successful."

But, the problem I feel there is with that is:

• The solution to their problem isn't quick and easy: it's OK that it's an email course, the main issue is that it's a course that promises to teach you "skills." And, that implies that they'll need to put in effort, work, and energy to develop those skills before they can see results. (And, the harder something is to do, the less likely people are to do it.)
• It feels like it sells the product, not the problem: the product is an email course on the skills of the top 1%. So, saying that is only selling the product. The problems they might have from a lack of social skills could be a lack of sales, dealing with a boss they hate, no romantic dates, and so on. So, pitching that might be more persuasive.

A potential crunchy solution

An eBook of power scripts.

Lucio has given tons of scripts around the forum and they're just sitting here, going to waste, in my opinion.

Here's an idea:

And, on the inside:

--

To Get the Job:

[How to rebalance the job seeker power dynamics]

You: Actually, I'm happy where I'm staying, I'm fast tracked to take more responsibility, and I think we're going to do great things. But I also love what you guys are doing here, especially the XYZ you've done. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to talk.

[How to respond effectively to trap questions]

Interviewer: what will you do to grow our business / fix this problem / implement this solution

You: Well, having done something similar before I have different ideas in mind (first hint of you holding a valuable bag for him). Of course, I'd first have to et more details about your company (great frame: so if you say something wrong, you preframed it as you not yet having the full info)

For example, one of thing I'd consider... (bla bla bla.... )

(...)

That is just one thing I'd consider doing. Then I've got a few more ideas depending on the details of your business (ie.: don't keep grilling me, I'm not going to share everything easily unless you also share juicier details). And of course, much of it is about the execution (ie.: I'm far more than ideas and plans, I execute well), and flawless execution is what I like to focus on.

How about you, do you have something already in mind?

To Collaborate with An Influencer by Guest Posting:

Hi Lucio,

I recently discovered ThePowerMoves.com and man, what a great website! I love your work! (standard shit, but you never go wrong with that).

You have already written on topic X (balance the "you" and "I", make sure you start some sentences with "you" so it doesn't seem like a "me, me, me fest"), and done so very well, for example your article X, Y (shows she has taken some time to assess the publication, and she doens't seek random writing opportunities)
As a psychologist/attorney/sociologist/whatever, I have 20 years of in-field experience on X, and my latest research has expanded on Z, Y.

Do you think that could add value to your readers (pitch as adding value to the readers first, or, a distant second, to me. Don't make it about money right away: the best websites seek quality, not a few dollars)?

Let me know if you think so (puts the power back on me, so it doesn't feel like pushing stuff on my plate) as I would love to share my expertise with your audience.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Best Regards,
V

To Get A Refund:

You: "Look man, from what I'm seeing, I like you and your products so whether I buy here or not, I will come back in the future. But I expect honesty from the people I deal with, so please be honest, and you will gain a long-term customer."

--

Then, we could update the list of scripts as new case studies, situations, and examples come up in the forum.

I think this could be even more valuable than the forum thread compilation idea I had last year.

Really wish I could flush out this idea here and now, but I'll have to come back to it.

In the meantime, if you guys have any thoughts, feel free to share them below and I'll get back to them whenever I can.

Picking up from where I left off, here are a few of my thoughts on the lead magnet pop-up:

#1. Wait!

Grabs my attention, but my eyes are drawn to the next biggest, attention-grabber on the pop-up: Lucio.

And, while that image conveys Lucio and TPM's authority, it doesn't convey a WIIFM to wait.

So, the pop-up might be better if it's replaced with an image of the reason they should wait (a picture of the eBook, a mockup to represent the email course, etc.).

#2. Big Image of Lucio

Maybe I'd be more on board with it if I knew the reasoning behind it.

But, it feels like it'd be better suited for a sales page than a pop-up. Pop-ups are quick and the click-aways are quick, so I feel that each element should earn its way onto the pop-up.

And, right now, I don't see how this image helps influence visitors to take action. (Maybe if it said something like, "Let me mentor you for free with this popular course," it'd make more sense.)

Still, showing an image of the inside of the lead magnet would build conceptual fluency in the visitors and increase the chances of them taking the time to check out more of the pop-up.

#3. The Subtitle

Pop-Up: "This FREE course changed 4354 lives"

I like the "free" part, it underlines that they have more to gain and less to lose from grabbing the lead magnet.

The "4354 lives" looks like the "precise bid" tactic. And, Nick Kolenda calls it the "pique technique" under his "present your request in an odd manner" tactic where the oddly specific number snaps them out of heuristic processing (snaps them out of skimming over it) and makes them evaluate the message more carefully.

The problem is, when they're now in systematic processing — evaluating the message more carefully — they're not seeing the exact WIIFT. They see "changed XYZ lives," but how did their lives change?

They don't know, so they prefer to keep their personal information rather than giving it away to get...something.

So, better might be:

Pop-Up: "Join 4,354 students in this free course."

It gives one clear call-to-action to help move the reader quickly (the longer they stare at the page without taking action, the more they back-rationalize that it's because they don't want to take action due to cognitive dissonance), it keeps the precise number to grab their attention, and it leverages social proof.

And, I might keep the "free" in lowercase without the highlighter because now that you have their attention with the "Wait!" and the specific number, further "yelling" for their attention could come across as salesy or desperate.

#4. Description

Unfortunately, it doesn't feel like the description describes anything.

Pop-Up: "Give it a try, you might be next -and got nothing to lose-."

It says to give it a try, but why should they? What exactly are they getting?

The types of people TPM attracts are smart, driven people. So, if they're taking the time to evaluate this message, they're likely to feel that whatever this is, it would at the very least cost them their time to go through the lead magnet product — whatever it is.

So — and this might be hard-hitting — it sounds a bit manipulative to say they have "nothing to lose" because it's too easy for them to rationalize:

• I don't have nothing to lose because if my contact info wasn't worth something, you wouldn't be asking for it: there are untrustworthy and salesy / market-y people hitting them with lead magnets vying for their contact info all the time
• I don't have nothing to lose, except my time: they might think, "I'm going to have to invest time to figure out what this is and then more time to figure out if it's valuable to me."

So, if Lucio wanted to keep the current, description a better one might be:

Pop-Up: "Give it a try, you might be next — you've got little to lose and a lot of social success to gain."

The repeated use of "you" helps maintain their systematic processing because now the information feels like it pertains to them specifically (a part of Kolenda's "increase personal relevance" tactic).

The "little to lose" is more honest and the "lot of social success to gain" helps specify the WIIFT.

Personally, though, I might go for something like this:

Pop-Up: "Get this advanced guide on your social skills because it's science-backed, real-world tested, and proven to work by thousands of my students."

Here, it describes exactly what they get without wasting any time. And, it anchors expectations high for the incentive which draws up their perception of the incentive by labeling it as "advanced."

Then, it (1) uses the persuasive power of "because" (Kolenda calls it "providing a reason for your request" under "optimize your message") and it (2) gives reasons why they should follow your call-to-action with the "rule of three" (less than three reasons isn't persuasive enough and more than three feels like overselling, so studies show that only three reasons is the sweet spot).

#5. Submit Button

Small thing, but I'd probably make the "I" in "It" capitalized.

Due to the mere exposure effect (i.e. the "familiarity principle"), being exposed to familiar information repeatedly causes us to develop a liking for that information because it's more familiar (which feels good due to processing fluency).

So, repeatedly starting both the word "Send" and "It" with a capital letter can help influence visitors to like the button more (and the idea of pressing it :).

#6. Fine Print.

I like the message at the bottom that they can unsubscribe a lot.

The only change I'd make is to add a period at the end because it's "proper" written communication which helps with the authority of the person delivering the message.

And, as the old saying goes, "When people are responding to a message, they're responding to the message and the messenger."

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on January 4, 2022, 4:23 am

It's raining gold here today! 🙂

Thank you so much Ali, and you know what I'm gonna do?

Test it out right away, and report the results here.

Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on January 4, 2022, 5:04 am

Live.

Quick changes, so there is also some room for further improvement, but it should be "good enough" to test it out: