Goldmine Marketing

Here’s what I’m up to…

  • The Dirty Secret of Small-Town Soap

    How this business owner’s limiting beliefs capped his growth and income

    8:13am
    East of the Mississippi


    Years ago I found a bar of soap I really liked.

    Exciting, I know.

    This was when Dr. Squatch men’s soap was running constant ads on social media…

    And I wanted a piece of the action!

    Here’s the story, bubbles:

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  • 2x conversions—here’s how

    Amazing what a little testing can do for you!

    2:19pm
    Saint Paul

    Improving conversions on a pop-up from 2.04% to 4.18% may not seem like a big deal…

    My wife doesn’t think so, anyway.

    After all, it’s just a few percentage points, right?

    But when we look at numbers in the thousands, and suddenly we’re getting twice as many people to raise their hands and opt into an offer?

    Suddenly, it’s a very big deal.

    In fact, some companies live and die off a few percentage points here, a few percentage points there.

    Without giving too much away, here’s how I tested and refined this pop-up to pull in more than double the new members:

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  • Maximum Impact with Brian Kurtz (Persuasion Play Podcast #19)

    1:31pm
    East of the Mississippi


    When I first picked up Brian Kurtz’ book, Overdeliver, I was pretty new to the game of direct response marketing.

    At the time, I didn’t know who Brian was. I didn’t know much about Boardroom Reports. I had no idea the influence Brian has had over the last 4+ decades.

    But I can still see his sales video in my head, Brian standing in a white room, and even then I knew he had a lot to share.

    Brian’s lessons within Overdeliver changed how I understood marketing. It should be required reading for all marketers today.

    After I attended Chris Mason’s and Brian’s Breakthrough Advertising Bootcamp, I asked Brian to join me for a Persuasion Play Podcast conversation.

    True to his book title, Brian overdelivered in this episode, sharing so many ideas he learned from those who came before him, including Eugene Schwartz, Marty Edelston, Dan Kennedy, and others.

    Get all of Brian’s insights in Episode 19 of the Persuasion Play Podcast: Maximum Impact.

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  • Damaged—but only skin deep!

    How ‘damaged’ can be a good angle to sell your products

    10:30am
    Saint Paul


    “I tried that already,” Ruby said.

    So yesterday, my daughter turned 13.

    It’s crazy to think:

    We now have a legit teenager in the house.

    Ru asked for a desk for her birthday to replace a bookshelf, and to make room she packed up some 50 novels that she didn’t want any more.

    We brought 20 to the local used bookstore where they bought them from her…

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  • Artists use Clay. So do Marketers?

    Careful of the corporate marketing gurus

    2:30pm
    East of the Mississippi



    Earlier this year, a “thought leader” nominated the Clay display ads in airports as genius marketing.

    I replied to his email that I’m a marketer, I’ve seen the ads, and they’re useless:

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  • What’s the best ad *ever* in your market?

    Imagine yourself wearing a top hat on the balcony of a private rail car…

    10:40pm
    Saint Paul



    Wednesday I watched a conversation between Mike Ward, legendary copywriter, and Porter Stansberry, founder of Stansberry Research, the powerhouse behind “The Railroad Across America” (promoting Internet infrastructure) and other winning financial packages.

    Porter said he built his multi-zillion dollar financial publishing business on the back of:

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  • “It’s the experience, stupid”

    11:43am
    East of the Mississippi



    Back from Orlando!

    And one thing that stood out is the importance of the experience.

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  • No sense in being needy

    2:29pm
    Saint Paul



    Growing up we had a desktop device that would answer our home phone after 5 rings, play a prerecorded greeting, and then record whatever message the caller wanted to leave.

    Voicemail, yes, but the device had a name that I can’t remember.

    UPDATE: It was named Code-a-Phone

    Anyway, once –– when I was like 8? –– my mom and I recorded a “funny” message before we left town on vacation.

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  • Iran or Amazon, who hates me more?

    2:11pm
    East of the Mississippi


    Denny Hatch just called.

    Amazon isn’t displaying our book for sale in the U.S.

    And I don’t know why.

    Maybe it’s due to the AWS data center attacks due to the Iran stuff?

    Maybe Amazon decided to kill our book?

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  • Sí problemo.

    2:33pm
    Saint Paul



    You won’t believe how this Spring Break trip is working out.

    Hint: it’s not the best.

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