047: The Mom Test: Is It the Reason Your Internet Marketing is Suffering?

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Don't be another statistic! Run your online business model, product, and sales letter through "The Mom Test" to discover how to sell faster and easier without resorting to painful "copywriting" or piling a lot of extra money into your business. It'll simplify your internet marketing...

Bad situation: A lot of internet marketers too caught up in ‘jargon’ and reinventing terms for concepts that already existed + a lot of people not wanting to look stupid and admit that they don’t know what something is = missed sales .

Too many marketers get too involved in making simple concepts difficult OR they are so vague and oversimplified that they sound ‘sketchy’.

Your marketing should ideally be able to pass "The Mom Test"...

Piece #1: Can You Explain What It Is That You’re Doing Online In A Way That Your Mom Could Understand It?

In other words, can you explain it to someone who isn’t "stupid" but is not necessarily internet-savvy and has zero interest in "internet tech stuff."

Piece #2: Are You Solving A Real Problem?

Figure out what people want to know and where they are personally stuck and how you can help them.

Example: Your niche is the stock market. Most people just want to know how to get started, how to trade some simple stocks. They want to learn how to buy a stock, read the stock quotes and make some return on their investment. They don't need to know the inner workings of Wall Street. THAT is not a real problem you are solving.

Piece #3: Can You Explain It In Less Than One Minute Or In One Sentence?

Just "state the facts."

Uber is a good example. Instead of saying, "I am a freelancer for a website that facilities transportation and is in direct competition with more traditional ways of hiring drivers for important events", etc., you would say, "Uber is a Peer to peer taxi service that costs less than traditional taxi service."

Piece #4: Do You Have A Physical Item?

Tangible items tend to lend credibility, especially to people who are unfamiliar with internet technology and feel that they need to see and touch something for it to be legitimate.

Let’s say that everything you have for sale is 100% online and is in the form of digital downloads.

• You can put this internet-based digital information (ex: a 4-module course) on a physical product like a DVD and puts it with a service called Kunaki.
• Robert uses Sony DVD Architect to create the DVD and Kunaki is company that specializes in DVD replication, packaging and distribution.
• Another option: take several of your blog posts, cut and paste them into Word and then turn those into an e-book.
• Go to Amazon KDP to create a Kindle format version of your book, and CreateSpace to create physical/printed copies of your book.

Robert's course, Make a Product, has a lot more information for you on how to publish your own e-book in less than 24 hours. Go check it out!

Piece #5: Is This Something That Can Change A Life Within 1 To 30 Days?

If it takes longer than 30 days it’s not exciting and you’re probably not doing a very good job marketing.

You need to have a set goal in mind of what your customer is going to achieve or will have been able to produce, as a result of their learning from you, WITHIN 30 days. Will they be able to play guitar? Will they have their own membership site up and running?

Closing Thoughts

• The average person, whether they’re a mom or not, does not understand a lot of the "technical stuff" and think that everyone on the internet is a "crazy new start-up."
• This is not about having an elevator pitch or a customer avatar.
• This is about explaining things in real, simple language and understanding that just because something might be exciting to you or seem simple to you, it might be going over your customers’ heads. Play it safe and dumb it down.

Ask your list and get feedback. Probably 80% of your list thinks that you’re too advanced.

Newbies are going to outnumber experts. The things that are going to keep bringing in leads are your simple things, the ones that are the "first step."

Yes, you want to have high-ticket items that are more advanced but don’t forget about your lead generation, introductory products. People want to know the basics.

[makeaproduct]

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Filed in: Archive 1: 2012-2016 • Mindset • Podcast • Product Creation