About 4 years ago, when I decided to sign-up my kids for piano lessons, of course the first thing I did was to start thinking about which keyboard to buy.

I did extensive research online for keyboards: I did Google searches, visited an insane number of web sites, musician forums, read reviews on Amazon and other e-tailers, and even called up several music stores and asked for recommendations.

To make a long story short, it came down to two products: the Yamaha Motif XS and the Korg M3.

And I was really, really torn between the two, unable to make up my mind… until I saw this free video on YouTube…

Yup, literally one free video on Youtube sealed the deal for Yamaha, and they literally reached into my pocket and sucked $3,200 out of my credit card (it costs like $2500 now!)

So yes, video does help you sell better.

And actually, it’s not just about “selling”. Video basically helps you “persuade” and “close” better – regardless of what the goal is.

So video rocks whether you’re selling a product, building a brand, building a reputation, or simply trying to make a very cool viral video…

And creating such videos is a LOT simpler than you can imagine.

Andy Jenkins, a marketer whom I admire and am a big fan of, has released 3 spectacular videos that show you how easy it is to create videos that work.

Yes, the videos are free.

One thing I can guarantee you: If you’re not totally impressed by the production quality, humor, fast-paced and multiple-sensory-stimulating narration in the videos, then I will let you smack me silly and call me “Ravioli”

So click here to watch them all for free before they get taken down when the actual product launches in 2 days…

And don’t forget to leave a comment below about what you thought about this post (or Andy’s videos).

Cheers!

- Ravi Jayagopal

Seth Godin talks about attention deficit. And he also talks about attention surplus

And weirdly enough, they both conclude the same thing: No one is paying attention. Including yourself.

I’ve always been intrigued by the psychology of persuasion (yes, and am a big fan of the book by Cialdini too). And one of my favorite past-times is reading random stuff about “Ninja” copy-writing and persuasion and marketing techniques, as I’ve always been (and will be) a student of marketing.

And one of the techniques I love, is a NLP Technique called “Pattern Interrupt“.

This is where, you do something so different from the rest of your competition, that it completely throws your audience off-balance, and lowers their guard just enough for you to make your presence felt – and grab their attention for a few fleeting seconds (now what you do with that next is a completely different story).

This technique can be used in many aspects of life…

Stand out from other typical web sites…

…by say, offering a free report, without asking for their email address.

Stand out from the other males all vying for the attention of that beauty in the bar…

…by acting totally un-predictable, being a bad boy, and never being a “gentleman” (Eben Pagan, mega-marketer and super-nice dude, who runs DoubleYourDating under the pen-name David DeAngelo calls it the “Wuss” factor).

Stand out from the thousands of marketers crashing your prospect’s inbox with “offers”…

…by offering just honest-to-goodness, *awesome*, instantly usable, valuable content.

Stand out from your competitors…

…by putting your personal phone number on your web site.

Stand out from most other bloggers…

…by generously publishing outgoing links to all kinds of posts and pages and sites (like this blog post) without worrying about “losing your readers” (an awesome technique I learned from… you guessed it… Seth Godin )

But I digress…

Now you might have already heard about Roy H. Williams, the “Wizard Of Ads”, and one of my “Guru Drona’s” that I pay tribute to in my book.

Here’s an excerpt from his newsletter, that I eagerly wait for every Sunday midnight.

Here, he talks about asking people to volunteer ridiculous, over-the-top subject lines, and how he ties it to their marketing, in front of a live audience…

“The stagecraft begins when I ask everyone in the room to write a statement that would catch the ear of any person who overheard it. “The statement doesn’t have to make sense,” I say, “It just needs to be larger than life, evocative, difficult to ignore. The kind of statement that would make a passing stranger turn and say, ‘Huh?’”

I then ask 6 volunteers to bring their statements onto the stage. “I’m now going to craft real ads for real businesses using the statements written on those papers as the opening lines for the ads. Do I have any business owners in the room?” Six business owners take the stage. I randomly pair them up with the colorful statement-holders. I have no idea what businesses are on stage or what statements are written on those papers.

I owe Tom Robbins (not to be confused with Tony) for this little bit of stagecraft. In a magazine interview that accompanied the release of his novel, Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, Tom said, “Everything in the universe is connected, of course. It’s a matter of using imagination to discover the links, and language to expand and enliven them.”

“Business owner number one. Tell me about your business.”

“I have a plumbing company.”

“Name a profit center you’d like to improve.”

“I’d like to get more calls for our 24-hour emergency service.”

“Crazy person number one. What did you write on your paper?”

“I came home and the dog was bald.”

The room roars with laughter as I walk to the front of the stage and balance there – my toes hanging over the edge – as 2,000 people hold their breath.

“I came home and the dog was bald. I haven’t been that surprised since I woke up at 2AM to pee and stepped out of bed into an inch of water. Thank god Martindale Plumbing never goes to sleep. At 2AM they were just sittin’ there, hoping someone would call. They fixed the problem while I made coffee. Great guys. Thank god for Martindale Plumbing, 24 hours a day. But I still got no idea what to do with a bald dog.”

I started laughing so hard at 3:45 AM in the morning while reading this newsletter on my iphone, on my bed, getting ready to fall asleep, that I literally became wide awake, and couldn’t fall asleep for a 1/2 hour after that. That’s how much it tickled me, inspired me, and got my juices going.

Remember, it’s not just about writing something ridiculous, larger than life, and simply shocking for the sake of shocking. That usually ends up like a bad joke.

The key is to start your copy (email subject, blog post, book title) with something ridiculous, outrageous, and even shocking, and somehow tie it all together with your main story.

That’s when you make people laugh in a dark room at 3:45 AM in the morning and inspire them so much that they lose their sleep!

Oh, and don’t forget to go sign up for the free Monday Morning Memo, written by one of my favorite people in the world.

A Mini Headline/Subject-Line Challenge

Imagine you’re sending out an email to your list… something to do with your product (any product or service, or yourself).

I challenge you to come up with a “pattern interrupting” headline, and also tell us, if you would, how you would tie it in to your story…

Go on, give it a shot in the comments section below. No one’s reading my blog anyway

Cheers!

Awesome idea!

Know that thing that happens after you stare into the sun and then close your eyes? Know how you see a bright ring that then gradually fades away?

BMW came up with the same concept and created an ad that did that to viewers.

Now the idea itself is nothing groundbreaking. But what’s really cool is, that they actually did it, and now everyone’s talking about it.

I’m blogging about it.

And you’re reading about it.

And shortly you’re going to watch a video about it.

And then you’ll probably blog (or tweet, or facebook message) about it.

And thus the cycle starts all over again.

That’s the power in creating something “viral”. That’s the power of doing something that starts a conversation.

And that is what is cool about doing something like this.

Now go do something really cool yourself, somehow tie it to your product or service or brand. And see if you can get a conversation started about it.

… and so does “music” – especially when it comes to just about any kind of video online.

When your mother admonished you when you were young for dressing like a bum to your first job interview, you probably didn’t realize how important “presentation” is. But you’ll be even more surprised how much it matters, after you see these videos.

Artifact 1:

An original video what will knock-your-socks off from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod. The video has been watched more than 11 million times (at the time of writing this).

And don’t miss watching it in full-screen mode.

Artifact 2:

Here’s a copycat video, with much different music, and a much different style. See if you can tell a difference in “impact”.

Artifact 3:

Completely different video, nothing to do with the above two – but simply had to include this in the conversation about using great editing and great music in an online video. And the beauty is, you could’ve done this too for your web site, with a not-very-expensive tool like Camtasia, but you didn’t . And neither have I

Here’s something I completely forgot to add to my earlier post about “What Would – - – - Do?“…

Yes, I do occasionally think “What Would Microsoft Do?“.

And then of course, I do EXACTLY the OPPOSITE – especially when it comes to the quality of their products, their marketing, and their branding (or lack thereof).

So here’s yet another brilliant piece of marketing from Microsoft.

It really makes you cringe – and makes you wonder, is this the best they can come up with in spite of having all that money?

(Original) Brilliant “Host Your Own Windows 7 Launch Party” Idea from M$ (Original)

And here’s a parody of the ad….

(Parody) Brilliant “Host Your Own Windows 7 Launch Party” Idea from M$

Here’s the email I received earlier today, notifying me of the change to Amazon’s Affiliate Commissions policies. Relevant portion is highlighted below.

We’re writing to let you know about a change to the Amazon Associates Program. After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com through keyword bidding and other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. If you’re not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.

As of May 1, 2009, Associates will not be paid referral fees for paid search traffic. Also, in connection with this change, as of May 1, 2009, Amazon will no longer make data feeds available to Associates for the purpose of sending users to the Amazon websites in the US or Canada via paid search.

This change applies only to the Associates programs in North America. If you are conducting paid search activities in connection with one of Amazon’s Associates Programs outside of the US and Canada, please refer to the applicable country’s Associates Program Operating Agreement for relevant terms and conditions.

We appreciate your continued support and participation in this advertising Program. If you have questions or concerns, please write to us by using the Contact Us form available on Associates Central.

Sincerely,

The Amazon Associates Program

What do you think? Does this affect you in any way?

Feel free to comment below (I do “follow” links here in comments .

Yet another incredible presentation from Seth Godin.

I can’t seem to get enough of what he talks about…

Performics > DoubleClick > Google Affiliate Network

Google finally completed it’s DoubleClick Performics merger and started operations as the “Google Affiliate Network” on June 30th.

They’re now accepting applications from Advertisers, and knowing Google’s famous processing lag time, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get an application in right away.

I just did, and I guess I’ll finally be able to promote my products using the affiliate network rather than PPC.

Here’s the official email from Google announcing the launch:

We are pleased to introduce Google Affiliate Network . Effective Monday, June 30, 2008, DoubleClick Performics Affiliate will operate as Google Affiliate Network. The integration with Google’s brand is a reflection of efforts to quickly assimilate our business and teams, as well as reinforce Google’s commitment to the Affiliate channel. Together with our new colleagues at Google we are creating new opportunities for monetization, expansion and innovation in Affiliate Marketing.

Within the next couple of weeks you will see some exciting changes to the user interface reflecting the new brand. The platform will continue to be hosted at www.ConnectCommerce.com, but will eventually migrate to a google.com product url.

As noted in earlier communications, DoubleClick Performics’ Search operations are being spun off and sold to a third party. While many advertisers have relationships with both DoubleClick Performics’ Affiliate and Search, there have always been separate account teams and product-specific specialists servicing clients’ search and affiliate programs. These teams remain intact. While the formal separation will occur when the Search business is sold, the businesses are functionally separate today.

We are proud of what we achieved as Performics and this name change signals a new milestone. Google provides world-class resources and enables us to continue to attract the best talent to support our advertisers and publishers. Now as part of Google we have an exciting and unprecedented opportunity to advance our industry. We remain committed to ensuring you receive the quality service you have come to expect from us.

We appreciate your business and look forward to doing great things together.

Sincerely,

Chris Henger

Group Product Manager
Google Affiliate Network

My question was very simple: I wanted to know how I could promote products using CPA (Cost Per Action) on the Google Network and allow publishers who have access to “AdSense Referrals” to promote my products by placing a piece of code on their web sites, and when someone clicked over to my web site and purchased one of my products, the publisher would get a piece of the sale.

Classic “Affiliate Program” stuff – where this time around, I wanted to be the merchant, and not the affiliate.

I contacted a Google AdWords Specialist on chat – who turned out to be not as much as a “specialist” as you would think they would be.

Read the chat transcript below to see how long it takes for the rep to even understand my question, and give out a meaningful answer. It is painfully obviously that I know more about Google Products than her!

But I am glad that she eventually gave in and deferred the question to a “technical specialist” (read: someone who knows their $hi#).

Completely unedited except for minor reformatting for readability, and removing of private content.

Chat Information: Thank you for contacting Google AdWords. Please hold a moment while we route your chat to a specialist who will help you with your question: “”.
Chat Information: AM has received your message and will be right with you.

AM: Hello Ravi. Thanks for contacting Google AdWords. I’m happy to help you.
AM: Could you clarify what you mean by referrals?
AM: Ravi, are you there?

Ravi Jayagopal: yes
Ravi Jayagopal: I meant, how would I advertise through Adsense Referrals?
Ravi Jayagopal: I’m currently using Referrals as a publisher
Ravi Jayagopal: I want to advertise my product through Referrals, so that publishers can promote my product, and then I would pay them a commission based on sale
Ravi Jayagopal: you there?

AM: Well, I am actually an AdWords specialist so I am really not familiar with AdSense Referrals.
AM: However, you can find out more at https://www.google.com/adsense/static/en_US/Referrals.html?gsessionid=N8x_KdsMNys.
AM: Referrals Help Center
AM: In the Help Center, there is a Quick Start guide.

Ravi Jayagopal: I don’t want Adsense referrals, actually
Ravi Jayagopal: I want to “advertise” – so wouldn’t that fall under “AdWords”?
Ravi Jayagopal: Publisher -> Adsense
Ravi Jayagopal: Advertiser – AdWords
Ravi Jayagopal: No?

AM: Yes Ravi, but you asked about Referrals.
AM: Referrals is not a part of AdWords.
AM: It looks like you already have an AdWords account.
AM: What do you have questions about in particular?

Ravi Jayagopal: Ok, here’s my question: Right now, as a “Publisher”, I pick out referral ads and display them on my site, and I make money when my visitor clicks on those referral ads and goes on to buy something. With me so far?

AM: Yes Ravi.

Ravi Jayagopal: Ok, now I want to put my “Advertiser” hat on and promote my product so that “other” publishers can promote “My” product through the referrals network
Ravi Jayagopal: how would I become an “Advertiser” and promote my product?

AM: Through the Content Network.

Ravi Jayagopal: Ah, that’s what I wanted to know
Ravi Jayagopal: So is there a way to say “Referrals” when I put my ad out on Adwords?

AM: You do already have an AdWords account with the email address <>.
AM: All you will need to do to appear on other sites is to opt into the content network when you create your campaigns.
AM: We don’t use that term.

Ravi Jayagopal: But when I opt-in to the “Content Network”, it automatically becomes just a PPC campaign right?

AM: We call your advertisements ads and we call our publisher sites ‘the content network.’

Ravi Jayagopal: I don’t want it to be PPC, but a CPA item

AM: You can also create a CPM campaign.
AM: Cost Per Impression if you’d like.

Ravi Jayagopal: not CPM. I’m talking about CPA – cost per action
Ravi Jayagopal: which is what Referrals is – CPA.

AM: That is not an option right now Ravi.

Ravi Jayagopal: then how are all these advertisers on Adsense Referrals?

AM: Again Ravi, I’m not familiar with AdSense referrals.

Ravi Jayagopal: Is there someone higher up who can help me with this question? Because it is definitely not an AdSense question – because AdSense is for Publishers

AM: If you want to contact the AdSense team to ask them about that, you can email them directly at adsense-support@google.com.

Ravi Jayagopal: and I am talking as an Advertiser

AM: Ravi, they will only be able to tell you what I am telling you, that you can create advertising campaigns that you’ll pay on an impression or click base.
AM: Those are the only options right now for our advertisers.

Ravi Jayagopal: So how are these advertisers advertising on a CPA basis? That’s what I want to know
Ravi Jayagopal: If you don’t know the answer, I would appreciate if you could put me through to someone who does
Ravi Jayagopal: But don’t tell me I’m asking the wrong question

AM: Please hold on just a moment Ravi.

Ravi Jayagopal: Ok, thanks

AM: CPA is not an option at this time in your account Ravi. I just checked with our technical specialist.

Ravi Jayagopal: Why? And when would it be?

AM: It’s a limited beta right now. If you give me the best email address to reach you at, I can email you if it does become available.

Ravi Jayagopal: ok…thanks…it’s <>

AM: You’re most welcome.

Bottom-line:
You cannot yet sign up as an “Advertiser” and promote your products through Google “Referrals”. It is in limited beta, and unless you were invited to be part of the beta, you would have to wait until they open it up to others.

As much as I love Google and probably qualify as a “Google FanBoi”, I have to say, Google sucks at most things not handled by their machines (read: Human Beings).