Ravi's Rants

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What Your Podcast Listeners Are Thinking

8/31/2016 By Ravi Jayagopal

Recently, I wrote a post as an avid podcast listener, and a podcaster myself (my podcast SubscribeMe.fm turns 1 year old in just a few weeks!)

I first submitted it on Reddit.com, and it was promptly deleted by an auto-moderator.

I woke up next morning, to see a huge number of responses, including some nasty ones. But you gotta take it in your stride when you post in a public forum.

Here’s the full article, published on my podcast’s site:

What Your Listeners Are Probably Thinking

Filed Under: Advertising, Blog, Branding, Content Creation, Industry News, Internet, Internet Marketing, Podcasting, Ravi's Rants, SubscribeMe.fm

World’s First Online Auction For Podcast Sponsorship

9/20/2015 By Ravi Jayagopal

A Post of FIRSTs

My podcast auction ended last night (September 19th at the stroke of midnight).

Congrats to Dan Hollings? from AmazoWorks.com on becoming the FIRST-EVER winner of the FIRST-EVER online auction selling the FIRST-EVER ad spot on the FIRST-EVER podcast by a FIRST-TIME-EVER podcaster (me)!

Ebay_Auction_Paypal_Payment_Clean

AmazoWorks is a tool resource for Amazon Sellers that provides discounts on all the popular Amazon Seller tools plus trainings and resources (and it’s free to join) – and it runs on DAP!

Check out my upcoming new podcast at SubscribeMe.fm .

Here’s a screen-shot of my eBay auction page where I auctioned off the ad spot:

eBay Screenshot of Auction

Filed Under: Advertising, Business, Cool Stuff, Digital Access Pass (DAP), Free, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Purple Cow, Ravi's Rants, Remarkable, SubscribeMe.fm

Crush It With Video

6/4/2011 By Ravi Jayagopal

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” πŸ™‚

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

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding, Business, E-Business, How-To, Inspirational, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Purple Cow, Ravi's Rants, Remarkable, Social Media, Technology, Video, YouTube

I Came Home And The Dog Was Bald

1/25/2011 By Ravi Jayagopal

Chinese_Crested_Eeyore

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 πŸ™‚ )

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 πŸ™‚

Cheers!

Filed Under: Advertising, Competitors, Copywriting, Famous Quotes, Funny, Inspirational, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Purple Cow, Ravi's Rants, Remarkable, Seth Godin, Timepass

Burning Your Brand Into Their Eyes (literally!)

12/18/2010 By Ravi Jayagopal

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.

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding, Business, Inspirational, Remarkable, Video, Viral, YouTube

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About Ravi Jayagopal

Ravi Jayagopal

Ravi Jayagopal is a full-time entrepreneur living in sunny San Diego, CA . He is the Co-Founder & Co-Developer of DigitalAccessPass.com (DAP), the premier Membership Plugin & Content Delivery Platform for WordPress. Check out his Podcast about Membership Sites & Online Courses, at SubscribeMe.fm. Ravi is also the creator of CoolCastPlayer.com, a pretty and powerful podcast player plugin for WordPress. And creator of S3MediaVault.com, S3 Video Player for Amazon S3. Ravi first started selling online in 1997. Check out his book "Subscribe Me: Making, Marketing & Monetizing Online Digital Content with Membership Sites, Online Courses and Subscriptions"


Ravi is also the host of the "Subscribe Me" podcast at SubscribeMe.fm

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