Month: August 2021

HOW COCO-COLA PULLED OFF HISTORY’S GREATEST MARKETING COUP

Posted on by Alastair Walton

How many of you remember “New Coke?”

IMHO this was one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns ever created.

In case you’re too young to know about this here’s what happened:

All the way back in in 1985, Coco-Cola was gradually losing market share. To counter this they launched a top secret project known as “Project Kansas.” What this discovered – after a great deal of surveys and focus groups – was that Coke wasn’t “sweet enough.”

With this information a bold new plan was decided upon…

The Coco-Cola company would change their decades old formula and introduce “New Coke.”

As it turned this was a wild success and dramatically boosted sales.

But that wasn’t the end of the story…

You see, what eventually happened was that New Coke caused a massive consumer backlash. In fact, the company received more than 40,000 complaints and at one stage over 1,500 calls per day to their consumer hotline. This resulted in them returning to the original formula in only 77 days.

Now, to the untrained observer this may seem like failure but…

…I guarantee you this was all done by design.

You see, the introduction of New Coke performed several important marketing functions.

First of all, it provided massive publicity for the company.

Second, it resulted in a huge sales bump.

(Think about it, this is a no brainer: who wouldn’t try New Coke?).

Third, what you have to understand is that of course this was going to cause a backlash.

Coca-Cola is a deeply rooted piece of Americana.

This is why people got so upset and wanted the old formula back.

It’s also why the public returned in droves when “old” Coke came back.

(Causing another nice sales bump).

Ultimately, what this did was root Coke even more firmly in the minds of the public.

This is best expressed by Coke’s marketing vice president Sergio Zyman…

…the guy who came up with New Coke.

“Yes, it infuriated the public, cost us a ton of money and lasted for only 77 days before we reintroduced Coca-Cola classic. Still, New Coke was a success because it revitalized the brand and reattached the public to Coke.”

Enough said.

Cheers,

Alastair Walton

P.S. How can you create your own New Coke? Basically by experimenting with your product. If sales are dwindling then try reworking things. BTW, this is why copywriters are always describing products as “New and improved.”

THE STUNNING RISE OF ONLY FANS

Posted on by Alastair Walton

Over the last year Only Fans has grown into one of the world’s biggest websites.

Thousands of people have signed up and are said to be making millions of dollars per month. With all this success, it’s safe to say that Only Fans is now etched into the public consciousness. In fact, unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve probably also noticed their stunning rise in popularity.

But how did this happen so quickly?

Well, there are a few reasons.

(COVID-19 obviously helped).

But once again it’s all about marketing.

You see, when it comes to marketing Only Fans has a brilliant strategy.

The way they’ve done this is by advertising their success stories.

More specifically, by using paid articles to do this.

You may already know what I’m talking about.

Over the last year I’ve seen dozens and dozens of articles splashed all over the web.

These mostly take the form of the following:

“19 year old makes $100,000 per month on Only Fans…”

“Only Fans model buys a house at 21…”

“How I made a million dollars on Only Fans…”

Etc. etc.

The point of these articles is to basically generate greed, envy and curiosity. You’re supposed to read the article and then imagine yourself making the same kind of money. For example, if you were a young women and saw one of these articles…well…there’s a good chance you’d consider opening up an Only Fans account.

(BTW, people actually believe these articles, but I can guarantee you that most are fake).

So what can we learn from this?

A few things actually.

First, never underestimate the power of success stories.

Make your audience believe that others like them are enjoying success and the sky is the limit.

Paint a picture of how great life could be and people will trip over themselves trying to give you their money.

Second, never underestimate the power of paid advertising.

Don’t waste your time with stuff like SEO.

Instead, invest in advertising and putting the right copy in front of the right audience.

Do this and you can generate millions in no time at all.

Off to start my Only Fans account…

Just kidding!

Cheers,

Alastair Walton

P.S. One more thing before I go: This week Only Fans announced that they would soon ban explicit material. After a massive outcry this was reversed…but…I can pretty much guarantee you that this was simply another publicity stunt (and considering the amount of press this move received it’s fairly certain that I’m right).

WHY MOST PEOPLE GET IT WRONG WHEN IT COMES TO PRICING THEIR PRODUCTS

Posted on by Alastair Walton

How you price your products is highly important.

This is also something which stumps a lot of business owners.

So how expensive should your products be?

Many people choose their price seemingly at random.

Otherwise they copy their competition…

…or go for the lowest price possible (thinking it will increase sales).

Both of these choices are boneheaded and a really bad idea.

Instead, you should raise your prices as high as possible.

Now, many people shun this advice.

They worry about being more expensive than their competition.

But this is really the wrong way to think about this.

You see, the same product sold at a different price will pretty much convert at the same level.

(And therefore bring in the same amount of revenue).

What this basically means is that you’ll either get one sale at $100, or 10 at $10.

That being said, there are other things to consider.

For example, let’s say you have an upsell or follow up product for $50.

Let’s also say around 20% of buyers purchase this additional product.

In this case your ten $10 orders will boost your revenues by an extra $200.

Not only that, you’ll also have 10 more customers who are twice are likely to buy in the future.

On the other hand, if you sell at $100…well…you’ll still have $100.

What’s more, you won’t have additional customers who may purchase additional products.

This is why many marketers sell their initial products dirt cheap.

(A good example of this are so called, “tripwire” offers).

Something else to consider is the quality of your customers.

In most cases, a higher price point should result in higher quality customers…

…while cheaper price points result in lower quality customers.

Depending on what you’re selling this can be extremely important.

Low quality customers are often a massive pain in the butt to deal with.

These are the people who complain, demand refunds, and make your life a living nightmare.

Many of these people are also price shoppers, who should generally be avoided.

Yes, they might convert easier, but this is often offset by the issues they cause.

What this all boils down to is that product pricing is entirely up to you.

Do you want less (higher quality customers) and more money per sale…

…or more (lower quality customers) and less money per sale?

Ultimately you need to consider the following:

  • Do you have upsells and follow up products?
  • How many and what type of customers do you want?
  • How is your product is converting?

(With a lower conversion rate you may want more money per sale).

Cheers,

Alastair Walton

P.S. Everything I’ve mentioned also applies to people who sell services (except for a few key differences). For example, with services the question of quality clients is even more important. Speaking from personal experience, dealing with problem clients is absolute hell, and something you’ll want to avoid. Also, most service providers don’t have upsells or follow up products. For this reason service providers are advised to sell their services for as much money as possible.