Saturday, August 21, 2010

The Most Powerful Way to Presell Any Product or Service


product-marketingPreselling is the art of conditioning potential customers and making them more likely to buy products/services. It is usually performed at your website before you send the visitor over to the vendor’s store or landing page. The goal of all presell tactics is to get prospects into a frame of mind whereby they not only feel comfortable about making a purchase but desire to do so.


A presell strategy can built upon months or years of contact with prospects: people are more likely to like or trust you when they’ve been reading or interacting with your blog or email newsletter. But a history of prior contact with prospects is not essential for effective preselling. One can pre-sell just as well when you have a reputation as an expert in a specific field.


A big part of pre-selling is how you present information in a way that subdues doubt, while placing prospects in a mental state that is ready to buy at your call-to-action.


As the vendor’s website usually includes all the features and specifications of the product, the job of pre-selling goes beyond simply duplicating what is already available. You should try to offer complementary or first-hand information on the product, this can be done in the form of a simple review or product comparison.


As an affiliate marketer or product owner, you’re often trying to make money by promoting someone else’s product or selling your own merchandise. Both marketer and vendor use similar tactics: The vendor creates a sales page flaunting all the benefits of the product, while getting targeted traffic through various means, the use of affiliates being one of them.


There’s usually some preselling involved: Both the affiliate and product owner often warm up the prospect through their email lists. Instead of sending visitors directly to the salespage, some affiliates prefer to presell by first getting traffic to their reviews of the product before sending them to buy at the vendor’s site.


But there’s an even more powerful way of preselling a product. This method allows you to easily dispel any buyer hesitation even if you do not have a long-standing relationship with your prospect or the reputation of an expert, although having both elements can boost your success rate even more.


This particular method has worked tremendously well for me. My conversions have improved dramatically by using it, instead of the usual presell review or a basic list recommendation. Interested in learning how it can work for you? Let’s look at it in detail.


Creating the Presell Blueprint and Learning How to Sell Indirectly


selling-indirectly

Image Credit: 0olong


This presell tactic is simple and can be explained easily. All you need to do is to try to sell to your target market indirectly by promoting a method which uses the product.


People are far more likely to purchase something when they can use it immediately to achieve a desired result. They don’t want to get a product and then struggle to find some way to get value out of it. Give them the blueprint to achieve their goals and they’ll gladly buy the product so they can put what they’ve learned into practice.


After all, most products are not ends in themselves, they are developed as means to acquire specific benefits. A weight loss ebook gives one the knowledge to get slimmer. A website template does nothing until it is customized and used for a specific purpose.


Here’s a detailed example of what to do. Let’s suppose you’re in the ‘make money online’ niche. As an affiliate or vendor, you’re trying to promote a keyword tool that helps people find search terms to target niche markets online. You want people to buy this tool from you (if you’re the vendor) or through your referral link (if you’re the affiliate).


So what do you do? Instead of just doing a review of the product, focus on creating and promoting a method that offers step by step instructions on making a lot of money online. Because that’s what people really want. They don’t want a fancy looking keyword tool. They want to make money online, buy the things they love and pay off all their bills.


The keyword tool is just something that gets them there. So do up a short report called something like “The Secret of Passive Income: 10 Foolproof Ways to Make $1000 a Day.” I know it sounds really tacky but something like this attracts attention instantly. If your content is good, don’t worry about the headlines sounding scammy.


The report can be in the form of a PDF ebook, an autoresponder course or even a series of blog posts, if you’re more comfortable with that. In this report you’ll offer some detailed tips on ways to make money online. No fluff or abstract theory. Just actionable steps and solid information. A key point to remember: Always structure your content around the product.


In this scenario, start by including a section on researching niche markets and demonstrate how it can be done with the product you’re promoting, which is the keywood tool.


Offer tips on some other market research methods or even free keyword tools, but make sure that you’re showing how your product can be used and how it is superior to others.


You don’t have to just stop at one product: you can even squeeze in and promote a few more by aligning certain parts of your report towards each product’s capability/promise. For example, you could recommend an ebook about article marketing after you’ve finished offering tips on the topic. Or a link cloaker/tracking plugin when talking about creating affiliate links.


Never let the method degenerate into a sales pitch. Remember, you’re selling the method to sell the product. Don’t push too hard. Don’t skimp on helpful tips. Demonstrate value. The readers will be grateful. They will develop trust. Because you are helping them.


This is How You Presell to the Masses


selling-method

Image Credit: itslefty


Put a salespage for a keyword tool side by side with a substantial free report on how to make $1000 a day. Which is going to reach more people? Which is more tempting? Beginners and experts… you’ll hook them all with the free report on making money. How about the keyword tool? Just a group of marketers who know what they’re doing and what they need.


The method sells itself. Nothing compares to it. What do you think will spread faster? The promise of a better life and reliable daily income… or a keyword tool that may even look alien to someone who is new to internet marketing.


The method has natural appeal. Not all products do. No matter how much you dress up the sales page with pretty words, its not going to trump a free lesson plan where everything is in place and ready to go. If your content is built around the product, there is a high chance that readers will purchase it because they see how it can help them achieve their goals.


They’re not going to give up so easily once they’ve seen the light, once they know what to do. When they know that certain products will help them succeed, they’ll be more than willing to pay in order to remove the obstacle. All this because your blueprint gave them a sense of direction while stirring up their desires.


This presell tactic is extremely powerful. I have used it and found great success in multiple niches, both as an affiliate and product owner. This is by far my favorite method of pre-selling and I think it works better than a simple trust-based recommendation in an email list or the usual try-to-be-objective-and-add-value review.


Show your prospects a clear path by removing everything in the way and they’ll follow. To sum up in a sentence: Teach people how to fish and they’ll buy the fishing rod from you.


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