I really don’t remember much influence from or enjoyment of music up to the time that I was about 12 when I went to live with my Mum in Llantwit Major, South Wales. What I remember here is that I had a record player and bought some singles and albums ( which I think I have somewhere ). They were a bit of a mix and these are just an example of what I remember: Cream, Jethro Tull, Warhorse, The Beatles ( Sgt. Peppers and the Double White ) and The Foundations ( Build me up Buttercup ).

Between the ages of 12 and 16 there were a few influences: Listening to the radio at work and home – an example of one song I remember ?? ” Rock you Baby – George McCrae. Going to the Youth Club in Llantwit Major Secondary Modern school – quite a lot of rock and and a girl friend of the time remembers me liking Santana – Black Magic Woman. The local pubs – for a while I was ( sort of ) a ” Skinhead ” ( more of a ” Mod ” really ” – so Reggae and Ska. e.g. Desmond Dekker- The Israelites. The Surf Life Saving Club – of course it had to be The Beach Boys !! Later on The Red Dragon Club at R.A.F. St Athan – they played everything there but there was a lot of ” Soul ” and ” Motown “. I do remember being an avid listener to the ” Top 20 ” on Radio 1 aswell.

I guess it was at ” The Dragon ” that I learned to dance ” A bit like a guy from the Caribbean !! ” There were a lot of Jamaican descended guys in the R.A.F. and I guess I picked up some of their dance moves !!

When I was 16 or so I moved to Birmingham to live with my Dad. I didn’t know anyone of my age there so I took to going into Birmingham mostly on my own. When I think about my time in Llantwit Major I realise why it was that I ended up going to some clubs in Birmingham City centre ( The Rum Runner, The Opposite Lock ) and then some in the Jamaican dominated areas ( The Elbow Room and other Erdington nightclubs ). I also went to ” Liberty’s ” and other clubs and pubs on Broad Street, Hagley Road and elsewhere in Birmingham.

My Dad played the guitar and my Uncle Les ( Dad’s brother ) played it very well. Les lived on an old sailing boat ( search on Les Windley here for more on that ) and played in pubs and clubs all around the world. He played folk, jazz and sea shanties.

I don’t think that I had much to listen to at my Dad’s ( and I lived next door with an old lady for a while ). I could probably listen to the radio at work but I was going to get most of my ” music fix ” in Birmingham.

When you look at the bands and musicians that attended these clubs – e.g. Black Sabbath, Roy Wood, Duran Duran – Roxy Music and David Bowie Nights. 10cc and Kate Bush. You get a sense of the mix of music that I was exposed to – there were also ” American Music ” nights.

I then left Birmingham and joined the Royal Navy – so I went to clubs in Portsmouth, Plymouth, Edinburgh and everywhere around the world including the U.S. East Coast, the Caribbean and the Australian West and South coast. Also of course the Mediterranean – Greece, Turkey and North Africa. Obviously we also sang ” sea shanties ” in the Navy aswell. There is a singer and guitar player called Shep Woolley whose songs we used to sing a lot. As I sailed yachts we often sang these songs in the evenings when on board and having a few drinks.  Here’s a favourite Shep song ” The Montague Whaler “.

I also raced yacht’s around the world and when racing from Australia to the U.K. we listened to the same tapes over and over again. The one I most remember was Rod Stewarts’s ” Atlantic Crossing ” L.P.

When I think of this I realise that even though I did not own radio’s, tape cassette’s or even a car with a radio ( for most of the time ) I was exposed to music of all different types.

When I put all this together  I realise that I have a very broad range of influences and I carry a lot of music with me. Maybe this is why I don’t feel the need to have music ” on tap ” but love it when I decide to listen to it and have a natural ” feel ” for it.

http://dannybrown.me/2012/07/18/advance-the-conversation/

following up a Tweet from Geoff Livingstone and apparently aiming to shut down the debate about CEO’s Tweeting and being involved in other forms  of social media and Internet marketing.

Danny’s view is clearly ” The CEO has much more important things to do than mess about with Social Media ” . Except ….. that the first role mentioned for a CEO is as ” Communicator ” and Social Media is a communications channel …………. Hmmmm !!

Other communications channels that the CEO might choose are: Face to face meetings; the phone; emails; Press Releases; articles; ……….. etc etc

There are perhaps two ways to take this discussion

One is to say No !! – it’s someone else’s job..

and it probably is ( in the main ) someone else’s job. ( Of course this depends very much on how big a company we are talking about and how many people are supporting him/her ).  A CEO would not ( necessarily ) actually organise the face to face meetings ( his secretary or P.A.  would  at his/her initiation. ) He/she would not necessarily phone someone ( but he might organise it and then take the call ).  He/she might email someone. He/she might say ” Fax this to someone “. He/she might speak to the ” PR/ad. company  to get something going ( but if there is a Marketing Director leave it to them ). He/she probably initiated or agreed to a website being set up. ( Initiated by someone in house or outsourced ) and so on and so on… which leads us to …..

The other is to say – Social Media is a communications channel like any other and that it should be used as ” one of ” the ways of communicating for a CEO ….

( but this assumes that you already have the Social Media channels set up ?? )

What does Danny do ?

What, I was thinking, does Danny do now ???  Turns out he has a new role – Chief Technologist at http://thearccompany.com/ where Hessie Jones is C.E.O. http://hessiej.wordpress.com/. Now, I am pretty sure that this is one C.E.O. that Tweets !! However, maybe it’s ” not fair ” to pick on a ” Digital Business ” C.E.O.

What do ( some ) CEO’s do – like Richard Branson ?

Let’s see what the great man has to say shall we …… HERE  !!! ok – I rest my case

What do ” Social Media ” CEO’s do ?

See above

The North West of England should take the lead in terms of building eco friendly driveways, paths, roads and carparks

Within any development, regardless of the external surfacing, there’s an underground drainage system to take away foul and waste water from the buildings (sinks, toilets etc.), which connects to the public sewers and ends up being carried away to processing plants for filtration etc. and reuse. This underground system within and outside of the site is the same sewer system external surface water from roofs, ground etc. is discharged to – so even if there were no requirement for a piped system to get rid of rain water there would still need to be a system in place. The only visual difference being that you wouldn’t see drainage channels, grates, gullies etc. on the road surfaces if a site were discharged solely using eco friendly permeable surfaces but you would still see the manhole and inspection chamber covers externally that are part of the buildings foul and waste underground drainage system.

Above ground and underground drainage requirements (and foul and waste pipework) up to the public sewer connection are a few of the many things Building Regulations governs – which require statutory compliance (like planning). The various parts of the building regulations documents get updated every so often to reflect changes in standards, technology, planning policy etc. so permeability – I think now is part of the Regulations and overall strategy for rain/surface water discharge.

Many potential users of eco friendly green driveways are home owners on existing, built residential neighbourhoods and developments where the either/or issue doesn’t really exist (underground drainage vs permeable surfacing) – since there will already be an existing drainage system in place. So it’s really about the added benefits of environmentally friendly permeable surfacing which are aesthetic, environmental and practical (It looks better in most cases, it aids discharge to the ground which is good for surrounding planting/trees, it reduces the strain on the existing public sewers and the potential for localised backup/flooding and in winter helps reduce the likelihood of surface ice from rain that has settled etc – which can cause accidents to people from slipping etc. ) Planning is also keen on d.i.y sustainability and generally they are quite encouraging towards people who install solar panels, permeable paving, water butts etc. because it reduces energy use and in the case of the paving relieves pressure on the public sewer system – which has financial implication, through renewal, repair, maintenance etc. There was a broadcast on Radio 4 last year that was about these issues and permeable surfacing to individual properties was mentioned. It was mentioned that it is worth finding out what, if any grants are available for it – as there are financial incentives for solar panels to domestic properties. In the current climate I’m sure most people would find that of interest if they were already interested in the idea for some of the above reasons.

More on Eco Friendly Driveways, paths, roads and Car parks here >>>>>> Eco Friendly Driveways  <<<<<<<.

Queensland based Digital Experts Academy owner Adelaide Kingsnorth questions the saying that there is no gain without pain and points out that you can become a Digital Marketing Expert without all the pain normally experienced

Guest Posted on January 3, 2013

I am often educating people that they can happily throw out the old mantra “No pain, no gain.”

Let me explain. The Callanetics and other restorative exercises that I teach people let them in on the secret that pain is not good and can be avoided, even when it comes to working out. It’s funny to think that relaxing could be such hard concept to actually practice.

So why am I writing about this here?

Since joining the Six Figure Mentors and Digital Experts Academy to learn better ways of making my business work and to begin creating another business altogether, I cannot help but to draw some interesting parallels between SFM and the goings on in my Callanetics Studio. Specifically this notion of no pain, no gain.

Now obviously when referring to exercise I’m talking about physical pain. In relation to the Six Figure Mentors, the pain I’m talking about avoiding is the exhaustion and frustration that can come from trying to figure everything out yourself and start from scratch when entering into your own online business. The good bit is you CAN avoid this pain.

By following people you have already worked out what works and what doesn’t you save yourself the pain of having to do it yourself. It just makes sense. It also instils confidence if you are ever feeling a little unsure if it will all be worth it in the end.

So here is the opportunity for you to realise that no pain IS absolutely your gain!

Working and learning with the Six Figure Mentors puts this idea in to practice very effectively. They really make it easy to get the information you want to start making your online efforts really work for you.

So why not check out what all the fuss is about and sign up to the FREE bootcamp  take the pain out of your online business ventures.

No Pain, No Gain…Are you sure?

This documentary about the Digital Experts Academy franchise opportunity will explain more about Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek’s vision for the D.E.A. and the way in which 1000 new Digital Marketers will be traind by 2015

As readers of my blog’s will know the Digital Experts Academy franchise opportunity is being taken up by forward thinking entrepreneurs around the world.

Let’s say up front that it’s low cost, low risk, high potential model is very attractive to a lot of people.

Also highly attractive is the fact that, as I have explained previously in some detail , it is really at least 3 opportunities in one package:

1. The opportunity to resell Digital Experts Academy Products ( Aswell as Six Figure Mentors and PRO U products ).

2. The opportunity to use ” the system ” in multiple businesses of your own.

3. The opportunity to become an ” integrator ” of the system into other businesses sales and marketing system’s.

No doubt the soon to be released documentary on the Digital Experts Academy opportunity will highlight Stuart and Jay’s view on what the opportunity is.

For certain the investment in the tools, support, mentorship and community is in marked contrast with other ” Internet Marketing ” Affiliate scheme’s which seem very ” short term ” by comparison.

We can expect a minimum ” life ” of around 5-10 years from the D.E.A. products and services but the opportunity outlined in 2. and 3, goes even beyond this.

We are building Centripetal Networks to support the main D.E.A. / S.F.M. / PRO U opportunity and Centripetal Consulting in particular to be a Global Digital Marketing Integrator that will use ” the system ” to support other businesses’s ( sales and marketing ) systems.

This opportunity has been described on this blog as being similar to being a Global Cisco Systems Integrator .  Similar but not exactly the same.

As one of the top 100 Hi Tech. investors in the world I recommend that you get yourself on the list of people who will see the Digital Experts Academy Documentary first ( sign up >>>>>> HERE <<<<<<<< ) and evaluate the opportunity for yourself.

I will tell you this…

There are many Internet Marketers and Social Media Marketers who are kidding themselves that there is a living in what they are doing. There are only a very small percentage of ( independent ) consultants that are making any money ( and they probably have at least one retained client ).

There is little to no money in this business BUT there is money in it IF it is allied to the Digital Experts Academy opportunity.

For those that understand what I mean there is also a realistic EXIT STRATEGY for D.E.A. Franchisees. If you don’t know or understand what I mean by this - ASK ME !!!!

Exit Strategy is one of my specialisations and at Centripetal Network we have worked out how YOU can build yourself an exitable business.

This means that while you are making money you can also be building yourself an asset to be sold in the future.

This documentary about the Digital Experts Academy franchise opportunity will explain more about Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek’s vision for the D.E.A. and the way in which 1000 new Digital Marketers will be traind by 2015

As readers of my blog’s will know the Digital Experts Academy franchise opportunity is being taken up by forward thinking entrepreneurs around the world.

Let’s say up front that it’s low cost, low risk, high potential model is very attractive to a lot of people.

Also highly attractive is the fact that, as I have explained previously in some detail , it is really at least 3 opportunities in one package:

1. The opportunity to resell Digital Experts Academy Products ( Aswell as Six Figure Mentors and PRO U products ).

2. The opportunity to use ” the system ” in multiple businesses of your own.

3. The opportunity to become an ” integrator ” of the system into other businesses sales and marketing system’s.

No doubt the soon to be released documentary on the Digital Experts Academy opportunity will highlight Stuart and Jay’s view on what the opportunity is.

For certain the investment in the tools, support, mentorship and community is in marked contrast with other ” Internet Marketing ” Affiliate scheme’s which seem very ” short term ” by comparison.

We can expect a minimum ” life ” of around 5-10 years from the D.E.A. products and services but the opportunity outlined in 2. and 3, goes even beyond this.

We are building Centripetal Networks to support the main D.E.A. / S.F.M. / PRO U opportunity and Centripetal Consulting in particular to be a Global Digital Marketing Integrator that will use ” the system ” to support other businesses’s ( sales and marketing ) systems.

This opportunity has been described on this blog as being similar to being a Global Cisco Systems Integrator .  Similar but not exactly the same.

As one of the top 100 Hi Tech. investors in the world I recommend that you get yourself on the list of people who will see the Digital Experts Academy Documentary first ( sign up >>>>>> HERE <<<<<<<< ) and evaluate the opportunity for yourself.

I will tell you this…

There are many Internet Marketers and Social Media Marketers who are kidding themselves that there is a living in what they are doing. There are only a very small percentage of ( independent ) consultants that are making any money ( and they probably have at least one retained client ).

There is little to no money in this business BUT there is money in it IF it is allied to the Digital Experts Academy opportunity.

For those that understand what I mean there is also a realistic EXIT STRATEGY for D.E.A. Franchisees. If you don’t know or understand what I mean by this – ASK ME !!!!

Exit Strategy is one of my specialisations and at Centripetal Network we have worked out how YOU can build yourself an exitable business.

This means that while you are making money you can also be building yourself an asset to be sold in the future.

There are a variety of options in terms of the type of reseller that you are. Broadly speaking these range from resellers that are focussed on
” shifting ” ( Cisco ) box’s to those that are focussed on delivering ” advanced ” services e.g. consultancy.

When LanSwitch first started out it was very much focussed on selling ” box’s ” – to be precise 3Com LAN switches. Even then we had added some
” services ” around the basic offering e.g. baselining and maintenance.

By the time we adopted Cisco we had a fairly well established set of services.

With Cisco there is a seemingly never ending number of accreditations to get which normally include having so many qualified people. The permutations of these qualified people get ever more complex, and the variations of types of qualified people increase all the time. There is a definate cost to getting and maintaining these people and accreditations.

Over the years I have seen Cisco do many sorts of ” analysis ” of their resellers as someone comes up with another way of looking at them.

From Cisco’s perspective it is substantially about ” shifting box’s ” and achieving sales,revenue and profit targets.

They don’t really, deep down,  care how you do it as long as you do it !

Cisco’s perspective on a reseller is one view. However another view, that as is as important – arguably more important, is the view of the ” market ” i.e. M&A people and if floated, the stock market.

If they look at your company they will take Cisco accreditations as ” very good but so what ?? “. i.e. there are loads of Gold, Silver and Bronze resellers, what makes your company different from them ??

As one analyst said to me when we were looking to value Voyager ” Are you a box shifter or a value added service provider or reseller ?? “. When I answered that we were a ” Value Added Reseller ” he said ” Really ? – what’s your revenue from box sales relative to your revenue from services ? ” If it was 80/20 Box to Services that was bad. If it was 40 Box to 60 services that was good.

I actually spent a lot of time thinking about differentiators and value drivers at Voyager. The more differentiators and value drivers you have the higher your valuation multiples become. Also you get into ” I actually don’t know how to value that but it sounds good ” territory !!

When I was thinking about this blog I realised that it could easily end up as a book because there was a lot to say in terms of Cisco’s perception of  a ” valuable reseller ” and a lot to say about the ” markets ” perception of a valuable business. There  would also be something to write on the intersection of Cisco and the markets valuation points.

As I want to talk about another matter I don’t want to delve more deeply into these aspects just yet.

Cisco has a great range of products. You can just about survive selling these products if you wrap a certain amount of services around them ( the achievable margins on Cisco products have fallen dramatically over the years ). To differentiate yourself within the Cisco community and to the ” market ” you need more ” value added ” elements.

Let us now turn to the Six Figure Mentors ( SFM ) / PRO U / Digital Experts Academy ( DEA )  opportunity:

SFM/PROU/DEA offers a range of ” Digital Marketing ” products with Tools, Training, Support and a Community. It is the ” Cisco ” of the Digital Marketing world. Better than that the margins on these products are very high. So, you certainly can build a business focussing on being a reseller of these products. The products are priced from $20 to $20K.

Selling lots of these products is certainly going to get you noticed within SFM/PROU/DEA and if you are really good it is going to get you onto the
( Sales ) Leaders Board.

That is a great opportunity in itself. Essentially you only have to get prospects into the sales funnel at the top through ” sign-ups ” and ” applications ” and the rest is handled by SFM/PROU/DEA internal support and sales staff.

As was pointed out here  this is only the first of three opportunities.

I think added value can be implemented here e.g. ” conversion ” from ” sign-up ” to ” application ” relies on the auto-responders doing their job – which to a large extent they do but some people are not convinced by these and additional ” personal sales intervention ” may be required.

We know that once you understand ” the system ” it can be applied to other products and services that you might wish to sell e.g. within our team Sandra and Adelaide want to use the system to market and sell new Callanetics products.

You don’t just need to know the system but also how to make a range of products and services suitable for marketing and sales by the system.

There is added value here.

Finally, the main target of the SFM/PROU/DEA products and services is individuals ( probably of a certain demographic type ). In our view the products and services can be used by individuals and businesses – probably SMB’s as a particular target.

Tailoring ” the system ” to a businesses needs is certainly an added value capability. Here you are acting as an ” integrator ” – using the SFM/PROU/DEA products and services and integrating them into a new or existing businesses Marketing and Sales operation.

You are acting as a high-end Internet/Digital/Social Media Marketing/Web Development Consultant and Integrator.

This is what The Centripetal Network is .

Becoming part of the Centripetal Network is like becoming part of a Global Systems Integrator ( in Cisco terms ). You are a member of SFM/PROU/DEA – which in itself is a fabulous thing. You probably run a Digital Experts Academy in e.g. Washington D.C. or The Gold Coast.  You use ” the system ” to sell other products and services e.g. Callanetics but also you are part of a Global Digital Marketing Integrator that uses the system to boost other businesses Internet Presence Return on Investment. You help them to get more traffic, leads and orders – and therefore money – for their businesses.

One of the main advantages of this is that Centripetal Consulting is a ” business ” in it’s own right to anyone looking at it from a ” market ” perspective. It is a business owned by you and us. It is a ” Value Added Integrator ” . It can be sold or floated in the future and the shareholders will be you and us.

Now it is not ” easy ” to build a Global Digital Marketing Integrator and exit from it ( trade sale ) or float it but it is possible. Chris. Michael and I bring with us the experience to do this.

Our Digital Experts Academy Network is expanding globally at lightening speed

I wrote an article on the expansion of our chain of Digital Experts Academy franchises HERE just under a month ago. How are we doing ??

How fast can you roll out a global Digital Experts Academy franchise ??

Well, in  just under a month we have franchises established in Virginia, U.S. , the Gold Coast, Australia
( 2 ), Warsaw, Poland and London, U.K. as well as the Head Office here in Lichfield. Other D.E.A. teams are also expanding their franchises as we aim to create 1000 Digital Marketing Experts by 2015.

We also have advanced discussions with another half dozen or so people.

The crazy thing is that we have opportunities going back and fore across the world as each of our team get’s online and starts talking to their networks.

In our team we have a lot of business experience including:

Michael Nelson – former Strategy Coach to the White House, based Virginia.

Sandra Hanna and Adelaide Kingsnorth – Global Callanetics Entrepreneurs, based Gold Coast.

Chris Butler – CEO and co-founder of WeCanDoBiz – a 21,000 member global network, based London.

Malgorzata Krukowska, Warsaw.

With this level of experience and expertise we are able to help new Digital Experts Academy franchisees get up and running very quickly.

We all help one another as much as we can and we all have slightly different skills and experience to offer. We are thinking ahead all the time.

We use email, social media and especially skype to talk to one another.

Of course we have the Six Figure Mentors and PRO U communities to help us aswell – particularly Martyn    Hickey in the U.K. and Mark Hayes in the U.S. Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek are always there if we need them.

I have built franchises before but never at this speed and with this level of co-operation. Also, almost definately without this level of FUN !!!!

I think the reason that it is all progressing so rapidly is that it is a FANTASTIC business model. It is also great timing for this business model. It is a set of products in an industry that has an almost limitless potential and will last until the forseeable future.

When I evaluate startup businesses I look at a few main things: People, Proposition, Profit, Potential, and Plan. I am not going to go through all of these but it is obvious that they all exist in spades. This is what we can all see as soon as we look into the Digital Experts Academy opportunity in more detail.

Chris Windley – Managing Partner, Silicon Crossroads Technopolis.

This is the first Digital Experts Academy but many more to come

Chris Windley, Managing Partner of the Silicon Crossroads Technopolis ( a High Tech. incubator and Venture Capital Trust ), Six Figure Mentor ( Digital Marketing Mentor ), Investor and Entrepreneur has announced that the first of a number of Digital Experts Academies is to be opened at the Technopolis.

Plans are already well advanced for Academies in the United States and Australia. The Six Figure Mentors and the Digital Experts Academy are the brainchild of U.K. based Stuart Ross and U.S. based Jay Kubassek.

The Digital Experts Academy is a global high-level education and training program devised by these two leading edge digital entrepreneurs. They are committed to sharing their strategies and business success to members starting in January 2013.

Chris Windley who is one of the top 100 High Tech. Angel investors in the world, said

” The Digital Experts Academy is one of the most significant developments in Digital Marketing that there has ever been. We have decided to invest in physical locations to complement the already developed Six Figure Mentors training and the soon to be released Digital Experts Academy training. The Technopolis has been involved in researching and developing leading edge Digital Marketing systems for some years, having been one of the first organisations to install HubSpot Inc.’s Inbound Marketing systems on client sites. Our experience was that although HubSpot is a fantastic digital marketing system its price and complexity made it more suitable for Large and Enterprise customers rather than Solopreneurs and Small and Medium Sized businesses. The Technopolis also developed the highly effective, WordPress and Twylah based, Internet Marketing Ecosystem. ( The SFM system is also WordPress based ). The Silicon Crossroads area ( near the junction of the A5 and A38 ) houses many web and internet software related companies.

We will be able to take brand new and partially trained Digital Marketers and bring them up to Stuart and Jay’s level over time. This will make them amongst the best trained Digital Marketers in the world. Stuart and Jay have a target of training 1000 Digital Marketers in their methods and systems by 2015.

Although nearly all of the training is available online and can be accessed from anywhere in the world ( where there is an Internet connection ) we believe that there is a need for occasional one to one and group training, face to face, which we will provide at the Technopolis.

Other Six Figure Mentor and Digital Experts Academy partners are at liberty to open physical locations but have not chosen to do so at the moment. Our commitment is to open physical facilities alongside online facilities rapidly and globally.

I have made this my personal mission for the next 3 years. ”

Want to stay up to date with our launch plans ? Sign up for updates and experience the quality of training >>>>> HERE <<<<<<<<<<
by doing the FREE 7 Day Digital Marketing BOOTCAMP.

There are four levels of training available Silver, Gold, Platinum and Black.

Direct mail is one of those mediums that is typically overlooked in the age of the almighty internet and that’s ok with the relatively few of us still using it with great results. Here are 7 reasons you might want to consider joining the ranks of smart marketers using direct mail.

1.    Extremely targeted  – You can target markets by demographics, psychographics, or (my personal favorite) past purchases. There are compiled lists, which consist of contacts who share some similarity like living in the same zip code, belonging to the same political party, or having blue eyes. There are responders lists, which are made up of people who have responded or opted in in some way like requesting more info, filling out a warranty card, or calling from a radio or tv commercial. Then there are my favorite kind of lists. These are list of buyers of some other product or service. People on these lists have already demonstrated a willingness to buy something.

2.    Super stealthy – Unlike marketing online, direct mail gives you the ability to test, grow, and build  a campaign or business with very little visibility by your competitors. It’s very easy with all the tools available to “spy” on your competition online, not so with direct mail. They won’t know how much you’re mailing, how often, or have any idea what your conversions are.

3.    Easily scalable – The size you can grow to is only limited by the number of available responsive lists. With direct mail you can very predictably scale your business by continuing to test additional lists and with a knowledgable list broker you can predict what size you can scale to sometimes after the first test.

4.    Very few moving parts -  With a direct mail campaign your biggest variables are list, mail piece, and response device. Obviously
there are other components (or parts within the parts). But having just 3 main things to test makes it easy to track and easy to tweak.

5.    Low-tech/Beginner friendly – You don’t need to know how to write code. You don’t have to hire someone to write code. There’s no code involved. Once the copy and layout is done for the mail piece, turning on your campaign is as easy as calling your list broker to order names and then calling the print/mail shop to place your order. You don’t even have to touch a stamp if you don’t want to.

6.    Relatively cheap – In my experience I’ve seen per lead costs for as low as $2, optins for $4, and per sale cost for a $1,495  dollar product as low as $150. Imagine offering a JV partner $150 bucks for a $1,495 sale. Also leads generated via direct mail tend to have a MUCH higher LTV (lifetime value) and fewer unsubscribes and spam complaints.

7.    It’s an independent platform – What do I mean by independent platform? Well unlike most of the online sources you may be used to there is no big company telling you what your ads can look like. Obviously you are still regulated by the FTC and various other entities concerned with rules regarding what you can and can’t say in your advertising. But there are no companies telling you your message doesn’t meet with their approval, no quality scores, no algorithym changes, none of the things that can adversly affect your business overnight.

BONUS REASON: Very little competition. Today inboxes are full and people are eager to hit the delete or worse the spam complaint button. But just the opposite is true for most people’s mailboxes. Your message stands out when yours is the only one they’re holding in their hands reading.

Bottom line… it doesn’t matter if you use direct mail for lead generation, direct selling, or simply to fill up webinars, direct mail can help you build and grow your business predictably and with very little hassle. 

–

Luke Jaten has been involved in sales and marketing since he started his first business mowing lawns at the age of 11.

At the ripe old age of 17 He answered his first direct response ad about how to make money in mail order and by 1987 (at 19 years old) he was running full-page ads in magazines himself.

Since then, Luke has used magazines, newspapers, tv, radio, the internet, direct mail, mobile web, voice broadcasting, telemarketing (inbound and outbound), and teleseminars to market and sell nutritional supplements, software, sandwich franchises, business opportunities, seminars, real estate courses, books, alarm systems, web design, investments, payday loan franchises, credit repair services, diet products, 900 lines, music clubs, magazine subscriptions and lots more… either for himself or for other people.

In the last seven years alone, Luke’s ads have sold over $55 million dollars worth of goods and services.

In 2006 Luke started teaching his brand of marketing and now many of his students have gone on to create multi-million dollar direct response businesses themselves.

–