I have a 53-year old aunt who’s an avid catalog shopper. She has a 1-year old Dell computer sitting in her office… high speed Internet access… virus protection software… and a keen knowledge of how to shop online (thanks to the instructions of her 27-year old daughter).
And even though she’s well-versed in online shopping, the catalogs continue coming. And she continues to fill her closets with merchandise purchased from those print catalogs.
My mother’s in the same boat. Relatively new computer, high speed Internet, existing computer knowledge. Only my mother’s shopping addiction is fulfilled by home shopping channels - rarely the Internet.
So when people ask me if the techniques in Desperate Buyers Only still work - (”Alexis, are you still making money using the techniques you advocate?”) - it’s always met with a resounding ‘YES!’
The Internet changes by leaps and bounds every couple of years. Most recently we’ve seen social media websites like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and the such, draw millions upon millions of users. Lots of folks jumped on the bandwagon, trying to figure out how to promote their e-books on these venues.
I didn’t. And trust me, I’m not knocking anyone who did.
In all honesty I was too busy enjoying the fruits produced by the very marketing techniques I talk about in Desperate Buyers Only. I didn’t even stick a pinky toe anywhere else. (Ahem… let me correct myself… I did sign-up for a Facebook account. But I never did anything with it.)
In fact, you can fall into a coma today, wake up two years from now and I promise you’ll discover that:
1) People still go online to look for specific solutions to their problems.
2) People still use search engines to look for those solutions.
3) People are willing to pay for information if it solves an especially pressing problem.
4) People still read long, detailed salesletters if it speaks about solving a pressing problem that they have.
Yes, the Internet will have changed in two years. But that doesn’t mean your customers/prospects will also change their ways/habits in bulk.
Just like my mom won’t stop shopping on HSN. And just like my aunt won’t halt her love affair with snail-mail catalogs. Technology will ALWAYS progress faster than John and Jane Q. Public will.
So as the new year rapidly approaches, keep in mind that you don’t have to incorporate every new whiz-bang tactic into your e-book marketing routine.
Be willing to try new things. But don’t be so fast to discount or abandon the techniques that worked yesterday. Because in the end, the more things change, the more things really remain the same.
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