If you’re in the US, and you watch television, you’ve probably seen that Energizer Bunny commercial.

The one where that stuffed rabbit with the drum keeps going on and on because he has an Energizer battery in his hindparts. (I don’t know if that sounds quite right, but I’ll keep going anyway.)

Well last week I gave an Energizer battery like boost to my Desperate Buyers Only ebook.

During the first 3 months of sales, DBO yielded almost $50,000 in sales. And even though all good things must eventually come to an end, I’m not ready to get off the gravy train just yet.

So I decided to ramp up my marketing efforts. My personal marketing efforts.

You see, I’ve had some of the best affiliates around for Desperate Buyers Only. Which is actually rather unusual for me, as I normally prefer to market my own products.

But this time I got well, um lazy. My affiliates were so good, I just kind of sat back on this project.

It’s not necessarily bad. My affiliates have made out like fat cats. And every month on the first I’m still handing out heavy sided checks.

I just don’t feel like I’m being 100% effective if I’m not contributing to the cause. I certainly feel better about giving other people advice when I’ve gotten my hands good and dirty in the process.

Anyway there is a point here!

Like I said, last week I decided that I would start promoting DBO.

I didn’t want to do Adwords because I have affiliates who successfully use it. I really didn’t want to focus on outlets where Internet marketers play. Again, my affiliates have done well targeting this niche.

Instead I focused on segments where my affiliates hadn’t been.

My destination of choice? Writers and speakers.

I only did two ad’s to test the waters. One in a writers newsletter – which will run for 3 weeks. One in a speakers newsletter – which runs for 4 weeks.

Within 4 days, the ad in the speakers newsletter got 49 click thru’s and 5 sales. Awesome! And I still have 3 weeks to go.

In the same timeframe the ad in the writers newsletter got 45 click thru’s and 0 sales. Disappointing saleswise. But I see it as a learning experience. I know what’s not working, and I can change it. Hopefully for the better.

Are you putting all your eggs into one segments basket?

Could you re-energize your sales by selling a dead product to a new niche?

Most of you reading this blog probably could.

Whether it’s changing the focus of your salesletter, or changing the slant of your e-book, you could yield an entirely new set of buyers by re-imagining your buying group.

Focus and then focus again, and continue growing rich,

Alexis Dawes

Here we are – you and me – maximizing our brains and bank accounts in the throws of the online world.

You don’t know what I look like. Where I went to school. Whether I bite my nails to a nub – or if I have claws like Godzilla and just type on a really big keyboard.

The only way you get to know me is through my cleverly crafted words on the screen.

Speaking of cleverly crafted words, yesterday I received an e-mail from a customer, who in the e-mail called me a ‘guru.’ Yes me… the hot tamale sitting on the other side of the screen in Fruit of the Loom boxer shorts. (How’s that for an uber foxy image.)

I laughed to myself though. I’m no guru. Just a hard-working single siren, with a gaggle of intelligent girl children to support.

My customer thinks I’m a guru because of an image I’ve built online.

It’s not an image that everybody loves and admires. Sometimes I can get a bit ‘cheeky.’

But this is who I am in real life.

I’ve been cussing since pre-kindergarten, and writing with the goal of being a published author since I was eight. I’m happily prolific at both. 

I’m polite, and as sweet as sugar in a glass of iced tea. If your feet hurt, I’ll give you the Gucci loafers off my feet.

But I’ll also tell you to “sit-and-spin” if you cross me. This is MY business after all.

The people that other people remember tend to be cocky or super smart or drop dead gorgeous or smelly or they possess some strongly noticable trait.

What type of image are YOU putting forth to your online readers?

Are you putting forth an image to your online readers?

Or are you blending in with the background?

I was doing a consultation for a reader of mine last week. He just had an e-book ghostwritten for him, and couldn’t figure out why he didn’t get a single sale despite the 1,001 bullet points he’d included in the salesletter.

The biggest problem… the salesletter read like a freakin’ 2,000 page electrician repair manual. Strong technical performance. But it lacked human-ness. It had no personality.

No matter what you’re writing about, it’s vital that you interject your own va-va-va-voom into the equation.

Earlier this year there was a lot of brouhaha about an online marketing guide being sold at The Rich Jerk. Some folks didn’t like his peacock like behavior. Others loved it.

Regardless of your opinion, he got a lot of attention, and made a lot of money – hand over fist – because of his rich jerk attitude.

If you’re a Polyanna type in real life, then be the world’s sweetheart in your sales material. If you’re an angry lunatic, don’t hide behind a demure attitude. Be who you are.

In the end you’ll attract die hard fans who love you to death because you’re just like them.

And you’ll wake up every day with a smile on your face ready to work because you know you’re living an authentic life AND making money.

I realized a couple of years ago that I cannot possibly please every single potential buyer within my niche. Nor can I quell all the critics.

So I don’t try.

Instead I just continue being me. Selling how I want to sell. Saying what I want to say. Doing what I want to do.

And you know what?

My profits have only gotten bigger.

Be who you are and grow rich my friends,

Alexis Dawes

Here’s a crazy factoid about e-books being sold online.

The majority of my consultation clients are male.

Okay, that’s not the crazy part.

The funny thing is quite a few of them write e-books geared towards women, with a female pen name to boot. (Don’t ask me who they are, cause I don’t consult-and-tell.)

I just find it amusing that more women don’t pick up on certain topics. I guess we ladies don’t recognize the fruit bearing trees because we’re in the forest. Whereas men are able to conceptualize certain things with fresh eyes. Go figure!

However, there’s always one part where the guys get stumped. Not just 1 or 2 of them.

Almost ALL of them get bushwacked when it comes to writing a story in a salesletter that comes from a womans perspective.

Let me clarify… as you may have noticed, my last two posts talked about writing stories in salesletters. Stories that help the prospective buyer “click” with the seller.

My experience is that when the prospect feels like the two of you are on equal footing – that you fully understand their plight because you’ve been there – the sale is much easier to make.

When I wrote the salesletter for my extinct e-book “How To Get a Bank Account Even If You’re in the Chexsystem,” I told the true life tale of how I got put into Chexsystems because of a bad check that a new client gave me.

I got soooooo many e-mails from fellow Chexsystems victims that sympathized with my plight because they were in very similar situations.

I understood and expressed the same frustrations they had. They trusted me because of my openess and honesty. And they purchased from me. Constantly and consistently for almost 2 years.

(Unfortunately the banks that I referred them to ended up changing their rules, so I can no longer sell that report.)

But the big question for today is–

How do you write a story for an audience when you’ve never lived a particular situation?

The answer is so simple you’re going to think I’m hiding the good stuff for my paying customers. (Well actually I did save some of it, so you’re just gonna have to get Desperate Buyers Only for the whole enchilada.)

The truth of the matter is that you have to research your buyer.

Now I know this is going to seem like a tedious concept for some of you Internet marketers. Like those of you who have articles and e-books ghostwritten, and don’t really research a market beyond the Overture, Google and KEI numbers. (And I say this with a loving smile, because I’ve been on both sides of the fence.)

But if you want to write a story that’s going to resonate as being true with your prospects, then you have to get your hands dirty in the research department.

At the very least you need to be able to answer the following questions:

• What frustrates them the most? What gives them pain? (In relation to your e-book topic.)
• Why does this thing frustrate them/give them pain? What parts of their lives are most affected?
• What parts of their lives would be enhanced once this problem is solved?

Part IV of this series will show you how to put the answers to these questions into story format.

Think and grow rich,

Alexis