» Read more here «

If you don’t yet have a blog, and you have your own business, click here to find out why you absolutely should be business blogging and how to start.

Pushing for Transparency: How Scribnia is Leveling the Blogosphere is a post from: Business Unusual

No related posts.

If you’re not productive in today’s world, you’re going to be buried by the competition

Check out this impromptu video I made on Rescue Time, illustrating the basic features, why it’s working for us and how it would work for YOU!

To try out Rescue Time free of charge click here. (affiliate link).

How to Massively Boost Your Productivity with Rescue Time is a post from: Business Unusual

Related posts:

1. How to Manage Your Self (And Massively Boost Your Productivity)
2. How to Use SavorChat to Boost Your Social Media Branding & Productivity

Now before you jump to conclusions like I did – there’s a really HUGE chance you could benefit from using this free service.

Cloud storage services aren’t anything new, but where others fail, Dropbox excels.

Watch this video to find out why Dropbox rocks.

The key in this video (in case you missed it) is global synchronization over all of his computers via a folder on the hard disk – PC’s and Mac’s alike.

This is huge. This means you don’t have to log into a browser window and download the files manually. You can also put files into a “public folder” which you can then share with others.

If you’re someone that uses more than one computer to work from, and moreso if you’re used to lugging around portable storage devices, then I urge you to try this out.

I store everything from movies and photos, to business documents such as invoices, artwork and spreadsheets.

The link above is my personal link for the service – when you sign up you’ll get one of your own too, that you can use to invite other people. I don’t benefit financially from this in any way.

Each time someone you invite joins the service, you get an additional 250mb of storage. Pretty neat right?

Let us know how you find it in the comments below – people deserve to know from you how cool this is!

Why Dropbox Can Save Your File Sharing & Storage Woes is a post from: Business Unusual

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For example, if I have noticed that Marj Galangco had been particularly interesting with her tweets one week, come that Friday I might tweet something like this:

#followfriday @marj_galangco – follow to find out about all the latest in the field of digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s also hot!

From now on, at Business Unusual, we’ll seek out the most active, insightful and exciting people during the week and put their names up here for you to see. These are hand-picked people who are going to give massive value to not just your business life, but also your personal life. Let’s begin with a bang shall we?

Disclaimer: The Third Tribe link is an affiliate link in Chris Brogan’s paragraph. The link for the Social Media Success Summit 2010 is also my affiliate link. Hey, I’m a Third Triber and a writer for socialmediaexaminer.com – what can I say?

Friday, April 9th

Umair Haque

@umairh – edge of your seat tweets, with his insightful and eye-opening commentary on marketing, economics and politics. Always pushing to educate and inspire positive change. Umair is the director of the Havas Media lab and writes for the Harvard Business Review.

Jonathan Fields

@jonathanfields – the definition of positivity. Jonathan’s tweets will keep you going throughout the day. Someone with a very interesting take on lifestyle design and entrepreneurship. Jonathan is the author of Career Renegade.

Mike Stelzner

@mike_stelzner – if you’re looking for facts about social media, Mike is your man. Not a day goes past without Mike giving incredibly valuable links to relevant, factual social media statistics. Mike is the executive director at Socialmediaexaminer.com and hosts the annual Social Media Success Summit.

Gary Vaynerchuk

@garyvee – full of passion and determination – this man knows what he wants and he’s out getting it – but along the way, he shows you how to do the same. An absolute MUST follow, business and individual alike! Gary runs the hugely successful WineLibrary.tv and heads up Vaynermedia with his brother A.J.

Steve Rubel

@steverubel – as senior vice president of Edelman Digital and a columnist at Adage and Forbes, Steve always has frequent tweets to keep you up to date in the public relations and technology industries. He is the first to adopt new technology and has a knack for giving a no-nonsense review!

Chris Brogan

@chrisbrogan – the best example I can find of a true “connector”. Chris is always out there linking together those who are searching to create something great with their resources. In fact, this post idea came from one of his tweets! He’s a NYTimes bestselling author and one of the organizers at the Third Tribe.

Business Unusual #followfriday Recommendations Week 1 is a post from: Business Unusual

Related posts:

1. Social Media Marketing Interview with Mike Stelzner

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

Extra Feature. Crowd Control

Crowd Control

Mass Control… Crowd Control… What’s it all about?

Crowd Control is all about how to use psychology and persuasion “a la Kern” in order to get people to do what you want them to. Kern says that a lot of what he uses is self-taught, but he also operates from a few distinct schools of thought such as NAC/NLP, Joe Sugarman and Dr. Robert Cialdini’s psychology of persuasion techniques.

These tactics are highly “ninja” as Frank would say. They’re under-the-radar, sneaky and unbelievably powerful.

There are 3 DVD’s in this module. The first goes through the Core Influence presentation that Frank included on a separate DVD (Part 1). The second goes through other videos that were used in the first Mass Control and Infomillionaire launches and the final DVD goes through various subliminal messaging techniques that Frank used in his most popular videos. The one entitled “Naked Guys at the Beach” was apparently his most popular video by far, and it didn’t even have any useful content.

Basically, Crowd Control is all about how to engage the subconscious of our prospects and presell them, so that they’ll do anything to give us their money.

Some of the topics that are covered in Crowd Control are:

• NLP
• Hypnotic Persuation (morally questionable, I know)
• Pattern Interrupts
• The Act of Reciprocity
• Scarcity Tactics
• Implanted Knowledge
• Presupposition
• Establishing Rapport
• Addressing Potential Concerns & Hidden Objections

Bear in mind that we’re being TAUGHT things here that no big corporation would want us to know. And this isn’t me using the “us against them” technique that Frank teaches – I have no vested interest in you buying Mass Control 2.0 at all. I’m just saying that businesses and corporations have been using these methods for years and years, and now Frank is opening our eyes to the reality behind many common marketing tactics, albeit with his own ultra-effective spins.

The power of Crowd Control

The teachings within this DVD set alone are enough to create massive selling frenzies.

Had Frank not gone through the videos pointing out where and why he used certain phrases or body language, I would have been none-the-wiser. For example, the first time I watched the Core Influence DVD all I saw was a laid-back, surfer-style guy who liked to use bad language. What I didn’t realize, was that it was an entirely staged event and that every single thing that he said and did was planned… everything, and heavily scrutinized too.

Most of the things that I’ve learned from this won’t just help me in a product launch – they’ll help me assert myself in everyday life. This kind of psychology is so fundamental that it can hugely impact the way in which people treat us in both business and personal relationships (not that I’m going to try to get Marj to give me a full body massage and feed me grapes every night… I’d never do such a thing, really).

I’m also seeing very clear elements of Mass Control that highlight why Michael Stelzner has some issues with Frank’s teachings. The darn techniques are so powerful that they are borderline unethical.

Of course, you could argue that Kern’s products are of the highest quality (something which I can’t confirm since I’ve only ever bought this one) and that if you were going to use this system, that you follow Kern’s advice and do it only to enhance the lives of others with quality products etc.

However, there are those that haven’t yet managed to create products of value, and would rather try and manipulate the masses into buying a bunch of hyped-up crap. Really… sometimes you can’t help but cringe at the kinds of sales strategies people bring themselves to employ in order to sell their low-grade, hastily-created junk – and I think you know the kind of people I’m talking about. The ones that consistently damage the credibility of internet marketing.

So, imagine this same crowd, using exactly the kind of psychology found in Mass Control. It makes you wonder:

Is it just downright wrong to even condone “mass control” of people, even if it is to offer them something of value?

Some quick thoughts

One thing that I thought was noteworthy was that Kern’s original Mass Control videos look like something straight out of a 1980′s Michael Mann movie. His hair, tan, t-shirt and the ‘grainy’ looking video quality all resemble something created in an era when George Michael stubble and mauve suits with rolled up sleeves were cool. Talk about a pattern interrupt!

I’d like to say that the course is worth buying just for those things above, but I know you’re much more interested by what he has to offer us, right? So here’s how I think Crowd Control will help you. Crowd Control will:

• Put you in the shoes of your target market
• Understand how to press their buttons
• Increase your profitability by up to 3 times (as it did with Mike Koenigs)
• Give you a clearer picture of the overall sales process and the difference between effective and ineffective approaches (consulting)
• Sell to them without selling (presell using subliminal messaging)
• Root out unwanted customers
• Learn exactly how and why Frank used the methods he did and got the results he reported

Would you like to have access to the above so that you could make more money with your prospects? Maybe it’s time to buy Mass Control 2.0 – but before you do, if you haven’t already read Part 5: Week 4, then please do so as it will give you some valuable insights into what it takes to be successful with MC 2.o.

Final Note

Thank you very much for reading this review series and I’m very impressed that you’ve made it this far. It shows that you either love my writing, or you’re serious about finding out all about a future investment, and I salute you for that.

I hope that this series has helped you. I designed the structure so that you could get the most out of it and be able to make an informed decision on whether it’s something that you would like for yourself.

If you enjoyed this article, go ahead and subscribe to our mailing list above to receive updates about similar stuff you might find useful.

Have a great day and we’ll see you back here soon!

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 6) is a post from: Business Unusual

Related posts:

1. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 3)
2. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 5)
3. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 4)

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

Week 4. Firing Your Silver Bullet

Mass Control Week 4 Firing Your Silver Bullet

Ok guys, this is the final week and the most important one, because we learn how to put all of the elements of MC 2.0 together to make our perfect product launch. That’s all the strategies and tactics that Frank has taught over the past three weeks, not including Crowd Control which we review next in this series (scroll to the top to find the post).

There’s not really much to discuss in this week because all Frank is talking about is the following:

• Checklists
• Affiliate tactics
• More checklists

I can’t go into too much detail so I’ll summarize for you:

Week 4 is ALL about checking, analyzing and orchestrating.

You get given some pretty cool advice on how to make your own checklists and the sequence in which you need to go through processes to make sure you’re able to account for everything. That’s about it.

Now that that’s done, we have ourselves a little time to talk about something else – my views on the entire package.

Why Mass Control 2.0 isn’t for newbies

You’re new to the internet marketing arena. You get to know who the big players are over the space of a few months. The most you’ve ever spent online for your business was when you bought a $200 portal site product that you barely started using yet. You learn about lists. You join a lot of them, but not Frank Kern’s (because you haven’t gotten around to it yet). One day, EVERYONE starts sending you emails about his new amazing product, and suddenly they’re piling on the scarcity telling you that you’re only going to be able to buy it over the course of perhaps a day, max, before it sells out. You visit the sales page once, buy it in a moment of impulse and you’re thrown into an immediate swirl of action upon action upon action so that you can pay the bill.

You just read what happened to us. Believe it or not, we were almost completely new to the internet marketing arena and we ended up buying one of the premiere products on the market – reserved for and marketed to “the elite”. Mass Control 2.0 is an awesome product with a LOT to teach, but it’s just not for the newbie and I’ll tell you why.

The part about the action is not a bad thing by any means, and Frank isn’t lying when he says that you’ll only be able to get it within a short time frame because he DOES closes the doors (OK OK, only to open them again a short time down the road, but he does close them on time). Kudos to Frank for all the gems of info he’s shared – the value of this package far exceeds the $1997 that we paid for it.

BUT… take a moment to think before you buy. You’re probably reading this review because you’re thinking of buying it come Monday 27th April. Questions:

1. Can you afford it?
2. Are you an action taker? SERIOUSLY, are you an action taker?

Don’t kidd yourself on this one, it’s a very large investment if you’re new around here. Take the time to assess your situation – are you the kind of person that will sit through around 12 DVD’s, 10 audio CD’s and a bunch of swipe files for about a month, and then actually USE the information you’ve learned? If you are I applaud you, because you’re in the small portion of people headed for a life of fulfilment and success (sad but true).

I’ll tell you now that there’s a heck of a lot of stuff that a newbie should learn before they take a trip down product launch lane, such as general internet-based advertisement, conversion tricks for websites or landing pages, copywriting and search engine optimization. They’ll give you the platform you’ll need to be successful with any product launch, as Marj & I are slowly figuring out.

Oh, and how could I forget, you need a product. I know, it’s crazy right? But yes, you need a product to do a product launch. Did we have one when we bought Mass Control 2.0? You bet we didn’t.

Applying Mass Control 2.0 without your own product IS possible, but not desireable

If I really wanted to, I could start applying this product tomorrow. I know a few people that either have their own products or are ready and willing to create them now. All I would need to do is arrange a joint venture and I could take a commission of their overall net profit based on my guidance. I could, but I won’t.

The reason that I won’t is because what Frank doesn’t mention is you don’t just walk into product launches like it’s the next logical step from learning about how to build a list for example.

Timing is key

There is a natural progression of things, and I think that product launches come much farther down the line than the likes of:

• Writing articles
• Social media marketing
• Copywriting
• List building
• Affiliate marketing
• Joint ventures
  And so on… product launches (as Marj kindly points out) are waaaaaaay down the line.

Of course there are people that have walked straight onto the scene with their own products and had huge success, but there are also people who have done so and failed miserably (and I’d be tempted to say that there are more of the latter).

And let’s not forget the initial research & development phase that comes with every product creation. There’s a lot here to take into account.

It might seem that I’m trying to dissuade you from investing in Frank’s product, but I’m really asking:

1. Do you already have a product and a list?
2. Are you ready for something this intensive?
3. Do you have the motivation, businesss skill and experience?
4. Is this in your budget?
5. Are you going to follow through?

If in doubt – try it for the 60-or-so-day moneyback guarantee. If you’re not ready for it yet, return it.

P.S. ALWAYS buy through an affiliate. They offer free products when you buy through them as they make a nice commission. Sign up to as many list owners that are offering Mass Control 2.0 – they’re normally upfront about earning commission on affiliate sales.

We chose to buy from Yanik Silver. He was offering “The Best of the Underground Seminars” DVD & CD box set for free, which was fantastic. I’m not sure if he’s going to offer this again but it might help either signing up to his list or tweeting him @yaniksilver. I would highly recommend this product to anyone wanting to learn marketing fundamentals.

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 5) is a post from: Business Unusual

Related posts:

1. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 6)
2. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 3)
3. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 1)

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

Week 3. The Mass Control Formula Revealed

Week 3 The Mass Control Formula Revealed

Here’s a little disclaimer: I’m not going to share with you the actual Mass Control 2.0 formula. To do so would probably get me into a lot of trouble and plus, I think it would be very unfair of me.

So I was going to write a HUGE article about this and then I realized – you probably won’t want to read it all, so I’m going to give you the main gist and hope that this stuff is going to help you in your business/product launch.

Oh and by the way, with the exception of perhaps the Core Influence DVD, this week is the most enjoyable – mainly because Frank swears a LOT. He says that it’s for “pattern interrupt” purposes (all hail Tony Robbins) but I actually think it’s because he really is bad mouthed… just kidding.

Empathy

Kern takes us on a journey through a lot of fluffy stuff, floor-fillers and stories but the main point I got from this week is that if you’re going to have a successful product launch RELATIONSHIP with your customers, you’re going to have to learn how to be empathic.

Empathy:

understanding and entering into another’s feelings
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Think about this – when was the last time you bought a product on “blind faith”? Uh huh, I know you did it – I did too.

So you didn’t really have the cash to throw around and you weren’t planning on buying anything that day either, so why did you buy it?

You may have read about it on a sales page, seen it on a billboard or even more likely, sold on the concept by a salesperson.

Good copy acts as a good sales person and what good copy or a good sales person does to sell a product effectively, is deeply connect with the prospect.

And the best way (Frank’s way) to connect with people is…. ?

Get this: he researched who had made (probably) the most book sales in history, bought all of their stuff, emulated their style and made it applicable to his target audience.

Did it work? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Sufficed to say I was convinced. So I went out and bought most of what we recommended and… I can see where he’s coming from, although the stuff is complete trash! (who reads this stuff??? Oh… everyone it seems)

The universal theme of these stories goes something like this:

Underdog guy makes a killing, has sex with a lot of women, loses all the money, has sex with more women, makes even more of a killing and then … has sex with even more women.

Kern has deducted from his extensive research that this is, in fact, the most popular story in modern culture. Talk about having issues guys.

Frank delivering the Week 3 materials at a Jeff Walker workshop

Now it doesn’t have to be money, sex, money, sex – it can be a variation. Take the movie Top Gun for example.

In the movie, Tom Cruise is a bit of an underdog. He’s got a tainted history in the air force as his father was said to have crashed a jet fighter in Vietnam. So off he goes enrolling himself into the Top Gun academy (school for the elite pilots) to reclaim his family name and is subjected to a set of gruelling tests, a few of which he wins. He meets his love interest, loses his best friend in a freak accident, loses his mind and loses his woman… somehow regains his motivation and self-belief, shoots down some Russian Mig’s, gets his dream girl back and to top it off, ends up teaching at the Top Gun academy – something noone in the air force would have imagined possible.

Now if that isn’t a glorified version of the most popular storyline of all time, I don’t know what is.

Why is Top Gun such a great movie? Why is it that this is the most popular storyline in history? More importantly, what’s really going on here?

I don’t know for sure and I think that there are many reasons, but I have my own beliefs on why this is so popular. I won’t go into those right here, but let’s just agree that it works and it’s a fact. Now, when we’re using this approach in our marketing, what we’re doing is we’re being conversational in our sales process so that people can connect with who we are (and buy our products).

I’ve realized one thing if anything: I only respond to emails from people that I feel I can connect with. Even if the product/services/event is inherently amazing, I still need the copy to address my worries, my fears, my fantasies and my desires, because, as you know, everything on the internet is a lie until proven truthful.

Implicit/Explicit Selling

Let’s summarize this:

Have you ever believed in something so much, or fought to defend that belief even though you knew it wasn’t true?

I think we’ve all been there. Why do we do it though? Because you came to that conclusion yourself OR you were coerced by someone to come to that conclusion, through implicit direction.

Explicit selling is when you tell someone straight up – “my product cures cancer.” Implicit selling is when you tell someone – “Did you know that this ingredient, mixed with this ingredient here and that ingredient there, has a 99% cancer cure rate?” and they then deduct that, because your product is a mixture of those ingredients, that it must cure cancer.

Explicit may be a fact, but it’s not always a belief – even if the prospect buys. Implicit may be a fact, but it’s more likely to be a belief when the prospect decides to buy – because they came to the conclusion themselves.

It is a fact that if you can make your prospects connect intimately with you, your message and your products (Week 2 – creating your Mass Control character & storyline) they will pretty much lay down on a train track to defend what you stand for.

This is just one of those strange facts of life, and as Frank says toward the end of the workshop:

People will either do what other people want, or what you want – very rarely do they do what they want. That’s why they’re in jobs they hate or with spouses they argue with.

Things to take away from Week 3 materials

Give your prospects what they want to hear – a great story with which they can connect and address their needs through subtle yet powerful communication.

Don’t always spell everything out for them. Try to get them to come to their own conclusions about why the MUST HAVE whatever it is that you’re selling and you’re golden.

That’s all for Week 3 – scroll to the top of this page to read the rest of the course’s materials and have a great day.

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 4) is a post from: Business Unusual

Related posts:

1. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 3)
2. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 2)
3. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 1)

Social Media Summit 2009

Is the economic recession getting into you?

Are you feeling the pain of this economic downturn?

I can relate. That’s why I feel it’s very important to tell you about how to get more customers at a very low or no cost to you – via Social Media Marketing.

Social Media marketing is definitely the magic bullet many business owners are looking for: one can reach potentially thousands of high-calibre and qualified leads at the push of a button. Surprisingly enough, not many marketers and business owners are fully clued-up on how to leverage the power of social media to boost their bottomline profits.

That’s why there’s such a huge buzz about Social Media Success Summit 2009, an online event scheduled to be held on May 14th.

If you’re one of those who are struggling to get customers or on a low budget, listen up because here’s your chance to beat the recession and really have an edge over your competition.

But before I tell you how this online event will speed your path to social media marketing success, let me share a story with you.

Proof That Social Media Marketing Works

A few months ago, Michael Stelzner (the guy who wrote the book on White Papers) surveyed about 900 social media marketers and wrote a report on how they use sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Only three days after releasing his report, more than 15,000 people read it and hundreds posted comments.

Within two weeks, nearly 30,000 people had read his report, more than 100 media outlets and bloggers wrote about it, and it was reposted on Twitter more than 1500 times!  He also was offered $30,000 to do some work directly resulting from the buzz around his report.

Almost overnight, he was being called a social media expert (a term he denies) and popular podcasters were trying to book airtime with him.

This all took place via social media.  He simply leveraged the power of sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to deliver the kind of results that would have cost him a fortune in the past.  This didn’t cost him a dime, just his time.

Now the connection…  The future of marketing is all about social media because it bypasses the middleman and allows you to rapidly connect with your clients and prospects!  AND this presents an enormous opportunity for you.

So What’s This About?

Michael and his team have been working for months to bring the best minds in social media marketing together in an event called Social Media Success Summit 2009.

The focus is to empower you to use tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to attract high-caliber customers and grow your business during the economic slump.  Not only can you gain amazing exposure for your business with social media marketing, you’ll also generate traffic, new partnerships and qualified leads.

Many of the social media marketing superstars will be summit instructors, such as Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV), Darren Rowse (Problogger), Mari Smith (Facebook guru), Jason Alba (wrote the book on LinkedIn), Ann Handley (MarketingProfs), Brian Clark (Copyblogger), Chris Garrett (Authority Blogger), and Denise Wakeman (BlogSquad). Together this team of “Who’s Who” in social media marketing will help you succeed using practical tactics.

This is the world’s first major online event designed to empower marketers and small business owners to master the art social media marketing.  And the great news is it’s a live online event you can attend from your home or office.

Click here to check out the event.

What’s In It For You

You might be surprised to learn that most social media marketers are aged 30 to 50 and have only been using social media for a few months. So you don’t need to be a techno-geek or twenty-something to use and benefit from social media. In fact, even traditional businesses like Ford Motor Company are heavily focused on social media.  This is not some “young kids” phenomenon.

Social Media Success Summit 2009 will help you discover the best ways to market your business with popular social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  You’ll also learn how major social media campaigns were executed and how you can achieve similar results (play-by-play steps provided).

It’s fully dedicated to empowering you.  You’ll discover how to grow your business using no-cost social media tactics.

Yes, attending this online event (and applying the techniques) will grow your business.  But there’s much more.  You’ll also join a community of like-minded women and men who’ll share their experiences and wisdom.

Social Media Summit '09 - Early Bird Discount

You can go here to get all the juicy details.  I strongly recommend you check it out now because early birds actually get 40% off – so if you’re really serious about getting more customers you need to act fast.  There are 11 original sessions on using social media to market your business, so be sure to check them out.  I know that each of the presenters has created NEW content for this event.

The experts teach the sessions LIVE (and it’s all online).  These are big names, including Gary Vaynerchuk, Darren Rowse, Mari Smith, Jason Alba, Ann Handley, Brian Clark, Chris Garrett and Denise Wakeman. And here’s the cool part: you don’t need to leave your home or office!

One more thing – as a way of saying “thanks” for checking out the summit, they are giving away a free gift just for marketers valued at $39, so check it out now because it’s waiting for you.

You can also check out our EXCLUSIVE interview with Mr. Stelzner himself, talking about Social Media Marketing and its importance for marketers & businesses: http://www.easisell.com/blog/social-media-marketing-interview-upcoming-summit/ (Don’t we love to spoil you?)

Using Social Media to Market Your Business is a post from: Business Unusual

Related posts:

1. Social Media Marketing Interview with Mike Stelzner
2. How to Use SavorChat to Boost Your Social Media Branding & Productivity
3. Marketing with Social Media – What Michael Jackson, Iran & Domino’s Pizza Have in Common

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

Week 2. Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line

Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control 2.0 Story Line

Stories rule our lives

…one cannot separate facts from stories. Stories have been used for millennia to teach the new generation. The next time you read a fact, realise that there is a story behind it. Indeed without the story, there would be no fact as the fact is the essence of the story. You be the judge of the importance of stories.

Mike Haydon – The Importance of Stories at articlealley.com

If there is one thing that every single person on this planet has in common, it is that we have all been told stories in some form or another, from generation to generation, to convey facts, thoughts and emotions.

Certain stories, such as those found in the Bible & Q’ran, can be so powerful that people willingly die to enforce/protect their message…

But what is it about stories that makes them so powerful?

Stories can make or break you. They can be the difference between a loyal following and a bunch of freeloading refundees that don’t take any pride in what it is that you stand for. Stories make you REAL. They make you human, and people want humanity… This is especially important if you make a mistake… as real people make mistakes, and that’s just normal.

Stories have a way of engaging our nervous system. We love to create scenery in our mind, and our empathy enables us to feel what the characters feel or think what they think which in turn, connects us intimately with fictional people and places.

Therefore, if you have a story that resonates with a big bunch of people, i.e. they totally connect with you on a psychological/emotional level, then you’re pretty much guaranteed to be in business for as long as you can maintain that connection. They’re also that much more likely to want to go and share your message with others as they’ll be thinking “he/she is just a regular person like me and they’re doing what I always dreamed of, I’ll go and tell my friends that I can also do what they’re doing…”

So, what if we could use this power to engage our prospects and create a sense of deep connection with them, so that they might buy more of our products?

Bingo. That’s what the second week of Mass Control 2.0 is about. Kern talks all about how to create a foundation from which we can presell our prospects through stories.

Now, I’d be lying if I said that on some level I didn’t feel morally challenged by this kind of approach. After all, we’re bordering on complete mind control with this course. The question begs to be asked:

Am I really in control when I buy products that I consider to be “cool” and at times “necessary”? OR… am I being controlled, by men like Kern who have a penchant for surfing?

You may say “Yes, I’m in complete control” but think again hotshot. If you’re a guy, remember when you bought that $300 portable letter printer that you used once? Uh huh.

If you’re a gal, what about all the shoes, handbags and general fashion gear that you probably have lying in the closet with the label still attached? (yes, I realize that I’m being completely stereotypical here)

I’m a believer that we really DON’T know when we’re being sold, simply because we rarely come to the conclusion ourselves that many of the consumer products we buy will benefit our lives in any way whatsoever.

So finally, my point is… if even I don’t know when I’m being sold, does that make it OK for me to do it, too?

I think it’s bullshit, and that we need to wake up and take control of our lives. However, I also understand that it’s just the reality of everyday life and that there’s really nothing that I can do about it other than change the way I think and feel.

Do you think it’s OK to use psychology to strongly influence your customer’s behaviour? Do you think it’s ethical to deliberately control other people so they buy your products? What is your moral/ethical stance on this?

Clément, I’m a pretty boring person… Eek. How do I create my cool story?

I know, I know. I asked the same question too. Believe it or not, it’s completely possible to come up with a true story that really makes sense and also gets your target market to love you.

Obviously, the two DVD’s, two audio CD’s and the booklet are rammed full of materials which Frank talks about in considerable detail such as:

• Your back story
• What you stand for (your beliefs & values)
• Your magic powers
• Your fables
• Your secret language

On TOP of that, there’s also a whole section dedicated to structuring the above into one or a combination of 3 tried & tested formats that will best identify with your target market and make you an overnight success. Well how about that?

Here’s an example that Kern uses to illustrate how he connected with his “Make Money” crowd:

When I’m selling to my “Make Money” crowd… especially to the beginners, I know that my market’s desired outcome is to make money by doing nothing. Therefore, my “character” is a lazy slacker who came from nothing, stands for easy money and stands against conventional “work,” has a near magical ability to make money on the Internet, tells stories of stumbling over incredible money making systems, and speaks the “mysterious” language of PPC, Niches, Google Slap, Reverse Squeezes, and more.

Frank Kern – Mass Control 2.0 Week 2

Remember, Frank does all of this for a reason. The strength of your character will ultimately affect your bottom line because you are only as good as people perceive you to be. Now to some that might sound like I’m encouraging you to be someone else, but I’m not at all. Like I said, everyone is capable of achieving a character that people can relate to and feel comfortable with on SOME LEVEL. So don’t go and try to be someone you’re not – it’s inethical and it won’t fly for long – people will find out and they’ll stop connecting with you.

Conclusion

This week was definitely the least exciting for me – simply because I love learning about “in your face” and “under the radar” tactics that blow me away. I like to be shocked and stunned, which is not something I feel when I start writing essays. Oh, which reminds me – this week has some of the longest exercises…

However, the savvy marketer KNOWS that they can’t have a fully functioning empire off the bat – right? A successful product launch takes more than a few tricks here and there and a big scream to get people’s attention.

Have fun and tune in for our next review by signing up for our newsletter. We’ll keep you up to date on all the latest blog releases and more

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 3) is a post from: Business Unusual

Related posts:

1. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 4)
2. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 2)
3. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 1)

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

Mass Control 2.0 Week 1

Week 1. Planting The Seeds for Total Domination

A Little Note

Alright guys, this is going to be a long post, but as you know we’re always giving great value here at easisell.com/blog. Do you think you’ll be able to last ’til the end? Go on, you know you can

Anyhow, I promise that you won’t find another comprehensive review about Mass Control anywhere else on the net!

There are two DVD’s in Week 1, along with two Audio CDs and a full color manual. Each DVD has around 4 videos that are approximately 20 minutes and the CDs are around an hour each (I know… that’s a bunch of material right there).

Now, you can’t actually buy Mass Control at the moment – it’s completely sold out. As far as I remember, Frank is going to put it back up for sale again shortly – so if you want to know more just go to www.masscontrolsite.com and sign up to his list.

Introduction

In Week 1: Planting The Seeds For Total Domination, we follow the example of Frank’s Underachiever Method. Using Mass Control tactics, this product managed to gross around $1m in only two weeks.

Sections of Week 1

1. Map out your plan of attack in less than 1 hour
2. Finding your Mass Control Money Magnets video
3. Sample Underachiever Newsletter 1 & 2
4. Assignments
5. Finding out how to create your main components of Mass Control
6. Pulling it all together
7. Mind maps to find hidden money
8. How to position your product for the highest perceived value
9. The deadly Howitzer method

Frank goes through the “Underachiever Method” outline in very easy to follow top-down diagram. He talks about the following:

• How Ed Dale and himself sat in a coffee shop in Tokyo, and literally came up with the entire Underachiever method launch outline
• The importance of planning and what it means to your product launch
• An outline of how we plan “attacks” on markets
• The value of Mind Maps and planning
• How he made a million in under two weeks on the Underachiever Launch (these tactics are taught in detail over the entire course)
• Money magnet & Teleclass ideas
• How to identify and contact potential partners
• Finding your Mass Control money magnets video

This video covers in great detail, how you should go about connecting with your market – using the following components:

1. Interest & Desire
2. Bonding & Trust
3. Proof
4. Samples

It also takes us through sample Underachiever newsletters 1 & 2 which illustrate how Frank has maintained anticipation of his market and involved those in it in the product launch using cleverly constructed language – typo’s included! (if you watch some of Yanik Silver’s Best Of The Underground Seminars, you’ll hear guru’s talking about split testing with and without typo’s – typo’s have higher conversions… go figure!)

Assignments

Frank loves giving homework, as he freely admits. It’s obviously a power thing. Seriously though, these homework assignments are essential to your understanding of the Mass Control launch sequence and how you’re going to implement the steps for your campaign when the time comes.

Each assignment is easy to follow and well laid-out so that you don’t get confused. There’s not actually that much to do, but it’s a good exercise in analytical thinking i.e. how is this all going to fit together for me and my product?

I didn’t personally perform every single piece of homework given – but that’s just me. That might be attributed to the fact that I don’t yet have a product to sell, but if you do – then these exercises should be completed. They’ll give you a much better idea of where you’re headed and along the way, you’re probably going to find out some things that would have evaded you – things that might be the difference between success and pain.

Mind Maps to find hidden money

Mind maps are literally just that – a collection of thoughts about a certain topic that spread out like a network on a blank canvas. Frank shows us a free service to demonstrate this topic, called www.bubbl.us. To get an idea of what it can do for you, here’s a basic mind map that I created in about a minute – straight from the web:

bubbl.us Mind Map Example

Like me, some people will find this extremely useful – especially for those that are predominantly right-brained and like thinking in pictures. Also, if you don’t want to have to install software on different terminals in order to take your work around with you, then you’re going to benefit from using this online application.

A word of warning about the mind maps. If you’re like me, you like playing around with cool-looking gadgets. I see the mind mapping software as both a tool for success and a tool for procrastination. If you can do it without a mind map – DO IT WITHOUT A MIND MAP. For God’s sake – don’t spend all day on bubbl.us and then have hardly anything to show for it when you’re done (yes, I’ve been a guilty of this).

To juice it up, Frank threw in a reference to a very powerful “secret tool” that he uses which gives him a nice view of his chosen market, competition included. This is something to look forward to if you’re going to purchase Mass Control 2.0 when it’s released again… I’ve used it a few times now and each time it’s given me information that I would have had a lot of difficulty finding otherwise, if at all.

How to position your product for the highest perceived value

Do you know what your target market is conditioned to see when they search for products within that market? Are you happy selling products for the market value, or would you like to make the most money out of them possible?

There are various fool-proof tactics that you can employ to increase the perceived value of your products. Some of the methods described in this section are, “the Desire to Acquire”, pricing structures and product repackaging. With guidelines like the ones in this video you can reposition your product to command a higher price, thus giving you a higher profit. All of this is essential tuition for the budding info product creator.

I’ve only recently learned about how to reposition products, as I’ve been behind a desk designing for most of my life. In my opinion, it’s something that a lot of people can overlook. For example, if you’re selling soda, there’s literally nothing that you can do to reposition your product to have a higher perceived value. There’s a price for soda, no matter what soda it is – just go and check the vending machine and tell me what the price difference is between the different products. It’s probably less than a dollar difference. In the information market however, product repositioning is something that is very easily done, and I’ve learned quite a few things from this video alone about how to do that.

Mass Control 2.0 aside – if you’re in the internet marketing industry and you don’t know about product repositioning – go and do a Google search, it’s that important.

The deadly Howitzer method

Remember when you heard about MC 2.0? Did you wake up one morning and find that everyone around you was talking about it all of a sudden, as if it had invaded earth like some kind of plague? (I’m not sure if that’s the best metaphor but you get the picture…)

Well, the fact of the matter is, Mass Control 1 & 2, The Annihilation Method, Stompernet, Pipeline Profits and even The Underachiever Method all had at least one thing in common – which was the Howitzer Method.

If you’re going to take away just one thing from the first week of the course, let it be this: The Howitzer Method is the “Shock & Awe” component that propelled the market to start walking, talking, eating and sleeping the campaigns that Frank has previously launched. Without the Howitzer Method, a product launch is nowhere near as effective as it could be – heck, I even think that the Howitzer Method could be the meat of the launch in terms of turnover.

When done properly, this amazing tactic will give you all the propellant you’ll need to become wildly successful in your chosen market.

The Audio CDs

There are two audio CDs in the same box as the DVDs, that play a recording of a conference call that was held for the original Mass Control 1 customers.

Originally, the call was meant to be an interactive Q&A, but because Frank forgot to mention this to his call host it unfortunately didn’t happen. However, he managed to accumulate some of the most commonly asked questions that he received from email to go through during the call – so it’s still a Q&A and we still find out answers to the most popular questions.

Points covered are:

• Customer testimonials from using The 4 Day Cash Machine
• How to find a market for your product
• How to create physical products to increase perceived value (where to go and who to contact)
• How to analyze open rates and construct the best email formats
• How to gauge your market & competition using services and tools
• How to make videos for the campaigns and where to get the software
• What’s the best day to send out the emails and when the best time is to implement Mass Control
• & a whole lot more. (The above is only a brief description of the first CD)

The audio CDs should not be overlooked. I made the mistake of doing that with The 4 Day Cash Machine product that was shipped with Mass Control 2.0.

Like a lot of video products that come with audio CD’s, some people find it rather easy to forget about the less “stimulating” materials (I know that sounds like I’m saying watching Frank Kern talking is stimulating but I’m swear I’m not – it’s a screen capture for the most part people! Come on!)

In fact, it is a known fact that around less than 50% of any kind of educational products that are purchased are followed through all the way to the end. If you’re going to invest this much money in an educational prodcut like Mass Control, you really owe it to yourself to absorb ALL the material, including the audio CDs – they will really help with your understanding of the way that elements in this package work, and how the picture fits together. I really can’t stress this point enough.

Final Thoughts For Week 1

This video gave Marj and I a lot of ideas to play with. We immediately went to use the free mind-mapping tool  and came up with our version for how the Mass Control product launch looked like for our own products.

Mass Control 2.0 is a large package to go through. As I said, each DVD is around 1 hr 20 minutes and then you have another 1 hr 30 minutes of audio material to go through. It seems overwhelming at first, and we’ve learned that if you eat lunch or dinner before going through a week from start to finish, you’ll be likely fast asleep before you get to the second DVD (sorry Frank!).

Realistically, if you’re not into absorbing this much material in one night then you’re going to want to spread it out over the entire week. A comforting fact is that you have that week to absorb all the materials. Heck, you have more than a week if you’re going to be like me.

Also, I thought that it would be interesting to point out that Frank originally had Mass Control set up as an online electronic course. One thing that I’ve noticed is that he sometimes refers to content that I’ve heard nothing about. I contacted Frank’s assistant for more information and she apologized, saying the materials were only for original Mass Control users. Strange, but true.

I felt a little cheated because of this – the materials mentioned sounded great (video interview with Bob Serling about licensing the 4 Day Cash Machine, a video with Matt Trainer about pay per click and so on…) and naturally after making a claim that they’re “available” it’s obviously going to hurt when you find out that they’re actually not. It seems a bit crappy that we pay $1,997 for a course that has no online members support. Surely that’s an oversight on Frank’s behalf? There’s no doubt that this system works and has worked for many people in the past – but it’s also a known fact that people learn better in a community environment and to take down that members area has let a lot of people down.

So for anyone wondering if there is an official online area for members… there’s not – (as far as I’ve found).

However, the warrior forum has a group of Mass Control 2.0 students that have set up their own private Ning community, for which you can be invited. The group is founded by Mr. Pete Surdoval and they have active forums and weekly conference calls (which I think is pretty cool). So if you happen to buy MC 2.0 in the future, either contact myself and I will invite you, or search for Pete in the warrior forum and he’ll likely grant you access.

So, having said all that I can about the week 1 materials without giving too much away – that’s this review finished and I hope to see you on the next instalment which should hit your RSS and newsletters very shortly!

Thanks & Have a Great Day!

P.S. If you liked this why not read some of our other blog posts? Below are some featured posts that we think you might like. Also, sign up to our newsletter in the top right of this page, and we’ll keep you updated with our content straight to your inbox – no sweat!

EDIT: I’ve actually been informed that there is a members area for Mass Control 2.0 subscribers, but it’s in the form of an upsell. So basically, Frank took the original members area and created a new service with it.

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1. Core Influence
• Part 2. Week 1: Planting the Seeds for Total Domination
• Part 3. Week 2: Creating Your Character & Mass Control Story Line
• Part 4. Week 3: The Mass Control Formula Revealed
• Part 5. Week 4: Firing Your Silver Bullet
• Part 6. Extra Feature: Crowd Control
• Beyond the Review – The Results of applying Mass Control 2.0
• Special BONUS Interview with Michael Stelzner

The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 2) is a post from: Business Unusual

Related posts:

1. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 3)
2. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 1)
3. The Ultimate Mass Control 2.0 Review (Part 4)