Archive | April, 2021

I just read an article over at HubSpot that touts the ‘10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint’ as created by Guy Kawasaki. I want to state up front that I have nothing against Guy. I’ve read his books and he gives great advice on many topics. But I suspect that one day Guy needed something to write about and was fresh out of ideas. That’s when he decided to share his own 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint with readers, and now it’s gospel among speakers and video creators.

It’s also, in my opinion, nonsense.

The rule says that you must never use more than 10 slides in a presentation, you must never go over 20 minutes and you must never use fonts smaller than 30 point. Even if you don’t do PowerPoint presentations or make slideshow videos, you can tell at one glance this rule is wrong. The clue is a certain phrase that appears not just once, but three times. Go back now and see if you can spot it.

That’s right…

“You must never.”

You must never do this and you must never do that, and it’s all rubbish.

Very few rules apply all of the time. In fact, the only hard and fast rule I can think of right now is that if you want to keep living, you have to keep breathing. But I can even think of an exception to that rule, too.

And yet I see new marketers make this mistake time and time again. Their favorite expert-guru type says they MUST do this and this and this without deviation, and the new marketer will struggle to follow those rules until they collapse in frustration.

Never mind that the expert-guru works in internet marketing and the new marketer works in hobbies. Never mind that the expert-guru has a following of 100,000 with huge name recognition while the new marketer has neither. Never mind that the expert-guru has a staff of 5 with 20 outsourcers at his beck and call while the new marketer is trying to do it all herself.

Almost no rule applies all of the time. While it makes perfect sense to follow the guidance of someone wiser and more seasoned than you, it makes equal sense to adapt their advice to your situation, to your niche and to your audience.

There will be times when you need more than 10 slides, when your talk might be a lot longer than 20 minutes (especially if you are teaching) and when your font might not be 30 point. And that, my friend, is okay.

One last thing… when you become a big shot in your niche, or if you already are a big shot, please do everyone a favor and teach others not to work in absolutes and to instead think for themselves.

And the next time you catch me saying “you must” do anything, be kind. I make this mistake myself from time to time, but I’m working on removing words like ‘must,’ ‘should’ and ‘never’ from my vocabulary.

Most new marketers make the painful mistake of thinking the sale is done when the customer buys the product. Nope. That’s just the first sale. Wise marketers who want to stay in business and continue to profit know there are two more sales to be made.

First, you’ve got to sell the new buyer on how great your product is. If you don’t, you’ll get more refund requests.

Second, you’ve got to sell your new buyer on consuming and using your product. When you do, these new customers are far more likely to purchase additional products from you, often at much higher price points.

Interestingly, you can make both of these sales with one simple technique.

I’m going to assume that the product in question is an information product, and that it’s a good one – no junk. Here’s what you do:

When you collect reviews and testimonials prior to launch (you are doing that, right?) you’re going to ask a couple of extra questions of your reviewers:

1: Which is your favorite section/chapter/video of the product?

2: What did you discover and how will you use this information to achieve your goal?

Your questions might be slightly different depending on your product and your niche. The gist is to get each reviewer to choose a favorite section of the product and tell you what they’re going to do with this information.

For example, “The third video taught me how to add an additional $10,000 to my monthly income with just a few small tweaks to what I’m already doing.”

Or, “The fifth chapter revealed a mistake I’ve been making that nearly cost me my marriage. Now that I’m aware of it, I’ve made a simple adjustment that’s brought my husband and me back together again and we feel like newlyweds!”

You can use these in your sales material, but you can also place these INSIDE your product to remind your customers of why they made the purchase. You might place the testimonials at the beginning of chapters, or one the page containing that particular video, or wherever it’s appropriate.

After people buy your product, they naturally forget most of what the sales letter or sales video told them. A week or two later, they might only remember they paid $199 for a product that will teach them how to blog. If buyer’s remorse sets in before they even consume your product, you’re done for. A refund request will be on its way to your inbox.

By adding these very specific testimonials, you remind them that others have found your product particularly helpful. This can get them to read or watch your product and see how great it is. Then instead of asking for a refund, they’ll be wondering what else you can offer them.

A couple more tips:

→ Use these testimonials as well as bullet points in the follow up email series you send after making the sale. This will remind new buyers of what a great decision they made in purchasing your product and encourage them to consume it and use it.

→ At the beginning of each chapter or section, as well as on the page where each video is loaded, add in a list of bullet points telling them what they’ll discover in this material.

Remember, it’s important to not just make the initial sale, but to also sell your customers on the idea that they made a smart purchase as well as selling them on USING your product. When you do, you’ll reduce refunds dramatically as well as encourage your new buyers to make many more purchases from you in the future.