Re: Online Apprentice Seeks Internet Sorcerer

From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries_at_cris.com>
Date: Mon 21 Apr 2003 23:14:53 -0600

In online-ads digest: April 18, 2003 Jim Stroud wrote:

> I am the author of "How Do I Find A Job When The Economy Sucks?" an
> ebook of job-hunting strategies for people who need to work NOW! I
> want to get as much attention as I can, but have an extremely limited
> budget. So far I have pursued owners of jobseeker mailing lists,
> spoken at jobseeker networking groups and pursued affiliates. As a
> result, I understand that many people in Atlanta know my name.

Well, Jim ... for starters, I'm not going to focus on the general topic of selling
(general) E-Books ...

Rather, let's start by looking at your target market and go from there, ok?

If you target market is "people who need to work NOW!", then ...
Firstly, I would recommend that you want to advertise where these type of
people are probably spending a lot of their time, right?
Namely, I would suggest the same Job Boards / Sites, on which you are
commenting in your sales copy for your e-book, like Monster.com, etc.

Now, if you can't and/or don't want to buy just "straight" ad space on these
Job Boards / Sites, then what about trying to negotiate some kind of trade /
deal with them, like they give your e-book aware with some kind of payment
for some other service and then offer you some ad space on their site in
exchange for the "freebies"?

We would be happy to include your E-Book in our JOB LINK Book Store
(http://www.concentric.net/~Devries/jlbooks.htm), since our target markets are
the same, namely job seekers, and we hope this helps, ok?!

> However, I am not getting as many buyers as I would like.

Again, let's look at your target "buyers" ...
If we are again talking about "people who need to work NOW!" ....
Well ... Why do they "need to work NOW!"? ...
Probably because they don't have any or enough money, right?
So ... Are they going to "shell out" $19.95 for your e-book? ...
When their is no real guarantee that buying your e-book will get them a job
NOW? ...
And there are all kinds of advertisements out there for books, reports,
systems, etc. on how one can earn "tons of money" NOW ...
My point being that many of these people may have become "jaded" to (or
worse already "scammed" by) some of these kinds of "make money now!"
ads.

So, for now, just let me recommend that you really have to think about some
way to distinguish your products / services from all these others such that
your potential customers feel comfortable that they will definitely get a ROI for
their precious $20, right?

Ok, so let me "throw out" a few (may unorthodox) ideas that you may want to
try and hopefully will help ...

Again, given that your target market is the (desparately) unemployed ...

How about offering to let your local unemployment offices distribute copies of
your e-book (possibly printed) to anyone who files for unemployment? Then
add "up sell" advertisements in your e-book that may generate (even more)
sales when these individuals get a job by using your information?
Not to mention the Great Positive PR you should reap from such a "gesture",
right?
Also, you (may / ) should be able to "write off" the value of the e-books you
"give away" this way as a charitable donation - shouldn't you? (accountants
out there, please comment / clarify)

I'm sure there are other creative, low cost, ways to reach your target audience
... right?

Well ... how's that for starters?

Hope this helps,

- Michael S. DeVries

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Received on Tue Apr 22 2003 - 00:14:53 CDT