1000 Raving Fans (part 1)

In this post I’m going to talk about a business model. A very specific business model anyone can use to make a full time income on or off of the Internet. All it involves is building an audience and giving them what they want. A piece of advice that has supposedly been taught for years.

In the Internet Marketing space, everyone has adopted this philosophy of Sell, Sell, Sell!

The school of thought has been, get people in your list and sell them as many products as you can in the shortest amount of time. While that makes a little sense, I have another option. Something far superior.

The problem with Sell, Sell, Sell lies in the old saying of “churn and burn”. Churning and burning is what the vast majority of online marketers are doing. Churning and burning means building massive lists of subscribers and throwing sales page after sales page at them until they become unresponsive or exit from your list altogether.

While the strategy does actually work, it’s wildly ineffective, aggravating and plain stupid. Here’s why. Let’s say your ultimate income goal is $100,000 per year, which is a very reasonable and attainable goal for anyone. $100k a year allows you to live a very comfortable mobile lifestyle as an Internet Marketer.

Now in order to make $100,000 per year selling let’s say information products, you need to sell 1000 products at $100 each or 3000 products at $34 each. Or even 6000 products at $17 each. Let’s take the 6000 product example.

Selling 6000 products takes a lot of work. To sell 6000 products, you could launch one product per month each selling 500 copies. That’s 12×500 = 6000 per year. This is the model a lot of marketers are using. It’s the perpetual launch model.

12 launches a year is excessive, most launch more like 6 products in a year just to achieve their 6 figure goal. Launching a product per month is insane. Here is why the model sucks:

1. You Have To Constantly Create New Products

2. You Have To Constantly Get New Buyers On Your List

3. It Makes You Look And Feel Like An Asshole

I have nothing against constantly creating products. Many billion dollar companies rely on product launch marketing. Look at Apple, if they stopped releasing new products each year; it wouldn’t take long for their stock to plummet. With that said, if you’re a one man band or a small group of people; there is a better way.

The biggest problem with the perpetual launch model is with churning and burning customers. Marketers especially in this space treat their customers as if they have a timer on them. They believe if they don’t sell something to them right away, they’re going to shutdown and become unresponsive for life. The reality is the opposite.

If you blast offer after offer at your customers, they will become unresponsive quickly. But if you take the other option, tell them your the good guy and that you’ll only promote things of massive value; they’ll stay responsive for a much greater length of time.

This means if you don’t blast offer after offer, instead offer your list free content and promote the occasional product to them; they will become fans of yours. Loyal customers. I really don’t like affiliate marketing that much. I prefer to promote my own products to my list. For one it’s a much easier sell since the people on my list already know me. It’s warm selling.

When you send your list to an affiliate offer, it’s a sort of cold sell with a warm recommendation from you. It doesn’t work as well. So I’m all for affiliate marketing, but in small doses. So obviously blasting offers to your list is a bad idea, and if you instead give value your customers will stay active for much longer. Which means you won’t need as many of them! That’s the golden information.

You won’t have to keep launching new products to get more buyers on your list if you just keep your buyers responsive. Touching on the third point, you do feel like an asshole when you’re constantly promoting other people’s offers. Your customers are meant to be like your “tribe”. They trust you not to send them lots of crap; so don’t.

The “Churn And Burn” Model is flawed without a doubt, the “1000 Raving Fans” model is far superior…

The 1000 raving fans or 1000 fans model is the ultimate way to earn a living, especially on the Internet. This is how it works:

The 1000 fans model is essentially making a full time income online by creating a small group of loyal fans. It’s very simple, you create a fan or (customer) base of just 1000 people. 1000 people who are happy to purchase your products and services. You help them, offer personal support and in return they support you by purchasing your products.

What I’m talking about here is getting rid of the old ineffective burn and churn method and instead focusing on helping a small number of people by providing high quality information, products and services. Becoming their go to person. Big lists are useless if you can’t maintain rapport with your subscribers. The bigger your list, the harder it is to manage and the more frustrating it gets as your open rates drop and unsubscriptions accelerate.

Its extremely difficult to earn 6+ figures a year blasting irrelevant product after irrelevant product to your massive list of general subscribers.

It’s easier to please a small group of people by charging premium prices for the exact products, services and information they require. Since it’s such a focused group of people; it’s easy to find out exactly what they want and how you can provide it to them.

The math makes so much more sense. Build a list of 1000 buyers who each spend an avg. of a day’s salary per year on your products/services/information. If your average buyer makes $37,000/year, that’s around $101/day times 1000 = your six figures. Obviously you’ll have people earning a lot more than that figure.

Another way of looking at it is if you release three products per year. Each priced at a low-ish $37. $37 x 3 x 1000 = $111,000/year. If you have 1000 true fans/loyal buyers, the chances are you’re going to make a lot more money than $100k or you’re going to need less buyers. In order to make $100k/year online releasing an average of 3 products per year, you only really need 500 buyers.

===>> Click Here To Continue To Part Two

Comments

Curtman40, December 11, 2012, 12:15

Very informative post, however, if you are a small affiliate business then do use too much affiliation only in small doses otherwise too much means you have nothing of value to offer.

TyronneRatcliff, December 11, 2012, 12:45

These are some great tips Dave, it’s easier when you can break down bigger numbers into smaller ones, once you see what you have do on a daily basis it’s doesn’t seem as hard, its the consitency that people have a problem with.

Michael Burns, January 17, 2012, 02:05

I agree except that I couldn’t plan my meals for a week. I have no idea what I’m going to want to eat tomorrow, let alone a week from now.

Mike, January 16, 2012, 22:18

I agree with everything except doing the boring stuff in the morning. I use my mornings when I am refreshed and full of new energy to create or do the things that inspire me. That is where I want my strongest energy to go! So for me, I focus on art, music, and morning walks with nature! However, everyone is different and you have to find what works best for you and this post is full of absolutely wonderful ways to boost your production. Thanks for sharing David! 🙂

Laura Perez, January 18, 2012, 11:45

Thanks for the tips, David! I’ve been struggling with distractions and your advice is really helpful.

Chris Martin, January 18, 2012, 14:32

Great post! Planning my meals for the week has made a huge difference in my productivity. Keep up the great work!