The New York Times reports today that some laid-off employees are turning entrepreneurial, rather than spending all their time looking for another job. One ex-Yahoo marketing manager who started a web development company explained, "It’s probably easier right now to find a problem, solve it and charge people than it is to find a job."

There it is. The secret of marketing hidden in that throw-away sentiment.

Find a problem. Solve it. And charge people.

If you’re wondering why your online business isn’t doing better, put it through the 8-word marketing audit.

Problem

Have you found a problem? A problem that matters to people? To enough people?

Solution

Are you selling the solution to that problem? The best solution? A different enough solution to their other options? Can you prove it?

Charge

Are people willing to pay for it to go away? Are they able to pay for it? Does your marketing make it clear that the benefit outweighs the cost?

AdWords in the Mix

If your site passes the 8-word marketing test, then AdWords will drive qualified prospects to your Problem/Solution/Charge factory. And you’ll make money.

If you aren’t sure, then AdWords will help you find out. Quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively, you can test your value proposition with your target market. And test variations until you either hit the magic formula. Or drop it and find something else.

When people tell me, "I don’t know what to sell online," I know they’re confused. "What to sell" is all about you. "What problem to solve and charge for" is all about your customers.

Can you think of any problems in the world today?

Problems that people will pay good money to get rid of?

If so, congratulations. You have the basis of a business.

Coming soon: Traffic Surge. A live telecourse that will take you from online newbie to skillfully using AdWords to drive traffic to a website. Want to be notified when it launches? Give me your first name and email address and I’ll put you on the notification list (and not bother you about anything else):

Experiment: Get 45 minutes of my phone consulting for $3.95.

Well, at the moment that’s true. I just listed a 45-minute AdWords consultation on eBay for $3.95, no reserve. That means, if you bid on it right now and nobody outbids you, I’ll be sharing my best stuff with you for 45 minutes for the price of a vegetarian egg roll at Thai Cafe (and believe me, I’ll enjoy that egg roll like nobody’s business).

You set the agenda: we can delve into your AdWords account, look at your landing pages, follow-up methodology, or overall business strategy.

One such consultation that I did about six months ago has saved the recipient about $80,000 in wasted clicks so far. Another increased CTR from 3.42 to 8.93% (a 161% improvement) within 5 weeks of the consultation. 

If you’d like to bid on the consultation, here’s a link to the eBay listing: AdWords Consultation – 45 minutes with Howie.

The auction closes on March 5, 2009 at 1:24pm EST. 

Thoughts:

1. It’s unusual to sell consulting this way. And a little scary. What if nobody bids and I end up looking like a loser? After all, there’s no way to hide the final sale price on eBay. If it sells for $24.50, what will that mean for my fragile little ego? And for my positioning as a high-priced, high demand consultant?

2. Since it’s unusual, how can I use this “gimmick” to generate publicity for AdWords For Dummies, askHowie, and my consulting/ coaching practice? I’ve got some ideas, which you’ll see implemented over the next few days if you’re paying attention, but I’m not too proud to beg for more. How would you publicize the auction if you were me? (Of course, the more serious bidders I attract, the better the final outcome should be for me, so I have a very immediate interest in spreading the word.)

Post your ideas to comments.

3. Can you think of  something new and different you can do in your business to shake things up and make some waves? What rules can you break? A great way to ask the question, paraphrased from Doug Hall’s Jumpstart Your Business Brain: “What would really worry you if your competitors started doing this?”

That question sparked some lively brainstorming at “Camp Howie” (the name given to the 2.5 day Intensive Mastermind Workshop held in Durham last week). And produced some really powerful strategies for differentiating in crowded and competitive markets. 

See you on eBay!

Save the dates: February 23 and March 2, 2009, from 10-11am EST, for a two-part telecourse on AdWords Checkmate. Learn an advanced technique for doubling CTR and conversion rate – even (heck, especially) in highly competitive markets. Check it out…

The nice thing about a website is how easy it is to change.

The hard thing about a life is how hard it is to change. And how easy for that change not to stick.

So when I change – when I grow as a person, lose some fears, embrace new beliefs, etc. – I want to make sure my environment reflects and supports those positive changes. Including my website.

You see, when people contact me for coaching, or consulting, or to attend a workshop, what they know (or think they know) about me comes from my marketing material. The book (AdWords For Dummies, for those of you who are here accidentally and have no idea who I am), the website, my contributions to blogs and interviews and other products and so on.

I don’t want to broadcast an outdated message and attract clients who won’t be in sync with my current reality.

Some of the stuff I’ve done is just out there, and can’t be put back in the bottle. You can see all the iterations of my first site, howieconnect.com, on the WayBack Machine at archive.org. Like snapshots from a childhood, there are versions that make me laugh, cringe, crow in pride, and shake my head in amazement in how far I’ve come.

There’s nothing wrong with improvement – in fact, I always take solace in the fact that when I create a new web page, it’s the worst it will ever be at the beginning. Improvement is inevitable if I ask for feedback and pay attention to it.

But just as I update my resume and wallet snapshots of my kids, I want to make sure that my website represents my current reality. Not just the details, but the heart of my business.

So today I’d like to share with you just a few questions I’ll be using over the next several weeks as I update and upgrade my marketing messages at askhowie.

Website "Marketing Makeover" Queries

Is this page telling the truth? Is it still technically accurate? Is it missing anything?

Is there anything misleading on this page?

Am I focusing more on my own needs or the needs of my prospects and clients? In other words, is this page motivated by service or selfishness?

Am I speaking with confidence? Do I deeply believe my own claims?

If someone just reads this page and doesn’t convert, are they still better off than when they started? (Thanks to my coach Christian Mickelsen for that insight.)

Does this page try to get the sale by appealing primarily to the "lower self" of the reader, or to their better nature? In other words, does it elevate or suppress consciousness?

Am I teaching a technique that, when applied, supports or raises the standards of my client’s industry?

Does this page sound like me today? If I wrote it today for the first time, what would be different?

Not the same as split testing

This process is not a scientific march to higher conversions. It’s not a technical fix to a poorly performing site.

Instead, it’s an acknowledgment of my personal discovery that my business is a projection of my self. A trailing indicator of the person I keep becoming.

And the Queries listed above are my queries, not necessarily yours. They reflect my own journey – into greater self-confidence and away from marketing "trips and tricks" that sometimes substituted for true connection during my business odyssey.

I’m sure I’m missing some pretty important questions. But I trust that the ones I’ve listed will move me and my website in the right direction.

So my question to you is – what are your big queries to ensure your marketing is in sync with your being?

Please post to comments, if you’re inspired to share. Otherwise, feel free to make this an internal process (or to ignore it completely and go on with your day;).

About 12 years ago, the school where I was teaching built a brand new building. We used to visit the construction site several times a week and watch in amazement and anticipation as our future home took shape.

One day in mid-October, after students and teachers had been waiting about 2 weeks for the rain to stop, the big day arrived. The monster dump-truck-crane-thingy came and poured the concrete foundation. We watched in awe as the grey sludge oozed out of the chute and transformed a big dirty hole into a perfectly flat, perfectly smooth surface.

A few days later, when it was dry, we watched in horror as the workers pushed some giant motorized pizza cutters all over the concrete, cracking it in a dozen different places. "What are you doing?" we demanded. "It was perfect before!"

The answer is a powerful marketing lesson…

What Does This Have to Do with Marketing?

The workers were cracking the foundation because it was going to crack anyway, eventually. They wanted to control where and when it cracked.

And they cracked it exactly where they wanted to, rather than letting random effects and subtle laws of physics shear off the boys’ bathroom one warm winter’s day.

Nobody Believes Us

Ready for the journey to marketing metaphor-land?

Our prospects look at our marketing, our smooth foundation, and go, "Yeah, right!"

Why They Don’t Believe Us 

1. We’re Biased and Full of It

Of course we want people to believe good things about us. That’s how we get paid.

2. We’re Biased and Deluded

We truly do think we’re great. Take this little test:

A. True or False: I am an above average driver.

B. True or False: I have an above average sense of humor.

C. True or False: I am in better shape than most people my age.

In studies, between 75-90% of respondents choose True for each item. We all live in Lake Woebegone, where all the children are above average.

Yes, you heard me right. A marketing man spills the darkest secret of his profession – most of what passes for marketing is meaningless fluff, outright lies, or unsupportable claims.  After all, most of the marketing we experience as consumers – billions and billions of dollars worth each year – is designed to convince us that identical commodity products – soda, diapers, dishwashing liquid – are significantly different from each other.

The Marketing Discount Rate

Every claim you make about your business,  your service, and the results your customers will achieve gets discounted about 90%.

And the minute you say something they truly disbelieve, like "Highest quality at the lowest price," the marketing discount rate just reached 100%. You’re a goner.

The Island of the Liars and Truth-tellers

Remember that logic puzzle about the island that’s inhabited by two tribes – the liars and the truth-tellers? It’s impossible to tell them apart by looks. You’re on this island, at a fork in the road, lost and confused, and you want to know which road takes you to the village. You meet a native of the island, and get to ask one question. What question can you ask to find your way to the village?

Of course not. Because the liar says the exact same thing.

(Answer to the puzzle at very bottom – but don’t skip any good stuff in the middle ;)

Crack Your Own Foundation

The answer to the real-life marketing problem is to crack your own foundation. Make a damaging admission about your business up front. Say something that your prospect doesn’t expect a self-interested, lying, deluded marketing shark to say.

"This air purifier filters down to 1 micron. It will keep your air incredibly pure.  The problem is, because the filter is so tight, the fan has to work extra hard. It’s a little noisier than some of the cheaper units out there."
      
 "This digital camera will take better pictures than just about any other camera.  You see, we spent a lot of time developing software that interprets what the lens captures. Most other manufacturers just slap their regular lenses on digital cameras and don’t focus as much on the software. The trade-off is that professional photographers may not like the fact that our camera does all the work. We’ve created it to be point and shoot – the photographer doesn’t get to control as many settings as other cameras."

"I help my clients build considerable wealth, but my system requires consistent disciplined investment over time. I don’t do well with clients who want to give me all the responsibility over their money. Realistically, there’s only so much I can do if they’re not going to budget and save on a regular basis."

Notice that the negatives I gave as examples weren’t entirely negative. In fact, some prospects may actually be attracted by them.

• "The fan is noisier because the air purifier is more effective. That means quieter models must not be as effective."
• "I’m not a professional photographer. I’m tired of taking pictures of people with red eyes and no feet. I don’t need to be able to twiddle the settings."
• "I don’t want to just give my money to someone and be done with it. Of course I want to keep saving and investing over time."

When you make a damaging admission, make sure it’s not truly damaging in the eyes of your best customers.  I’d avoid the following:

• "My product is cheaper because it is made by children’s slave labor."
• "Because I never actually went to law school, opposing counsel finds my tactics unpredictable."
• "Statistically, most cars never get involved in fatal collisions. So we skipped the crash tests and installed reconditioned seat belts, and passed the savings on to you."

Think of the damaging admission as a tool that helps your prospects qualify themselves. You’re saying, "Because of this problem, my product or service isn’t for everyone. You have to be willing to accept this tradeoff in order to be happy with it."

Everything’s a Tradeoff 

The essence of the damaging admission is the concept of "tradeoff." The problem with so much marketing is that it contradicts what we know to be true about the world – everything is a compromise.

And your marketing tradeoff is – give up a little Benefit to gain a lot of Believability.

A Few Quotes to Keep You Awake

Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.
- Janis Joplin

There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking.
- Alfred Korzybski

How to Crack Your Foundation

1. Make a list of all the features of your product and service. Next to each one, write an advantage and disadvantage of that feature. Which disadvantages make the biggest advantages more believable? Where are the logical tradeoffs you can highlight?

3. Whom do you believe the most in your life? Whom do you trust the most? What makes you believe them above all others? How can you bring some of that credibility to your marketing?

This Week’s Product Offers

1) Look Over My Shoulders – AdWords Success Video tutorials

Bonus Quotes

No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.
- Lily Tomlin

Why ruin a good story with the truth?
- Woody Allen

Solution to the Liars Puzzle:

You ask, "If I asked a member of the other tribe which road led to the village, what would they say?"

Whatever they say, you do the opposite.