What can BP teach us about marketing in the face of the largest environmental disaster in USA history? Some very good points and some points that Frank Kern talks about “avoiding at all costs” in one of his squeeze pages.

I hesitated for a minute before writing this because this is a marketing forum and I wanted to keep it that way, however, it is so disturbing to me that this is being let happen to our country that it just flat out pisses me off!

So, lets start with some of the good that we can take away from this horrendous situation as I try to stifle my cynical tongue for a moment. BP can be compared to a “guru” in the internet marketing industry. Because of this they can move and guide opinion as people already have a positive opinion of them due to their “guru” status.

This means they can influence their customers opinion much easier.

They can recover from mistakes faster.

They can charge a premium for the same product.

They can lead the conversation in their niche and people will listen.

All this adds up to their ability to survive the worst environmental disaster in our history. They will come back as a company and find a away to turn this around because they have influence in the market. Influence that reaches much wider and deeper than people realize. Every dollar they spent to build their brand equity will pay them tenfold when the begin the image recovery process.

So what is the “one thing that we should avoid at all costs” in the words of Frank.

Taking on a major endeavor without a backup plan. Whether that is conducting a product launch with only one merchant account or creating a website in a niche without doing proper research first. If you don’t have a back up plan you are just asking for trouble and BP didn’t have one.

The end result is an unfortunate incident that started off as something that probably had more to do with the inherent risk of doing business, and ended up as the worst environmental disaster of our history. All because BP had no backup plan.

God help us if this is the best we have to offer.

Don’t let this happen to you…. and say a prayer for the workers who passed away.

Did you ever think it was possible to work less and make more money? I had trouble with that concept too as my family (especially my Dad) always said the harder you work the more you will make. This is not necessarily true in the online world in which we now live. Because of tools such as autoresponders that can be programmed to do much of the work for us the direct opposite is true in a lot of cases.

An autoresponder is just as the name implies. It is a program that automatically responds to a request for information. The most common use is sending a response email to someone who has signed up for your email list. The customer receives a response immediately and, if they are not familiar with autoresponders, may think you are typing them a response at all hours of the day or night. I can’t tell you how many times people have responded to one of my emails from an autoresponder, thinking that I was on the other end pecking away on my computer. If you would like more information on autoresponders click here . I use and recommend Aweber.

The reality is, you do the work once and you are done. The autoresponder repeats the process each time another person signs up. You can just send a welcome or courtesy email or you can attach a file to the email and send them a special report or ebook. Everything is automated. Talk about beautiful, this is the way to get things done.

Let’s assume for a second that you are selling an ebook. On the sales page you have a “add to cart” or “buy now” button with a link to your merchant account or PayPal (I recommend Paypal but that is for another section). The customer purchases your product and your shopping cart automatically sends them the ebook link plus sends a request to your autoresponder add them to your email list.

Your autoresponder then sends an email with a “Thank You” note and a link to an upsell. They decide not to take you up on the upsell this time; however, you programed the autoresponder to send an email every other day for the next 30 days containing some kind words and the same upsell link. Nothing, nothing, nothing, and then….. Bam! On day 22 they purchase the upsell!

This is real life and this is how you triple your profits with less work.

Did you ever sign up for an email list and in the sales page it says they will deliver (what ever they are promising you) to your email instantly….. “yes, even if it is 3 am in the morning”. Well, they are using an email autoresponder to automate their business.

Once you get the feel for what your customers are looking for you can continually tweak your messages and keep on adding more email content to them. I have seen some autoresponders set up outside a year long. Imagine the messaging you can send on a consistent basis not to mention the cash you can generate on a regular basis.

In my opinion a mailing list is your most valuable asset. The larger the list the more money possible. Your list is only valuable if handled with care and respect. The important part is that you know how to use it to its greatest potential. Don’t over use it and keep jamming sales letters and affiliate links down their throats. Make sure to send top content on a regular basis and they will be ready to by your product when it comes out.