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Going Beyond the Hype
September 19, 2004
The number of Internet marketing info products out there is really quite overwhelming. The worse thing, though, is that when a new product is launched, it is very difficult to get beyond the hype - and getting beyond the hype is something you definitely have to do if you're going to accurately decide whether or not to spend your hard-earned money yet again.
Here's what I do, generally, whenever I am considering purchasing any Internet marketing product:
1. If the product is newly launched, I wait. The pre-launch phase for some products can be really difficult to sit through. That credit card of mine personally doesn't want to stay put in my wallet sometimes. All those hypotically written sales letters, the various almost-identical reviews, the "I can't believe XX is actually releasing the secrets of the Internet marketing universe for only $299" emails landing in my inbox - if I listened to every guru's opinion at this time, I'd be in serious debt. So I sit tight, and I wait until the launch has been made, and the hype settles down.
2. I have to have a need for the product. That means that, BEFORE the product came out, I was thinking, "you know, I really need something to help me tackle SEO" or "I've got to figure out how to convert my visitors better". Sales letters are expertly written, with the sole goal of convincing you that you need this product. If I haven't even thought about needing help in a certain area before I find the product, I file it away for later consideration, when that need does come up.
3. I look for reviews. This can actually be much harder than it sounds. There's one thing I've noticed about the Internet marketing world - when it comes to reviewing products, people tend to be really really nice. I'm not kidding. No-one seems to want to say anything bad about anything. Or the reverse (which is a bit more rare) - people will pan a project in such a way that you can't help but suspect a hidden agenda. So you need to stay away from both the super-hyped reviews and the this-is-the-ultimate-bad-product reviews.
Here's what I look for:
- a review that's not a canned review, similar in content to most of the reviews out there and likely written by the infoproduct author for his/her affiliates.
- a review that tells me the pros and the cons (and really, even in the best product out there, there should be some cons, even if it's something as small as the font size was not comfortable for reading).
- a review that tells me the reviewer actually sat down, spent time with the product, thought about what was in it and then wrote the review.
4. I look at past reviews. This is my ultimate test of a reviewer's site, although it only works if you've already bought a number of Internet marketing infoproducts. I've bought my fair share, and yes, there are some that I seriously thought about returning. (I haven't yet - I subscribe to the "if there is one thing in there that I learned, I give the author the benefit of the doubt" school of thought). So what I will do when I find a review site is check out what the reviewer has said about products that I didn't think were good value for the money.
5. I ask around. First, I check out all the Internet marketing forums. I do a search to see if the product's been discussed, and if not (or even if it has, but quite a few months previously) I will post asking for people's thoughts. There are, however, one or two forums that tend not to have any balanced opinions - all the product reviews tend to be "rah rah rah - great stuff" without anyone mentioning any quibbles. But usually you will get some interesting viewpoints.
I also ask a friend of mine who's an Internet marketer, but not in the Internet marketing niche. And maybe, ultimately, this is the very best source of information that's free of hype. He's giving me his thoughts without any sort of "sell", hard or soft. The only problem is, he's not made of money so hasn't always purchased products I'm interested in!
Finally, if there is an Internet marketer I trust, I will send off a personal email, even if he/she has already written a review. The thing is, I know that selling Internet marketing info products is a big part of what people in the Internet marketing niche do. So reviews can be tempered with that thought in mind. I've discovered that there are certain Internet marketers I can email personally for their thoughts on whether the product is the right one for me, and I've gotten some really well-thought out replies.
These are the people I make sure I buy through when I do decide on a product.
So, that's my method of going beyond the hype. It doesn't always work - sometimes I really want a certain type of product, but I already have serious doubts about whether a particular product will fulfil my current needs. When that's the case, I often find it's best to go by my intuition. Something better will come along. It always does.
- BJ
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Posted by BJ at 01:43 PM in Internet Marketing | Permalink
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Comments
It's so easy to get buried under the hype. With so many infoproducts, it's really hard to discern which will really deliver. After learning about how sales letters are written, I've managed to "finally" get beyond the hype (after some serious debt, too).
Great entry. Keep them coming :)))
Posted by: | Sep 19, 2004 2:34:38 PM
Thanks. I am slowly starting to realize that most of them say the same thing. And that the only way to make use of any of this information, free or $$, is to take action. (That's the hard part - maybe I should be buying info products on how to "just do it"!)
- BJ
Posted by: BJ | Sep 20, 2004 12:48:50 AM
