DirectPayNet

Category: DIRECT RESPONSE

  • 5 Reasons Why You Should Make the Switch from ClickBank to Shopify

    5 Reasons Why You Should Make the Switch from ClickBank to Shopify

    Considering making the switch from ClickBank to Shopify or curious about the benefits of each? We’ll give you five solid reasons why you should consider making the switch or joining Shopify even if you aren’t coming from ClickBank.

    Though dedicated to online sales, ClickBank and Shopify are two very different platforms that market to different merchants. Shopify markets to a broader range as something of a WordPress-like platform; one that does all for all, no matter your background. And that makes sense because it’s essentially a CRM (customer relations manager). ClickBank, on the other hand, promotes itself as a platform for venders who want to scale. It targets business owners who want to leverage affiliate marketing.

    Now that you know the basic, and even if you Shopify doesn’t seem to target you, we’ll prove which is superior with five reasons why you should switch from ClickBank to Shopify.

    1. Flat Rates, More Options

    Using flat-rate pricing for an e-commerce platform is attractive to many sellers. You always know what you have to pay and what you get for that price. On top of the flat rate for simply using the service, there are also transaction fees (again, at a flat rate). This is where Shopify comes out on top.

    ClickBank’s Rates and Fees

    $50 for your first product to be approved as a ClickBank vendor, $30 for additional accounts (not products). ClickBank runs on an affiliate marketing program, so it’s less of a full-fledged store and more of a single product with huge reach. Considering this, paying $50 one-and-done is great.

    Then, there’s the sales fee. 7.5% + $1.00 is the rate…and it’s pretty high. Since there’s only the one-time payment for the product, it makes sense that the sales fee would be higher than normal. ClickBank has to make money, too. And when considering using the platform solely for affiliate marketing, not hosting your product, you can get up to 90% commission.

    Shopify’s Rates and Fees

    Again, flat rate pricing. For Shopify, however, you have more options. This is because Shopify is an e-commerce platform at heart, allowing you to create a full-fledge store as large as you need.

    You can pay as low as $9 or as much as $2000 depending on the size of your business. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, startup, small online business, or enterprise-level, there’s an option for you. Then, there are benefits to the plan level you choose. For example, the transaction fee percentage lowers according to how expensive your plan is. Also for 3rd-party payment processors. And shipping rates.

    Essentially, Shopify is a customizable solution that covers everything you need to run a store, not just a single product.

    2. Chargeback Fees and Refunds

    Refunds happen for every business, and so do chargebacks. The key to staying on top is limiting the potential for chargebacks and converting them to returns/refunds.

    ClickBank’s Chargeback Rate

    Chargeback fees on this platform are tiered. ClickBank charges you $22 per chargeback if your chargeback rate is less than 1%. That fee goes up to $29 if it’s between 1% and 1.5%. It goes up again to $49 if your rate is above 1.5%.

    That sounds fair in the sense that ClickBank is also a business and shouldn’t front the payment on your behalf if you have such a high rate. It’s your responsibility. However, sometimes chargebacks happen at no fault of the vendor, in which case paying these fees on top of the cost of the sale (because you don’t get refunded for the sale) is a real letdown.

    For refunds, you are charged either $0.50 or $1, but you do get your money back from the sale. So while paying for someone else’s return doesn’t seem like something you should be punished for, it’s non-negotiable and a pretty low fee.

    Shopify’s Chargeback Rate

    Simple and clean. $15 is the fee for chargebacks on Shopify regardless of your ratio. Right off the bat, it’s significantly lower than ClickBank’s and never increases.

    There are no fees for creating refunds, and Shopify even allows to you give out partial refunds or gift cards/store credit.

    3. Choice of Processor

    When operating a shop, it can be difficult to weigh which rate structure is best for you. Flat rates are the easiest because there is no negotiating involved. You simply get what you get, and you don’t have to worry about anything else. On the other hand, choosing interchange plus or tiered gives you more control over what you pay down to the minutiae.

    Now, Shopify and ClickBank are equal in this regard—almost. Shopify Payments, the Stripe-based payment solution built right into Shopify is based on flat-rate processing. ClickBank is also flat-rate processing. However, Shopify allows you to use 3rd-party processors, meaning you are not obligated to pay for or use Shopify’s built-in payments system.

    Considering this, Shopify is superior for those sellers who want more control over their rates. This is perfect for high-risk merchants, like those selling subscriptions, digital products, and dropshipping, because you can choose a merchant account and processor that matches your needs. This is what DirectPayNet does best, so we encourage you to understand your business model and use a processor that supports it because not all of them do. Especially Stripe (and PayPal, and Square).

    ClickBank only offers its own payment gateway, meaning you have no choice. And that’s fine for many businesses. In fact, starting off with ClickBank is a great way to build up some transaction processing history or to test different business models. It allows you to test the waters before diving in. But also keep in mind that once you do decide to take the plunge with business model that really works for you, using your own merchant account can save you over 50% in comparison to ClickBank’s fees.

    4. Affiliate Marketing Potential

    ClickBank is king when it comes to affiliate networks. It’s a platform based entirely on the affiliate marketing model and easily to use for beginners and experts, alike. So, we’re confident when we say they know exactly what they’re doing. Shopify also offers an affiliate program.

    While ClickBank affiliate marketing is on top in this regard, Shopify still comes up as a close 2nd. This is because Shopify is designed as a CRM and shop hosting service, meaning they want your whole store on the platform. The focus is on the bigger picture of e-commerce, whereas ClickBank homes in on and nails the affiliate marketing aspect.

    If affiliate marketing is your goal–as a store owner, it’s what you want to shape your business around–then ClickBank is where you should be. But if you want a full-fledged online store with online marketing and a business you can take even offline, Shopify is the place to be. This is when you need to outline your priorities and see what business model benefits you the most.

    5. Shopify Sellers Can Leverage ClickBank

    Shopify users can leverage ClickBank by building a new customer acquisition stream or sales funnel. You can think of ClickBank as similar to Amazon. Both are online retailers that host products from a variety of sellers. So you can have your Shopify store up and running, and then become a vendor on ClickBank and use it as an additional revenue stream, not a replacement, for passive income.

    This is because ClickBank will never be a replacement to Shopify, they’re two completely different services with completely diverse functionality and integrations. Sure, you can host several products on ClickBank, but it won’t ever be your store the same way you can sell infinite products on Amazon without having your own store. ClickBank knows this and even promotes Shopify in their own tutorials. Yes, they are in competition, but it doesn’t mean you have to go all-in on one platform.

    Ultimately, the best strategy is to open up shop on Shopify, connect it with your own merchant account (instead of using Shopify Payments), and then host a few of your own products on ClickBank for additional revenue. You can choose products that sell the most and extend the reach for those, or test out demographics and sales models for new lines of product that might differ from your general selection. Whatever the case, the best strategy is to use both to your advantage, ignoring the fees and downsides of ClickBank and viewing it as simply an addition, not a main source.

    In combination, your digital marketing efforts will pay off effortlessly. Whether you choose email marketing, influencer/social media/Facebook ads/blogger marketing, or something other form of internet marketing, you’ll easily make money online and see an increase in brand recognition.

    Add Your Own Merchant Account to Shopify through DirectPayNet

    DirectPayNet’s expert team of merchant service sales reps are ready to answer any questions you have about integrating your own merchant account into Shopify, as well as assisting with the process. We’re ready to help you scale; get in touch with us today to get started.

  • Company Valuations Part 2: When Is the Best Time to Sell a High-Risk Business and How to Get a Company’s Value Assessment

    Company Valuations Part 2: When Is the Best Time to Sell a High-Risk Business and How to Get a Company’s Value Assessment

    In Part 1 of our interview with Lane Gordon, we spoke about what makes a business sellable. The metrics a business owner should look at and the qualities a buyer looks for. In this part, we’ll cover when the best time to sell is as well as how to get an accurate high-risk business valuation.

    There are many reasons an owner might want to sell their business, and there is never really a bad reason. Instead, it relies more on how you position your business to buyers and how honest you are about it.

    When Is The Best Time to Sell a Business?

    Even when your business is running smoothly, revenue is high, your client base is rising, you have a solid income approach, and the sky is still the limit, you may want to ask yourself, “when should I think about selling my business?” Not because you need to sell it at this moment, we don’t want to scare you into selling right now. Instead, it’s to prepare you so you don’t miss your best chance to sell when the time comes.

    Why a Business Owner Would Sell Their Business

    A lot of the time, we like to think businesses are sold because they’re tanking or the owner wants to get rid of it before it becomes too bad of an investment. While that does happen, businesses are more often than not sold because the owner has simply come to the conclusion that it’s a good time to sell. So, what does “a good time to sell” mean?

    A great reason to sell is because you, as the current owner, aren’t able to grow the company any longer. You’ve reached your limit, met your goals, and now its time to pass the company onto someone else who has a different vision and can grow it in a new direction.

    Other very valid reasons to sell a high-risk business is due to changes in personal life. Maybe your marital status or location has changed, you’ve gotten older, or you’ve taken on more personal obligations. These are completely okay reasons to sell a business and shouldn’t be looked down upon.

    One of the best reasons to sell is because you simply want to do something else. Your hearts not in it anymore, you want to explore passions outside of this one business, or you’ve achieved your goals and now you’re done. Simple as that. This is a great reason to sell because you’re not motivated by the fear of becoming obsolete or failing in the competitive space. That would still be a valid reason to sell, but it would make obtaining a high valuation quite challenging.

    Selling on the upswing is a great time to take action. Even if you’re unsure of your business’ position in the industry in the next 3, 4, or 5 years, it’s still growing, profiting, and a great asset to new buyers.

    Ways a High-Risk Business Owner Should Look Forward

    When deciding the best time to sell, a business owner should discover what they think is the long-term trend. That trend differs for each business, so there’s no right or wrong answer.

    Maybe you have a SaaS business and you see the long-term trend as furthering adoption rates. Or maybe, more specifically, you see your role—your long-term position—in the business as being able to grow the customer base.

    Ask yourself if what you currently have will maintain the value of a business for consumers moving forward. Will your product soon become hyper competitive? Will it be replaced by updated technology sooner rather than later?

    Is There a General Multiple for High-Risk Businesses?

    In finance, a multiple is the comparison of two metrics to determine the health of a company. Multiples are often used by investors as a performance measure when creating a valuation for high-risk businesses and low-risk businesses.

    The business risk for industries like CBD, supplements, and crypto which have high volatility, finding a multiple might be tricky because these industries are so new. The financial risk premium is high, and there’s no proven benchmark to use across the board. Market risk and industry risk are high simply because these companies are in their infancy. Especially considering how easily regulation can obliterate one of these company’s industries simply because there’s very little or no regulation for them at all. On the other hand, new regulation could help these industries thrive. So we’ve asked Lane what multiple there might be for these types of businesses.

    The Answer: It’s All Over the Board

    Lane says it’s likely more dependent on soul searching than anything else. Before you think that’s a cop-out kind of excuse, he gave us an example:

    If you have a CBD business that’s doing really well at the moment, then ask yourself if it will be doing this well or better in one, two, or three years. If the answer is no, then it’s probably a good time to sell. That’s especially true if you already have an interested buyer given your current business appraisal.

    It’s not a Burning Man type of soul searching. It’s a forecast of the expectations you have for your own business. If the dominoes are lining up, then there might not be much sense in preventing the cascade. Business is going well, you don’t see a secure growth rate in the near future, a buyer is interested—perfect time to sell for a high-risk business.

    High-Risk Business Valuations Depend on the Industry

    CBD and crypto are up in the air a little bit in a regulatory stance, so for these businesses you need to soul search. But for other types of high-risk businesses, like subscription sellers and SaaS products, selling and valuations are a little different.

    Tech platforms that use subscription-based services get high valuations are show up in the news so often for a very simple reason: it’s difficult for customers to leave. If you have a QuickBooks-like service, once customers start entering data it gets incredibly difficult to migrate out of your platform. It’s painful, even. Even if there’s a better platform with better technology and features out there, customers are likely to stay simply because this is where all of their data lives.

    For supplement sellers, CBD sellers, and those similar, they are viewed different. This goes back into what we were saying in Part 1. A higher valuation is more likely when these types of companies have a larger customer base. So when trying to decide the best time to sell the business, the size of the customer base will play a huge factor. The best answer is likely to be when you’re still growing.

    What Are the Implications for Businesses with Small Pools and High Tickets and Vice Versa?

    We were wondering if one type of business is more valuable than the other from a high-risk company valuation perspective. Here’s what we found.

    Large Client Pool, Small Ticket Items Are Generally More Valuable

    These types of businesses are typically more valuable to a buyer. As stated in Part 1, it’s about risk factors and spread. If there are more people to carry the revenue stream, then it’s more attractive than just a few people holding all the weight.

    Large ticket, small pool businesses can be much more profitable to the current owner, but from a buyer’s perspective, the level of additional risk management isn’t worth it.

    How Large Ticket, Small Pool Businesses Can Obtain a Higher Value

    The best way for these high-risk businesses to increase their value is to try and add on as many clients as possible.

    A more achievable approach to doing this is to create an exit plan. You can reach out to competitors in your vertical and ask to create a collective. That way, when it’s time to sell, buyer’s won’t be so afraid to approach your asset because you’ll be able to include the pool from those competitors involved. It’s best to get a neutral 3rd-party player to contact your competitors so you can avoid causing any distress and you get to remain anonymous.

    For large ticket, small pool high-risk businesses, long-term contracts with expensive breakup fees are attractive to buyers. Let’s say you can’t acquire many more new customers and reaching out to competitors just isn’t possible. If your customers are tied down to your service with multi-year contracts and high fees for if they decide to leave, then buyer’s view that positively. It means clients are dedicated to you and trust in your service, so they aren’t looking for a way out. It also means when a new owner comes onto the scene, they won’t be able to flock out.

    Where Can a High-Risk Business Get a Good Value Assessment

    There’s no single way to measure how sellable a business is that can apply to all businesses. The best way is to hire someone to perform the value assessment. Hiring that key person, a valuation analyst or even a CPA, will not only give you the present value (and fair market value) of your small business, but also insight into how you can improve that value given company-specific risk. Once you get a firm grasp on your own metrics, you can better understand what will increase your value and get to the point of salability, if you ever want it.

    Before doing so, it’s also important to ask if you have a real business and understand what a real business looks like.

    How long have you been around? It might be best to try and get a valuation or sell after you’ve been active for at least a year.

    How much weight does one person carry in the company? If it’s a one-person show and all sales and support is handled manually, then it’s not a functional business. But if it’s a one-person show and everything is automated with a steady cash flow, then it is. The same applies for companies that have full management teams.

    What is your risk profile? Look at the diversification across your business and how much of your revenue relies on a small portion of your customer base. Then, create a a risk assessment based on that.

    These are some questions to keep in mind because these are what buyers are going to look at.

    Whether You’re Selling or Expanding, DirectPayNet Has You Covered

    Are you searching for a merchant services provider that can help your business grow and scale? Speak with us today about our merchant services and we’ll help your company get the valuation it deserves.

  • How AI Copywriting Benefits Your Business (and Why You Should Keep Your Human Writers…for Now)

    How AI Copywriting Benefits Your Business (and Why You Should Keep Your Human Writers…for Now)

    The bells aren’t ringing just yet for copywriting professionals. AI copywriting tools are available online for business owners, students, and writers to use that speed up certain processes. You can use these tools to assist with web content, blog posts, meta descriptions, and a lot more.

    And these tools can benefit businesses more than you might expect. From lead generation to site visibility, AI can assist with helping your business scale.

    What You Should Know About AI Copywriting Tools

    AI might be a confusing term to associate with writing (a traditionally human-centered skill), but it’s amazing how AI can improve the writing process. You’re probably familiar with auto-correct on your phone, the dynamic grammar correction of Microsoft Word, and plagiarism checkers. These may not entirely fall under AI-powered, but they’re along the same lines on the consumer-facing side.

    What are AI writing tools?

    AI writing tools are software that use artificial intelligence for content creation. There are several tools available online that boast a wide variety of specialized functionality. Some are designed for content extension; others are designed for web outlines. There’s a multitude of applications for these assistants, each promoted to a different user/use case.

    How do they work?

    Without getting too complex, AI writing tools work by using machine learning and natural language processing.

    Fun fact: just one year ago, in June of 2020, OpenAI released the Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), which is the language prediction model that powers most AI text generation tools on the market today. It’s also the reason why there’s been so much hubbub about AI writing tools over the past year.

    The AI learns writing styles by “reading” pre-fed texts as training. For example, you could let an AI scan all Shakespearean works and let it write its own sonnet. That’s not exactly the most useful skill these days, so instead of understanding the writing style of languages we don’t use, it learns the language, writing, and speaking styles we do use.

    When the AI is trained with relevant data and enough data, it will be able to understand what a text is about, make suggestions, and write its own text.

    The user experience differs for each AI writing platform chosen. Some allow you to insert your own text and the software can expand upon it, like clearing a writer’s block. Others ask you a series of questions and generate a webpage outline or some other type of content based on your answers.

    Why would someone use AI writing?

    The reason depends on the user. Students use AI copywriting to help them write papers, teachers can use them to get the gist of an assignment without reading the whole piece, and entrepreneurs can use it for content generation. It can almost be guaranteed that what you want to use an AI writing assistant for can be done.

    For businesses, tools like this can actually help them save resources. This is especially beneficial for smaller businesses and individual sellers who don’t want to spend on hiring a writer just yet. And even well-established businesses can use smart writing tools to help them rank higher, scale faster, and improve existing content.

    Are human copywriters being replaced (i.e., should I ditch my marketing team)?

    AI platforms are lacking in a few ways, and it all relates to the human experience. Connecting with the right audiences, focusing on lesser known pieces of information on a broad subject, finding a company voice. These are all examples of what a human provides and what AI simply can’t.

    Go to any AI writing tool website and test it out, or search for “examples of AI-written content”. You’ll see that it’s all grammatically correct and fits the assigned purpose (the positive), but it also sounds bland and lacks personality (the negative). Here’s a perfect example.

    AI has come a long way and is absolutely ready to be put in the hands of consumers and business owners (including freelancers, small businesses, and startups), but not as a replacement for something. Rather, it should be used as an assistant. For now.

    Some industry professionals believe, at this moment in time, tools of this nature are good enough to write simple things like meta descriptions and Facebook ads. In the future, they’ll certainly improve. But they’ll never fully replace humans, instead humans will become editors.

    What are the most popular AI copywriting tools and where can I find them?

    We’re not here to promote one service over another, but a quick internet search can show you that some of the most used products include CopyAI, Jarvis, Clearscope, Copysmith, Writesonic, and Topic. Each product serves a different purpose: some create content from nothing, some help writers expand on an idea, and others help improve SEO.

    Search online for AI writing tools and you’ll find the one you’re looking for. Some of them even have easy-to-use Chrome Extensions to assist with writing content in your day-to-day. For example, helping to improve subject lines of emails or correcting the grammar of a digital ad before launch.

    Popular Use Cases for AI Writing Tools

    Get a better idea of how AI article writing tools can help you or see more in-depth how they work in the real world with these use case scenarios.

    Blog Post Topics, Outlines, and Intros

    Brainstorming is a great way to come up with new content ideas for an ongoing blog. Sometimes, we need an extra boost of creativity to step out of the box we think in. That’s where blog idea creation templates come into play from AI content creators like Jarvis. You can give it all the info you think is relevant and it will spit out a series of topic ideas. Hopefully, one of the ideas catches your eye and you can move forward from there.

    Those same content writing tools can give you a neatly written outline of that blog post, too, in the form of bullet points. So now you have the topic, the title, and the outline. All you or your content writer has to do is fill it out and you’ve got a blog post written in half the time.

    Take it a step further and let the AI writer create a blog intro paragraph. The tool will be able to recognize keywords, main points, and introductory jargon to create a small paragraph that leads into the meat of your article. Intros and conclusions are generally the hardest part of writing any article, so this particular tool is greatly helpful to writers who often find themselves stuck.

    Website Content, Marketing Copy, and Sales Copy

    Landing pages are fairly easy to create these days, but filling it with the right content and using the right headings is a challenge for those who aren’t familiar with SEO or writing for the web. These tools can smartly provide the right outline content you need to get you started on a page that ranks with hero text, subheaders, and meta descriptions.

    Webpage filler content or sales copy can also be generated with ease. AI tools will give you something like a before-and-after or problem-solution scenario that you can insert into your medium. It’s content marketing made easy and perfect for sales email newsletters.

    Ads, Social Media Posts, and E-commerce Text

    This is where many AI writing tools shine. Ad copy for Google Ads and Facebook Ads, social posts, and e-commerce microcopy are exactly the low-level type of content that AI is perfectly capable of producing without error. Instagram captions, Facebook posts, Tweets, and more can be produced with ease. Speaking of social media, some of these tools can even fill out your bios and taglines, like on LinkedIn.

    E-commerce content like product descriptions and microcopy can be easily produced, too. Sites like Amazon are strict with what you’re allowed to publish in a product description. These tools help you over that hurdle by giving you content you can simply copy and paste. Even for your own site, you can have clear product benefits outlined clearly.

    Content Expansion and Optimization

    Writer’s block is a real thing many content creators suffer from at some point. There comes a time where you need to expand on something but you just can’t find anything else to say. AI content expansion tools help you take that one sentence and turn it into an entire paragraph.

    More than just expanding on content and creating content from scratch, there are tools that optimize your content for SEO. You can take years-old blog posts and revitalize them to boost your site ranking and lead generation with quality content.

    AI Copywriting Tools Can Grow Your Business—Is It Prepped to Handle the Cash Flow?

    Now you see how AI writing assistants can help boost your site and your business, bringing in new customers, engaging existing customers, and increasing sales. But that won’t mean much if your payment process can’t handle the increased sales volume. The last thing you want is to have your account frozen or terminated in reaction to your growth.

    DirectPayNet works closely with payment processors to provide you with a merchant account that scales with you. Before you dive head-first into the world of AI copywriting, contact us to get your shopping cart prepped for the increased traffic.

  • The Future of Direct Response Marketing Part 2: Partners, not Providers

    The Future of Direct Response Marketing Part 2: Partners, not Providers

    Welcome back! In this Part 2 of our interview with Rich Schefren, internet marketing pioneer and “guru to the gurus”, we uncover what the future of direct response marketing holds. His insight on the subject is both understandable and surprising. Use this information to your advantage to prepare a future-proof business model that can capture the eyes and wallets of every target consumer.

    In the first part of this series, we talked about the foundations of a successful business. To sum up, you need the right motivation to keep your own business moving forward, you need a team people motivated to perform their task, and you need to motivate your customers with an irresistible call-to-action (CTA). Motivation isn’t everything, though. You also need to believe in your product before you start selling it.

    With all that out of the way, let’s get into what the future of direct response marketing holds.

    Direct Response Marketing and eCommerce’s Future Are in AI

    That might not be all too surprising. Artificial Intelligence is being used in nearly every industry, becoming more accessible with each passing month. Even now, e-commerce uses AI in a wide variety of ways, especially for marketing campaigns. The catch is that most businesses using it are enterprise-level, not small businesses or entrepreneurs or startups.

    AI only works if there’s data to feed it where it can learn. What’s the best data? Yours, of course. If whatever platform you’re using can consume the data you feed it and provide next-steps or methods for increasing revenue, then you need to be using it. Learning your behavior, the behavior of your existing customers, and the behavior of your potential customers, an AI can give you profound insight into how to keep those customers hooked with insanely good lead generation tools.

    Landing pages, direct mail, email marketing campaigns, and online advertising are much easier to create today. The source codes and AI that power all of them can already help you reach a specific audience, a target market, and raise brand awareness to entirely new levels. Your CRM will be filmed with phone numbers, email addresses, and other customer contact information. Use this to your advantage and submit some form of marketing, of brand advertising, every chance you get so customers can take immediate action. Use direct response marketing to create incentives likes giveaways to increase your conversion rate. You already have a piece of the future in your hands. Use that AI to improve your marketing techniques and create a sense of urgency that’s trackable, traceable, and gives you a return on investment you can barely fathom.

    That also applies for previous data—data from years ago. Good data isn’t only what you have right now or yesterday or last month. You should keep years of data for your business. That will help you see overall trends. Spikes, dips, plateaus, and flatlines from the past will help you sell better in the future.

    Again, this is based on your data. However, AI also works incredibly well when using another company’s data. But that is meant more for seeing global trends, competitor analytics, and applying what works (or doesn’t work) with another company to your own. You need both types of data and you need to start collecting it today.

    Big Tech Is Not A Friend for the Future of Direct Response Advertising

    That’s a bold statement, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent that big tech companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple, are not your friends. They’re your competition.

    The problem you, as a business owner, have with big tech is that they make complex data accessible. Google Ads and Facebook Ads make creating and analyzing your marketing efforts a cinch. Being too reliant on these companies can hurt you in the long run if you allow only that company to take care of your data and visibility. Visibility meaning reachability, discoverability, SEO. You need their platforms, their products, to utilize the measurable results that are produced towards a better, more targeted marketing strategy. But don’t let your guard down––these digital marketing channels are not always your friend.

    These big tech companies will only grow larger, which also means your competition will grow larger. And that’s part of your solution to this problem: start viewing them as your competition. Use the tools they offer to promote your business and reach your target audience but be aware of what these big tech organizations are offering so you can compete.

    Customer Attention Is Scarce

    Consumer attention spans are dwindling. Even today, browsing Tik Tok or Instagram gives us the ability to switch to new sensory inputs with a swipe of the finger. That will certainly expand in the future with new services releasing, existing social media platforms improving, and attention spans growing shorter.

    What’ll you do about it? Stay on top of new, even lesser-known, platforms to utilize. If you can sell your product somewhere, then you should put at least minimal effort into building a presence. There will always be a new platform to utilize, and you might miss your golden ticket if you wait too long or don’t take the risk.

    For today’s world, it’s actually better to reveal part of the meat of your product at the very beginning of your promotion. Let’s say you have a YouTube video for the “Top 5 Ways to Grab Your Customer’s Attention”. Instead of doing the standard intro where you tease what will be revealed within the video, you start the clip by saying “The first way to grab your customer’s attention is…”. After the bit of info, you do the introduction and continue like normal.

    This type of marketing strategy works because viewer attention is hard to grab. It elicits an immediate response, being to consume that content right now as if it’s only available for a limited time. Maybe the consumer is interested but doesn’t want to view your video right now, or your thumbnail comes up while they’re watching something else. You need to give away a piece of info that’s valuable to grab their eyes and ears, reel them in, and keep them there for as long as possible. This opportunity is fleeting.

    Become a Customer’s Partner, not Provider

    Consumers generally want to put less and less effort into something. If you can take away some of the pain points usually handled by the consumer and handle them yourself, instead, then you’ll get customers for life. This is also going to be the future of e-commerce and direct response marketing.

    This doesn’t need to be confused with a concierge service or a live-in personal assistant. Here are a few direct response marketing examples of businesses who act as partners to paint a clearer picture:

    • Netflix reinvented the way we consume media at home. Cable TV existed, Blockbuster existed, most homes had catalogs of VHS tapes and DVDs to pop in at any moment. But Netflix took away the need to browse through an entire library that may or may not be organized. High-quality streaming movies at home with just a few clicks? Everyone loved it. And even better, Netflix learns what each profile likes: genres, actors, movies, series—anything. And with that data, they curate what you see. No homepage is the same because it’s catered to you, the viewer.
    • Todoist, the list-making app, gives you the right list for exactly where you are. Let’s say you made a grocery list. The app can bring up that exact list in the form of a notification on your phone’s lock screen when it knows you’re at the store by using location services. Other list apps do this, including built-in reminder apps on iOS and Android. Taking away the need to unlock your phone, find the app, and then find the list was all taken away. Now, you simply tap on the notification and all the information you need comes up instantly.
    •  Smart coffee makers learn the style of coffee you like and the time of day you want to drink it. This one device can make coffee as strong or light, with milk foam or black, and at 7am or 2pm. You no longer have to think about groggily going through the cabinets when you get out of bed to make a cup of coffee. This machine now does all the work for you.

    These are examples of what we have today. Imagine what we’ll have in 10 years! How automated and consumer-centric every aspect of life will be. Take this into account for our own business, innovate, and provide a glimpse of the future for your customers today. You are your customers’ partner throughout the lifetime of their product use.

    Privacy—Where’d It Go?

    Privacy is a big concern these days with people paranoid that big tech is following them to the bathroom and blackmailing them with their own content they once thought was safely stored only for their eyes. It’s a real concern, and a valid one. Why would anyone want a business following their every move and taking every chance they get to sell you something?

    This also leads into the idea of overconsumption. With your data being everywhere and always up-to-date, online businesses can sell you exactly what you want 24/7. Everything is targeted directly to you all the time. There’s no more hit-or-miss billboards grabbing consumer attention on the highway, or hour-long infomercials. Now it’s in podcasts, web ads, pop-ups, and phone notifications that have specific offers. It’s amazing and terrifying, and you better hop on board as a business if you want to stay ahead of your competitors. These strategies work because they have a clear CTA, a clear call that took a user’s private data and transformed it into a product they absolutely want.

    To be fair, it’s safer to say that privacy concerns will change, the data that’s collected will change, and people will lower their idea of personal boundaries. Data collected about you is slowly becoming anonymized, with ties to your device or network rather than you as a human-being. The future of direct response ads will continue to utilize these methods, whether it violates a person’s privacy or not. With more of it happening, the more accustomed to it the population will become.

    Slowly but surely, every consumer is being conditioned to trust big tech and businesses. And for the most part, most businesses can be trusted. You don’t want all of the nitty gritty details of a person’s life. Instead, you want information that can help you sell your product better. That’ll only grow more powerful and useful in the future.

    Is your direct response marketing business ready for the future?

    Now’s the time to start prepping, reorganizing, and collecting. And standing beside you, as your partner, DirectPayNet offers merchant accounts for all business types so you can accept payments from those newly hooked customers.

    Speak with our experts today about how we can set up your e-commerce store with all the payment tools you need to be successful today and 10 years from now.

  • The Future of Direct Response Marketing Part 1: Building the Foundation

    The Future of Direct Response Marketing Part 1: Building the Foundation

    We sat down with famed business strategist and “guru to the gurus”, Rich Schefren, founder of the automated webinar (2007), for insight into where the direct response marketing industry is headed. He gave us some great personal accounts of what makes a marketing strategy good, what doesn’t, and how he got to where is today. You can leverage his extensive knowledge to take your business to the next level.

    The first step is building the foundation, and he made that abundantly clear based on his own business ventures as well as his clients’. The basis of your product, business, and your direct response marketing campaign need to be sound. Here’s some background on Rich, how he got started, what he’s up to today, and what he’s learned along the way that’s made him so successful.

    Pioneering the “Free Guide to Get Started” Phenomenon

    We’ve all seen it, and you might even use it yourself. The “download this free book to get started” method. No strings attached, no obligations, just free content that provides valuable insight into whatever it is you sell. We now live in an age where you can create one of the lead generation landing pages with a single click. Did you know Rich pioneered that (for the most part, anyway)?

    In the early 2000s, “free” things were rarely ever free, and if they were then they didn’t provide any value. It was more of a teaser to get you to buy the product. What it had right, in regard to direct response marketing, was the sense of urgency involved. “Act now and get your first 5 newsletters for free!” That method is still used today.

    Rich wanted to entice his target audience to want his product, his business coaching services, by giving them something they could really use. He wrote and released his Internet Business Manifesto on his blog anticipating around a dozen new customers would come from it. Instead, he got thousands which reshaped his entire life.

    Are you applying the “free stuff” direct response advertising model to your own business?

    One question that has stuck with Rich from a Q&A he saw was from an online coach who asked something along the lines of, “I’m afraid to put material from my coaching program into my front-end products because I don’t want to cannibalize my program. What do I do?”

    The answer is 100% put your best ideas out there for potential customers to see, give people the meat of your product or service. This is what direct response marketing is: eliciting an immediate response from customers. What’s the best way to get an instantly positive response? By giving them something they can use, something of value. Do that and those people will buy your product looking for more insight, more depth, and more guidance because now you’ve proven your expertise and confidence.

    This Q&A was one of two defining moments that led to the release of The Internet Business Manifesto.

    Are you using the right type of motivation in your CTA?

    And not just your call to action, throughout your entire digital marketing plan. Ask yourself this question. What brought you here? What motivates you to get up in the morning and continue your business? Why do you believe in your product? Or do you believe in it, at all?

    Take it from Rich: you need sell something because you believe in it, not believe in something because you sell it. If you sell a product because you absolutely believe in the product and the benefit it has for customers, then that’s a great foundation for your direct response marketing efforts.

    When customers reach the end of your spiel, your clear call-to-action should excite them. They should feel like they’re headed towards success with your product.

    If you only believe in your products because you sell it, then customers are going to see right through it. They will see you’re in it only to make money. They’ll see that there’s no real value in the product. And with that, you won’t make a dime.

    What if you do believe in your product but nobody’s buying it?

    If you believe in the product and no one is buying it, then it’s time to look at your marketing techniques. Customers clearly aren’t feeling the same way about your product as you are, they haven’t come to the same conclusion.

    Why do you believe in your product? What events brought you to this conclusion? Whether that’s speaking to people, going places, trying products and wanting to improve them—whatever it might be, there has been an event or series of events that lead you here.

    Your inbound customers aren’t on the same path as you and your current form of marketing tactics aren’t cutting it. What do you do? Abbreviate that experience and lead your prospects through it so they can come to the same conclusion as you.

    This tactic applies to all types of marketing channels. Whether you’re running a social media direct response ad campaign, direct mail strategy, email marketing, referral program––whatever it is, this direct response marketing strategy works. You’ll quickly connect to a specific audience, provide them a clear CTA (i.e., a way to take immediate action), and your small business will see a massive return on investment. Just look at what The Internet Business Manifesto did for Rich. Conversion rates through the roof. Or infomercials, albeit they have much more air time and consumer attention than a simple Facebook ad.

    This was the second defining moment that led to the release of The Internet Business Manifesto.

    The Internet Business Manifesto—A Prime Direct Response Marketing Example

    Rich’s report is one of the most perfect examples of direct response marketing. Ironically, it’s no longer a free downloadable PDF. Instead, it’s an e-book you can find on retailers like Amazon. But that doesn’t mean giveaways and digital advertising in the form of free content isn’t a marketing strategy that works (at the very least for brand awareness). We keep bringing up this report because this was the game-changer for Rich.

    The two previously mentioned foundation strategies for direct response marketers are what he combined in order to release this report, also leading to its incredible success. And his, of course. Believing in the product and putting some of his best ideas into a free PDF for anyone to read brought him thousands of new clients. Those clients connected with The Internet Business Manifesto and could apply its content to their own lives. They would make more money if they saw business the same was as Rich, and that led to unparalleled success.

    This report is the foundation of his success. But looking closer, the reasons why he released it are the real foundation. Like the book is the brick and the reasons are the mortar. You need both: a quality product and contagious, truthful motivation.

    Don’t expect the same results for your business right off the bat. Sometimes, all you might get are a few extra phone numbers. But follow up with that contact information, keep your response rate high, and soon you’ll see higher conversion rates.

    Top Habits of a Successful Businessperson

    There are certainly habits and characteristics all successful businesspeople display. Some of the traits can be seen by what not to do instead of what to do.

    The most common mistake is creating a business around the ideal you.

    Most entrepreneurs are looking beyond right now and far into the future of their business. They see themselves as successful people who act and speak a certain way. But rarely does that reflect who they are right now.

    You cannot form a successful business around a mythical version of yourself. It’s not believable because it isn’t real, and because of that you won’t get followers.

    Why is this the case? Because personal change is really difficult. How many times have you told yourself that you’ll stop smoking, or you’ll hit the gym at 6am, or you’ll eat healthier? How many times did you actually do it? Now apply that to your business. It’s unrealistic and setting yourself up for failure.

    Here’s an example: Rich is a perfectionist. He knows this, especially when it comes to building presentations and products. No matter the length of time given, he would spend every single second of it nitpicking and perfecting the product. Knowing this, his marketing strategy has to be one in which every product he creates and sells is one created live.

    How does this make sense in terms of the “mythical you” syndrome? Because the product will be sold first and adjusted later. There’s no time to nitpick and try to craft this incredible, flawless product because it would never be created. Instead, he promotes a product created live, analyzes customer reaction, and adjusts it later to meet the needs of the customer.

    Personal motivation needs to be in its proper place.

    Before, motivation was aimed at the CTA and your marketing efforts. Here, we mean your personal motivation—the thing that drives you to wake up in the morning and go. What is it?

    Successful businesspeople know what motivates them and apply it properly.

    Another example from Rich: he is not motivated by money. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for him to attend weekly financial meetings about how they can reach a certain figure by the end of the month. He doesn’t care about it enough to make an impact and putting himself in that position will only degrade his interest in the company. Instead, he created a team of people who are motivated by money and who will do all they can to meet those financial goals.

    Interested in gaining more insight by the famed Rich Schefren?

    Here, we conclude Part 1 of our insight into the future of direct response marketing by covering the foundations of a successful business by giving you marketing tips that guarantee measurable results.

    Part 2 of our interview with Rich is on its way to your eyes and ears, and with it you’ll gain catalogs of new and existing customers in demographics that might surprise you. In the meantime, you can digest what’s been uncovered so far and start applying it to your business. Direct response marketing and the nature of e-commerce is dynamic. It’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest industry news and insight, which we’re more than willing to provide.

    And, of course, an online business doesn’t mean much of anything if you can’t process payments. Contact us about getting a merchant account that can handle your increased sales once you apply Rich’s advice.