Secrets of Online Persuasion: Captivating the Hearts, Minds and Pocketbooks of Thousands Using Blogs, Podcasts and Other New Media Marketing Tools

INTRODUCTION

On September 8, 2004, the tidal wave of transformation came crashing in.

A power shift that had been simmering below the surface for years finally boiled over into simultaneous national recognition.

Like Goliath being slain with a lowly slingshot, the mass media came to the undeniable realization that they were no longer solely in control of information.

A tidal wave of information and transformation swept over the online marketplace and worldwide culture simultaneously.

Within 30 minutes of the infamous 60 Minutes II TV broadcast ending, bloggers were already digging into the facts and questioning the validity of the documents that had just been presented by the 42-year broadcast veteran Dan Rather. In less than one week, CBS was forced to admit it could no longer vouch for the memos. And just weeks after the United States Presidential election, Rather announced his retirement and the blogosphere won another victory.

That one event not only created a tidal surge of public awareness of blogging and New Media. It made Deborah and I realize that this tremendous power of the New Media could be harnessed for business as well as for politics.

Maybe it was our recent move from New Jersey to Hawaii, and the initial isolation that we were still feeling. Or maybe it was the utter frustration of failing to make something work on the Internet after starting, growing and selling three very successful off-line businesses.

Quite possibly it was a combination of those two things along with a passion for political undercurrents in the US that made us keenly aware of what was going on worldwide. Whatever it was with that one event, something clicked.

It was then we saw there was a way to integrate our education and experience in psychology, selling, and business ownership into the online world. We saw that there finally was a way to flatten the marketplace and level the playing field. A new virtual playing field that would allow professionals and businesses of all sizes to attract, interact with, and retain a highly targeted audience online.

On that sunny, summer afternoon in 2004, we didn’t yet know how the power of the New Media could be harnessed for business. But we knew if it could be done for politics, it could be done for business.

At that point, we’d merely been dabbling with business blogging. We were using it as a white hat search engine optimization strategy to garner top search engine positioning. And as a tool to archive, syndicate, and deliver our newspaper and magazine articles to our clients and grow our prospect list.

Now, after two years of research, over 4,200 hours of testing, and fine tuning through our consulting and coaching with business owners around the world -- we’ve developed a completely integrated system that allows professionals and business owners to harness the power of the New Media marketplace for more clients, more sales, and more profits.

What you hold in your hands is the roadmap to a simple system. A system that will deliver more buzz, more branding, more connections, and more profits from the online marketplace than you ever thought possible. Whether you have a local business with a geographically limited reach, or a company that does business around the world -- it works.

By the time you finish this book, you will not only understand what the New Media is, and how this tsunami of information and cultural transformation is redefining the marketplace of the new millennium; you’ll also clearly see what you need to do in order to harness its power and put it to work for you and your business.

Your success starts with forgetting everything you’ve heard about New Media

If you’ve been listening to how the mass (so-called mainstream) media is defining New Media ... forget everything you’ve heard. They don’t have a clue on what it is. Never mind tell you how to harness its power for your business. And unfortunately, it’s the same story with most advertising firms and marketing gurus.

It’s really amazing how out to lunch the mass media is. Their thinking is like sheltered Victorian-era men and women driving Model-Ts who, when they see an F-18 fighter jet fly by overhead, they shudder in fear calling the flight demonic.

They see bloggers and the New Media in extremes. They see either a bunch of political hacks using the Internet to spread undocumented news stories, or a bunch of horny teens using some cool new software.

Similar to marketing gurus and big advertising companies, the Mainstream media mistakenly sees the technology as the New Media. As you eagerly devour this book, you’ll learn why both views are flawed.

The New Media is not simply blogs, Podcasts, social networks, and other new technologies. It’s an interlaced matrix of interactive tools that has customer control and participation as its inexhaustible power supply.

Psychology, participation, and the filling of deep-seated human needs are powering the New Media marketplace. And this human element is what’s making this is an unstoppable trend, not the technology.

The process of successfully marketing and selling is being transformed right before our eyes. It’s the proactive businessperson who will see the New Media tidal wave sweeping through the marketplace. And it’s the women and men with that contextual understanding that will master the marketplace of the new millennium.

Is New Media going to transform the marketplace with a cataclysmic event, or with a whisper? The answer is already right before our very eyes.

Grab your surfboard and prepare yourself to ride this tidal wave of transformation to a lead position in your niche.

It’s time to roll!

Are you ready?

YOURS IN PERSUASION AND PROFITS,

Deborah Cole and John Paul Micek

The World’s Premiere New Media Marketing Coaches

C.P.B.A., C.P.V.A. (Certified Professional Behavior and Values Analyst)

SECTION I

MASTERING THE NEW MEDIA MARKETPLACE

THE NEW MEDIA REVOLUTION

chapter

one

THE TIDAL WAVE OF CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION IS NOT COMING. IT HAS ALREADY HIT.

"They are the gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors and they are holding all the keys, which means that sooner or later someone is going to have to fight them.

I won’t lie to you Neo. Every single man or woman who has stood their ground, everyone who has fought an agent has died. But where they have failed, you will succeed.

I’ve seen an agent punch through a concrete wall; men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their power is still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be."

— Morpheus to Neo in the movie, The Matrix

Most people are missing it, and that’s good ... for you. Because now, with the help of what we’ll be sharing with you in this book, you’ll see opportunities where your competitors and peers feel confusion and frustration.

What’s the mistake? What are people missing? It’s the tidal wave of cultural transformation that’s sweeping the modern marketplace – a revolution that’s happening offline, online, and everywhere in between.

It’s easy to miss. Since this reformation of the marketplace is being powered by the New Media, it looks like it’s all about technology. And that intimidates most people. But don’t allow yourself to be fooled. It’s not about the Internet, blogs, iPods, or any other cool new tool on its own.

People, participation and persuasion are generating the Revolution.

That’s so important to your business success in the marketplace of the new millennium that it bears repeating. The New Media Revolution is about people, participation, and persuasion.

Grasp this one concept and you’ll quickly leapfrog your competitors to lead your niche in marketing, buzz, and branding.

As Seth Godin first forecasted in his 1999 book Permission Marketing,traditional advertising and marketing through interruption is dead. Today, despite the companies large and small who still blindly stumble along, following habitual patterns of the past, the new millennium consumer has proved Seth’s forecast to be true.

Will you follow in those same old footsteps until the reality of failure hits you? Or will you ignore the lie that others are telling themselves and profit from this exciting new marketplace?

THE LIE WE’VE ALL BEEN LIVING

When looking at what’s happening in the marketplace, especially New Media, many people, including industry experts and experienced consultants, are focused on the new technologies of the New Media. Many more are caught up with a focus on the media of blogs, Podcasts, social networks, and other New Media tools.

Keep in mind, it’s not about the newness of technology and tools. The cultural transformation we’re experiencing is certainly enabled by New Media. Yet if you’re going to quickly adapt and profit in this new marketplace, it’s critical to understand that this Revolution is a much deeper, cultural event. It’s about returning to what drives us as human beings.

This is easy to see when we look at 8,000 years of recorded history. What’s happened to marketing and communications over the last 80 years is an anomaly. A departure from what’s natural for human beings.

From the birth of Christ, through the golden age of Islam at the end of the first millennium, the creation of the Gutenberg press in 1440, to the American Revolution in 1776 and beyond – the universal hunger has always been for freedom, connection, and participation. With each transformational period in history, people have been drawn to what empowers them and enhances what makes human beings human.

The latest interruption to that drive for freedom, connection, and participation began in the 1920s with the emergence of the first radio and television stations. It was harmless enough at first. Even helpful to bring people together as families gathered together in the living room to watch I Love Lucy.

But from the very start, the mindset of the Industrial Revolution was intertwined with mass media. Mass production and mass distribution permeated every area of the marketplace, and for nearly three quarters of a century that methodology continued to expand like a cancerous growth throughout mass media.

The lie spread (that this one-way channel is THE way to connect with people) and became so much a part of our lives that we didn’t even stop to see it for what it really was.

THEN, LIKE MANY TIMES BEFORE IN HISTORY, THE REVOLUTION BEGAN.

The Ripples That Became A Tsunami

Like a series of earthquakes occurring in the middle of the ocean, deep on the sea floor, it went mostly unnoticed.

•The emergence of popular talk radio in 1989.

•The information superhighway of the Internet in the early 1990s.

•Lightning-fast viral communication through online social networks and blogs in the early years of the new millennium.

•Tools and media that put the customer in control like blogs, iPods and Podcasts.

As these and many other events occurred, it was much like the ocean waters draining away from the shoreline signaling an impending tsunami.

Early in the new millennium came the dethroning of Dan Rather, Trent Lott, and the New York Times – all due to stupid comments or falsified news. All of them were exposed by the New Media. With those events, a series of tidal waves struck. The very foundations of the news industry and politics were shaken to their core.

But the difference with this New Media tsunami, is that the water hasn’t receded. The New Media Revolution first felt in the arenas of politics and news is now sweeping through the entire culture. This Revolution is transforming everything in its path – including the customers and the marketplace you rely on for your success.

The Revolution Is Not New

In 1440, Johannes Gutenberg also ignited a Revolution. He did it by inventing a printing press – later called movable type. (So named, since it was a technology that allowed wood or metal letters to be moved on the printing plates.)

The main purpose of that technology was to mass reproduce Bibles, which up until that point were only printed in Latin. Since the majority of the public could only read their native language, while others could not read at all, the elite had to reveal the Scriptures to the public.

In just over half a century, the Revolution fueled by this one technology reached a flashpoint. Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517. These documents dispelled the power and efficacy of indulgences, and initiated a reformation of the power structure within the Catholic Church. With indulgences, bishops were playing God by selling forgiveness of sins.

The Revolution may have begun with Bibles, but very quickly, books of all kinds began to be translated, duplicated, and spread around the world at a rapid rate. This put information into the hands of common people instead of it being reserved for the elite.

Today, similar to Gutenberg’s printing press, New Media is wrestling power and control of information from the elite once again.

New Media is turning mass media on its head. New Media is personal and participatory. It’s about conversations rather than lectures. Information isn’t being handed down from on high as if it’s the Holy Scriptures anymore.

During the time of Gutenberg and Martin Luther you could say that the printers, publishers and writers were intellectual capitalists. They were using technology to transform the culture, and making a profit from that service.

Back then, the Elites were the popes, kings and lords who, as the elite, held the information and disseminated it to the masses as they saw fit.

Today, the intellectual capitalists are bloggers, talk radio hosts, and Podcasters. Intellectual capitalists are the innovative business people savvy enough to recognize the transformation empowered by New Media, who then adapt and flow with the changes rather than fighting them.

Now, the Elites range from the mass media to large corporations and the government. They are the monarchs of the modern day who are fighting tooth and nail to retain their base of power – the control and dissemination of information.

The Early Years Of The New Media Revolution

If we go with the viewpoint that the New Media Revolution began in the early 1990s, then talk radio must be seen as one of the earliest tremors to be felt.

Talk radio took a traditional mass media form – radio – and turned it into something participatory.

While we wouldn’t consider talk radio to be part of the New Media that business people need to focus on for growth and profits, it is important to understand why it’s so popular.

Why is it that a host like Rush Limbaugh has 25 million people a day listening to his radio show? It’s because compared to a regular radio show it’s participatory.

People want their voices to be heard. And they want to hear from other people who think like them. Whether they agree or disagree with the host, they want the opportunity to call up and speak their mind.

After the introduction of talk radio, the Internet entered the scene. As more and more people went online each year throughout the nineties, the New Media started to take shape. The proliferation of broadband access made it possible for waves of change to move very quickly.

Today, the Revolution has irreversible momentum. Yet, not everyone likes what’s happening.

The Gatekeepers And Guardians Of The Status Quo

The New Media tsunami is thundering through the marketplace, transforming everything in its path. Now that you realize that the Revolution is about people, participation, and persuasion – it’s time to share an even more important secret.

The secret is in the opportunity that entrepreneurs and small-business owners have; an unprecedented growth opportunity like never before in history.

WHY IS THERE SUCH OPPORTUNITY?

Because the institutions and power structures of the past are still unwilling to flex and flow with the transformation taking place.

The institutions that dominated the Industrial Era are having their power to control and influence the masses erode right before their very eyes!

Corporations, government, and mass media may seem like giants, but like the slumbering giant who groggily awoke and tried to chase Jack down the beanstalk, they also have many limitations. Not the least of which is speed.

As Jason Jennings and Lawrence Haughton stated in their book, It’s Not the Big That Eat the Small... It’s the Fast That Eat the Slow,the speed of innovation is the real competitive advantage in today’s marketplace. Speed is not exactly what institutions and the mass media are known for.

Governmental Institutions

By institutions, we mean big universities, state or federal government and any other closed system. If you’ve been to your state’s Division of Motor Vehicles, tried to get a local building permit, or dealt with the IRS, you know what we’re talking about. You’re dealing with a system that doesn’t like to admit fallibility. A system where there’s a long-standing hierarchy which seeks to protect itself.

Because of that, change (especially anything that appears to threaten existing hierarchies) is shunned as evil. Every possible effort is made to hide, minimize, or deride the truth of the transformational forces.

Corporations

Most corporations don’t have a structure that allows for rapid adaptation. Many corporations today still operate based on the principles of the Industrial Revolution. They see employees as cogs in the machine, and consumers as a herd of unthinking animals ready to be sold black and white solutions.

Even Internet industries, which are supposed to be cutting edge, reveal their thinking through their actions.

Take broadband Internet access for example. Broadband infrastructure was built for fast downloads – not for uploads. Even if you have cable or DSL, you can download quickly, but it takes much longer to upload files.

Thanks to the mindset shaped by the mass media, mass marketing, and mass distribution, these corporations didn’t see people putting back in as much as they took out. They didn’t think about people participating.

Newspapers And Network Television

This is another group fighting the New Media Revolution. Readership and viewership are dropping precipitously.

Every month there are stories in the mass media about how readership is declining. Newsrooms across the country have let go of a huge percentage of their workforce over the last decade.

Why?

Because people are tired of being told