You have something awesome to share!
You know you can really make a difference and help people.
You have laid it all out, an amazing system, a method that works or an amazing product that you have developed.
You are pumped and ready for action – bring it on!!
BUT then…
Total shocker…
NO ONE is interested, no matter how hard you try!
What the booty…?!
You know you need to up your marketing.
You know you should do more, but it’s all very confusing.
You hate pitching and telling everyone about your business. Makes you seem desperate (YUK!).
Marketing feels overwhelming, against your natural instincts – and you don’t really have time for it anyway.
You tried social media for a while, you really gave it a go, but that, too, was just tedious and time consuming and you still only have a handful of followers.
Why is no one listening? Why – SassyDarn(!) – is this so hard?
Why don’t people just “find” you? Isn’t that how it usually works? Someone gets lucky, gets “discovered”?
Just not you.
Nope.
Not happenin’…
You might as well give up – what’s the point anyway?
Sound familiar?
Even just a little…?
If you answered YES – then I welcome you to the FAST TRACK, because it definitely doesn’t have to be this hard!
There is a straight path through the online jungle, a shortcut really, a fast track, and it’s not that hard to learn.
“Knowledge is power” as they say, and knowledge is all that’s between you and the success and recognition you deserve.
The reason why marketing seems so darn difficult and frustrating, is simply that you don’t know what to do.
They gave you systems and step-by-step methods to guide you in whatever profession you learned, but somehow no one ever taught you “that marketing thing”.
It all seems very vague and worst of all, it seems to depend on luck – or – vast sums of cash.
Maybe you don’t have either, so it seems you are doomed?
Well… no. Not at all!
Marketing and growing a brand can be learned. There are step-by-step systems and proven methods to take your brand from little known to influencer famous – and it doesn’t have to take years or cost thousands of greenies.
Really!
Best of all:
It can be FUN!
Yes, marketing can be fun and once you know what to do, what steps to take and when, you’ll be flying in no time – and enjoy the ride.
What I will share with you in this book is a blueprint from:
ZERO = no followers or clients or only a few
to
well-known, established AUTHORITY in your field
in just a few months – IF – you apply yourself.
So….
Let’s get crackin’ and dive right into:
What makes an Influencer?
What indeed?
Let’s get “pumped” with Wikipedia’s definition:
“Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on influential people rather than the target market as a whole. It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers.”
Sounds a bit stuffy, but offers a few good points.
Most people think of social media when they hear “influencer”. Instagram in particular, but that is just one segment.
While influencers usually have a large social media following, it isn’t necessarily the platform they are famous for. They could just as well be an influential:
- Podcaster
- Author
- Blogger
- Entrepreneur
- Coach/trainer
- Movie star
- Athlete
- Musician
and many more.
The three INGREDIENTS they all have in common are:
#1 – Authority
= perceived as one of the top experts in their field—among the best of the best.
#2 – Following
= a large, loyal following trusting their advice and following their suggestions, be it actions or purchase decisions.
#3 – Success
= impressive results, both professionally and financially. Someone to look up to and learn from.
That’s the target!
Easy enough, right…?
Well, not at first sight, of course, and before I show you the good stuff, let’s dispel a few myths about influencer stardom:
Influencer Myths
#1 – It takes years to become an influencer.
#2 – It is very expensive (marketing, production, PR).
#3 – It is mostly luck and cannot be planned.
#4 – You need to be “discovered”.
#5 – Marketing is difficult.
#6 – You have to become world famous.
#7 – You have to be extraordinarily talented.
#8 – You need awesome tech skills.
#9 – You need to be attractive.
#10 – You need to be young (ideally in your 20s).
…and probably a few more.
Out of the above, which ones do you believe? Are there a few that have prevented you from taking action, because you thought it could never work anyway?
Make a list and keep it handy. As we go through this book, you will see them dispelled one by one and you will realize that you (yes, you!) can become an influencer, even within the next six months!
WOW!
“Is this a scam?” – you might wonder and the answer is an emphatic “No”! Definitely not.
Give me an hour of your time and I will show you why.
👉First of all:
“Influencer” does not mean you have to be world famous. Not at all.
“Influence” usually relates to a specific niche, and your audience does not have to be in the millions.
Russell Brunson, one of the most famous marketers and entrepreneurs of our day, made an interesting observation in this regard:
He described how people at his church who had heard that he was “rather successful” (to put it mildly), asked him whether he was “famous”. He replied: ‘Oh no, just “internet famous”. “Real famous” would not be fun. I’m paraphrasing, but you get the gist’.
While Russell is a famous figure and one of the biggest influencers in the world of online marketing and business, the average person on the street would probably not know his name.
They will know Oprah or Richard Branson, but most influencers are only known to a specific target audience.
They most certainly have influence among that audience, but they are not world famous.
While Russell is, of course, one of the big guns, there are many so-called “micro-influencers” who have a much smaller, very targeted audience, but that audience is absolutely loyal and will listen to everything they say.
So…
You don’t have to become the next Oprah or Tony Robbins. Though…who knows?…you might!
But you can rise to “influencer” level and make a good, fulfilling living – without being known by millions.
I hope that takes the pressure off a little, and with that, let’s look at the biggest worry most people have: the ominous “M-word”. Yep, Marketing!
Do you need to be a Marketing Genius?
No, thankfully not, but there is a learning curve. Not rocket science and much easier than most things you learned in college or even high school, but it does involve some learning and certainly commitment and effort.
Not exactly a shocker.
The good part: if you employ some of the techniques I will share in part 2, you can quickly start earning money while you learn and take the first steps to becoming an influencer.
Try that with college!
Plus, the results will come much faster, sometimes instantly, and with much less expense than a college education.
The first important step is a shift in mindset.
A paradigm shift, really:
No matter what your background is: as an influencer, even in the making, you are now an entrepreneur!
Congrats! Whether you like it or not, you are – or you better be.
In this venture you are not waiting for a boss to tell you what to do. You are not slaving away for a paycheck. You are free to decide whatever you want to do, and you need to own that freedom.
The most important skill for any entrepreneur is marketing.
Yep, the “M-word” as I call it, and if you have issues with “M” (and most people do), I invite you to read this humorous article I wrote a while back, called:
“How to Chill with the M-Word”
Marketing is not difficult and it doesn’t have to be tedious or unpleasant.
It also has nothing to do with being sleazy or salesy – quite the opposite! Instead, smart marketing is built on these five pillars:
👉#1 – CARE for your customers, be it your followers, readers or clients.
👉#2 – Provide what people urgently NEED (market research).
👉#3 – Build long-term RELATIONSHIPS.
👉#4 – Leverage OPA (other people’s audiences): peers, influencers, institutions, etc.
👉#5 – Be YOU! (aka awesome, unique branding)
Doesn’t sound so bad, right?
You could do that even if you are an introvert (I’m, too, by the way) and were not born with a marketing gene?
Marketing is only scary if you don’t know what to do, and this book will get you started and fast track the process.
Speaking of fast track:
Let’s look at the 3 FAST TRACK FACTORS that everyone has access to and that will make what may seem out of reach, surprisingly easy and doable:
The 3 Influencer FAST TRACK Factors
FACTOR #1 : Internet Magic
The internet has changed our lives dramatically, removed gatekeepers and put power back into the hands of the people – all of us.
I remember back in the ‘90s, your best chances of creating passive income were MLM and real estate. The internet was still in its infancy (as were cell phones – can you believe it?)
Fast forward to this day and it has become incredibly easy to connect with people all around the world within seconds. Social media platforms, forums, groups, reddits, and chat rooms have put billions of people within your potential reach and dramatically changed even the political landscape in some cases.
Friends, peers, potential customers, and even influencers are just a tweet, comment, or email away.
We are so used to this sheer unlimited networking potential that we often forget how incredible it really is, and that it’s still a pretty new phenomenon!
In addition to connecting and networking, the internet has “blessed” us with a whole new form of products and by extension, passive income potentials:
Digital products
Be it e-books, online courses, software or apps, digital products have made it so much easier and less expensive to start a business without having to worry about supplies, assembly, staff or shipping, opening a whole new world of passive income streams that would have been unthinkable even 10 years ago.
Not only that, in tandem with these new product types, e-commerce platforms have made a formidable appearance and have changed how we live and do business forever.
When you sell a product or service through platforms like:
- Amazon
- eBay
- Fiverr
- Udemy
- Etsy
- iTunes
- Shopify
or share your free content on:
- Medium
- YouTube
- iTunes (podcasts)
you are leveraging the huge, worldwide audiences these platforms have built over years – much vaster than you could ever reach with your own website.
If you learn how to rank on each, meaning, how to get your products to show at the top of the search results through “search engine optimization” (aka “SEO”), you can generate an unlimited, evergreen stream traffic to whatever you sell or offer – pretty much on autopilot.
SEO hacks for each platform can be learned. Ranking in the top spots is not luck! There are step-by-step systems, and they don’t require a PhD to implement.
Of course, leverage is not limited to platforms.
A tweet or an email from an influencer can massively drive traffic to your business, products, or services in a matter of hours.
In the olden days, that would have required a TV or radio appearance – both limited by region – or a review in a major publication. Both would have given you a short-term burst, quickly followed by oblivion, buried in dusty archives, never to be seen again.
Expensive ads were another option but were also limited in both scope and time. Certainly nothing like the vast, instant reach of the internet, and I haven’t even mentioned social media platforms…
Of course, you know all this, and yet many business owners are not leveraging or fully grasping how truly powerful and amazing these potentials are and how it can drastically speed up the growth of any business and influencer status.
The Power of Leverage
You might remember the real estate term of “OPM” (= other people’s money), meaning:
Use (leverage) other people’s money (banks investors, tenants) to grow your real estate empire exponentially faster than you ever could with just your own funds.
In a similar vein and much less risky, the internet has expanded “OPA” (= other people’s audiences).
Meaning:
When a peer or influencer shares your product, service or business with their large audience, you are leveraging the trust they built with their followers over many years to promote your products, including your books.
Usually, this is a two-way street. With peers an exchange, with influencers you might offer something to make it worth their while, such as a mention in your book or an awesome new hack you will implement for free that will greatly benefit their business.
The same goes for institutions and organizations, especially once they include you in their “Recommended Resources” section, resulting in evergreen traffic and marketing for your brand.
OPA is free PR and often massively effective, especially with large influencers or institutions.
OPA “on Steroids”
Leveraging the gigantic, worldwide audiences of platforms like Amazon, eBay or iTunes is pretty much OPA “on steroids” IF you know how to get ranked there and keep selling long-term.
This brings us to FAST TRACK FACTOR #2, one of the magic bullets of this entire blueprint:
FACTOR #2 – Bestseller Magic
Bestseller Publishing, as I call it, can be the absolute fastest way to add the three ingredients of Influencer status:
Authority: clout and prestige of a top expert
Following: large, loyal audience
Success: impressive results
Best of all: traffic is instant.
Literally right from launch day!
I don’t know of any other marketing strategy that comes even close!
- Before we go into the why and how, let’s first address a few concerns you might have about publishing (and no, this is not a book about Kindle publishing, but how to incorporate the power of publishing to fast track everything else):
- It takes months or years to write a book.
- You need a publishing deal.
- It’s expensive to self-publish.
- All my topics have already been covered.
- Too much competition.
- I’m hopeless at marketing.
- I’m not a writer.
- Will people like my book?
Anything else?
The short answer:
None of these are true!
How do I know?
Because when I first started in late 2015, I was not a writer, had zero online marketing experience and no following. Zip!
I had seen people publish bestsellers on Amazon and somehow gotten it into my head that I wanted that #1 Amazon Bestseller badge.
I went about finding someone who could teach me. Someone who had published multiple #1 Bestsellers (not a theorist) and followed her guidance – every single step – to the letter.
I was shocked, but 30 days later, I had my first #1 Bestseller and started making $1,000-1,500 per month – on autopilot (both royalties and affiliate sales)!
I started my international travels soon after, and thanks to low living expenses in other countries, this little book pretty much sustained me during my first year and kept sending me a continuous stream of new subscribers and social media followers almost daily!!
From DAY ONE!
30 days may seem extreme, but my first book was a simple how-to book on starting a blog, a topic I knew inside out and could easily write down in a week.
Plus, I wasn’t working a full-time job and could focus all my time on this new venture.
If you have a busy job and family life, give it 90 days, but that time frame is definitely doable if you apply yourself.
Keep in mind that Kindle books are usually not very long. In fact, “short is the new long”, with readers clearly preferring shorter books in a series rather than one big chunk.
A good average length is 12,000 to 25,000 words, and since you will be an expert on your topic, you can easily complete your first book in one month (just the writing portion).
You can also compile your best blog posts and tie them together to a well flowing book, making this even easier.
Or employ a ghostwriter, though I would not recommend this strategy, except in rare cases, because the key to all this lies in you connecting with your readers directly – not through someone else.
I hope you can see now that publishing a nonfiction book is not a herculean task, but can easily be achieved within the next 30 to 90 days.
For marketing, there is a proven, simple, step-by-step system that can easily get you to bestseller status, possibly even a #1 Bestseller.
None of it is rocket science or terribly time consuming. You just need a blueprint that works and in STEP 2, we’ll go over that.
Did it cost much?
No, usually not more than $500 per book and that includes cover, proofreader and launch week promos.
Try that with Facebook ads!
Or SEO for your website.
Or starting any other business.
What about competition?
High competition is good! The more popular, the better, as long as you understand how Amazon’s ranking algorithm works, optimize your books accordingly, and execute a “power launch”. None of it terribly difficult as you will see in the video.
What about traditional publishing?
Unless you are world famous with a huge following, a traditional publisher is a terrible idea.
Why?
Because:
- You will lose the rights to your books.
- It takes a long time from contract to publish, usually at least a year. These days, publishers expect you to already have a huge following (minimum 10,000 followers) and they will expect you to do most of the marketing. So if you thought a traditional publisher would save you from “M” – think again! Even famous authors like Tim Ferriss and Gary Vaynerchuk carefully plan out their launches and are fully involved in the marketing.
- Traditional book royalties are small in comparison. Unless you have a huge following already, you are much better off self-publishing, and if you have a huge following, you might as well publish yourself and keep the 70% royalty. That is what Amazon pays for most Kindle books (depending on book price), plus 60% minus production costs for paperback or “POD” (= print-on-demand).
Now that we have addressed concerns and objections, let’s turn to WHY Bestseller Publishing is the crucial keystone of this INFLUENCER blueprint – the FAST TRACK magic that makes it so awesome:
#1 – The prestige of a bestselling author
Remember AUTHORITY?
Influencer ingredient #1?
Nothing matches the credibility and respect of “Bestselling Author” status – or even “#1 Bestselling Author”!
Add that to your signature, and you are immediately considered in a different league, a top expert, and, yes, an “influencer”!
Whether true or not, people will assume that you are. Two little words making all the difference!
They will also expect to pay premium prices and even a waiting list for your services and products.
Tell me any other marketing strategy that can get you authority so quickly – instantly, really!
=> Instant Influencer Magic!
#2 – Grow a following on autopilot
Influencer ingredient #2: A loyal following (subscribers and social media followers).
A best-selling book can send you a continuous stream of new subscribers and social media followers completely on autopilot.
People who love your book will naturally want to follow you elsewhere. You just have to tell them how and where. We will cover the how in STEP 2 – in the second half of this book.
As long as your books keep selling well, you can expect a regular stream of traffic to any platform or outlet you choose.
That can also include your podcast, YouTube channel, Blog, eComm store and, of course, any services or products you offer.
Instantly.
As soon as you launch!
And mostly free!
You might employ Amazon ads (AMS) for long-term sales, but they cost a pittance compared to Facebook ads, SEO or Google ads.
You also might run a promo occasionally – anywhere between $5 to $110.
Again, nothing compared to main stream ad expenses.
Best of all:
Amazon pays you to grow your brand, get new followers and clients on autopilot and build your influencer status!
That’s right!
If your books sell well, you will also enjoy a continuous stream of passive income in the form of royalties.
And…
potentially affiliate income – more on that later.
#3 – Turn cold prospects into ardent fans and replace your sales pitch
Books allow you to present your expertise and awesomeness in a non-salesy way. If you write the best book on the topic and provide phenomenal value, readers will be dying to work with you or check out your products. And, as I pointed out before, they will expect to pay premium rates, even be grateful if you can fit them in.
Most importantly, you started building a relationship with them. Readers feel like they know you and just had a conversation with you through your books. That kind of trust and respect is priceless. The greatest copywriter in the world couldn’t match that.
Which brings us to:
#4 – Relationship marketing on autopilot
Relationship marketing is the new “cool” marketing method of our day and crucial for any influencer.
The Greatest Marketing Method Ever: CARE! – Gary Vaynerchuk
What do I mean?
Rather than seeing nothing but dollar signs in your clients and followers, focus on building relationships. Take an interest. Ask them what they need and what they are struggling with.
Not only does it provide you with a gold mine of information that you can turn into content and products, but more importantly, relationship marketing allows you to build a loyal and passionate fan base that will follow you for years to come and trust your advice and direction.
=> the second crucial ingredient for influencer status! (More on that in STEP 3).
First, though, let’s check out FACTOR #3 in this trilogy:
FACTOR #3 – Funnel Magic
What is a funnel?
Excellent question! – and a crucial one for understanding this book and how successful online marketing works.
A sales funnel is a chain of products that lead a customer (and that includes readers of your books) to your brand and products with the least resistance.
In fact, sales funnels often start with a free product.
If you include a free offer (free cheat sheet, checklist) in your books to get subscribers onto your mailing list, this will be part 1 of your funnel.
Why?
Because you can then build a relationship with your new subscribers and introduce them to other, higher priced products.
You probably heard of “FREE, plus Shipping”?
Same concept. The word “free” is irresistible and one of the most powerful marketing triggers in any language.
You can find more trigger words in my article “Words that Sell.”
Ironically, merchants who use the “FREE, plus Shipping” method often make tens of thousands of dollars, because they set the shipping price much higher than the actual postage fees. It’s called a “handling fee” and often two to three times higher than the basic shipping cost.
Customers know this and yet are willing – even eager – to pay $9.95 for “shipping & handling” as long as the product is free – even if that product is worth less than $9.95!
Mind-blowing but proven many times and shows how irresistible and powerful “free” offers are.
Smart book marketers usually have at least one permafree (permanently free) book as a lead magnet to draw new readers in.
If those readers like the free book, they will usually buy more books by this author and gladly pay a higher price because they are now convinced that they will get the desired help and results.
No more pitching or clever sales copy needed!
Give a free taste, provide awesome value and then offer more.
That’s how simple smart marketing really is.
The next step in a sales funnel is usually a low-priced product called a “Tripwire”. $4.97 or $7.99 are typical price points.
Your paid Kindle books fit that bill perfectly and sales psychology tells us that once someone buys from you – even at a very low price – they are now much more likely to also buy higher priced items.
The initial barrier is gone. That difficult first sale was converted. From now on, things will get a lot easier.
While your Kindle books are low priced, they still show a commitment from your buyer to invest in an author unknown to them – and not return the item.
In fact, they might even give you a glowing review!
As successful authors, Part #1 and Part #2 of a classic sales funnel have already been completed!
Halfway there!
What remains are:
#3 – A CORE PRODUCT (or several). Something in a medium price range, anywhere from $27 to $297 depending on your niche and topic.
Please note: pricing varies greatly between niches, and these are just rough numbers to give you an idea.
#4 – A PREMIUM PRODUCT in the $497 to $1997 range (or higher in some niches) – again, not limited to just one.
Core and premium products can include online courses, but also services, coaching, consulting, and any other products.
The second half of this book will go over many different options for #3 and #4 and how to implement them in phases as you grow your brand.
Before we go there, let me share one more FAST TRACK ingredient. The one most overlooked of all:
The SECRET INGREDIENT
The one activity that will increase your influencer growth tenfold, more than anything else (aside from publishing), is networking and cultivating relationships.
What do I mean?
We already talked about the power of leverage. The more you build relationships and connect with people, the faster you will grow.
- See competitors as opportunities for collaboration, rather than enemies.
- See customers as partners and friends that you help, but who are also helping you, both to grow your brand and by giving you feedback.
As the saying goes:
It is not so much what you know, but who you know and once you truly understand and cherish the awesome power of leverage, you can grow and expand at amazing speeds. And – at a fraction of conventional marketing costs.
Relationships cover all parts of your business and we will address them as we go through the seven STEPS, but here is a first look:
- Your peers, including competitors
- Your audience, customers, clients, readers, students
- Influencers, big and small
- Institutions, relevant to your niche
- Major platforms to share your products
With that, let’s rock it with the 7-STEP FORMULA aka The INFLUENCER FAST TRACK:
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