Let’s get back to the call between Paul Lemberg and Rich Schefren:

A very important question to ask whenever you stumble upon an opportunity:

“Is this going to move me in the direction that I want to go?”

Rich Schefren says:

Opportunist just says: How do I bring the next revenue stream. It may provide you with income, but it will not (less likely to) provide you with equity. Strategy starts with goals Opportunities are still fine, they can help you get to your goal, but strategy STARTS with a GOAL

Myth:

Even if you are very good at working smart, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to work HARD.

If you’re strategic enough, you can bypass work, but if you always act in an opportunistic way and not in a well thought out strategic way, then you never get to that point where work comes optional.

There are a lot of people who make a lot of money, but the day they stop making money is the day they stop working. When they stop working, they stop making money. This is not the recipe of life of fulfillment The key distinction between working hard and working smart is that you put thought into your work.

Most of us just seek on the next opportunity that comes along and say: “Oh, that will add to my monthly income!” and we just jump on it without actually looking whether its going to drive us towards our main goal.

Strategy comes from inside out. This means that you’ve got a vision, you’ve got goals, and you focus all your action to get to your goal. That is what’s going to be the difference between working hard and working smart.

Working hard:

“I’m just going to do more” “Oh, there is something. I can do that.” “There is something else that I can do also.” “Let’s do that and add to our bottom line.”

People are looking at the wrong place. They are looking at the outside as suppose to inside.

A very important question to ask whenever you stumble upon an opportunity:

“Is this going to move me in the direction that I want to go?”

If you missed the Part 1 of this post, here it is: Why Is Strategic Planning So Important In Marketing? (Part 1)

Why Is Strategic Planning So Important In Internet Marketing? (Continued) is a post from: Narek Gabrielian Blog

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Why Is Strategic Planning So Important In Internet Marketing?
2. So, What Internet Marketing Really Is?
3. WARNING: Affiliate Marketing May Be Illegal!
4. 7 Direct Marketing Tips [#18]
5. How To Stop Procrastination and Analysis Paralysis (Part 3)

How much money do you want to make by doing what, by when?

Less than a year ago, I listened to a call between Rich Schefren and Paul Lemberg. Both of them are extraordinary business coaches. While I was listening to the call, I made some notes… and today I would like to expand on some of the points they made. First of all, let’s make it certain.

What is strategy and what is tactic? Most importantly, what’s the difference between those two?

According to Wikipedia, strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. According to Tony Robbins, strategy is a specific way of organizing your resources in order to consistently get the result you want. According to Wikipedia, tactic is a conceptual action.

The difference between strategy and tactic:

In military terms, tactics are concerned with the conduct of an engagement while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked. In other words, how a business is built is a matter of tactics: the terms that it is built on and whether it should be built at all is a matter of strategy.

Same thing in marketing. How a product is marketed is a matter of tactics: the terms that it is marketed on and whether it should be marketed at all is a matter of strategy.

In military terms, a tactic is used by a small unit of the larger the division to implement a specific mission and achieve a specific objective, or to advance toward a specific goal. A tactic is implemented as one or more tasks.

Same thing in marketing. A specific mission, in this case, would be a specific objective that you have to achieve, such as building a list of 5000 subscribers, getting high search engine ranking, getting back links, writing an e-book, getting the graphics done, looking for affiliates, etc.

Here is a visual example for you:

If you imagine that chain, the whole chain will be the strategy and the links would be your tactics. Therefore, strategy is not an absence of tactics. Strategy is simply a specific way you put those tactics together in order to form a plan that will get you where you want to get.

Rich Schefren: An effective strategy is not the absence of killer tactics. It’s the right packaging of the right tactics to get you what you want.

With that in mind, there are two mindsets that Paul Lemberg and Rich Schefren mentioned on this call. Opportunistic thinking — which can be considered tactical thinking and strategic thinking.

When you think opportunistically, you’re thinking: “What’s the pay off?”

When you think strategically, you’re thinking: “What’s the trade off?”

There is always going to be a pay off in whatever you do.

However, what is it that you’re trading off?

Paul Lemberg: Entrepreneurs are time shifters. Time shifters and risk shifters.

What this means is that an entrepreneur is someone who trades off risk for reward.

Risk today, for the reward in the future. They see the opportunity, weigh whether it is worth taking risk for, so that they can build it up and have it worth more in the future.

Paul Lemberg: Opportunity seekers tend to spend a lot of time on the things that don’t make sense.

Sometimes there is a pay off, but most of the time there is just energy spinning around or they spend time.

However, when there isn’t, then it’s going to pay off over time.

Being opportunistic and using solely tactics to make money online is still fun as long as you know that it is not a long-term and you’re fine with it.

Have you heard of Dan Kennedy? I was listening to one of his seminars, and one of the things that struck me the most was this (you might want to write this on a piece of paper and tape it to your wall on top of your desk).

Tools change

Principles NEVER change

Strategies rarely change

Tactics occasionally change

By knowing this, you can now choose what to focus on and in what proportion.

Read the rest of this post for a very important question to ask whenever you stumble upon an opportunity.

>>> Why Is Strategic Planning So Important In Marketing? (Part 2)

Why Is Strategic Planning So Important In Internet Marketing? is a post from: Narek Gabrielian Blog

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Why Is Strategic Planning So Important In Internet Marketing? (Continued)
2. WARNING: Affiliate Marketing May Be Illegal!
3. So, What Internet Marketing Really Is?

Squeeze Page Defined: single web page with the sole purpose of capturing information for follow-up marketing; that means NO exit hyperlinks.

Anyway.

You are probably asking: “What does above the fold mean?”

Above The Fold – the area of the screen that you see without having to scroll down. According to some internet marketers, direct response marketers, copywriters, and other online professionals, the opt-in box on your squeeze pages is supposed to be placed above the fold to ensure higher conversion (more subscribers). So they say. However, earlier today I was reading an article, which is arguing that this is just a myth. You can see this article here: The Myth Of The Page Fold: Evidence From User Testing. I personally think that this is not applicable to direct response marketing websites as much it is to e-commerce type of websites.

Direct response marketing in the example of landing pages would mean that the visitor is only given two choices when viewing the page:

- Stay on the page and act (subscribe, submit information, etc.)

- Leave the web page

The article argues that the successful brands are not worrying about “above the fold”, which is fine and dandy. However, those who are just getting started online, working from home (basically, those who are making less than 7 figures per month) need to worry about the “above the fold.” For them, every visitor counts. I hope you get the point… Although, there is a good suggestion that you can remember and apply the next time you create squeeze pages (landing pages). And that is:

“Have a small amount of content just visible, poking up above the fold to encourage scrolling.” (if you have no other choice)

This “small amount of content” can be the opt-in box. Don’t forget to check out the article, there are 3 good tips at the end of it. And of course, never underestimate the power of testing. Every case (squeeze page) is unique and can have totally different results.

Don’t Create Squeeze Pages Until You Read This is a post from: Narek Gabrielian Blog

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Split Testing is Worthless, Unless…
2. 10 Ways To Generate Highly Read Article Ideas
3. 7 Direct Marketing Tips [#21]