Blind leading the Blind

> Hi Nasrat,
I live near one of the best Salmon fishing rivers in the world (The UMPQUA River of SW Oregon)

Fall Chinook season will be starting in Sept and that brings oodles of tourists all "hungry" for ONE THING...."easy ways to get a BIG Chinook"!

The first fall chinook season I noticed how "RAVENOUS" the visiting fishermen were for INFO on "WHERE ARE THE BIG ONES HANGING OUT"?

Sure...many people hire guides BUT...thousands don't. They arrive in town...park their motor homes or get a motel room...ask the motel clerks if they know of "ANY GOOD HOLES"!

I was sitting in the lobby of a motel, waiting for a buddy of mine to go fishing with me, when I first heard that question asked of a clerk. (Ya gotsta keep your eyes and ears open at all times for "things people WANT")

I've since heard that same question hundreds of times.

As I was sitting there (the first time I heard the question) I thought about the fishing holes I would be taking my buddy to. The holes that had produced "monsters" for me...some holes easy to get to...some almost impossible.

As I was sitting there listening to this "fisherman-tourist" I imagined a plastic counter display, right in front of him that had the words...

"Want To Catch Monster Chinook?
Find Out Where They Rest on their way Upstream! Get Your Copy of the Video..."THE 27 SECRET HOLES OF THE UMPQUA!" On Sale Here! Just $39. Why pay a Guide to show you where the Big Boys hang out? Just watch the Video! Save Time and Frustration! Get Your Copy NOW!"

I've been going to do this every year. I think I'll do it this year. Let's see...50,000 fishermen...figuring with the Title alone I could sell 1,000 Videos...$39,000. What if I sold 5,000 Videos? $200,000 and the videos only cost me $1.85 from NorthAmerican Video in Van Nuys. Plus, I'd have to give the motels probably 20%...($8)....make up 30 plastic displays for $60... leaving me with $145,000.

Hey! Time to get the ol' Video Cam out and start shooting.

Isn't this "world of entroopeneerism" exciting?

Don Alm

> It is next to impossible to make sales on
> the web if you don't have credibility or
> credentials. And while is it admirable that
> you wish to learn marketing, if you don't
> know much about it -- it will be hard to
> sell products based on marketing. You can
> disagree with that statement if you want,
> but based on my experience, it is true.

> What can you do? I don't know -- only you
> can answer that, but if I were going to
> market anymore informational products on the
> web, I think I would choose a niche market
> that has a LOT of room to grow. I would
> write about something I KNOW about. Let me
> give you some ideas about what I might do,
> and see if it inspires some ideas in you.

> Our family business is MacLellan's Cottages
> located on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.
> Every year a few thousand tourists come to
> this area to vacation on the beach, do a
> little fishing, site seeing, clam digging,
> bird watching and hunting in the Fall. Every
> year we get the same questions:

> Where can I fish and get bait and
> supplies? How do you dig clams? How do you
> cook them? What tools do I need? Where are
> the good hunting places? Where can I stay?
> Where can I find a guide? A map? Although
> there are many places that rent cottages and
> do the Bed and Breakfast thing, there are
> not any websites I have seen that offer any
> information that answers the many questions
> visitors have every year. So there would
> seem to be a need for very general
> information that anyone who grew up there
> would know the answers to. But when you live
> in Chicago IL (example), and don't know
> these answers, how do you find these things
> out?

> Of course you would have to test the market,
> to see if people would buy these type of
> informational products. In all reality, a
> large percentage may just decide they will
> wait and ask questions when they get there.
> But there are numerous websites that offer
> cottage rentals, etc., that don't sell any
> products. They only advertise their
> cottages. So offering these folks a
> commission for helping you sell (an
> affiliate program), might generate a good
> response.

> In conclusion, I feel you might have better
> luck marketing products that are based on
> something you know about. I've been
> developing commercial websites for four
> years and know how to market well enough to
> keep myself busy and employed. But I don't
> pretend to have any expertise in marketing,
> and wouldn't try to sell information telling
> someone else how to do it. There are just
> too may people around who know a whole lot
> more about it then I do.

> Best Regards,
> Steve MacLellan




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