The Old Submariner and The Balloon Master

Gordon tells me I'm good at creating headlines. Maybe he just says that to make me feel good. *g* I probably got a little carried away with this headline. *g* Anyway, if you keep reading you'll soon see that there is a tie-in between the subject and the message. So using an old Gary Halbert copywriting technique...

Onward.

Gordon recently posted some information about Charles Prosper and his balloons. I'm curious. How many of us actually visited Charles' site and learned a thing or two? Did you actually take the viewpoint of being an interested candidate, (even if you weren't), and try to see what Charles is offering his target market? (And BTW, if you not interested in Charles' balloon wares, that's OK. Because that means his marketing is working. He only wants what Prince Gary called a "hungry market." Otherwise, you can surf right on by and it doesn't bother him one bit.)

Or did most of us do like I usually I do and look at the site with a jaundiced eye thinking, "Well this is fine Gordon but what does this really have to do with me? I'm a marketer and this guy is selling balloons!" Well, listen up balloon breath! Gordon gave us a goldmine by referring us to Charles' site. Here's what I learned in just a few minutes on Charles' site.

1. Charles has some banner ads on his site but look closely at them. They're not the run of the mill banner ad sending you to 50 different affiliate programs. The banner ads Charles has are for free reports on *his* site! What a great use of banner ads.

2. Charles has also implemented an affiliate program. But look closely again. This is not your mother's affiliate program. Charles' affiliate program uses a sig that you can use in any e-mail, board post, whatever. I've seen this done only a few other places but there's a difference. Charles' affiliate program would be simplicity itself to sign up for and use. You register, create the link, copy the sig from his site, and you're off and running. Not only that, the sig looked like pretty good marketing copy as well.

3. Here's something that every single one of us should take as a lesson from Charles. Charles started in the balloon business something like 20 years ago. He developed his balloon business into of the most successful balloon businesses in the country. And *then* Charles added information products. If you're a ballooneer, (or a wannabe), you can buy a balloon business start up kit from one of the true masters in the balloon business. You can also attend seminars that Charles gives for that industry.

4. Here's something I forgot to put in my e-mail to Gordon about all of this. Charles also has an auction. But again, look closely. Does he have everything under the sun available in the auction? No! It's stuff that only a balloon maker could love. Same thing with the buy/sell forum.

So what does all this have to do with you, the reader at Seeds of Wisdom? Well, Charles Prosper has done a masterful job of identifying his markets and selling to them over the years. Then he went one better and started selling shovels to the miners or in this case balloon startup and business information to balloon folks. And lastly, he's giving balloon gurus a place to auction and trade their stuff. This is one guy who really seems to "get it" when it comes to putting his business online.

The question now becomes one of application. How can YOU take the lessons that Charles Prosper has taught and apply them to your own business? It's one that I asked myself in depth this morning as I was thinking about all this. I'm going to execute my own POA and incorporate many of these ideas into my revised web site.

Oh yeah. The tie in with the headline. If you haven't already figured it out, Charles is the Balloon Master and Gordon well, you can guess which part of the headline fits him on your own. *g*

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"