Interview: Michael Mindes

Michael Mindes is the founder of Tasty Minstrel Games, a relatively new publisher of hobby board games. Despite primarily dealing with a physical product, Michael is actively marketing over the Internet. Michael especially likes email marketing, blogging, and generating organic results on Facebook, and has seen great success in these areas.

Tell us a little background info about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? How long have you been making money online?
I live in Tucson, Arizona and have been here for most of my 29 years of life. I am married and I have 3 children. During the day, I am a financial advisor/planner (no, you can’t hire me and I am not soliciting business) to pay the bills while I build up Tasty Minstrel Games.

I wouldn’t say I have been making any money online, but I have been actively gathering permission assets and building up authority in the board game publishing arena for about 15 months.

Do you have any experience with affiliate marketing? If so, to what extent?
My experience with affiliate marketing is very limited. Like many other people, I have read the blogs people like Shoemoney, John Chow, and Jonathan Volk for a long time. Like many of those people I gave affiliate marketing a try.

To me, affiliate marketing feels too much like being a transactional stock broker (which I opted not to be). Except that there are tons of people actively scouting and trying to take your best ideas. I would rather have a group of people trust me enough to take my recommendations.

What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
In life, I am most proud of my 7 years of happy marriage, my 3 kids, and Tasty Minstrel’s progress. In the realm of Internet marketing I am most proud of the following:
• Building a laser-targeted and responsive list of over 3,000 people.
• Having over a 9% conversion rate for people to buy out of my list.
• Building a network quickly within the board game industry.
• Doing all of the above in my spare time.

How did you become successful? Why did you choose this career? When did you first realize the full potential in the Internet? When did you first “hit the big time?”
I became successful as an online marketer by following through with the sales and trust building techniques that I learned by managing people’s life savings and constantly convincing them that their trust is well placed.

I chose to go into financial planning because I could go to work with my father, support my growing family, and have challenging and fulfilling work. I chose to publish board games, because I love games. Games are my absolute and fundamental passion in life.

Obviously any communication method as fast and inexpensive as the Internet will be incredibly powerful. But I did not really feel the scope of it, until I first started bribing people to join my email list. I gave away some games for free, and 545 people signed up for a chance to win in the first 7 days. That was with one forum post.

What do you think it takes to be successful?
Dedication, Honesty, Intelligence, Passion, OTHER PEOPLE (relationships are incredibly important)

What have been your biggest failures and frustrations?
Getting a shipment of 4,000 games with numerous manufacturing issues. It was significant effort to mitigate the damage, but sales were slower, product was lost, and hours have been spent sending out replacement parts.

What is the single toughest problem you've had to face, and how did you get through it?
See above. The initial response is detailed on my blog. Being as transparent as possible on my blog has led to a small army of people that are dedicated to defending Tasty Minstrel Games online, which is wonderful.

What is the future of marketing?
Being able to directly reach people that want to hear from you, and turning customers into evangelists. Building quality relationships over time and email marketing are the solution here.

What have you been up to recently? What projects are you working on?
In the past I have been distracted by a number of things. Which is why I have so many free eBooks available, including an 80+ page eBook about relationship building strategy and email marketing. Right now I am just working on improving Tasty Minstrel.

Do you think anything particular in your past prepared you for this industry? Your education? Jobs you’ve held before?
The pressures of having 100% commission based compensation and convincing people to have me advise them on investing their life savings makes you learn fast. When compared to bringing in a $1,000,000+ account, selling some $40 board games seems easy.

What are your greatest strengths?
My stunning good looks. After that, my ability to sell stuff and generate trust through honesty and transparency.

What are your greatest weaknesses?
Project management and slacking off. Thankfully, when running a business you can find people to fill in for your weaknesses.

What motivates you?
It will sound cheesy, but bringing families closer together through games. Oh, and providing for my wife and 3 children.

What is the best advice you’ve been given and try to apply to your life?
Do it and do it now. How long does it take to send a 1-2 line email? Fill out an interview? Make a phone call? Each item takes very little time, and the aggregate of all those actions adds up to some amazing results.

For example, I let these interview questions sit for 20 days. I could have spent the 1 hour to answer the questions and been covered on a popular blog that much sooner.

Who has impacted you most in your career, and how?
My father. He taught me probably 80+% of what I need to know in sales and marketing (in life too). The rest I have learned through reading the thoughts of great minds, thinking, taking action, and remembering what works.

What are some of your long-term goals? How much is enough? If money was no object, what would you be doing?
I would like to be involved with publishing board games full-time. Providing modestly for my family and having extra money for emergencies is enough. If money was no object, I would be spending time with my family, playing games with my friends, and helping to change the world.

Where do you want to be ten years from now?
Alive and married to my wife is sufficient for my needs.

How do you like to spend your free time? What doe work-life balance mean to you?
I spend my free time working on building up Tasty Minstrel Games. Life is work, truly challenging and satisfying work is the basis of happiness.

If you could go back to being 18, what different career choices would you make?
I would have started earlier. It would have been nice to realize I do not need an endorsement of any kind to start building a business or changing the world.

What is your greatest achievement outside of work? What are some of your unfulfilled dreams?
Again, cheesy… But my greatest achievement in life is my successful marriage for 7 years and my 3 beautiful loving children. While I am sure I have unfulfilled dreams, it doesn’t matter because I have them. They are awesome.

Do you have a Twitter account or Facebook “Like” page?
I like to use Facebook as a natural funnel for Tasty Minstrel, so we have a page for the company and for every game that we publish.

http://www.twitter.com/michaelmindes
http://www.twitter.com/tastyminstrel
http://www.facebook.com/tastyminstrelgames
http://www.facebook.com/homesteaders
http://www.facebook.com/terraprime
http://www.facebook.com/trainofthoughtgame
http://www.facebook.com/playjab
http://www.facebook.com/belfort

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How to Stop Marketing (And What to Do Instead)

Back when I took copywriting clients, I had one request that seemed to come up over and over again.

“I don’t want to do any marketing or selling,” the client would say. “I just really hate all that stuff. It makes me feel sleazy and gross and I don’t want my name associated with it and I don’t want to have anything to do with it.

“But, um, I don’t want the business to die.

“Is it hopeless? Is there anything you can do for me?”

You might think I laughed at this person and told him to enjoy being broke. But no.

“Actually, I can help you with that,” I said. “No problem, we won’t do any marketing. Here’s what we’re going to do instead.”

“Instead of marketing, we’re just going to communicate. We’re going to talk to your customers and explain who you are, how your thing will make their life better, and then we’ll spell out exactly what they should do next. Would that work for you?”

Instantly I could hear the stress melt out of their voice. “Oh my god, that would be amazing. Can you really do that? Thank you!”

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why packaging is so important.

Don’t overcomplicate

If Don Draper had this client, he would have called him an idiot. But he still would have signed him for a fat account, and done some stellar work on it. Then he would have slept with his wife.

Don Draper was in advertising before people got confused. He knew that persuasion always boils down to shockingly simple principles.

If marketing makes you throw up in your mouth a little, quit doing it.

Instead, just let your potential customers know who you are.

Let them know how your thing will make their lives better.

And tell them, very clearly and specifically, what to do next.

No marketing required.

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Make Money with Clickbooth’s CPC Platform

ClickBooth is recognized as being one of the leaders in affiliate networks, but what else do they have going on? It’s seems like there is always some new project going on behind the scenes or a new tool that they are offering to their network affiliates. The latest service from the company, is the ClickBooth CPC Platform. The best way to explain the product is, think Google Adsense, with a CPA twist.

As you know, Google Adsense has always been one of the easiest ways for a blog or web site to make money, but not the most profitable. Using the same concept, the ClickBooth CPC Platform allows you to place different ad spots on your site. This ad spot would then rotate and match up relevant content / advertisements for your audience. On the example below, you will see that that Clickbooth’s CPC Platform allows for thumbnail images along side the ads, which Adsense doesn’t. With CB CPC you have the option to serve Text-only Ads or Text Plus Image Ads. This should help with interest and click through rates on your ad space.

While the ads are rotating different advertisers and CPA offers within the ClickBooth network, you are getting paid on a CPC basis. The offers currently rotating through the banner spots, are a collection of the same offers running on the CB network. I currently have the banner set above to display “Business” oriented advertisements, while on my other entertainment based web site I have “Games” advertisements targeted. The CB CPC platform is still new, but I would like to see a much wider selection of advertisements available, to match with the right user demographic. I’m sure this is currently in the works.

CPA vs. CPC Advertising – Which is Better You?

Serving CB CPC is a good idea for anyone that has traffic that they don’t know how to monetize. Any generic or news related traffic would do well with the ads being served across the network. The CB CPC ads are a good example of the same ads that we see on major news sites and high traffic pages, which are being purchased on a CPM basis, then sends traffic to a flog/testimonial/sales page. These types of ads draw attention and get clicks.

If you have a web site that is already focused on a specific topic and you know what your viewers want, you wouldn’t serve CB CPC on your site. Just like if you were trying to promote a CPA offer through ClickBooth, you should link directly to that offer instead of trying to run CB CPC and see which works better. When you run traffic to offers directly, you can get a better idea of how conversion work.

Bottom line… I think CB CPC would perform best with generic audience web sites, blogs and article directories. While more tight niche web sites should individually pick out what offers they want to choose and promote to their audience.

As mentioned, I’m currently setup with my own ClickBooth CPC account and have placed a few of their CPC banners on a few of my other sites which receive a decent amount of generic traffic. I’ve also thrown one of their banners in the side bar of this blog just for some extra stats. I will follow up with their results compared to Adsense and CPM ad networks during the last week of the month.

Join ClickBooth & Get a Free Apple iPad

Be sure to join ClickBooth CPA or CPC Network and you could get a free Apple iPad. All you need to do is join, leave “IPAD2010” in your application comments section, reach $5,000 in revenue within the first 60 days, and that’s it! Amazing deal… you only need to generate an average of $84 a day for 60 days and CB will send you a free Apple iPad. One of the best network promotions I’ve seen yet!

Apply to ClickBooth CPC & See if You Qualify!

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The FDA & Social Media: What To Expect In 2011

If you could have put all the people working in marketing at pharmaceutical companies together in a room today, you might have heard a collective sigh of disappointment. As many suspected for weeks or even months now, the FDA quietly confirmed that the long awaited guidelines for how to use social media for which they held a hearing in late 2009 won’t be coming this year and to expect them (perhaps) in Q1 of 2011. Earlier this month, however, the FDA did release a sweeping document that received much less fanfare from marketers - even though the implications of it may change the world of pharmaceutical marketing for the next half decade at least.

That document focused on the FDA’s “Strategic Priorities: 2011 - 2015″ and offers nearly 50 pages of insights into the future direction of the FDA and offers many hidden insights that everyone who is considering doing any marketing or communications for a drug, medical device, healthcare organization or biomedical research organization should pay attention to. Here are a few of the most noteworthy passages in that document along with thoughts from our Ogilvy Digital Healthcare team on their significance.

“FDA’s primary responsibility is to protect the American people from unsafe or mislabeled food, drugs, and other medical products and to make sure consumers have access to accurate, science-based information about the products they need and rely on every day.”

1. What It Means: Despite Lots Of Hope From The Industry, Social Media Guidance Isn’t A Priority For The FDA
There is only one point in the entire 48 page document of strategic priorities where social media is even mentioned, and much of the document focuses on the much bigger challenges and scope of the FDA. When you work in Pharma, you tend to underestimate the scope of the FDA’s mission. As this document spells out, issuing social media guidance is nowhere near a priority for the FDA - and despite what anyone working in this area may want to see happen, it is unlikely that this will change in the near future.

“One of the most pressing FDA-wide goals is promoting transparency in FDA’s operations, activities, processes, and decision making, as well as making information and data available in user-friendly formats while also protecting confidential and proprietary information.”

2. What It Means: The FDA Will Continue To Actively Use Social Media To Spread Its Own Messages
Perhaps even more frustrating than not having concrete guidance will likely be the knowledge and easy evidence that the FDA is poised to use social media much more actively themselves to reach patients, healthcare professionals and other governmental organizations. They have already launched several forward thinking social media initiatives including tweeting about FDA Recalls and creating a dedicated YouTube Channel. A few smart people have already noted the irony of this fact, but in the coming year it is likely to continue unchanged.

“FDA recognizes that communications must be adapted to meet the needs of many groups who differ with respect to literacy, language, culture, race/ethnicity, disability, and other factors. Social media tools can help meet some of FDA’s communication challenge. We are planning to use social networks to create a virtual community of organizations and individuals to disseminate FDA science-based information on women’s health. We will also be collaborating with other government partners, to integrate FDA information on women’s health into their programs.”

3. What It Means: The FDA Is Already Prioritizing Social Media As A Channel For Reaching Special Populations
This passage reveals a somewhat narrow view of social media’s potential to reach smaller niche populations based on gender, ethnicity or rare conditions - however it does demonstrate that there may be particular situations where social media may face fewer barriers to usage by the FDA, and also serve a highly important patient need for authoritative and accurate information, as well as access to a hard-to-find support network.

“Summary Of Long Term Objectives For Human Drugs: Oversee drug promotion and marketing to ensure that marketed drug labeling and advertising is truthful and not misleading.”

4. What It Means: Most FDA Oversight And Regulation Will Continue To Focus On “Misleading” Promotional Efforts
Though there is certainly room for interpretation in what the definition of “misleading” might be - history has shown that this one metric continues to be the most important one that the FDA uses when monitoring communications efforts from pharmaceutical companies. Added to this is the consistent feedback from epatients and their loved ones that in most cases they would welcome informational content and support tools from pharma companies, as long as they are not presented in an underhanded, dishonest, manipulative or overly promotional manner.

“For FDA to achieve its mission of promoting and protecting the public health, the agency must have a well-defined communications strategy to address the information needs and concerns of both internal and external audiences. An FDA strategic communication strategy will ensure the agency has clear and concise messages about its work and will ensure those messages reach the right audiences using the most effective channels.

5. What It Means: The FDA Will Be More Vocal In Disseminating Its Authoritative Views Through All Channels
As most anyone working in pharma marketing will attest to, part of the challenge that the industry faces is that its own efforts get lumped together with online miracle cure scams and generally unscrupulous advertisers and organizations who work outside of FDA guidelines and manage to get away with it. As the FDA takes a more vocal role through its strategic communications, this can translate into great benefits online for reputable pharma organizations who have their new products approved and are trying to spread that news to relevant populations as widely as possible.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
==================================

What this combination of the strategic priorities document and the recent admission that the social media guidelines will be delayed clearly points to is that we as pharma marketers need to stop praying for a magical guidance that will deliver the answer to all of our problems. Guidance may come in small pieces throughout 2011, but putting an entire effort on hold for the promise of clear rules is a bit like waiting to take the exit onto a highway until there are no cars on the road. You’ll be waiting a long time.

Instead, pharma marketing that promises to leverage social channels should voluntarily be transparent, useful, not overly promotional and serve a real need. Doing things right in this area doesn’t always mean looking for permission or waiting for someone else to do it first. Efforts launched in an ethical and non-manipulative way can and do work - and should be a part of your planning efforts for 2011, whether the social media guidelines from the FDA come in early 2011 or not.

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It’s The Social Media Time and Resources, Stupid!

Remember not so very long ago (probably just yesterday) when someone looking to really get involved in social media for business was told “It’s free so just go for it!” ? This usually came from a social media “expert / guru / ninja / maven / superstar / hero / stud / wizard /expert” (oops, already used that last one so I must be out of pathetic self-naming options).

This ‘expert’ actually didn’t realize that by promoting the medium as easy and free that no one would pay them to help them (hey, if there are any experts etc. etc. in finance who want to teach social media people what it means to be in business there is “gold in them thar hills” for sure). This phenomenon has created our current glut of social media ‘talent’ looking for a check which means they will say anything to get someone to sign up with them (look to the search marketing industry to see how well that has worked out).

But I digress. What the business world is finding out that despite the ‘low cost’ there is actually a very high cost to effectively be in the ‘social media for business’ game. Those who do this game for real know this already but for the poor Director of Marketing at XYZ Company the reality of what it takes is becoming very harsh very fast.

A survey conducted by R2Integrated (Internet marketing / social media service provider alert!) and reported by eMarketer shows that people trying to get into the social media game are getting a crash course in ‘there is no such thing as a social media free lunch’.

Looking at those results I wonder if there is not enough time and / or resources to do the other things listed like overcome skepticism of ROI, decide what platform, get executive buy-in, getting started and then learning the tools. Forget how much time it takes after you accomplish these things!

Once the social media marketing wannbe has cleared the hurdles stated above a curious thing happens. They realize that they still don’t’ have enough time and resources to do the social media marketing game effectively.

So what does this mean for the industry as a whole and the poor marketing executive for the upcoming year? I think it means that the social media industry needs to do a much better job of conveying the realities of the practice rather than promoting the fantasy of it. The social media “industry” is looking like a mirror image of its search marketing cousin that is rife with snakeoil salesmen and scam artists that it has lost credibility in the place it needs it most: the client side.

Stop with the hyperbole and the delusions that are more pitch than practical. Stop with the moving on to the next best thing that no one outside of the industry has heard about or understands and concentrate on the basics. Heck, these basics are still being hammered out so how in the world can the industry keep moving forward without collapsing the foundation of sand it has created?

As for the bewildered marketer? I would recommend a very serious assessment / audit process to start your 2011. Take the time to see exactly where your current strategies are working (so keep them) and not working (reassign the time and resources from dead spend to better areas). You may find that by trimming the excess marketing fat you can free up existing time and resources that were being wasted on the wrong activities. There, problem solved .

Of course, nothing is that easy. However, if we all spend 2011 plowing forward without truly owning what has or has not been done to stabilize the art of social media we can call 2011 “The Year the Social Media Industry Shot Itself in the Foot by Promising Too Much Too Soon.”

Your take?

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OMG! That Was My Idea!

The other day I was out getting breakfast, then some guy and his wife picked up the news paper and saw an article on the main page for a new movies theater in the area that serves dinner, while you watch a movie. He starts yelling “That was my idea! That was my idea!“… then he got all flustered because someone actually took action on an idea he had. Guess what… it was JUST his idea, and he never took the necessary action to get it started anyway. Who succeed and whole failed in this scenario?

This happens all too many times in life and online business. We all think of these great ideas, then are either too busy, don’t have the necessary resources or know where to start to make things happen. That’s the difference between success and the failure to launch.

You don’t have to look far to find success, and it’s easy enough to come up with a new idea or invention that could change the world, or at the least… make you a few million. Something that seems as simple as an Angry Birds app for the iPhone generating a million dollars a month, or a college kid making a fun site to meet girls while in high school (ie: Facebook), not only changes their lives of the creators, but have become world wide phenomenons.

What are you missing out on by not putting your brilliant ideas into action? It doesn’t take much to outsource, invest in your own ideas or at least start mapping your plan out. There are actually many services in place just looking for your ideas, and they do the rest, while you get rewarded or can earn a royalty fee. There are whole businesses just based on taking consumer feedback and ideas, then building them into products and services.

- Got an idea for a cool tshirt? Get paid $2,500!

- Turn Your Ideas into a Real Product

- Submit an App Idea, Earn 25% Royalties

- Want to keep your idea safe? Patent your idea!

You may know the potential investment and requirements to put your idea into action… but what could you possibly be missing out on if you never try?