Sublime Products » mike filsaime

Butterfly Marketing Meltdown

Amin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:51:20 +0000

To understand this post, you might need to read this first.

So, I did what I’d advised my subscribers to do and I went to the site when I got the early notification. Credit card in hand, I was ready to push whatever purchase button was on there.

Except I couldn’t.

The site broke down within a couple of minutes of opening. In fact it was so bad at one point that Mike Filsaime had to publicly ask his visitors to stop trying to place orders because his technicians couldn’t even login into the server to fix it.

Bit of a public mess. And as you might imagine a lot of people got angry that they had to wait, or that they might not get a copy.

About 6 hours later I got my copy so I’m now good to go. Great. But a lot of people are still feeling annoyed. Personally, I think they should be learning from the whole experience, both the good points and the bad points.

Let me break down what I saw as good and bad:

Good:

Very effective use of affiliates to generate lots of interest
Extremely high value offer
Regular updates as to how it was going
Prizes for the affiliates that meant even newbies had a shot at a prize
Very clear disclosure that there would be a continuity element
Honest admissions that their newsletter wasn’t so good before
Highly persuasive case study testimonials

Bad:

Not expecting a lot of people to be ordering at once. Come on! Over 45,000 people pre-registered for early access! Isn’t that a bit of a clue?
Not adequately testing that their site would cope with high numbers of people ordering at once, as opposed to viewing at once.
Using what appeared to be poor code, not optimized for transaction speed (at least according to someone even more techie than I am)
Having no backup server/site/order button ready to go ‘just in case’

Not such a big list of things that went wrong, is it?

I suspect most of us are not going to have 45,000 people chomping at the bit for one of our product launches, but it shows what can go wrong. Now of the items I’ve listed as going wrong, all but the first one should have been solved by the technical guys on Mike’s team. The first one, though, is something any of us could contemplate.

It doesn’t require technical knowledge, just a bit of forethought. The second item on the list should have been done – testing of a web site is extremely important. In Mike’s case he’s got a full team of people who could have helped with that and he’s got programmers who could have created ‘stress’ tests to simulate a worst-case scenario.

At least they kept people informed as best they could on their Ustream video, although it was a little galling to see them sitting there at times, looking like they weren’t even breaking a sweat to get the thing fixed.

I suppose what it translates into for the average marketer is that anyone can get it wrong, but not everyone has the resources to put it right the way Mike has done. Offering to have extra copies of the product made for anyone who missed out costs hard cash.

And don’t expect too much sympathy from a large crowd if you’ve got it wrong. There were people on the Ustream chatrooms who were very aggressive.

For my own part I apologize profusely if you had wasted time waiting for this to work as a result of my recommendation. Sorry.

I hope you managed to get your copy. If not, there’s still a bit of time left since he’s effectively reset the clock and if you order today you should be able to get your copy at Butterfly Marketing.

Butterfly Marketing Manuscript

Amin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:41:12 +0000

It’s just over 17 hours until Mike Filsaime gives away the $1,997 Butterfly Marketing course and software and I’m contemplating whether to email my subscribers to remind them. I’m thinking that they might be sick of all the emails they’ve seen about it.

I’ve received various emails from people promoting it. Indeed, I’m promoting it myself, although hopefully without pushing it in your face. I’ve also received emails from someone who is launching a product that’s ‘similar’ to BFM. It’s similar in the sense that it handles product sales, affiliates, memberships – the whole shooting match.

The other product looks good. I intend to get a copy, if I can. I like to collect these things as much to learn from them as to use them and there’s always the chance that one of them will turn out to be the ideal fit for what you want to do. It’s like trying on several jackets to see which fit best and which look good…

The point of this post is to mention a pre-emptive tactic used by the other marketer. He clearly knows he’s up against BFM and he also knows that the whole word and his dog has been emailed about it. So he’s referred to it obliquely and his advertising emails ask his subscribers whether they’d rather buy something that’s a couple of years old (Butterfly Marketing), or something brand new for 2009 (his product).

Quite a provocative question, isn’t it? Which would you rather have? Something old, tired and with a catch, or something brand new with no catch?

That’s a marketing technique that’s as old as the hills. Ask a loaded question that can only be answered one way and guess which answer you’ll get? Everyone is going to prefer something without the catch.

The power of the question is in putting forward two views as if they are given facts. They’re not facts, they’re marketing speak. It’s interesting especially because this marketer is leveraging all the buzz about Butterfly Marketing to plant a little seed of doubt in his readers’ minds. Here’s an alternative way to look at the same ‘facts’:

Would you rather put your entire business in a script that’s brand new and ‘untested’ in the real world, or would you rather use a solid, mature product used by a host of top marketers every day to run their multi-million dollar businesses?

If the question was asked that way, what would be the more likely answer? Hmm, might be different than the other question.

If you take away anything from this post, please take away this: when somebody asks you a question and they’re trying to sell you something, the question is frequently loaded. Not always, but enough to make it important to ask yourself why that particular question is being asked.

Butterfly Marketing Campaign

Amin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:31:16 +0000

I don’t normally promote the ‘big’ campaigns – actually I don’t promote all that much anyway because a lot of what you see is not really worth having. I’d rather not make a few dollars peddling what I think is junk, even if other people are making a lot of money from it.

This campaign, however, is different and I say that as someone who had an online disagreement with Mike Filsaime in the past. He’s going to be giving away an updated copy of his Butterfly Marketing home study course, the updated manual and the 2.0 version of the software. The Butterfly Marketing scripts have been selling for a genuine $1,997 and he’s decided to give the latest version away. There are a couple of conditions, as you might imagine.

There are only 5,000 copies – sounds a lot, but there’ll be a lot of interest in this
You have to pay for shipping and handling ($30-$40, depends where you live)
You have to take out a subscription to his print newsletter
You have to be quick enough to get one of the 5,000 slots – there’s a way to do that

The Butterfly Marketing script is a powerful solution to running an internet marketing empire – or just a single site. It’s probably overkill for most people with a simple salespage site, but for anyone who wants to take their online marketing to another level it offers features to make you drool.

When it first came out I couldn’t afford it, so I used cheap solutions. That’s actually how I got started, using the scripts from the $7 Secrets – which cost $7. I still use them for some projects, together with other software such as DL Guard. I’ll admit it – I like collecting software and I like installing stuff. I’m a little bit of a geek when it comes to that.

But $1,997 was way out of my reach back then. Well, on 24th March at 1pm EST, it’s expected that many tens of thousands of people are going to queue to get chance to own a copy of the complete Butterfly Marketing package, genuinely worth $1,997. Mike reckons only 1 in 15 in that queue will get the chance.

I won’t be in that massive queue. I’m getting in ahead of everyone else 1 hour early.

I signed up for the pre-notification list, so I get a head start on the public. I don’t intend to miss out on this because it’s too good a deal to miss. As for the newsletter, although you have to sign up to get the software, you can cancel at any time so there’s no issue there.

There’s a way you can get in early too.

If you’ve come to this post as a result of one of my newsletter emails, you’ll know that I’m making an offer to anyone who signs up through my link and gets a copy of the software. You’ll also know that the offer takes away any technical know-how issues that might make you hesitate to get such a powerful software solution. I’m not repeating the offer here because, frankly, I couldn’t cope if thousands of people take me up on it.

For anyone who wants to learn more about how to get a $1,997 software and home study course for the cost of shipping, click here now.

P.S. When you visit that page and sign up for pre-notification you’ll get an hour head start on everyone else too. And after sign-up you’ll also get to see some case study videos of what other people have achieved with this software. My favorite story is of Jordan Hall, who is a young man – he’s practically a kid – who’s made a lot of money using this software. I urge you to watch his video after you sign up for pre-notification. There are lessons in there for everyone who pays attention.

P.P.S. You should watch this campaign just for the stunning lessons it gives in marketing a product and adding value upon value to make it almost irresistible. If you took the hidden lessons just from this one campaign and added some of them to your own marketing, you’d likely increase your results significantly. I speak as someone who’s had an online argument with Mike Filsaime in the past. This campaign is superbly well executed and I’ll be incorporating some of the lessons I’ve discovered in it, into my own campaigns in future.

Butterfly Marketing

Amin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:13:36 +0000

I remember a few years ago when Butterfly Marketing came out, I wanted the script. I’m a sucker for scripts because I love to play with them, but Butterfly Marketing was out of my reach at the time. I think there was an early offer that I missed and then it went to something like $1,997 – a lot of money to find if you haven’t got it.

So I was intrigued today to get a promo email about something Mike Filsaime is doing with Butterfly Marketing 2.0. He’s actually giving away 5,000 copies of his home study course and the scripts – if you’re quick enough. I’ve registered on the notification list and I’ll be there when it’s launched to see if I can catch one of the free copies. I know the power of the script and as an internet marketing tool it’s powerful!

It’s not a completely unconditional offer though. You also have to pay about $30 for shipping – which seems perfectly reasonable as this is a physical product – and there is a continuity element for his newsletter, but it’s clear on his website and the video that there is a continuity aspect.

Personally I don’t mind the continuity element, if it’s clear and up front, as it is here. A while back there was a lot of heated debate back and forth when Mike did a forced continuity. The argument over whether it was a fair marketing model raged for a while, without ever being settled one way or the other. My own view is that the extremely clear continuity element on this offer is perfectly fair. After all, you can always unsubsribe later if you don’t like the newsletter.

The Butterfly Marketing script 2.0 has a lot of features in it. If you’d like your chance to get a copy let me point you to Mike’s pre-launch page. ~~It’s a direct link – I’m not one of his affiliates~~ I’m now using an affiliate link. I’ve just had an invite to JV with Mike Filsaime on this so I’ve spent a lot of time having a really good look at his offer.

I was happy to recommend it before, but now I know how much is in there it’s even better than I realized. BUT by 25th March you’ll probably have missed your chance. I’m offering a bonus to anyone who goes via that link and you’ll be able to read about that bonus on my next post.

But for the quick movers it will save you a chunk of change ($1,997) and then some. And it will give you a platform for managing your entire internet marketing empire.

Have a look here. And after you’ve confirmed your email address be sure to watch the video with Jordan Hall. It’s an inspiring story of a young guy who’s taken action and really done well.

There are some interesting lessons in that little video, if you pay careful attention. Mike Filsaime picked up on points that Jordan glossed over. I’d actually recommend you watch the video a 2 or 3 times, to get the most from it. Jordan Hall made about $40,000 in one week one week!!) using the power of Butterfly Marketing and he now makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

The free launch of the 5,000 copies takes place March 24th, 2009. Chances are the copies will be snapped up pretty quickly, so if you’re interested at all then go sign up now. If you don’t, it could be an expensive mistake.

Mike Filsaime Just Told Me Off

Amin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:06:39 +0000

I’m a great believer in reading other internet marketer’s blogs and particularly commenting on them if I feel there’s anything I can add.

Well, Robert Plank has a blog that I enjoy reading and I often drop by, make a comment and think nothing of it.

A few days ago, 23rd July to be exact, I left a comment about Robert’s latest question. He’s wondering whether to ditch Clickbank since they’ve given him a hard time, apparently. There doesn’t seem to be much of a reason why they’ve done that and he’s, quite rightly, very annoyed about it.

He’s considering using PayDotCom and I made an opening remark about it before making some other suggestions. Seems that Mike Filsaime didn’t like my comments and he told me off in a comment he posted on the same blog entry.

Now, everyone has the right to an opinion and the fact his is different to mine is no problem. But here’s the thing: if you’re a big marketer with thousands of new customers joining you every day, do you really need to be sarcastic to one of your customers if you don’t agree with him?

What do you think? How would you feel if I were sarcastic to you because I don’t agree with your point of view?

It’s an over-reaction on his part, it seems to me, because if I’m wrong in what I said he can simply point out the facts as he sees them. Which he did. But doesn’t it seem a bit overly defensive, or just plain rude and aggressive, to be personally sarcastic? That’s certainly how his comments came across to me.

Anyway, whether he was right in what he said, or he was rude with no good cause, it doesn’t touch the fact that I see complaints about Clickbank and PayDotCom. And right now I don’t see a huge difference between them. I certainly earn money from both of them so I have no intention of abandoning either one any time soon.

But I do wonder why any very successful marketer would need to go straight to sarcasm when they could, instead, do a wonderful job of putting their case just by being very professional.

I’ve asked Mike that in the original blog post. I’m looking forward to seeing his reply because I really love getting my commissions earned via PayDotCom every month – and I stick up for them when I see some of the complaints that people make!

Have any big time marketers attacked you personally? What about small-time marketers? I’d love to hear your comments.

EDIT: please read the comments to this post because I think I took Mike’s comments more to heart than I should have done. I suppose when a very big name appears to have a go it can be a bit disconcerting.

It also shows why you should think before you post anything. My reply to Mike Filsaime is permanently out there for all to see. In hindsight I don’t believe my reply was the best example of how I think and what I believe. As such I don’t believe it’s the best advert for me. Too late to do much about that reply now, beyond being brutally open here.