"I See Dead Projects..."

One of the most exciting slices of real estate in the world right now, is located in downtown L.A., where La Brea Avenue and La Cienega Boulevard intersect.

No. That's not Mel Gibson's address.

Ultra-private meetings are taking place in nondescript hotel rooms, where teams of researchers, investors, advisors and honchos, meet to discuss...

La Pantano--One of The Richest Oil Deposits in California

It was first discovered in 1924 during the L.A. oil boom. A time when about 20% of the world's oil supply came from this rich region.

But for 82 years, one of the biggest deposits of liquid gold in California has remained untapped.

Fortunes lie undisturbed because the knotted geological features have created an uneven layer of deposits, making their location a matter of ... luck.

But now, one small (about to become very big and very, very rich) company owns all the rights to drill and they're using 3D seismology.

Think "X-Ray".

That means they've got pretty good odds of finding paydirt. Better than Vegas, because they've stacked the deck in their favor.

I know it's picky to want to know where the oil is before you drill.

A small detail, really.

But they justify this anal retentive behavior by simply shrugging it off saying: "We don't want to end up drilling for oil in...say...IOWA!"

Now doesn't that just illustrate the proper way to do things?

The shortest distance between two points, after all is said and done, is still a straight line.

And so dependable information should preceed action.

Then, even graceless action will get you much closer to your goal than ignoring experience-tempered advice, or knowing nothing and doing it anyway, will.

Using dependable information as a reason to act isn't contrary to the popular, apparently capricious, but very effective, 'ready fire aim' mentality.

BUT "ready" is the part where you acquire dependable information -- a reason to take further action...to invest real resources (time and money).

Now...I know you've heard all of this repeated a jillion times. But here's how all of this talk fits in with Internet marketing.

The most philosophically rich deposits of platitudes can be found on an Internet marketing forum...until...someone asks: "Who's making money?"

You'll suddenly trip from, "It's not the goal, it's the journey" to "Bite me, Bozo...I have enough technological infrastructure to run a small country...".

Some people tend to be a little sensitive when it comes to direct questions...

As a copywriter, most of the projects I see are presented by nice people, who are acting on noble motivations, instead of acting on dependable information.

And that's exactly my point.

They can't really be faulted...for wanting to better themselves...for wanting to provide for their familes...send their kids to good schools...donate to charity.

But their entire project was never viable, because they chose to ignore the foundational elements of our kind of marketing: Find a universe of people who want to buy something, who you can access affordably and sell them what they already want to buy.

THAT'S a market. And the act of saying: "Hello, here's what you're looking for and there's no risk in buying right here, right now" is called marketing.

Don't build a product, then try to find a market.

Find a market, then build an offer, price, product or service custom fitted to their hopes, dreams and desires...and their ability and willingness to buy.

That's a relationship. And a potentially profitable one at that.

The jump off point for most would-be marketers, and this is tricky, was in their thinking...confusing truly noble intentions and motivations with dependable information.

They skipped a step.

You can use noble motivations as reason to act if you'll limit your next actions to finding a group of people who already want to buy something.

But since this 'rule' of successful direct marketing has been repeated so often, by so many gurus, and ignored, I'm choosing to define the problem on a subtler level.

I'm going to get into the subtle energies driving this propensity to failure...how to identify it and turn it all around into unqualified success.

You'll soon understand why I say you can do, have and be anything you desire.

Peter

Comments

[Copywriter, Kevin Francis]

Peter,

As I read this I couldn't help but think about a section in "Believe and Achieve" by W.Clement Stone where he talks about the need for "Accurate Thinking". It's a fascinating point that you're making because (a) the "formula" you mention is no great secret and yet (b) so many people ignore it!

Look forward to your next post!