A "Perry Marshall Vault" on iPod?
Here on my office Hard Drive I've archived hundreds and hundreds of hours of audio and video from the last 8 years. Seminars, teleseminars, consultations, interviews, coaching calls, philosophical musings and Mastermind Club sessions.
I call it "The Vault" and only a tiny % of my customers have seen any of this stuff. Collectively it's the equivalent of a PhD in brass-knuckles, street-savvy online direct marketing.
My team came up with this crazy idea of putting some or even all of it on a video iPod and making a limited number of units available for a designated period of time.
Drew, my operations manager, is organizing all the content right now and we do plan on making this available for sale.
This morning Drew said to me, "Perry, do you have any idea how many hundreds of hours of stuff this is? Are you sure people even want all that content?" He may be wrong, but he's not completely sure Apple even makes an iPod that can hold it all.
So for today I just have some real simple questions for you:
- Is this a product you'd be inclined to purchase?
- How much do you think should we sell this for?
- And what kinds of content would you be most interested in?
- How would you want it to be organized?
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About the Author
Perry Marshall's books on Google Advertising are the most popular in the world. He is referenced across the Internet and by The Washington Post, USA Today, and Entrepreneur Magazine.
He has helped over 100,000 Google Advertisers save billions of dollars in Adwords stupidity tax.
Last 5 Posts by Perry
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- Friday: Ads that follow your prospects all over the web
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Perry,
First off thanks for everything. You have helped me over the years.
Secondly… YES I WANT ONE.. As for how much. I couldnt help there. I have always thought you have been more than fair on all of your prices..
I just hope I can afford it. And if not Ill figure it out.
I would do several versions, and incorporate video where you can, since ipods play videos.
Sell them for $395-$495 and offer discounts if bought in bundles.
Perhaps there is a series on autoresponders,
bob sled runs, 80/20, Adwords, etc.
I think it still has to be approachable for people and not info overload.
Just my 2 cents.
-Eric
Thats a lot of content. And for me I would probably not get through all of it. I tend to like information that is short and to the point, that delivers the golden nuggets right up front so I can get it, and use it quickly.
One thing to consider is to create several packages of the info. Group it by categories (i.e. PPC, Copywriting, Conversion Tracking, Product Creation, etc.) and then sell them separately for a lower price, and then all together as a master group. That way people can buy the info that they are most interested in… then you can always upsell them on the rest.
I guess that would be called product splintering.
Anyway… I think $297 is a good price point for quality info products. Anything more than that and I feel that I really have to justify it. Maybe $297 for each splinter, and then $997 for the whole set?
Absolutely. Where do I sign up?
Ideas for organization. business advice, motivation advice, adwords advice, content network, copyrighting, etc.
Maybe $500? Maybe discounts to mastermind/whatever members?
possibly be interested. $97 IS IT. You need to show good faith during these econimic times and not gauge your people. people will remember this and come back.
I would like to see real examples, split adwords tests with data, real autoresponder series with results, example of landing pages in multivariable testing and their conversion numbers, and so on.
Gorka, Spain
Perry,
As one who has in the past purchased the recorded transcripts of entire conferences for $500-$600, I have found myself with 100+ recordings only a dozen or so of which were of any use to me.
Why not put your videos up on the web and make them available on an a la carte basis for download. I would be more inclined to buy 3-4 videos at $10 apiece that addressed topics of interest to me than to buy the whole magilla for several hundred bucks. That wouldn't prevent you from marketing the entire enchilada as well, but would give us with very focused interest a shot at benefitting and improving your bottom line.
As I learn more about direct marketing techniques in my industry I find that 95% of what's out there is stuff I already have command of. It's that new and/or elusive 5% that I'm after.
So, a la carte as an option, please.
–Barry
Hi Perry,
If you manage to condense the essentials to 4-8 hours of material, I'd say 500 $. If it's more or less 'as is', i.e. many many more hours of content, then I'd say 50 $.
If you read the abstract to 'Made to stick', you can get to work within 10 minutes. If you want to go in depth, read the relevant chapter, otherwise: don't.
If you can make an information system on online marketing where a short abstract is the basis with the opportunity to delve deeper at will (and added cost), then you combine accessibility and user empowerment. The abstract could be video, the 'delve deeper' system could be supported by an online mindmap, etc. Sounds lovely.
David
PS: where I said 'you' I meant your operations manager Drew, obviously.
Perry
Unless there is a logical educational sequence to it, I couldn't see the point. You'd just get people who would fall into the "bought it, but never implemented" scenario.
I've still only digested about 30% of the new Definitive Guide and I'll be lucky if I've implemented 10% of stuff in that Guide.
-Fraser
I think it's a bad idea. Who in their right mind is going to sit and listen to countless hours of Perry? I mean no disrespect, but we're not talking about the lost recordings of Mozart where people would suck it all up with an insatiable appetite. Anything I have ever purchased from you came with a great story where I could visualize myself benefiting and where you either related to my problem, or created and then provided a solution.
But if you're going to just grab a whole pile of stuff and dump it on me, well, I'm certain I would hardly ever get to any of it, even if you gave it to me for FREE. I already have tons of really good stuff I sucked down off the torrents on Internet Marketing from Eben and Frank Kern that I have yet to listen to.
So in my humble opinion, and I truly hold you and your products in the highest regard, I think it's a poor idea, especially coming from a top Internet Marketer. You're not Wal-Mart where people are coming into your store and already knowing what they want. You're Perry Marshall, where you relate to people and their problems through email and then come up with a solution, whether it be a conference call, Bob Sled run, boot camp, etc. People come to you with specific problems, so how does this solve a specific problem? If it doesn't, then it's worthless.
I really do think you're awesome and enjoyed this opportunity to knock you around a bit
Best,
Don
This may be unrealistic, but I would find it useful if there were transcripts of the material. I rarely have the time to listen to every bit of the calls in "real-time." But I can skim a transcript quickly and pull out what I need.
With that much material, I would dump the transcripts in a folder on my computer and then run a search for whatever nugget I was after. Then I'd read it in those files or perhaps go back and listen to the original call.
Hope that helps!
I must confess that I am a broke newbie with a lot of "book" knowledge of IM. I haven't been able to really make it yet but I have made a small amount of money, probably less than $1000.
My opinion is to have a .pdf version of all the content AND videos of you completing virtually all the steps to getting the job done. Chris Farrell has a system like that, and has done a phenomenally good job, but he is far less advanced than you are. I would like to see EXACTLY how YOU did it and have the .pdf version for reference. It's hard for me to recommend a price, because, being broke, I would like to see it under $100 so I could afford it, though it would be worth much more. If I could go from A-Z with this and actually make money, then I am sure I would be interested in advanced products such as seminars, monthly memberships, or coaching, because there are always questions that arise after getting started. But it would be good to pay for advanced material with income from Internet Marketing. Thanks for asking our opinion.
P.S. Not just Ipod only – I don't have one and would want to use it on a regular computer and maybe even be able to pop it into a TV DVD player and sit back.
Hi Perry,
It's certainly a good idea – a kind of Perry Marshall "B-sides, Rarities & Bootlegs" compilation.
My only concern (and I may not represent the rest of your audience on this) is getting workable information from such a large amount of content – and navigating it quickly.
For example: If I wanted to find out the 3 questions to put on a short Livingstone survey form that's somewhere on a 120 minute mp3, it'd be really useful to have a rough table of contents with times on the recording to use as reference (similar to a CD's track-list and track markers).
(This may just be peculiar to me though, as I've already digested a lot of your work and would probably use this more as a reference than anything else.)
Also, it probably goes without saying you'll organise the information by category & subcategory etc., but when the "vault" is so big, it may also be useful to organise things by:
*Date,
*Format (mp3, video, pdf etc.),
*Run time or reading time,
*Featured guests/interviewees,
*Previously released or unreleased,
*Skill or experience level (beginner, intermediate or blackbelt).
Just a few thoughts…
Thanks,
-George
The material should be organized in some way, for topics. Otherwise I think it his hard to go through the amount without getting in contact with irrelevant content.
I consumed a lot of your audio lately and it was helpful most of the time. Some other hints for this:
1. Try to create a better quality for Audio. 128kB may be too much for the files, but it pays off if you listen to it, maybe 64kb?
2. use top recording quality, maybe skype if its not possibly with the conference tools.
3. maybe you can give the audios a bit more structure, especially in the calls. Maybe not do calls but a pure audio, you (or another expert) alone speaking about one topic, very focused
Thanks
Myrko
Hi Perry,
I also think this may be a bit of information overload. I think having a library/store of individual content items and bundles based on topic and then the granddaddy bundle of everything could be a way to go.
One thing I always wanted with your mp3 downloads is complete id3 tagging and in audiobook format. I've converted many of your mp3s by converting to aac in itunes and then change the file extension from .m4a to .m4b My ipod and itunes then treat it like an audiobook and it saves my spot when I stop listening etc.
I think if you had this format available then you could get a lot more listeners from audiobook junkies like myself.
Keep up the great work!
Hi Perry,
After years of learning and doing Internet marketing in one form or another, there are very few marketers who I still listen to and read every email they send. You are one of about 3 or 4 such marketers.
That said; it's all about TIME for me these days. There is no longer any appeal to buying dozens or hundreds of hours worth of information. I need the meat, and I need it quick or I won't consume it. If I can't "Have it my way" I won't have it at all. ref. Burger King ; – )
I have no doubt that your stuff is worth its' weight in gold, but my TIME is worth even more. If you can modularize and consolidate your information down to the point that I can get the nuggets out of it as needed I would likely purchase relevant portions of your product.
Video is nice, but it takes way too long to go through, and is only worth the effort if I need help beyond what I can get from the written word. Sometimes video is second only to a one on one with the presenter and I'm glad to have it.
Might I suggest video modules with bulleted nuggets/snippets in a PDF that catches the gist of the information and allows for quick reference to additional information as needed.
It is an enormous task to do what you are suggesting, but that is why you have a staff ; – )
Other than one on one coaching on each topic, the best methods I can think of are:
1. Videos that teach by case study/example
2. PDF's that snippetize information, and also have the long version of the snippeted Information, and finally refer back to specific times in the videos where the examples are located.
3. Occasional coaching calls to help with difficult concepts.
As for price, I think prices for Internet marketing how-to information are naturally leveling-off as competition grows. I hope your prices reflect that trend, even though I'm certain it will be premium content.
Bite-sized modules could whet the appetites of the average Internet marketer who spends way too much time and money on info products and makes way too little money from them…myself included.
I hope you find this candid feedback helpful.
All the Best,
Bill
Hey Perry,
I would cut it up and make a monthly program out of it. Sounds like way too much information for anyone to consume at one time. You would make make more going the residual route – maybe charge $17-$47/month…
Take Care,
~Brett
Perry,
First of all, thank you for offering us your goldmine expertise of webmarketing.
Hovever, I am interested in having what you have achieve during all this years and the experience you've ccumulated. But I think that what is interesting is your reasoning now, your current conclusions. That is what allow us to beat the learning curve and this is what is really interesting.
Having all the material which allow you to come to this conclusion is a waste of time as we have you, your thinking, your conclusions and your shortcuts.
to answer directly your questions:
-Is this a product you'd be inclined to purchase?
NO
-How much do you think should we sell this for?
whatever price you sell it will be too expensive to me as it is too heavy, too wide and hardly impossible to find quickly what i am looking for.
-How would you want it to be organized?
This is the key, the only value you can give to this massive content is to explain where is what and why it may be interesting… there you create value as there is a path to interesting and intelligible content.
I hope this help.
Regards.
Fabian.
Perry – I think I'm one who has heard MOST of it, but if there's new stuff, for sure, I'd like to get my hands on it:) Would be ideal if it was organized thematically, somehow. Dated would be helpful too since the older stuff is sometimes less pertinent (though there are gems there too).
Thanks!
Lucas
YOGABODY
Great idea to distribute this information. I think you'll have quite a demand for it. I think it's a bad idea to put it on an iPod. I remain insulted by the cost of a tiny portable hard drive with a built in media player. You could dump this on a REAL portable hard drive, which are retailing for less than $100 for a TB. I doubt if you have quite that much material. If you distributed it this way, people could sort out what they wanted to view or listen to and put it on their own media of choice.
I know you're an adwords expert, but I love your copywriting stuff. I'd like to see it organized by category; adwords, copywriting, sales, marketing including testing. Within each section I think it would be logical to group it by subcategory or year.
Cost is going to be a challenge. You know people. As someone else already mentioned, your prices have always been fair.
Good idea Perry. Here are my thoughts.
1. I have an ipod AND an iphone. I don't need another one.
2. I would love to have content that you weeded through and organized into helpful segments. Especially content that you believe is intrisically valuable. There's obviously a ton of regurgitated I.M. content out there that is less than complete and often misleading so this seems like a great opportunity to get my hands on some good stuff all in one place!
3. Here's my stab at how I'd like to see the content organized:
- BASIC Direct Marketing and PPC training/concepts
- INTERMEDIATE campaign organization and concepts
- ADVANCED campaign management and concepts (jet streaming, fine-tuning, etc.)
- List building: Using autoresponders, how to get solid opt-ins, monetizing, etc.
- Niche marketing concepts
- Content and Copywriting
- Content on how to think about planning and putting together a comprehensive IM strategy
- Everything else
- Make all the folder and file names very clear and revealing of their associated content. (i.e. "Content Network Campaign Building Step 1.mp3" vs "CNtwrk_1a.mp3"
The above segmentation separates the PRACTICAL items from the CONCEPTUAL for me. I find when I'm referring to my "library" of learning that I have a hard time digging out the practical "do this, then this, then this" steps from the conceptual "ten-thousand foot view" stuff. Sometimes I just need a solid refresher (or new ideas) on how to do keyword research and campaign creation and other times I need to step back and get my head around the entire problem.
4. Also, I'm most interested in the rubber-hits-the-road application of what you teach about direct marketing. Sure, interviews and the like are great and inspirational but I think the hands on stuff is really where it's at.
5. As far as price is concerned – How unique is the content? The harder it would be to find and aggregate the more I'd be willing to pay for it. Of course, there's the assumption that the information is intrinsically valuable. I'm sure it is as you've rarely if ever failed to provide value.
So, for a price with an ipod – $350 + the cost of the ipod.
But perhaps if I could see a list of what's included I'd mortgage my house to get it;)
Perry/Drew, et al:
I'd love to take a look at this stuff — IF it was easily accessible. Please chunk it out, or don't bother. Anyone who's a serious student of anything is wary of info overload, no matter how "potentially" valuable the stuff may be.
Info solely available on iPod isn't valuable to me. I need a way to access what I need, when I need it. Written "tables of contents," abstracts, summaries, transcripts.
I'm one of those people who would rather chew off my leg than sit through a 2 hour DVD and/or audio to get the five nuggets I need. Multiply that by hundreds and hundreds of hours and — never mind.
I need transcripts of any audio or video, I need them chunked out into topics and sub-topics so that it becomes a genuine library.
Thanks!
Keith
Perry,
Honestly, a product like that sounds scary to me in a way that I would not be inclined to buy.
First, the information on the internet changes extremely quickly. Though some concepts and principals are timeless, techniques and tactics change constantly.
Second, the shear volume of information sounds too large for me to want to sort through. I have purchased much smaller very targeted programs in the past and still can't get through all of the information. When you combine this with the first reason above, I see myself combing through hours of information to try and pull out the still relevant nuggets of usable information (which I am sure there are many) only to get frustrated.
Finally, I imagine this product would include content from all facets of information marketing. Unless a person has a specific project or internet marketing focus to apply these teachings to, we run the risk of becoming more knowledgeable but less wealthy (by the amount we invest in the program and time lost not being able to apply it to something specific).
But if you just like learning – then go for it!
Perry,
Information overload is a big problem. If you bundle it together I'm afraid it will be too much to consume. It reminds me of Sean D'Souza's concept of information consumption… Small bites.
I would break it up into different products which are more likely to interest different segments of your list and role them out via your auto-responder. The cost for each segment could range between $27 and $97 depending on the individual material.
It would be amazing to have even a fraction of this…maybe the last 3 years.
And Perry please tell me you have multiple back ups of all this!!
I agree with not going the iPod route and putting it online, and here is why:
1. Nobody wants to use a handheld interface to look for and read lots of content.
2. The iPod may not hold all of it, AND, what if you want to send out updates.
3. Put it online in a searchable database, which we can access via handheld or PC, and sell subscriptions to it. This way you have an ongoing revenue stream!n we get new info as it becomes available, and we have an interface that makes it easy for us to find and view what we want/need.
Hi Perry,
I think the points people make about bundling the content into logical chunks and charging appropriately is good advice, especially in these "tight times" that everyone is talking about. How about a subscription based offering? Knowing another episode is coming in a week's time can be a powerful focus. This is how I digested (figuratively speaking) the Master Key system.
My other main point would be to utilise the Podcast technology and distribution options via iTunes or on your own site alongside. This could allow a part of the track to be listened to as a taster, but with the tracks ultimately downloadable as podcasts (paid for). This works better for your far flung followers (writing this in Stockholm, Sweden) that a preloaded iPod. Who doesnt have their own MP3 player (iPod or otherwise) nowadays?
Using podcasts means people can decide how they want to listen (Laptop, mp3 player, on mobile etc).
Looking forward to hearing more.
Regards,
Rich
Personally – I already have so much information to keep me going that I wouldn't be interested in anything going back 8 (or even 2) years.
It needs to be indexed/tagged to make it relevant so I could find the information I wanted – as per other replies to your post.
Perry,
Here is the thing.
I entered your sales funnel not via your Google adwords ebook. By BS Antenna was very high. But more than a year later, I thank God I am on your list. I have learnt more from you than I ever learnt from other gooroos online. For heaven sake, even the free contents I receive via emails are worth their "weight in gold"
Listen Man, I wasted more than 2 years aimlessly like a chicken whose head was cut off until I attended your bootcamp. Now I am on the right track.That is a priceless thing right there! And I thank you guys for that.
In fact I wish I had pitched my tent with you all along.
Now the issue of how much?
Listen, I bought a few auto responder/email templates from your office and with that stuff, I can zoom in and out of one niche after another. That was an amazing stuff even for that price.
Your recent teleseminars, and other boot camps are also powerful. You have no idea how much impact that has gotten in my life. -another priceless gem!
Personally, it is difficult for any one/ outsider who does not know all the struggles, sweat equity, investments in those trainings to just attach a price on them. Very insultive!
With all due respect, only you or your colleagues can attach a price to these stuff.
***The sad thing is that people treat powerful stuff like your stuff cheaply hence it devalues it.
It is like asking regular folks to attach a price to paintings of Gustav Klimt, Pablo Picasso,Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir,etc. People will just say any price!
You see, that is the class you belong to when it comes to this area.
Only professional evaluators can attach proper value to those stuff.
I don't even know where to start with the pricing!- and I say that with all due respect.
You also don't have to include the cost of the iPod in the price with the online approach.
You also get more people finding out about the resource when they do Google searches.
Hey Perry.
I do think there would be a demand for this information if it is organized into modules on certain topics. Ex: PPC, Landing Pages, Email Marketing, Autoresponders, Copywriting, Testing & Tracking,Product Launches.
Also there needs to be a system to learn the information for it to be useful. Video content that summarizes the modules key points is a must.
To maximize your revenue try a continuity program that releases more materials each month. It does not overwhelm users by too much information. Works best w/ a $1-4.99 30 day free trial and hooks them with a monthly membership fee from $47-97. If your free trial content has value (which you historically have) then I will stay & Pay. Good example is listbuilding.com —> I would never pay 200-500 upfront. But a free trial & 97/month hooked me…
Hi Perry
I imagine what you have in your vault might take some 'time' to digest. I think maybe if you could segment or package it into a weekly seminar for a specific amount of time that might be more conducive to my brain.
Whatever you do I trust it'll be something that will provide value. I dont need all the contents of your vault. Just a nugget here or there to take me to the next level.
All the best
I'm pretty sure an ipod can't even hold 100 hours, let alone several hundred. Though I like the idea of delivering it that way, it would obviously have to cost more than the ipod.
How much to charge is not a great question to ask a bunch of people who never seen the content, and don't know what it covers. Calling it Volume I implies it is an as-yet-undefined subset of the whole, making it even harder to guess a fair price for it.
Are you asking how to organize it on the ipod, or how to break the product into sub-products?
Rich, mostly interested in how to organize it on the ipod. But open to your sub products ideas.
Hey Perry & Team,
Some cracker suggestions here… the organisation of the info seems to be the biggest thing. So thought I'd add my 2c worth & ask if you were aware of what Sean D'Souza recently did with his members?
Essentially ask for a group of volunteers, then send each one a small portion of the overall content.
Ask them to listen to the content & create the quick summary, table of content, id3 tags etc
Each person got something like 10-60 mins of content
All done in a 48 hours
& administered by another volunteer (who did a great job btw)
I also agree that providing this info only on iPod wouldn't be the best way to go (it used to be that that bonus in itself would attract many people – but I don't think they're seen as being *that* special anymore)
Love the suggestion above to provide a portable HD, complete with pdf
& providing the audio in multiple formats (especially audiobook) would be a great help to those who rely on iTunes to organise their stuff
I think we can safely assume that you'll ignore the torrent downloaders & the 'broke' people that want everything but aren't inclined to pay anything
I would have thought a fair price was in the $1497-2997 range
Of most interest to me personally would be any info on your own personal tests with real data
& the more up to date the material the better… I'm sure a coaching call from 2 or even 4 years ago would be interesting, but I'd imagine there's not a huge amount of evergreen AdWords material in there (although I'm sure the copy, AR & general business education would be well worth it)
Great idea – can't wait to read the sales page
Mike
PS – I've never written to you to thank you for your presentation at Simon's X10 seminar. But thanks mate – it changed my life!
Mike,
Great to hear from you 5 years later – glad to have been of help!
No doubt there is a PhD in marketing on your hard drive. But as you well know there is no (or little) connection between knowing and doing. The value is in doing. Actually every minute one spends on adding to their knowledge base is a minute they cannot be implementing. Most entrepreneurs I know do not suffer from lack of knowledge. They suffer from lack of doing.
I am much more interested in condensed and to the point information than I am in excessive amounts of information. I want the basics in a format that is easy to understand and implement. After all, the value is in implementing.
It does not sound appealing to me – the last thing I need is tons of information to wade through looking for a gem I can implement.
I believe you were the one that said buying information "by the pound" is a waste of time and money.
Great idea Perry, most people already have iPods these days. Sell it on a data DVD, or Blu-ray to eliminate the cost and hassle on your part. A dual layer Blu-ray will handle 50GB, and if you need more, put it on multiple Blu-rays discs.
Hi Perry
I'm pretty sure it will be a great product, but
you don't want to overload the people I'm sure you
know everybody is not you or Frank Kern or a 100 of the other Gurus out there.
You will Probably have to do a membership site and feed in the content monthly.
Thanks for asking
Alexis
Great idea Perry,
Edit the hell out of everything.
My manufacturing guru taught me to always charge cost x 4 or you'll never meet the payroll and survive the slumps.
Good Luck,
Mike
Hi Perry, Yes I would be interested–
My idea would be to sell the first set of information with the ipod at
ipod +X then have a monthly subscription for a nominal amount. If you choose not to subscribe then your original amount is ipod +1.5X – you may also want to tailor your offerings to the various ipods– ie audio only for the shuffle, as well as offering the content without the ipod for those of us who already have one!
Good luck!
Kim
I don't own an ipod so it would be of no use to me.
I too have hundreds of files, audios and videos of this nature but I have it available on disk.
Hi Perry,
If you want to make it accessible and monetize it, perhaps you might consider it an addition to the Renaissance Club?
What about getting 1 audio/week or so for an extra $5-10/month? (not too often, and not too much)
Sometimes the audio we would get is awesome, sometimes it's just so-so.
The real value I get out of audios is they keep my brain moving in the right circles about marketing and business. It's a reminder about HOW to think, more than WHAT to think.
Just a tech side note: if you load the ipod full of audio, without providing the hard files, won't it just get wiped when it's synced with a computer? That would really frustrate me, if that happened.
Just a heads up….
Patrick
depending on the price – i'd buy it. I know how valuable I feel my personal vault is – it is a lot of material but i'm sure if it was categorized to some degree – people could weed out what is important to them.
I vote for a monthly (or even weekly) download membership site kind of idea. I don't need an ipod, and i don't need to be overwhelmed, but i love your content, and would love to hear whatever you have to say
Just drip-feed it for me please 
live is busy enough~
~ All best, Shelley in Paris
Perry,
This idea is crazy allright, but not a good one. Three Reasons:
Reason 1 It goes against your own strategy:
Your customers buy your material, read your books and attend your seminars because you can compress the essentials into bite sized chunks. Your stuff is easy to chew and digest. Why would your customers want to go the opposite way and buy tons of historic fodder?
Reason 2: Low Fidelity:
The Perry Marshall of 5 years ago pales in comparison with Perry Marshall of today. This is because you are learning and getting better every day. Why would someone be interested in something from yesterday's Perry Marshall?
Reason 3: You are still alive:
50 years from now, someone from your operations team [could be the same folks who gave you this idea] may produce a Perry Marshall turd and put it on on eBay for a million dollars. Ironically, it might even sell. But as of today, you are alive and well and we all look forward to decades of cutting edge stuff from you.
You are far to smart and your company makes far too much money to fall for this one.
Perry,
First some questions: What is your goal? Cash? Cash flow? A Bigger list? More fame? Doing something fun? Doing something new? How you price (how you capture value, really) will vary depending on how you answer these questions.
Now think outside the box: You've go a bunch of discorganized "stuff" that will only have real value if you can match it up with the right people with the right need at te right time. That's a huge task (and it doesn't sound like much fun for Drew)So here's the key question: How do you let your fans do the work for you?
Give unlimited access (but not reproduction rights) to the whole disorganized mess to anyone interested in creating their own mashup of your material. License the use of the material (licensing is profitable -you can sell the same stuff again and again) in exchange for royalties to selct individuals that can put together a sound plan to get the material distributed and consumed . Offer a special option that comes with coaching from you on how to promote and sell the resulting mashup. Then promote the heck out of this new approach to business. You get more fame and cash flow, more loyal fans and you get to do something never done before.
Now that's a really awesome and innovative idea. A "2.0" approach.
My biggest problem with audio and video is that I HAVE TO SIT THROUGH IT ALL without the ability to simply scan and pick out the pieces most relevant to me. Reading material in that respect is much easier and can be augmented (not replaced) with audio and video. cheers
It sounds intriguing Perry, but in order to get the best 'bang for your buck' out of this, I think you'd be well advised to come out with a well constructed preview edition… something like what they do when they put together the preview for a new movie [Brad Pitt, Matt Damon...] these names alone can attract people to go to a movie. I believe you will find that people have to have a more concrete idea of what it is they are buying — if you want to make a good buck out of all of this. However, you're the marketing guru. I'm sure you'll make it fly.
Cheers.
John
It is hard to give a price without knowing how much is there. I guess you could sell the info by the hour, somewhere around $100 dollars an hour if it is more than 20hrs of information. (Of course you should include the ipod for free at this price). The latest stuff is probably more valuable and may deserve a premium price.
I am going to think that the information should be arrange according to the topics it covers.
video instruction would be great…short 2-3 minute tutorials
Perry, I'd love this (under the conditions below). Who knows what I missed before I joined up?
1] I think the file format should be more universal. If you're bent on catering to iPod users, some file type that converts to mp4 quickly so those with a video iPod could use it.
2] Your materials re: philosophy & insight (business & life) would be much more interesting & valuable than Adwords info; that changes every 2 days. Not much point having 3yr old archived material re: Adwords unless it's very high level stuff, am I right? Distributing old, less accurate info might come around & bite you in the backside.
3] Loosely organized, priced and downloadable per item, just like iTunes. (Could be a great way to interact with potential new members & keep a steady low-level income stream coming in as well?) I know I would've loved that kind of resource before committing to a membership. And now that I'm in, I'd love to get my hands on previous material – I'd download selectively & between your newsletters; something to chew on while I wait for more.
Interesting question: would I purchase all that wisdom you accumulated. I'd love to and become as smart, knowledgeable and experiences as you are, Perry. Unfortunately, it's not possible, because what was right 8 years ago, or even 1 year ago, is not valid anymore. When it comes to internet, you need to take into consideration what was yesterday, but to look into the day after tomorrow. Everything moves and changes so fast in internet environment!
I am looking forward to purchasing your book an Amazon in January.
Alla,
I must respond to this one.
I'm going to guess that 15-20% of what you would hear in a Mastermind Call, say, from 5 years ago, would be out of date.
The rest of it would be just as applicable today.
People think that online marketing changes a lot more than it really does. If you understand the difference between principles and techniques and focus on the former more than the latter, you build a much more stable business. Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins (1918) is 100% current.
Good idea buy it HAS to be modularized so you can access it easily. Also the info has to be super current – say 2009 and forward. Although the Wright Brothers analogy, principles of Claude Hopkins and the USP ideas are timeless – quality score rating and other ever-changing google metrics need to be current within the last few months to be super relevant and immediately impactful. In fact I was listening today to a lecture you gave in Vegas a few years ago and although the general content was great some of the info was a bit outdated. I would caution against that. Btw – I loved it anyway and listened all the way through. My suggestion is take the 80-20 rule to the extreme and boil it down from the vault to those concepts that are super relevant to today's competitive environment. That would be a killer product I would buy.
My two cents.
I think it's a bad idea to bundle everything and sell it that way. Much of the value of Perry's information comes from scarcity. I buy information because I want to solve certain problems or learn certain skills.
Look what happens to a stock when the issue is oversold…
Paul
Who are you targeting these information to sell to. Mostly people who had already been working with you or are you using this material for newer group of people that are thinking of working with you and are still wondering if they should work with you.
I bet the answer will be different.
May
Hey Perry,
I have to agree with barry at #7, Bundle the information in specific categories so we can choose our area of interest, 8 years worth is a little too much for me. It seems to me that I should get started and take action on the material that I already have.
Anyway you look at it, I'll be buying if I can select what I need, but hundreds of hours of stuff makes me tired already.
Break it up perry, and spit it out. It's cash in the bank, and I'm sure many of your subscribers would love to have your PhD sitting on their hard drives.
Cheers,
Jim Novak
Thanks Perry for all that you've done for all of us. You free content is great and holds tremendous value for anyone who applies it.
Each one one of your products that I've purchased has been well worth the investment. Not once have I regretted purchasing from you.
You've built a solid business and following that we can learn from, even if just "watching" what you do and how you do it, there's much to be had.
Is this a product you'd be inclined to purchase?
Absolutely, though if contained in an all inclusive package would likely be out of my price range (ie: DK's Whole Enchilada)
How much do you think should we sell this for?
I like the idea(s) brought up thus far such as "modules" or segments with similar content, say at $97 a chunk/module
What kinds of content would you be most interested in? Everything you've done for the most part has appeal, and I do learn from you, so there's things that you've likely covered that I've not thought of or heard from anyone else. I'm not sure exactly
How would you want it to be organized? By topic, or related topics that can can compliment each other – modules, each with an action plan that lays out "steps" to follow.
Thanks again Perry
Mountains of gold. Perhaps you could offer your treasure chest as a business or education intern site, and let a couple of grad students do an independent study on organizing training materials and curricula — for credit. They get to organize, mind map, sort into products, learn and write. You get to watch excited discoverers treasure your body of work, and prepare formats for new products. At the end of the semester, everyone wins. You give academia experience in the business community; the larger community gets your gold in usable form. Sweet repurposing service for all. You might even give them a commission on selected projects.
Not quite sure about this idea.
Even if I would buy it, the chances of actually going through it are very slim. I like to keep up with your information and tips as they come. This would be a major overload.
I am only subscribed to 3 marketing masters such as yourself and that is plenty enough to keep me busy without buying years worth of materials.
Hi Perry,
Interesting idea…
Yes, I would be interested in getting my hands on some of this stuff, but with some caveats:
1) a dump of hundreds of hours of audio/video content would be a waste. I, like most others, would never get around to watching all of it, or even a small %. I already have heaps of stuff I have not had time to watch from other mentors, so even though I respect your expertise & am a fan of your products, watching heaps of videos and/or listening to heaps of audios would be too much.
As many people suggested, it DEFINITELY needs to be highly organised, so I can drill straight down to the specific nugget I need quickly & easily. PDF transcripts would be a huge bonus and make life so much easier for skimming, etc.
2) I own an iPod Touch and an iPhone, so I wouldn't want another one, but I love the idea of being able to purchase individual blocks of content thru iTunes, and downloading it to my phone, etc. For those who don't have an Apple ipod, provide mp3 versions on a competing service.
3) Since not everyone has an ipod AND it would add significantly to the price of the final product, I also like the idea of a paid membership site where content is drip fed to avoid overload.
Let people purchase the membership that contains only the content they want (but with an option for an "everything-goes" package as well). That way, they don't get overpowered by it all and can purchase content on just the topics they're interested in.
Also, offer an upgrade option which allows them to download the files instead of just streaming them. That way, us ipod & mp3 player owners can get the content in a portable format, and those who want to save money &/or don't have a media player can get it for viewing on their PC/Mac only.
4) Selling price…. hmmm, well less is obviously desireable
but then again, too low dimishes its value, and your content has always been excellent. As a big dump of data on a portable hard drive – maybe $3-500? $20-50/month for a membership site? Via itunes or similar – $5-20 per download, depending on its length & level of expertise?
5) I'd be really interested in the coaching calls/consultations & mastermind sessions in particular. It's great to be able to relate your advice to a specific business & their circumstances, IMO.
OK Perry & Drew, I look forward to your next step with this. Should be educational at the very least
Eran Malloch
Is this a product you'd be inclined to purchase?
Yes.
How much do you think should we sell this for?
997 USD
And what kinds of content would you be most interested in?
You said "I don't know a way to get you 100 customers, but I know 100 ways to get you one customer". I would be most interested in that 100 ways.
How would you want it to be organized?
Ipod style, by marketing topic e.g.?
For what it's worth, Perry, I usually prefer a short pdf report – with concise, actionable points, etc.
Perry, your newsletters are one of the best in the industry. Still, I think you should give away a considerable part of this stuff – or all of it – for free. After taking out anything that is outdated – like some adwords stuff that no longer works…
Give away the part that wouldn't make your clients feel like they're being ripped off. As for the rest? Yea, like others said, a continuity program may work, but you need good videos for that, not just audio and pdfs.
I think this material should be in marketable chunks; too much information i.e. 100's of hours – is actually off putting as nobody has the time to go through it all let alone implement it. I wouldn't buy it as it would be too much. Much more likely to buy/download material pertinent to my situation/interest at the time and keep coming back.
Perry I think this stuff would be pretty priceless but around the $500 mark for Mastermind members seems about right.
Am most interested. Might be a bit of a brain overload – but bring it on!
Perry Baby,
First of all–your information changes people's lives. So with that in mind…
Sell it. You have no idea who or how you might help someone with your ideas. It's your obligation to get this information out.
When I listen to recordings like yours, I get ideas of things that I wasn't even looking for and I immediately start using it and start making money from it. So put this stuff out as fast as you can.
If you are like me and make your living from selling online, one little idea can mean thousands of dollars of profits.
So $500 for your "lost" recordings is only a small leap of faith.
IMHO,
Greg Colosi
Offer a digital version. I already have 2 ipods and an iphone. It is a great idea, but make digital available so that I can upload to my own ipod, instead of getting another piece of electronics that is going to sit on my bookshelf.
Perry, everyone here values your teaching, perhaps me the most, but I don't have time to listen to my alarm clock, let alone 100 hours of unedited marketing sessions in different voices on different topics. If the tapes were organized by topic with a tantalizing accurate description of each and could be each be downloaded individually for a reasonable fee, I'd cherrypick the ones of most urgent interest and download to my ipod to listen to as I race around putting out fires. You could charge according to your own assessment of value. Some sessions are worth more than others. Personally, I would pay more for five minutes of golden nuggets than an hour of getting to the point.
Perry,
I have been following you carefully for some time now and I have learned much. As a journalist/tv producer/editor, my time is limited. Instead of your entire libary, I would like to see a well-edited summary of your material. It would be a mistake to charge for some of you stuff, which is long and rambling and self-congratulatory. Also, because of the changing market, much of it will be outdated. We all like to pump ourselves up, don't we? A snappy well-edited piece with the highlights of each post is more appreciated and valued – and saleable. I am offering to be your editor. I know how to pick out the important points and leave the rest on the editing bench. I'll reserve an opinion on the price when I know it's been edited. Three hours max!
Keep up the enthusiasm!
Donna
I'll be dead honest Perry. Here too you apply the 80-20 rule of course. And yes of course there's going to be some people that would buy it. 20% of 20%, right?
But you have to be careful with your employees, as you probably already know.
Employees aren't the greatest source when you want a realistic view on how you´re perceived.
The way you wrote this thing, you have your own doubts, but then again, it's tempting to think all that information is GREAT!
But you know that it isn't when it's not organized properly.
In my opinion, you should use this old material in a strategy in which you can show people what they can learn from you, and how you present yourself. The price therefore should be low enough to not be a reason to not buy it. The information should be very well organized and be placed in the context of the time that it was made. A video about Adwords 4 years ago, may not have much value today. Things change. (your focus on the content network has changed a lot in the last 4 years for example.)
Interesting, I'm giving free advice now to you. Looks like I'm getting somewhere.
Hi Perry,
This is a condensed version of an email I sent you this afternoon.
In a nutshell you have a plethora of super valuable content, and I like thinking outside the box.
Just recently I had a meeting with another important player in the Internet Marketing. The CEO of this company poised a content scenario similar to the one you have presented to us.
On my way back home, after the meeting, I recalled your email and thought about the possibility of re-purposing your content, all of it, and offer it in Spanish first to the Hispanic community in the USA, and second to each and every market in Latin America. As far as I know no one is doing it, yet.
Consider this. (1) There are approximately 45 million Hispanics in the USA, most of them fully bi-lingual, and they keep strong bonds with their relatives and friends in their home countries; (2) Penetration of broadband lines in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico have already surpassed the 1-digit ceiling. Colombia and Peru will pass the 1-digit mark next year; (3) Thanks to effective currency policies all these nations are already on their way to a quick recovery from the global recession, to resume their growth paths even faster than the USA.
I can keep going and truly believe Latin America will be the next Gold Rush destination for the Internet Marketing industry, and you and I know very well how money was abundantly made during the Old West Gold Rush.
I know you're not open to JVs or the like, but here I go anyway. Let's work on a JV plan to structure, re-purpose, adapt, and translate all your content for the Latin America market. Let's be the first ones to capture and monopolize the market. I may be relatively new to Internet Marketing, but I have extensive experience doing business in Latin America, and can drive this project very effectively. There are new Social Media sites being broadly used in Latin America, in addition to Twitter and Facebook.
Obviously, I would do most of the legwork, including necessary translations. For Brazil we will need to translate to Portuguese.
Please think about it.
Working with you and your team would be a great honor, and definitely a very profitable endeavor.
Sincerely,
Jorge Fernandez
Jorge,
We're not opposed to the possibility to doing something like that. Actually we've had many people propose such a thing and never even come through with so much as a letter of agreement.
Perry,
Thank you for your immediate response, and glad to learn you're open to the proposed joint venture. I agree that it's totally up to me now to move forward with this project.
I would like to take this discussion off this forum if you don't mind. Please provide me a direct email address and phone number so we can continue our discussion. I would like to send you next week a LOA including an executive summary of the project.
Best regards and Happy Thanksgiving!
Jorge
just open a support ticket at http://www.perrymarshall.com/help and my staff will take it from there.
I think if is organize and relevant to todays market I will be interested.
How much? is hard to put price in education.
Lol, I skimmed through quick, but no one seems to be considering the actual COST OF THE IPOD! I hope you know where to buy them in bulk.. lol
(wishing i had an affiliate link for bulk ipods, right about NOW! LOL)
I would agree with some folks here on $1,000 for everything (considering you can get bulk ipods for $100 a peice or so) so you profit $900.
And about $300 for peices of the content, because you need to recoup your $100 on the ipod.
I just hope its reasonable, because after what I have learnt on Content bootcamp, im in for anything you have to offer!!!!!
Thanks Perry, your the Bomb!
Hi – I may be a cheapie. I am also a newbie entre-pioneer. I find your stuff amusing, insightful and mesmerizing. Most of it will be useful later. More stuff?! Wow! Overload! How will I find what I need? How do I know what I need or want so I know where to find it when I want it, if I have time for it? I often find hidden gems that I can use now, may use later, and forget about it, yet later in the abyss of the quamire of neurons I've seen it and have spent eons searching for it. Sorry, from a newbie, $99. $500? Yes, I can be that junkie, and it may sit in my collections until such time when Perry comes up with another great idea…
Although your content is excellent, I have very little time for more info, I need to use what I already know and digest new info very selectively because having too much info is very unproductive and the value start decreasing fast once you got to some point.
Maybe info should be delivered in a form that users could filter it.