Fat Wanker » Marketing

Dr. Robert C. Worstell, Phd asked:

The reason for the importance of the Maven Matrix Manifesto

To begin with, Jay Abraham has considerable weight with me, mostly as I’ve been able to get some of his tapes and listen to them. While he deals with this scene of being important in his field – and makes good money through what he does – you have to be able to reject any of what he says and test it against real-world applications: ie. how can you immediately use it, how can you apply it to future projects, how would this have changed what you did in the past. Action is the word to apply.

Next point – I don’t like the title, I don’t like the artwork. But the basic data is why I’m writing this.

Now, you have to go beyond the pitch to get to the data. And that’s why I boiled this all down for you and put it up on the web as a series of Slideshares.

When you download their extensive PDF, go to page 35. This is where the real data begins. And it stops at page 68. 33 actual pages of data from 88. Everything else is their using the maven matrix and general sales techniques on you.

I say in my slideshare that every single penny you invest with them is well worth it – providing you actually USE it. And I repeat that mantra several times throughout: you only get out what you put in.

Let’s get into the review:

The Overview

The reason you are studying this is to climb to the top of your niche as the de facto expert and market leader for it. And so then reap the benefits in terms of traffic and subscribers and income.

All this Matrix does, besides some important strategies, is to position you and create a brand out of your persona. That’s the key point. We’re really just buying a new suit to wear – which is going to make you stand out from the crowd. Perfect thing to get attention – which you can then convert to regular subscribers and continuing sales.

What we are going to do is use the working principles of “old school” advertising with new techniques. All the “old” books on advertising principles and copywriting work, just as good as ever. These are just some modern tweaks.

The Eleven Points

There are eleven points to the matrix. Let’s just drop right into these and tear them apart.

1. Gain Your Market’s Trust – do your homework on the niche you are in and find out how it works, what the problems are. Boil this down into a blanket statement – a personal story of how you’ve been there and done that yourself.

You’re telling a story which readers will embrace. People think in stories. Remember that. This is how they figure whether their own life-stories are valuable or not – how to improve it, etc. The more credible story you tell, the more trust you build.

And burn this into the inside of your skull: “All Marketing is Conversation. Conversations Depend on Trust.”

2. Establish Your Maven Persona – develop a distinctive character. People love characters and will follow a poor story line or weak plot to find out how that character deals with that scene. You can find tons of characters in classic fiction and modern films which people want to follow. Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, Lion King, Little Mermaid – you identify with some character trait.

Again, people are working to find out what to do with their lives. They compare their hero/heroine with their own emotional or analytic response. “What would Jesus do?” is a classic approach to this. This is simply how people think – the technical term is “transference.” Those charater traits are the ones people actually trust. What’s predictable, what helps them feel secure.

They list 24 common character types, but you can roll your own instead of trying to fit into someone else’s mold. Play around with this, study the real characters in the popular media, and you’ll soon find those traits which resonate with you – these are the ones you trust.

3. Develop your market vision. I’d actually put this first, much as Napoleon Hill in his Think and Grow Rich. You have to know the problems of that niche, but you also have to have a driving vision to achieve and revolve your life around this. Everything really needs to decide what they want to accomplish, for themselves personally, as well as for their niche.

It’s what you want to do for others that is the important part. You can’t get without giving. So the more you do for others to make them rich, happy, successful, healthy – that is how you are going to get help with your own wealth, happiness, success, health, etc.

All market leaders have a vision for their niche, their industry. Fred Smith (Federal Express), Tom Monaghan (Domino’s Pizza), Michael Dell (Dell Computers), Roy Kroc (McDonald’s), Sam Walton (Wal-Mart) – all these have created revolutionary new ideas for their particular industry – and took over their niches as a result.

It’s not falling in love with your product, or your business, or its growth. Your key to success is to fall in love with the success and growth of your clients. Their success is your success. Period.

The day of the “consumer” (one who consumes) and the “customer” (a creature of habit) are over. The days of real conversations and real service to help your client succeed are the rising tide.

4. Tell Your Creation Myth. The text book for myths is Joseph Cambell’s “Man With a Thousand Faces.” He studied all the legends and myths and boiled them down to a single outline. Everything fits into this mold. Really.

The creation myth these guys are talking about is the story of where you started and how you got where you are today. Simple. Keep it that way. People want to understand and trust you. Your own humble beginnings tell your story and reflect on your character. See how these things (story, character, trust) all keep coming together?

As they put it, “You have to reveal your hops and dreams, your current frustractions, your personal failures, what you’ve achieved so far and what you’re still struggling to achieve.”

One of the all-time great creation myths (outside of Horatio Alger) is Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. Great for study. And there are others out there. Napoleon Hill tells many stories of successful people. Stephen Covey is another great source.

5. Develop Predictable Behaviors – develop trust by being predictable and regular. You have certain “trademark” behaviors, idiosyncrasies. These are what make you an individual. Recognize these, amplify them if you want to – but Be Yourself. And people who like these traits will return to you over and over – as long as you stay the same.

Look over who you trust. What do they do that you like and admire? Have they “always” acted this way? Look over those you don’t trust. Chiefly, they change frequently and are unpredictable. They usually don’t follow through on major projects or plans, and require a lot of structure in their lives (consider a sturdy corral for excitable livestock…).

6. Become a polarizing figure. You want to create discussion, controversy. Essentially: have strong opinions and state them. Particularly if they have to do with improving the success of your clients: product quality, service integrity, fair and honest treatment.

Don’t be politically correct. The most PC people are in the graveyard – they no longer offend anyone. Be yourself – vigorously. Stand up for what is right and sensible – and those things which make your clients’ lives easier and more profitable.

While they give really polarizing figures as examples, you don’t have to be a “Rich Jerk” in order to succeed. Just be yourself – AT HIGH VOLUME. The point is to be able to attract attention so you can get the conversation started.

7. Develop your own Phraseology. Essentially – create and use trademark phrases which become viral messengers for you. These are special tags or nomenlature which tell about you and your products.

This is common to all silos: pollitics, religion, any technical industry, cults, you name it. Everyone describes their products with special terms, which are often trademarked so no one else can use them. This can also extend to motto’s and advertizing phrases. Coke and McDonald have had many memorable slogans and jingles. Viral marketing at its finest.

8. Use a Signature Communications Channel. They tell about a guy who turned a family liquor store into a $50 million business, who has showed up on major late-night and afternoon-talk shows. He started weekly videos on wine for the “average Joe”.

Some use “manifestos”, others use special reports or blogs. Often this can be a syndicated channel for this news. Even commenting on social media, such as StumbleUpon or FaceBook can qualify you.

Again, the point is distinctive predictability that instills trust.

9. Create a Velvet-Rope Community. Essentially, offering exclusive and increadible access for an incrediblly high price. BUT – you’re giving value beyond measure here – which pays incredibly to your bank account and to their success.

The point here is that mavens have only so much time to spend and so when you get personal access, it’s worth much more than money. But value is what you say it is – a sale price is determined between the seller and buyer. High-priced houses are more than just a sales job. They are actually worth that much to the buyer.

10. This leads to Evangelists – turn every client, every affiliate into devoted and walking advertisements for you. Essentially this is done by the quality of service you provide, plus their own success as a result of your interaction…

11. Accelerate the process through Mentors. Everyone has mentors. Teachers in school, sports heroes, even the stories you read and the legends, the myths you’ve encountered. All these send you messages, teach you lessons. Whether you meet with them in person as a coach, or counsellor, or you simply read their books or listen to their tapes.

What you put into those coaching sessions says what you are going to take away. How you apply yourself to those references is how successful you’re going to be.

That is the take-away from this Maven Matrix. After this point in the PDF, they simply go head into the sales pitch. And every single penny you invest with them could come back to you twenty-fold.

But my reason for this review is simple:

You can be bigger, greater, more effective, more successful than you’ve ever thought possible before. Take these guys’ advice to heart and become greater than you ever thought possible.

You are special. You have solutions to common problems that other people haven’t thought of – save them the time of having to figure it out for themselves. Take the chance.

One life. One future. Yours.

Your choice.