"People come. And people go. But what people want stays the same!"

This tip will be presented in an unusual way.

The process I use will be explained as I go, and there will be graphical representation as well. So hit your 'image' button now (if you have your pictures turned off) so you'll be able to see the pictures.

Here we go...

Step 1:
Buy a newspaper. Buy a few. Once you know what to do, after going through the process, you may be able to use your local free paper. But for now go out and buy a couple.

Step 2:
Flick through them. Have a highlighter pen ready. When you see something that catches your eye - anything at all no matter what (headlines, ads, stories, etc.) - mark it with your highlighter pen.

Step 3:
Cut out all the items you marked.

Step 4a:
Examine the items you cut out. What you're looking for is a market. A small market that's not catered to by the big boys (K-Mart, etc.). And a market that can have a WANT satisfied.

To show you what I'm talking about, here's what I have selected from a recent newspaper...

Step 4b:
While doing this, it's a good idea to ask "How can I make money out of this?" about every item you marked off and cut out. It's a good idea to have a small list of preselected 'product format' ideas before hand - such as 'how-to book' etc. Meaning, you will look for something that gives you an idea for a book, or whatever.

This part is a little hard to explain because for me it's instant and natural. I look at something and instantly, or within a minute or less, know how money could be made from what I'm looking at.

It's best if you see this in action. Which is why I wanted you to see the newspaper item I selected.

So what does an "Interior Design" course have to do with a project? Surely I'm not going to suggest to start an interior design business, or course?

Put your mind at ease... I'm not going to suggest starting an interior design business or course. I am however going to suggest something that matches my view of 'super wealth' as I talked about in my last tip. I am going to suggest something that you can distribute... and if you're good enough, make some ad revenue too.

Onward.

Okay... so what went through my head when I saw this ad is... RENOVATING!

Everyday, people all over the country walk in to hardware stores and buy stuff to renovate their homes. Some may buy a single can of paint. Others get right into it and go the full hog - paint, brushes, nails, tiles, wall-paper, jig-saws, and on and on.

And one thing all these people have in common (apart from the super experienced compulsive renovator) is they don't really know what they are doing. They don't know any of the money and time saving tricks the experts use (like using a black felt tipped marker to change the colour of tile grout, or painting checkers on a faux-cork floor instead of resurfacing - cheap but effective).

In fact, there's literally a gazillion money and time saving 'tricks of the trade'. But only the trade know them. And people who renovate WANT to save time and money.

If by now you have guessed that I am going to suggest a 'book of tricks' as a possible project, you are right.

But I don't know any tricks of the trade! you say.

Never mind. Just go through the basic book creating checklist...

Step one: Pick a subject.

Step two: Find information about the subject. As much as you can.

Step three: Read all the information, and highlight things you deem important.

Step four: Take all the information you deemed important and rewrite it in your own words.

Step five: Edit it for clarity.

Step six: Write down as many titles as you can think of and pick one.

Step seven: Print it up.

You may also want to record a telephone interview with a known 'designer' to get the lowdown on all the tricks. This audio cassette could be your product. And of course is something the designer could use as a premium.

Taking this up another level... you could produce a video cassette of the tricks. If you're renovating just film yourself. Otherwise you may need to 'demo' each of the tricks without fully completing them - although people would like to see the finished result.

Whatever. You should now have your book.

Now comes the interesting part... marketing your book.

Here's were we touch on the super wealth principles of 'distribution' and 'selling advertising'.

First, distribution. There are several ways.

1: Have it sold on the counters of hardware stores. You supply the books for them to sell.

2: Sold at the counters of renovating supply businesses.

3: Do a joint venture with a business who has sold 'renovating type' items to someone. Have them send a letter endorsing your book and split the profits.

4: Sold via ads in renovating magazines - may not be cost effective... you'd have to see for yourself.

Second, advertising. What you would do is contact 'renovating supply' businesses and ask them to advertise in your book. To do this you would have to tell them how the book is to be distributed.

This could become tricky as it would mean one renovating supply business could be selling a book which contains ads for its competitors.

You could get around this by having only businesses who advertise sell your book. Or only take ads from businesses who are not in direct competition - plumbing supply business, window supply business, painting supplies, and so on. Sure this may limit the number of ads you can accept, but it also means the cost of publishing your book is paid for by the ad revenue. That means more profit for you as you now have no product cost.

Alright enough of that one... you want another example?

Okay... have a look at the ad below...
 
 

This ad appeared in my local paper. It's selling wedding and engagement rings.

So HOW can YOU turn this into a project?

First, identify a want from the target market of the ad (the target market is people who want to get married).

The biggest want that I see is... women WANT to have the biggest wedding they can. They WANT a royal type wedding.

The problem is... that sort of wedding is expensive.

Ah Ha! Here we have a WANT (big wedding fit for a royal), and a PROBLEM (that sort of wedding is too expensive).

And as a student of marketing you should know that one of the basics is... identify a common problem and solve it.

So how are we going to solve this one?

We could show them how to make more money so they can afford their dream wedding. But it's unlikey they'll buy our 'money making formula' just for their wedding.

So we need to come up with something else. We need to discover a way that someone can have a dream wedding that doesn't cost them a fortune.

They could borrow the money. But the problem is they would need to pay it back.

They could ask for the money from their parents as a wedding gift. Ahhh... could be onto something here...

Lets take this a little further and see where it goes.

How about getting ALL the wedding guests to pay for the wedding instead of buying gifts? The chances are there'll be money left over after the wedding has been paid for.

Lets do some maths...

Photographer... $1,000. Function room... $6,000 (including food and alcohol). Entertainment... $500. Limo... $600. Hire of gowns and suits for bride, groom, two brides maids and two groomsmen... $3,000. That's a total of $11,100. But lets make it $12,000 for ease.

If you have 100 guests they need to pay $120 each.

Okay okay... I hear you all saying "Hang on... the bride's family pays for the wedding and the groom's family pays for the booze so it won't matter to the couple getting married how much it costs."

True. It won't if that's how it actually gets done.

But... what if money gifts were given anyway (even though the parents paid for the wedding)?

If the wedding was taken care of by the parents and the guests gave $120 each... that'd be $12,000 in cash for the newlyweds. YAHOO! What a gift!! And what a great start to their wedding.

The trick now is... how to write this book? Because you can be sure that there are no books out there that reveal this kind of thing.

Well don't worry... help is at hand (maybe).

You see, my friend's sister got married a few years ago. She married an Italian. And it seems (you may need to verify this yourself), that guests giving money to the newlyweds is a custom in Italian marriages.

They had enough money to have the wedding they wanted (a royal type wedding complete with horse drawn carriage) and it didn't cost them a cent (the guests paid for it all). And they still had money left over to buy other things.

NOTE: She had a glory box before they got married so they didn't need to buy a lot of the things that some couples need to buy - like bedroom manchester, kitchen appliances, and so on.

Also, this doesn't take into account that two single people, living on their own, had already accumulated a lot of that stuff for their own needs.

So for them, it made more sense to have the guests pay for the wedding and give them a little extra cash, then to need traditional gifts.

Anyway. Like I said... you may need to verify that this is a custom amongst Italians and not just my friend's family.

If it turned out this was just a one-off thing with my friend, then you'd have to figure out how it would work and write about it (as long as what you wrote actually worked).

Onward.

Marketing this "How To Have A Wedding Fit For A Royal Without Paying A Cent" book would be fairly easy... you could have ALL wedding related businesses sell it... or even give it away (after they bought it from you). Because anything that can show people how they can spend more money in these places would eagerly be presented to the soon-to-be-married couple by the business.

Anyway. That's about it for this tip. I'm all written out.

Hope you gained something from this little exercise.

Try this, it works!

May the success you achieve be a direct result of the effort you put in!!

Michael Ross
Miros Designs Marketing.
 
 

About this author

Michael Ross is an australian based author, product developer, direct marketer and consultant.

Michael Ross is known for his detailed and helpful advice on how to succeed in marketing.

Note:
Michael Ross' original web site is closed. I don't know if it's permanently or temporily. Michael Ross recently told me that he has more or less retired from the Internet. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause you.

You can, however, still buy a copy of Micael's book, "The Art of Leverage" by going to this web site: http://artofleverage.cjb.net/