Copy Ideas Are A Dime A Dozen…But This Other Kind Of Idea Could Be Worth $30 Million Or More

Hi - Mike Ward here.

Over the course of 18 years, I spent my days, nights, mornings, commutes, weekends, spare time… you name it… building a very successful FinPub business.  One of the largest in the country, and perhaps, at its peak, the largest in the world. 

(Okay, we were a big fish in a small pond.)

Recently, the president of one of the country's biggest FinPub publishers asked me how I did it.

Of course, I had a great team that was with me from the start. That’s key.  But I had to make sure that everyone, right down to the copyeditors, understood completely our most important guiding principle: To stay true to the classic definition of Marketing (with a capital M).

Here’s how Merriam Webster defines it: "The process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service."

This is still today how many folks, including publishers, marketers and copywriters think about their job. Think about what they do, and how they should be doing it…

And that’s a very, very sad fact.  Because this definition is complete bullshit.

The folks at Merriam Webster have NO clue what they’re talking about. And this misconception accounts for more failure in our business that almost any other piece of trivial BS.

Okay I feel better having gotten that off my chest.

The definition of Marketing that made our business was this: Marketing is the activity for creating and communicating products and services that improve peoples’ lives, making them happier and richer.

Look, I’d tell our entire company… we don’t exist to sell people crap they really don’t want or need, just so we can make a buck and feed our family. 

We’re a Special Interest Publishing Company.  Our special interest is helping the “self-directed” investor, make money. Period.

So why am I telling you this? 

For one reason.  Far, far too often, publishers, marketers and copywriters spend their time trying to come up with… wait for it…  a COPY IDEA.

Yes, for existing products a year after launch, you may need a new copy idea. 

But what you need first is a PRODUCT IDEA. 

Make no mistake, there is a huge flipping difference between the two. 

Copy ideas are a dime a dozen. Product ideas, one the other hand, are where you turn $10mm, $20mm, $30mm in a year. Sometimes more. On a single idea.

Some product ideas are big enough to carry a whole franchise.

When Money Map did $30mm on the "X" promo (which many of you may remember) it was because it was a product idea, not a copy idea.  The product called High Velocity Profits was entirely based on this one X marks the spot concept - how to invest ONLY in stocks going up.

Every publisher who copied it thought it was a copy idea.  That’s why nothing else came close to it. All 20 or so rip offs.

A product idea asks a simple question:  How can I truly help someone make money?

Once you ask that question, I will tell you for a fact, it’s a million times harder to answer than trying to figure out what your next “copy idea” is going to be.

(Now, if you’re one of the skeptics in our business who thinks, well, no one is ever going to really help these gullible folks make money, then please take the exit ramp right now. Sell mops and detergent instead. Something that even you can make useful.)

So again, why am I on this soap box?

Because if you’re a publisher, marketer, guru, or copywriter, you’re going to be so much more successful spending you’re time looking for the next big, brilliant way to help folks become rich.

Yes, it’s difficult.  But product ideas are the heart and soul of your business. 

You hire gurus based on the product ideas you can create with them.  You plan your product launches months, maybe even years in advance.  You grow a list specifically to launch a product idea.

And again, the beauty is… a good product idea, once you have it, is 100 times easier to write than a crazy “copy idea” that barely hangs together and is only half true. 

I’ve seen too many writers twist themselves into pretzels trying to make a copy idea work.  It may be a great idea for a head and lead, but if it ain’t true, you’re just wasting your time.

Funny story… Just recently I watched a VSL. In the middle of the promo, the writer introduced the idea of a Calendar… with this trading system, the guru was going to give you a Calendar of Potential Dates You Could Make Money On.

I don’t know the results, but I would guess it was a spectacular failure.  I’ve seen more than 30 knock offs of Money Map’s Money Calendar promo, which helped us a create a $60mm franchise in one year.

But let me be clear, The Money Calendar that we did WAS the product. We built an entire franchise around Tom Gentile's Money Calendar.

From start to finish, inside and out.  We spent the time to create the product first, with all the interior logic, inner workings and dynamics that unified the whole message. The whole product. And it turned into a $60mm franchise - plus opened the door to many more multiple million dollar products for Tom.

After 840 words, my message is simple.

Marketers (and great copywriters and publishers) create products. Products that actually help people make money.  Spend your time solving that problem and the riches will follow.

Talk soon,

Mike Ward