In order to sell the steak, sometimes you’ve just got to build the sizzle around it.
Entrepreneur, E Brian Rose, learned this a long time ago when trying to build businesses that eventually failed.
He realized that without great marketing, no one will know your business or product exists – no matter how good it is. In addition, he recognized early on that all marketing roads lead to the internet in the 21st century.
According to Rose, “Everybody has the internet in their pocket. Everywhere you go, somebody’s on Facebook or surfing the web. In today’s world, every single business owner should also wear the title of internet marketer.“
Rose has used some unorthodox (but effective) methods to create his own credibility online. He would publish websites with lists of the most successful and well-known people in the online industry, and included his own name too. Over time, “E Brian Rose” became the name which others used when referring to online experts.
As the founder of JVZoo, an online marketplace for people that sell digital downloadable products, E Brian has seen firsthand what that “sizzle” can do for sales.
In its first three years, his clients have generated over $150 million in revenue. The products that are brilliantly marketed become the best-sellers, oftentimes surpassing sales of products that may, in fact, be better but which were promoted poorly.
When Rose had the idea to start JVZoo, his intention was to build a better mousetrap. There were several Goliaths to his David and he had few weapons at his disposal to topple those giants.
He was well aware of the TV show, Shark Tank. As demonstrated in this popular show, startups will often pursue venture capital to get their business up and running, and expanding. The amounts they pursue often run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Rose pointed out that, as a result, many people are intimidated by this and let their dreams of starting a business wither. He was not willing to let his dream die.
Out of necessity, he got quite creative when he was launching JVZoo. He didn’t have much capital available and didn’t want to go into debt to get things off the ground. He also didn’t have money to spend on expensive advertising.
Rose, together with his partners Bryan Zimmerman and Chad Casselman, used the power of social media to launch the business and to build up his credibility. Rosee would stage events with a very limited budget and take photos of everyone at the event with a pseudo-lavish backdrop (which would look lavish in photos).
Tagging each participant’s photo on Facebook would alert their friends about the event, spreading the news about JVZoo’s existence to those who had not attended the event. Word spread like wildfire and the rest, as they say, is history.
Today, in the online world, there is no question that JVZoo is a force to be reckoned with and you’d have a hard time finding anyone who hasn’t heard of it.
In his new book, Millionaire Within, Rose shares the stories of his trials and tribulations in the business world, including his success with JVZoo.
Many people author books that portray having an online business as something that is easy to do and rakes in buckets of money while sipping margaritas on the beach. Rose wanted to write a book about the realities which often include struggles and setbacks.
Throughout his life, at each step in his journey, he would step back and examine what he had done right, and most importantly, what he had done wrong. And unlike many, he tried to learn from his mistakes. He wrote this book so that others could take away the lessons that he learned and apply them to their own situations.
A high school graduate from Boston who used to cut school, Rose has now become a highly sought-after speaker. He recently has had the honor of being invited to speak at the prestigious Harvard University, right in his home town.
He shared:
You can be the smartest person in the world. You can have the greatest product in the world. But if people don’t know about it, and people can’t be convinced that it is great or you are smart, you’re never going to be asked to speak anywhere. People won’t ask to carry your product or use your service. It’s not going to happen unless you use perception. The number one tool of a marketer is perceived value by the consumer.In my case, I have become perceived by Harvard University as a person that can deliver intelligent content to Harvard students. That’s something that I guess I got right along the way.
It seems E Brian Rose got a lot of things right in his journey to success. This David finally conquered his Goliaths.
Article by Brian Ainsley Horn for Huffpost.com
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He conquered his Goliaths despite the odds against him
