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Butterfly Marketing: A Case Study On How To Sell A $997 Product As Hot As Pancakes

By: Bob Bastian

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A novice in online marketing would probably scoff at the idea of selling a $997 product to the general public, more so when it comes with a warning that the very same product is limited to just 1,500 copies which are expected to sell out fast.

But guess what?

Mike Filsaime is no novice, and veteran online entrepreneurs never doubted that he could pull it off.

And today, couple of months after what is widely hailed as internet marketing's biggest event, Mike Filsaime has shown us that, truly, nothing is impossible in the World Wide Web if your heart is in the right place and if your mind is filled with powerful ideas.

We are, of course, talking about Butterfly Marketing, the launch of which catapulted the internet marketing game to the next level in early 2006.

How did he do it?

How did Mike Filsaime conquer a challenge that was seemingly unconquerable?

What you're reading right now is an unauthorized case study of the Butterfly Marketing campaign, from its early stages to its eventual launch, all the way to its astonishing sell out. In the paragraphs to come, we will analyze the reasons why the Butterfly Marketing campaign became a huge success, the strategies that were employed and the secret tactics that were revealed in the process.

These are the facts.

And this is the story behind Butterfly Marketing.

The Challenge

The challenge that the Butterfly Marketing campaign faced is two-fold:

1. To make people realize that the package is worth the amount that it will be selling for; and

2. To garner the highest amount of exposure for the offer.

Let's face it, $997 is no small amount, especially for the average Joe or Jane, regardless of where he or she may be living. Convincing people to pay such an amount for a single product, over the anonymous channels of the internet at that, is no small task.

For Butterfly Marketing to be a success, Mike realized early on that these two challenges should be subdued.

The Marketing Concept: Go Beyond The Norm

Butterfly Marketing may seem like your usual information product, i.e. moneymaking strategies in an eBook format, but it is not.

Recent trends in online marketing dictate that to enjoy more success, product creators should explore physical options to complement their digital offerings. Doing such would add value to the product, hence, the online marketer may be able to sell it at a higher price. With the preponderance of many mediums these days, such as CDs and DVDs, supplementing a digital product has become more popular than ever before.

However, the physical products must be of extreme value to justify a higher price. They should be mere audio or video reiterations of the digital product. They should contain something more, something that would substantially add to the main offering.

And this is the concept behind Butterfly Marketing.

At its heart, it's information about how to make a lot of money within a favorable period of time through a novel fully automated viral strategy.

This information is carried by the eBook that is the focal point of the package.

But it was also supplemented with worksheets, CDs containing software programs essential for the technique, and a hard copy of the digital eBook itself. In short, the package contained everything that the customer would ever need to earn from the system.

Hence, that Butterfly Marketing was a digital product supplemented by a battalion of physical goods became an arguable point.

Mike Filsaime decided to sell Butterfly Marketing as a system, and this, in effect, increased its value.

Pre-Launch

It can be surmised that the concept of Butterfly Marketing was developed as early as 2004, when the domain name butterflymarketing.com was registered.

Its marketing push started as early as the last quarter of 2005. To move things in his desired pace, Mike pegged the launch date at Jan. 31, 2006.

Selling Butterfly Marketing as the complete moneymaking system that it is was enough to increase the package's going rate. But was it enough to justify Mike's target price of $997. It remained a debatable point, one which required the implementation of more strategies to ensure full justification of its price. Hence, the following tactics were observed during pre-launch:

- Exclusivity factor. By limiting the number of copies to be made available, the value of the package would most definitely increase. The final cap of 1,500 copies was employed.

- Affiliate support. To sell a package of this magnitude required the help of topnotch affiliates. Affiliates formulated their own Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to win the attention of prospects. They did this by offering their own products as bonuses.

- Creating hype. Hype can be a marketer's best friend, or his worst enemy. Mike realized this and he worked well with the hype. He implemented a variety of tactics that stirred up excitement to wild, wild levels, but he always managed to remain on top of things. His sales page was dynamic. It changed regularly during the weeks leading to launch date. He offered videos, leaked chapters, updates and relevant information that guaranteed a lot of buzz for his Butterfly Marketing campaign. To ensure that people would always check out his sales page, Mike stayed true to his word. A video series that was available one day would no longer be available the following week, for example. This caused a sense of urgency in his visitors. They didn't want to be left out. Mike used the buzz to make sure that people would know how important Butterfly Marketing is, that its price became a secondary concern.

- Mystery. I must say that this is an amazing approach that Mike innovated. Even his closest online friends had no idea what Butterfly Marketing was all about prior to launch date. Mike dropped some clues from time to time, but no one was able to figure out how the final package would turn out. Instead of causing skepticism, Mike wonderfully used this to his advantage. It caused a lot of speculation, and with speculation came attention from the prospects.

These tactics solved the first of the two challenges.

But he needed maximum exposure for his campaign.

Mike offered 50% of the selling price to the people who agreed to help him promote his offer. That's almost $500 per sale, which is enough motivation for his affiliates to create special offers composed of their own products to come up with their own USP, so that prospects would instead order from them. As we have mentioned earlier, this also increased the value of Mike's package.

Additionally, with an affiliate system in place, Mike was able to tap into the mailing lists of his partners. A rough estimate, considering the big names that joined Mike with this project, is that Butterfly Marketing was exposed to at least 10 million subscribers. Weeks before launch, some of the big names in internet marketing were actually mentioning in jest that all their subscribers were inquiring about was Mike's Butterfly Marketing package.

With a dedicated crew of partners, Mike was able to focus on the package itself. His affiliates took care of promoting the project via a multitude of marketing strategies. Article marketing, forum posting, blog entries--these were all utilized during the campaign period, so efficiently in fact that 2 weeks before launch date, the buzz was at an all time high for Butterfly Marketing.

Mike also maintained a dedicated blog that reported on the progress of the campaign. Blogs have amazing connectivity, making them powerful marketing tools. Mike's blog was linked to the popular blogs of his partners, adding more exposure for the campaign.

Mike also utilized a PPC campaign. I have no personal knowledge about the keywords he placed bids for with AdWords, but I'm pretty certain that "earn money online" was one of them.

Mike likewise held teleseminar conferences leading to launch date. He answered questions about the package without necessarily revealing what it is. He limited the number of slots available for the teleseminar, again, to enforce exclusivity.

A week before launch and the internet marketing community was in a state of frenzy. People wanted to know how the Butterfly Marketing campaign would fare.

And a lot of prospects already had their credit card details ready.

Launch Date

The actual sales page of the Butterfly Marketing campaign was only released on January 31, 2006 at the launch date.

This is when the whole world actually found out what Butterfly Marketing was all about.

Mike earned half a million dollars a few hours after launch.

Conclusion

Mike Filsaime's Butterfly Marketing campaign is an excellent example of great strategic planning and the execution of a flawless pre-launch plan. There are many, many lessons that can be learned by observing a master like Mike in action, but for this particular event, I believe that Mike left us this one important maxim:

"Marketing does not necessarily have to start once the product is launched. You could plant the seeds even before you go live."

Every marketing strategy that Mike employed happened before the official launch of his Butterfly Marketing campaign. He created a buzz, and like the maestro that he is, made it ascend to a glorious crescendo at the right time.

The result?

Internet marketing history was made.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Mike Filsaime is one of the best Internet marketers in the world, but if you want to learn how to get passive online income (without selling/prospecting), you should try Bob Bastian's super powerful method here.

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