10 Marketing Secrets of the Legendary Frank Kern

Frank Kern is a rock star in internet marketing land.

 

That is a true statement but it doesn’t quite do justice to Kern.  He is also a business consultant, a millionaire, close friend of self help leader, Tony Robbins, family man, and someone that most of us consider to be a “top guru” in the online marketing space period.

 

Well…hell…let’s not short change it.

 

Frank Kern is a damn legend in the IM space.

 

…and that’s pretty good considering he started his journey living out of a single wide trailer in Macon, GA, selling credit card processing systems as a door to door salesman.

 

My first experience with Frank Kern was a youtube video that I found quite randomly while surfing the internet one night entitled, Make Money and Sell on Demand Core Influence.  It has one of those funny titles that you know is probably bullshit but just outlandish enough to make you curious…

So I watched it…all two hours of it, from front to back.  And then I watched it again.  And then the next day I did the exercise he talked about in the video because I couldn’t get the damn thing out of my head.

That started a whirl wind of me finding everything I could about Frank Kern and learning as much as I could from him.

 

This guy was the real deal.  He knew things that I did not know, and I felt inherently that if I wanted to succeed on the level he was operating on…I needed to learn this stuff.

So I did.  I set to watching every Frank Kern YouTube video available.  I found a copy of Mass Control 2.0 on ebay (Kern no longer sold it).  I studied it incessantly.  I went through Video Black Box and List Control.  I even bought Mass Conversion when it came out and poured over the material.

 

It is not an overestimation to say that much of what I know about selling online to other people came from Frank Kern.  It was a true foundation of internet marketing for me.  Everything else I have learned since only supports those initial lessons I took from Kern.

 

So here is my point.  I feel that as a Frank Kern fan and student, I am in a pretty good position to give you MY top 10 Marketing Secrets of the legendary…Frank Kern.

 

All of them I have applied in my business and seen success.

None of them are inherently hard or require genius level intelligence to execute.

Mastering any of these will make you a better marketer.

 

[thrive_text_block color=”blue” headline=”What you will learn:”]

• How to stand out in an oversaturated niche
• How to build an audience of raving fans and customers
• How to provide massive value and charge premium prices
• How to show proof of success without bragging or coming across like a guru jerk
• 10 bad ass internet marketing strategies that will get you more conversions and more sales

[/thrive_text_block]

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”1. The Pattern Interrupt”] [/thrive_text_block]

I knew a guy a while back who chain smoked like crazy, I’ll call him Dave.

 

Now, Dave knew this smoking habit was bad too.  He figured that if he didn’t quit smoking something really bad was going to happen.  He figured he would get emphysema or lung cancer or something horrible like that.  He’d seen all the commercials.

 

So anyways, one day there was a “straw that broke the camel’s back” kind of moment for Dave and he quit just like that.

 

Now I can’t tell you what makes a man do certain things or how he quits bad habits but I have always been curious about it.  This time was no exception.  I just had to know…

 

So I ask him, “dude how did you quit?  Was it hard?”

 

He told me that it wasn’t hard at first because he was determined to quit.  Then it got hard because he started to notice patterns to his smoking that he hadn’t noticed before.

 

For example, he noticed that every time he was on his way to work and stopped at this one stoplight, he always had a cigarette.  He never noticed until he didn’t smoke anymore.

Another example is a common one for many people who smokes I suppose but Dave had a habit of always lighting up after a meal.

 

He said it was these little patterns of smoking in relation to certain other daily things that he did is what made it hard to quit.

 

It was really interesting.

 

What I didn’t realize at the time but what I do realize now, is that we all have these little patterns that we go into and they are triggered by different things that happen in our lives.

 

Dave had his “going to work” pattern.

 

Personally, I have a pattern of behavior every time a telemarketer calls my house trying to sell me something.  It usually goes something like this:

 

Me: Do you know how many times that you guys have called me about this?

Telemarketer: No sir

Me: A lot.  Do you know that I have requested to be put on the do not call list like a thousand times?

Telemarketer: No sir.  I apologize for that sir.

Me: blah blah blah

Telemarketer: blah blah blah

The point is as soon as I figure out I am talking to a telemarketer on the phone…now all of the sudden I kind of go into this mode…my brain is running a pattern.  I kind of already know what I am going to say.  My demeanor changes.  I become a lot less receptive to what the telemarketer is saying.

 

My brain is running a pattern.  It’s a lot like cruise control.

 

We as human beings are running these patterns all the time.  Many times our confidence, our comfort with a situation, our familiarity is based off of these patterns.

 

What if someone were to break the pattern?  What if they shook you out of your cruise control, so to speak?  They are going to wake you up.  They are going to make you much more receptive to what they have to say.

 

That is the idea of a pattern interrupt.

 

Frank Kern has been using pattern interrupts throughout most of his internet marketing career to major degrees of success.  Things like the pattern interrupt were a major part of what made Mass Control 2.0 so different and so successful.

 

He would go to speak at seminars where his peers were dressed in suit and ties, polo shirts, slacks and dress shoes, and he would be bare foot, in a t-shirt and jeans with long unkempt hair and a mischievous grin on his face.   He would crack jokes about getting drunk at the bar the night before and talked with a very down to earth charm.

 

All the while, he was pulling the audience further into his reality and way of thinking.  Why did that happen?  It happened because he had their attention.

 

He was different.

 

They were used to seeing people look a certain way and speak a certain way at seminars.  They were running a pattern based on their comfort level and experience at such events.

 

Kern broke that pattern.  As a result he made them much more receptive to what he was saying.  It worked.

 

At time when people were putting out PDF ebooks and making them look as cool and fancy as possible, Kern put out a PDF special report that was hand written on a piece of paper and scanned.

 

He broke the pattern.  He did something people were not expecting and pulled them out of “typical 7 page PDF Special Report” mode.

 

As a result people paid more attention to the PDF.

 

Listen, I don’t care how “hocus pocus nonsense” this stuff sounds to you right now.  The fact of the matter is I have used pattern interrupts in my marketing many many times to promote my own products and other peoples products and they have worked like crazy.

 

The bottom line is if you master the art of the pattern interrupt it will make you a better marketer and you will sell more product.

 

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”

2. Average Joe

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So I have watched a lot of Frank Kern’s videos and presentations and I can say one of the first things that really pulled me into his way of thinking was this kind of “normal guy” persona.  I could relate heavily to it.  Take this picture for instance…

It’s Kern in one of his videos, he’s walking to his $500 Jeep that he inherited from his Grandpa (he tells the story in the video).  Kern is wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  He is looking very…normal.

 

Some might say he is even looking a little scruffy.   It’s something that I really related to.  It pulled me in.

 

Was it reality?

 

I don’t know.  You have to remember that when Kern shot this video he had already made over a million dollars in less than 48 hours.  The man was a multi-millionaire.

 

He could have been driving a Lambo and wearing an Armani suite if he wanted to…

 

But I wouldn’t have related to that and I wouldn’t have been as receptive to what he had to say either.  I would have felt like we were coming from two different worlds.

 

I believe that Kern is being himself on some level.  But I know that Kern plays up his normal guy persona.

 

The fact is that you’re a millionaire and you can live wherever you want, and drive whatever car you want…you don’t think the same as someone who struggles everyday to pay their electric bill.

 

You just don’t.

 

Kern was being very aware of who his audience was and he wanted to relate to them.

 

It worked really well.

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”

3. True scarcity

“] [/thrive_text_block]

I have signed up for several of Frank Kern’s webinars over the last 2 years and I have only attended 2 of them.  Do you know how many I have actually gotten to listen to?

 

Two.

 

This man does not do the whole false scarcity thing.

 

The first time he said that he would not be doing replays for his webinar I blew him off and figured I would catch it later.

 

Wrong answer.  Later never came.  That webinar was ghost as soon as it was over.

 

I was a little disappointed by it because I wanted to catch the thing.  There was a little conditioning happening there though.

 

I knew now…the scarcity was real.

 

I’ll give you another example.

 

A few years ago he came out with this free book called Convert…

It was a limited release thing and I never got a copy of it.  I figured someone would scan it and I would snag the PDF or something online.

 

Yeah right.

 

I can still get it…there is one copy available on Amazon for 49.99.

 

The bottom line is when Kern says limited time or no replays…now I listen.  He means it.

 

Now I come to his super value packed webinars ready to record and when he puts out a “limited time” special report I am ready to get it now.

 

This true scarcity is not something that you find a lot these days.  People are too greedy to truly shut things down.

 

However,  Kern does.  As a result he has conditioned all of his audience to know that he means business and when he shuts it down it’s gone.

 

So what happens?  People take action.  Now.

 

True scarcity works really well.  It also has a residual effect on your audience if you practice it for a while.  They tend to take more action and see your stuff as a little more special.

 

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”

4. Premium Pricing

“] [/thrive_text_block]

Mass Conversion retailed for 2,000 bucks.  Before that there was Mass Control and it also sold for 2,000 bucks.   Kern had a membership site that was 300 bucks a month.  Video Black Box you can still get and it is $194, which he considers a low end product.

 

I just attended a webinar in which he pitched Info Business Blueprint and it was…wait for it…you got it…about 2,000 bucks.

 

So why does Kern price his stuff so high?

 

Well, a couple of reasons that I have found.

 

 

One, Kern is very big on qualifying people for his products.  He doesn’t want just anybody getting them.  He has repeatedly said that when you sell more products to more people at lower prices you have customer support nightmares.  Also, he has said that people generally are more serious about making something work when they pay a good amount of money for it.  In short, he doesn’t want people wasting his time or theirs.

 

Secondly, Kern has repeatedly said that it takes the absolute same amount of effort to sell a low ticket product as it does a high ticket product.

 

SO essentially he would be wasting his time selling a 1,000 seven dollar products when he could sell just one $7,000 product.  That is his reasoning.

 

What do I think about this?

 

Well it is hard to argue with him.  He is more successful than I am.  Also when I sold a product at the $197.00 price range, I sold less, and made more.

 

However, I still have a little hang up with this one.  I feel like the people I am trying to help cannot afford a $2,000 product.  Maybe that’s a limiting belief.

 

The bottom line on this one is that by selling your products at a premium price you qualify your customers more efficiently, you cut down on customer support, and you are probably going to make more money for the same amount of effort.

 

You decide.

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”

5. Shock and Awe Results

“] [/thrive_text_block]

The picture you see below is from the last Frank Kern webinar that I attended last month.  In this screen he is showing how popular the buying of information is right now online.  It’s just a small sample size, taken from Clickbank.com:

 

He is proving a point here.  He is showing people that info products are a market that is seriously on the rise.   He is using these astronomical numbers that most of us cannot fathom truthfully to really drill home JUST HOW BIG what he is saying is.

 

Shock and awe numbers is a way to convince people.  To really drive home that what you are saying is not BS…it’s for real.

 

It’s also a way to get people amped up and excited about the possibility of their success.

 

I admit to you that I hate using shock and awe numbers.  I find it manipulative and exploitive.  It is classic war strategy.  In marketing it very strongly insinuates that the prospect will be able to match those results (disclaimer of no disclaimer).

 

I have always liked to get people to look within and find strength on their own terms to win without putting all their hopes into results I have gotten.  After all…we are not the same people.

 

That being said.  It works.  I have done launches without shock and awe numbers and they performed ok within my circle of influence.  As soon as I stepped outside of my circle of influence and had affiliates promoting products for me, the sales dropped off significantly.

 

On the flipside of that, I have done launches where I did screen captures and videos of the results that I personally have gotten, and the results were dramatically better outside of my circle of influence.

 

There is no denying the effectiveness of Shock and Awe numbers.  Whether you use your own, or you borrow them by talking about other people’s successes using the strategies you are promoting, the tactic works really well.

 

Just be careful, many times when you get people’s expectations too high, they tend to get a little disappointed when they don’t live up to “the numbers.”

 

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”

6. The Boomerang

“] [/thrive_text_block]

So the Boomerang Campaign strategy is based on reciprocity.  The premise is that you are going to send out a ton of goodwill into your marketplace and then you get 10 times that back.

 

So here is how this one works.

 

Day 1 – So let’s say on day one you send out a cool video or special report to your audience and the marketplace.  You put this on your blog.  There is no pitch, nothing for sale.  It’s just complete and utter good will.  You want to show people how to do something that would be useful to them but not many of them know how to do.

 

An example would be, how to set up a youtube channel that is optimized to make money.

 

Day 2 – You resend this to all of the people on your list who didn’t open it the first time, just to maximize reach on this free content.

 

Day 3 – You send a second piece of free content to your audience.  No pitch whatsoever attached.  Just more complete goodwill.

 

An example of this that goes along with our first example would be a simple formula for recording videos that would help them convert viewers into subscribers more efficiently.

 

Day 4 – You send a clean up email like on day 2

 

Day 5 – You send a third piece of free content JUST LIKE THE OTHER TWO.  No pitch whatsoever.  Just more complete goodwill.

 

An example that goes with our last 2 examples would be a cool special report that shows them how to efficiently convert youtube subscribers and viewers to email subscribers and get them to reengage their new videos.

 

Awesome right?  Now at this point you have given these guys 3 awesome pieces of content that you probably could have sold for money and they are really loving you for it.  The good will level is very high.

 

The key component to all this is that the content you are giving out needs to really and genuinely help them.  That is critical.  It doesn’t need to be like a super long thing.  You don’t want to bore them to death.  A 10 minute video is perfect.

 

 

Okay so now you have put them in this position where they feel the need to reciprocate.  It’s human nature.  Someone does enough cool nice things for you and you feel the need to kind of reciprocate.

 

So the next email you send them is like, Subject line:

 

“Hey I need your help…”

 

And then the body is going to be like,

 

“ I could really use your help with something.  I made a video about it here [LINK TO VIDEO].  Please let me know what you think.   

 

[name].

 

 

Okay now that is the set up.

 

Next what you need to have to make this work is a new product or an update to an existing product.

 

Now here is what your video says. Make sure to watch this video to really get the gist of this

1. Thank them for all the nice emails and blog comments that you have been getting for the past week
2. Make sure to mention it was a pleasure to make the content for them and that you are sure they would do the same for you
3. Tell them you have this new product called [insert product name] about [whatever its about] and you really would like their feedback on it before you release it to the rest of the world.
4. Essentially, give them the opportunity to buy the product with a 30 day money back guarantee no questions ask.

 

This strategy makes heavy use of reciprocity.  I can tell you that I have given away a lot of free content since I have been making money online in the internet marketing space.  When I sell something, people always come out to buy it.  Some of them tell me that they really were not buying products right now but I have helped them with so much free content that they could not help but buy it.

 

Reciprocity still works really well.

 

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”7. The R.I.A. Method”] [/thrive_text_block]

So you can find the video for results in advance here.  So the premise behind Results In Advance is really simple.  However I have found that the more simple I keep things, usually the better they work (now there is something to be said for keeping things too simple but that’s another article).

 

So with results in advance what you do is in the words of Frank Kern, “you give people things for free that help them and make them happy, in return they buy more stuff from you that helps them even more and makes them even happier.”

 

SO with RIA method you are going to give people certain things for free.  They are strategic problems that you solve that will lead them to the next problem.  The final and biggest problem will be solved by the thing you are going to sell.

 

Now the problems that you are solving for free are basic necessary steps.  For example in the dating niche:

 

Problem 1 solved for free:  How to approach a woman without getting rejected, pitch your upcoming launch

Problem 2 solved for free:  How to converse with a women and not look like a weirdo, pitch your upcoming launch

Problem 3 solved for free:  How to get a woman’s phone number, pitch your upcoming launch

Problem 4 solved for free: How to get the date, pitch your upcoming launch

Then launch the entire product which everyone by this point will be extremely interested in because they have been getting results in advance, they know your stuff works like gangbusters and they can trust you.

 

In fact, this is the kind of thing that you can do to actually elevate yourself in your niche and really start to be seen as an authority.  Awesome strategy!

 

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”8. Congratulations you now know more…”] [/thrive_text_block]

One of the things I see Kern do a lot is use words like “us” and “we” in his videos and copy.   You will hear him using words like “community” and “family” as well, all in relation to the internet marketing space and the market.

 

All of these things are meant to bring on a sense of “team” and bonding.  It’s a “we’re all in this together” kind of thing.

 

The reality is that we’re not all in this together.  Some of us, like Kern, are multi millionaires, while others don’t even know how to create a squeeze page and can’t really legitimately afford any of his actual courses.

 

There’s a pretty big divide there.  Especially when you consider how much he pre-qualifies his customers with those ridiculous price points.  But if you combine it with his normal guy persona…it’s pretty convincing.

 

Another thing I hear him saying a lot towards the end of his video is this humdinger…

 

“Congratulations you now know more than 98% of people out there…”

 

It’s meant to make people feel like they have just learned some real insider secrets and now they are armed for battle with secret weapons. It’s meant to build them up and in doing so earn their trust.

 

Is it true?

 

Well, yes and no.

 

Frank Kern does teach a lot of awesome stuff in his free content.  If you can wrap your mind around what he teaches, you can truly elevate your game.  I know I have.

 

However, he uses the things he teaches.  He is using it on you as he is teaching you.  So be aware of that.

 

Here is an example of a subliminal message he used in a free video to get people to join his membership site:

Frank Kern using a subliminal message

 

So you might know 98% more than all of the other people out there…but only if you are watching what Kern is DOING as well as listening to what he is teaching.

 

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”9. The Magic Model”] [/thrive_text_block]

Okay so Frank Kern’s Magic Model is the exact opposite of the guru model in which a marketer focuses on impressing their prospects with astounding social proof, fancy cars, and giant mansions.  Instead the magic model focuses on the prospect themselves.

Here is how the Magic Model works:

 

Step 1: Identify the problem

Step 2:

     a)Focus Attention of Prospects on problem

     b)Validate problem with 3^rd party data

     c)Twist the knife buy showing it’s really serious

     d)Offer light at the end of the tunnel

Step 3: Demonstrate by actually helping them

Step 4: Get someone to apply

So the whole thing is based off of the idea that you should do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

 

That is a re-occurring theme in Kern’s strategies and tactics.  Make no mistake he manipulates people on a psychological level, however I truly believe he has a goal to help people.  It’s something that comes through in how he teaches and let’s not forget this small detail…the things he teaches actually work really…really well.

 

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”10. Implicit Proof of Success”] [/thrive_text_block]

SO when we talk about the idea of “implicit” we are talking about doing things a little under the radar.  You see Kern doing this a lot.

Kern won’t come out and tell you he lives in a giant mansion.  He’ll tell you some crazy method of driving traffic to your website and he’ll start off telling you this method in his driveway, while standing around his freaking Porshe and then he’ll mention something about wanting to show you something on his computer, so he will have you come into his house with him.

Now keep in mind all the while you are being lead on this tour through this gigantic super nice mansion of a house, all in an effort to “get to the computer.”

 

So Kern never really had to tell you he was successful or that he was the real deal and rich as shit.  He didn’t have to state it.

 

Instead he implicitly expresses it and it is understood by the viewers.

 

Here is an example of such a tactic in use:

Frank Kern: How To Get Rich ONLINE Part 1

 

 

Now you might be thinking, “Well that’s all well and good Kam but I don’t have a Porshe OR a big fancy pants mansion.  How the heck could I use such a tactic?”

 

That’s a great question.  The fact is though, that you can use implicit suggestion for a lot of things and in a lot of ways.

 

Consider this quick example:

 

Explicit Proof of Success – Hey this magic pill cured me of ALL poverty.  See my bank statements?  I made all that money after taking this pill!  SO hurry up and drain your life savings and buy it from me!

 

Implicit Proof of Success – Hey guys, I just wanted you to know that I took this magic pill and it seemed like about 24 hours after that I just stopped being broke.  It was the damndest thing, money just starting growing on trees all around me.  The REALLY funny thing is it happened to 20 of my closest friends as well.  Now I don’t know if this pill was the reason or not but it sure seemed to work for me and my 20 friends.  Well, anyways it’s for sale over here if you are interested.  I’m going to go back to my rich ass perfect life now. Have a good one!

 

See the difference?

 

In the one example you told them something.  In the second example you let them form their own conclusions.

 

It has often been said that people stand by decisions that they feel they came to on their own with much more conviction.  In other words, when they make these decisions, they truly make them.  They will not back out nearly as easily as someone who feels like they were kind of pushed into something they don’t know if they even really wanted to do.

 

Big difference.

 

 

[thrive_text_block color=”orange” headline=”Conclusion”] [/thrive_text_block]

Alright, alright, alright!

 

So to reiterate…we covered the following:

1. Pattern interrupt
2. Average Joe
3. True scarcity
4. Premium Pricing
5. Shock and Awe Results
6. The Boomerang Campaign
7. The RIA Method
8. congratulations you now know more…(build people up, put them on his team)
9. The Magic Model
10. Implicit Proof of Success

 

That was my top 10 list of Frank Kern marketing secrets.  Are there more?

Absolutely!

What have I missed here? 

Let me know in the comment section below, I want to hear from you!

 

So in summary, if you can begin to master some of these 10 marketing strategies you will be a better marketer, build a bigger audience and just flat out make more money!

If you like this article please share it with someone you think it might help!  Thanks!

 

I’m Kam Jennings, some people call me Zerofatz, and that’s all I got!

 

I’ll see you in the next one!

 

Kam