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Overview:
Perry
S. Marshall is a different sort of marketing bird (the S.
stands for Sink which was his original surname. He changed
it saying that he didn't like having the name of a kitchen
appliance).
Marshall's
background is very technical, having a master's degree in
physics and 10 years experience as an electrical engineer.
His interests and many lectures and articles cover diverse
topics such as bioscience (mainly genetics), industrial automation,
Internet communication protocols, Health and fitness, religion
. . . and that's just a start. His Web site was at one time
an outlet for these articles, but he got the marketing bug
years ago and has become the king of Google Adwords. The article
page still shows the vestiges of its history, with an onslaught
of articles on many subjects.
Marshall
does not do things small. He has been known to sell software
licenses for $50,000, and business startups he grew and sold
for $18 Million.
His
writing style is not like any other marketing teacher out
there. The big flashy hype is missing. His writing is a little
dry by comparison but powerful. (top)
Positive:
It's
been said of Perry Marshall that he is a stickler for the
truth. In fact, some have said he seems incapable of telling
a lie. When he consults (one of his big ticket income sources)
he carefully reviews the company first to decide whether it
will benefit before accepting the job. He won't take a job
just because someone offers him money.
Marshall
know his subjects inside out. When he says he is the king
of Google adwords, he means it. He really know it inside out
and upside down. Actually he says he's one of a hand full
of experts on the topic. He never over-sells himself.
Besides
just putting out a product like his Google Adwords product,
he keeps his buyers up to date. He doesn't let his materials
get stale and outdated. For example, Google Adwords is constantly
adding and changing features and Marshall is quick to keep
his customers up to date, and discuss not only the change,
but the bottom-line effect and evaluation of each one.
Besides
my own research, I've found dozens of customer comments about
his products, and asked many others for their comments. The
result is always the same. "Perry Marshall is a genius
and his stuff works!"
(top)
Negative:
I
only have three negative comments and only one is particularly
serious. Then I have one additional comment about his Web
site in general.
First,
Perry Marshall's techniques are not designed for fast results.
He is methodical and knows that any strong business must build
methodically. You do not just read his book and become an
huge marketing success tomorrow. You use his techniques to
test and test and test, and you ultimately come out ahead,
perhaps bringing your ultimate costs of getting paying customers
down to a tenth of what others are spending.
Second,
as I've already alluded to, reading his material is not entertaining.
His writing style has no hype and is a bit dry compared to
what you're used to from marketing types.
Finally,
the one serious comment I have is this - his support system
is a little slow. For more details please see the support
section below.
I
should mention here that finding your way around Marshall's
Web site is a little confusing. There are tons of titles on
his pages and nothing to distinguish articles and general
pages from product titles. The easiest way to find links directly
to his products would be to follow the links here on my page.
But even then, some affiliate links to his products take you
to his mini-courses rather than directly to the product description
itself. On his site, probably the easiest way to find the
product descriptions is to follow the "Marketing Tools"
link at the top of his home page.
(top)
Affiliate
Program
Perry Marshall does have an affiliate
program.
He
keeps careful control of how affiliates use his site. For
example, when you direct guests to his Google Adwords product
using your affiliate link, you cannot direct them directly
to the ad page. They are instead, sent to the 5-day mini-course
signup page, where Marshall uses it to woo them eventually
to the product.
This
may normally be a good idea, but can be frustrating if you
have reason to want to control traffic for a specific reason.
For example, here on my site I don't directly try to sell
my guests, so it makes it hard for me to be able to direct
them to the feature page but still allow for affiliate purchases
for those interested. I wrote to the staff and they sent me
a workaround, which I had to experiment with, and finally
got it.
Also,
I was a little disappointed that not everything is available
for affiliate profit-sharing. For example, consultation services
are not included. It seems to me that if you direct a guest
to a high-end product like that, it should come with at least
some reward.
(top)
Site
Popups
I have not encountered any pop-ups on
Perry Marshall's site. This is especially refreshing, and
goes to make a point I've help for a long time. Pop-ups, despite
their effectiveness are not a necessary prerequisite to success.
Perry Marshall is quite successful without them. Thank you
Mr. Marshall. (top)
Valuable
Free Content
The
amount of articles, sound bytes and extras on Perry Marshall's
site is staggering. In fact, he violates one of the rules
marketing teachers constantly teach - "Don't put too
many freebies and articles on your site to distract from sales."
Once
again, Marshall shows the world these rules can be flexible
and you can still succeed, if your product is top notch.
If you sell to other businesses, don't miss his free audio
tape 'Guerilla Marketing for Hi-Tech Salespeople."
(top)
Newsletter
There is no separate sign-up for an
email newsletter that I could find, but of course signing
up for any of the three mini-courses automatically get's you
on the email mailing list. Like the courses themselves, the
emails are mostly sales in nature, but do contain a few gems
here and there. For example, one trying to sell the White
Papers course talked about additional ways to use white papers
and expounded on six great alternative names (43 of which
are in the course). Nobody wants to read a White Paper, but
people will clamor for a "pocket guide" or "comparison
chart." (top)
Money-Back
Guarantee
Perry Marshall has an unusual guarantee
system. The guarantee varies a little from product to product
but follows a similar pattern. Essentially he offers a no-questions
money-back guarantee for any reason for 30 days. If you actually
try the products the guarantee extends for up to 90 days,or
in some cases for lifetime. Here is the copy from his Advanced
Google Adwords course description:
-----Quoting-----
"Don't take 30 days or 60 days to apply the knowledge
that you've learned from this seminar. Take as long as you
want. I'm serious! This is an open-ended guarantee.
Once
you apply the Google AdWords techniques and secret methods
that will be revealed during this live seminar, I know that
you will be pleased with the results.
At
the end of it all, if you feel that this seminar is not worth
at least three times your investment, send me an email and
I'll refund your money. No questions, no jerking you around."
-----End quote-----
I
haven't actually tried returning any materials, but I can
tell you that he is very professional and honest. You can
be sure there will be no hassle. Actually, in fact, I have
yet to find anyone comment on experience with returns to him,
because nobody I've found is dissatisfied.
(top)
Support
Here
is the one and only trouble I've had with Perry Marshall.
His email support is a bit slow. Whenever I'm researching
a new marketer I make a point to test their email support.
My first attempt brought a reply after a little more than
a week.
I
decided to try again with another question. This time I waited
not two weeks but over tow months. I had finally given up
when finally out of the blue a response came, with a recognition
and apology for the delay.
I
somewhat understand what's going on here. Perry Marshall,
in general, deals with high-end corporations. When you sell
$50,000 software licenses and $18 Million companies, you don
't really gain a lot spending your time with one-man small
start-ups. But since the Google Adwords products are rather
inexpensive, he does deal with a lot of individuals as well,
and it would be nice to have a bit better response system.
Both
support questions were answered by a staff member, not Mr.
MArshall, which I expected, and both were polite, very professional,
and very helpful. But this is a minor flaw in light of the
power and quality of his products.
(top)
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