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The Confidential Internet Intelligence Manuscript

by Mark Joyner, CEO, Aesop.com, Copyright 2001 Aesop.com, 50 pages

• Scientifically derived info on how your business can really prosper on the internet
• revelations about internet marketing

• the dream we all want to believe: “Through the Internet, anyone with a computer, an Internet connection, and the willingness to sweat can set up an operation in their garage that competes with major corporations.”
• Mark Joyner began a business as a shoestring company.
• internet gives ability to advertise without hard capital
• Mark “began to apply military metaphors (ala Sun Tzu et. al.) to my business.”
  • “small groups of men, applying the proper tactics, can cause great damage and make armies of far greater size stand up and take notice.”
• Book reference:
  • “Guerilla Marketing” - Conrad Levinson
  • Guerrilla's dont fight the same as a great army, guerillas ignore those rules, and make their own
• Do this right, and a business can be built to multi-millions without a dime of venture capital
• roots: sales-driven, cash-flow-dependent
  • other companies waste millions on advertising that may or may not work
  • tactics must deliver results.
    • throwing daisies at an approaching army is not likely to work
• dangers
  • cult of personality and accepting dangerous advice as truth
  • remember it is just accumulated observed data
    • be skeptical of what is not seen for oneself
    • science never renders gospel truth
    • look for observations that painstakingly isolate every possible effect on results, proper samplee sizes, confidence intervals, and scientific controls.
    • do your own testing

• Sections
  • Lessons learned - examples of data conducted from tests
  • Survey results - demographic data about viewership
    • 1) audience can affect results
    • 2) look for insight into mind of internet consumer

• Simplest concenpts can “have the most profound effect on your bottom line.”
  • Noticing a particular day of the week works better can be make a huge profit difference
  • simple change in an order form can increase salees by 32%

• Things in this document can increase earnings in 1 day

• “Do not fall for the myth that all testing is valid.
• Testing is dangerous is the data is insufficient or derived in arbitrary ways
• beware of sweeping conclusions
  • solid understanding of statistical concepts and methodology is critical

• A/B test on two letters with innumerable differences leaves more questions than answers
• better to isolate individual variables, example: test a singlee change to a headline in an ad
• cumulative effect of many small changes can create dramatic improvements over time