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  • šŸ“¦ šŸ›’ his 4-step "secret formula" for Direct Response success? (part 2 of 3)

šŸ“¦ šŸ›’ his 4-step "secret formula" for Direct Response success? (part 2 of 3)

From DTC to Massive Retail Scale...

The $20,000 Gamble: How a Broke College Kidā€™s Ad Launched a $100M/Year Direct Response Empire [Part 2]

Want to discover the 4-step ā€œsecret formulaā€ one former pizza delivery guy used to grow a $100M/year Direct Response empire?

(And launch a massive retail presence as a result)

Read on because weā€™re going to reveal it in todayā€™s newsletterā€¦

But first, a quick flashback in case you missed part 1 of this seriesā€¦

ā€¦we left a 23-year-old AJ Khubani who was just about to break through to Direct Response megastardom.

We heard how the child of immigrants went from selling pizzas to gambling his entire life savings on a dream - a dream to hit the big time and make his first million.

Hop over to Part One of the ā€˜Infomercial Kingā€™sā€™ story to see how AJā€™s gamble went, in case you missed itā€¦

(Spoiler: it could hardly have gone better!)

But the story isnā€™t overā€¦

AJ turned his initial $20,000 revenue into a $100M/year Direct Response empire.

So how did he do it?

How did he scale his business so fast? How did he manage to go to retail against all odds?

How did he buy his first house at the age of 26 - in cash?

We promised to reveal AJā€™s secret formula for Direct Response success. And thatā€™s exactly what weā€™re going to do. So if you want to know how to:

1) šŸ§‘ā€šŸ”¬ Test the viability of a product via Direct Response ads

2) šŸš€ Scale the product via Direct Response

3) šŸ›ļø And go to retail all across the USA

ā€¦ stick around, because itā€™s all right here.

Branching out and scaling up šŸ“ˆ

As we covered in part 1, AJā€™s successful first-ever foray into Direct Response advertising - selling cheap cassette players in The National Enquirer - made AJ realize he was onto something.

The walkmans were a hit, but AJ knew they wouldnā€™t get him to a million. So, he decided to replicate his process with other products - all the while honing his Direct Response ad-writing skills and decision-making process.

Pretty soon, he landed his first ā€˜big productā€™: a pair of massage slippers.

At just $10 a pair, they sold like crazy.

Within just two years of starting out, in 1985 AJ finally turned a profit, having turned over a total revenue of $1.5 million. His days of delivering pizzas suddenly seemed like a long, long time agoā€¦

~ update from our friends at Funnel of the Week ~

From Affiliate to Offer Owner: How to Uncover Hidden Profits & Untapped Opportunities

This weekā€™s Funnel of the Week episode dove into probably the longest upsell funnel ever:

FOURTEEN (14) upsells:

The end result?

This free+shipping offer generates $862 max cart value.

The full swipe file + funnel breakdown was released today inside the Funnel of the Week Members Areaā€¦

But in the meantime, in case you havenā€™t joined yetā€¦

Guest expert for the funnel breakdown, James Van Elswyk, also had some bonus content he shared on the callā€¦

ā€¦All about how to find, build and scale your own offers.

James has generated well over 1 Billion in Revenue with a very healthy 8 figures in profit for myself in his career, doing everything from:

  • Generating and Selling Leads

  • Running Large Call Centers (400 agents on the phone)

  • Being an Affiliate

  • Starting and Selling an Ecommerce Company

And a whole lot more.

(Go here - https://the-ooo.io - to learn more about a special event James is running all about showing affiliates (and others) how to learn to find, build and scale their own offers.)

On this clip with James,

You'll discover...

  • The surprising reason why fighting over affiliate "scraps" is killing your margins (and what to do instead)

  • How controlling the entire supply chain from ad to final sale can explode your profits as a marketer

  • The secret to finding untapped opportunities and being early to market (James has been doing this consistently since 2008)

  • Why the first 2 years of a brand new offer are critical for "printing money" before the space gets saturated

  • How cutting out the middlemen can uncover hidden profit and allow you to scale (most affiliates don't realize this)

  • The counterintuitive way optimizing for actual sales vs leads can dramatically increase your earnings as an affiliate

  • Discover the "unicorn" offer type James recommends all marketers pursue in the next few years

  • The 2 key things affiliates must understand to get into the offer ownership game and 10X their income

  • Why owning just a piece of the funnel caps your potential (and how to take full control to reap the rewards)

PLUS:

  • The simple litmus test to determine if an offer type is right for you to pursue as an owner

  • Why your offer name is crucial: James' counterintuitive method for naming his offer that helps it fly under the radar

Watch this 17 minute clip and get ready to take notesā€¦

And stay tuned for the full episode which drops on Monday inside our Funnel of the Week Members' area, go here to get access.

AJā€™s formula for success šŸ”“

Of all the thousands of products AJ could have invested in, he instead chose to focus his time and money on just a few high-potential items

Example top-selling DTC/Direct Response products from 1980s National Enquirer magazine

The question is: how did he choose which products to go for?

Well, during his time selling through newspaper Direct Response ads, AJ developed a kind of ā€˜formulaā€™ that heā€™d use to predict whether or not a product would be successful. 

Before investing a dime, heā€™d ask himself a few important questions:

AJ Khubaniā€™s 4-Step Direct Response Product Selection Formula

Rule #1: Does the product solve a common problem?

In an interview with Inventorsā€™ Digest, AJ explained that he has ā€˜no interest . . . [in selling] 10, 20,000, or even half a million pieces . . . itā€™s got to be a mass appeal item.ā€™

By ā€˜mass appeal,ā€™ AJ means that it has to solve a common problem faced by millions of people. The ā€˜Smart Mop,ā€™ for instance, made $150 million in sales. Something niche, like anti-fog skiing sunglasses, are unlikely to sell even close to that.

Rule #2: Is it easy to produce?

Take a look at this list of AJā€™s most successful products. What do you notice?

Thatā€™s right, theyā€™re all relatively simple gadgets. No heavy engineering, no expensive materials. Just quickly manufactured products that are made cheap and get the job done.

If the item fails, you havenā€™t lost much. If it succeeds, you can reproduce it at low cost. Win-win!

Rule #3: Do customers like it?

Repeat purchases are key to Direct Response success.

Take AJā€™s top seller, for example: the Ped Egg (a simple callous remover). After a while, the blades start to go dull, so customers often buy a new one.

ā€˜The key to building a product,ā€™ says AJ, ā€˜is to have very high consumer satisfaction, because you won't get repeat purchases if consumers are not satisfied with the product.ā€™

Rule #4: Can you ā€˜market the heck out ofā€™ it?

After establishing whether or not customers like the product - and will buy it time and time again - all thatā€™s left is to market like youā€™ve never marketed before.

Simple, compelling messaging with clear benefits in as many places as possible. Thatā€™s what it takes to get those orders rolling in.

Letā€™s see how AJ applied these rules for his next product launchā€¦

A new way to advertise šŸ“ŗ

Itā€™s 1987. Bon Joviā€™s Livinā€™ On a Prayer is all over the radioā€¦

ā€¦and the longform infomercial has arrived on TV. DRTV (ā€˜Direct Response Televisionā€™) ads are taking over print ads.

AJ, never one to fall behind the times, leapt on board. He kicked off his DRTV venture with a pair of ultraviolet ray-blocking sunglasses called ā€˜AmberVisionā€™. 

Selling 15 million pieces, AmberVision was the definition of a smash hit, and remains to this day an iconic flagship product (head over to eBay and take a look: a pair of AmberVision sunglasses in their original packaging can go for over $70!)

DRTV brought AJā€™s company, Telebrands, to a new level. The pizza boy-done-good was about to become ā€˜The Infomercial Kingā€™...

šŸ•µļø Want to ā€œSpyā€ on over 10 million unlisted YouTube ads (and landing pages)?

Go here to claim your free trial of all new VidTao 2.0 YouTube Ad LibraryšŸ‘‡

The Direct Response to Brand Jackpot šŸŽ²

By 1988, those whoā€™d doubted AJ could see for themselves just how wrong theyā€™d been; heā€™d bought his first house outright and was enjoying his business success.

But AJ had an itch. He knew there must be a way to expand beyond print and TV, but just couldnā€™t put his finger on how.

Then, one day, he found himself sitting at a $5 blackjack table in Atlantic City, NJ. The dealer asked what he did for work, and AJ told him he sold this product called ā€˜AmberVision sunglassesā€™ on TV.

The dealerā€™s eyes lit up. 

ā€˜I see that commercial all the time,ā€™ he said. ā€˜Youā€™re the AmberVision guy!ā€™

What AJ realized in that moment was something that would revolutionize his career: he was creating brand recognition without even realizing it. And if people knew what a product was by the name alone, he should be able to sell that product in retail stores all across the U.S.A.

In other words: brand recognition would be AJā€™s ticket to scalability.

The AmberVision Guy goes retail šŸ˜Ž

AJā€™s vision was clear: if he could leverage brand recognition, heā€™d be able to sell in retail stores across the country while advertising on TV.

With that in mind, AJ set out on a series of high-profile meetings with executives from Americaā€™s biggest retail chains; Caldor, Jamesway, Woolworthā€™s, Bradleyā€™s - all with the aim of persuading them to sell AmberVision in their stores.

His hopes were dashed, however, when the same answers came back again and again and again

  • ā€˜Youā€™re a competitor, we canā€™t work with youā€™ 

  • ā€˜You canā€™t sell sunglasses in a boxā€™ 

  • ā€˜Customers want a choice of styles, but you only have one!ā€™

So there he was in a meeting with Hermanā€™s Sporting Goods, about to give in, when the boss happened to walk by. ā€˜Whatā€™s this guy selling?ā€™ he asked.

AJ showed him the box and the boss recognized it immediately.

ā€˜I see these on TV all the time! Thatā€™s a great product. Letā€™s give him a test order.ā€™

It wasnā€™t much yet, but brand recognition had given the Infomercial King his first big retail break (and it would soon turn out that you can, in fact, sell sunglasses in a box!)

ā€˜As Seen on TVā€™ āœ…

AJ knew that reminding consumers that theyā€™d seen AmberVision sunglasses on TV would be key to their retail success. With that in mind, he came up with the now-legendary ā€˜As Seen on TVā€™ red label. With this, he hoped to jog shoppersā€™ memories.

Clearly, it worked:

Hermanā€™s 200-piece test order sold out on day one. They immediately ordered 20,000 more.

And they werenā€™t alone, either: other vendors whoā€™d previously turned AJ down were now willing to look past the productā€™s ā€˜flawsā€™ and put in test orders of their own.

Ambervision trailblazed the ā€˜As Seen on TVā€™ revolution and today has made over $150 million. The success seen here highlights the importance of brand recognition as a fundamental step toward Direct Response advertising success.

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Rinse and repeat šŸ”

AJ isnā€™t sentimental about products and never stands by items that arenā€™t selling.

Heā€™s prepared to fail 95% of the time and swiftly move on when he does.

His process looks something like this:

šŸš€ Launch hard at low cost

āŒ Find the 5% that works and cut the rest

šŸ“¢ Double down on the 5% and market like crazy

šŸ” Repeat

Want to see the products heā€™s been able to scale?

Weā€™ll cover that in part 3, coming soonā€¦

In the meantimeā€¦

šŸ The Takeaway: AJ's Million-Dollar Formula šŸ

So there you have it, folks - the secret sauce that turned a broke college kid with a $20,000 gamble into the $100M/year "Infomercial King." 

Let's break it down one last time:

Key Takeaways from AJ Khubaniā€™s
Direct Response Success

šŸŽÆ Solve Real Problems: Pick products that fix everyday headaches for millions

šŸ’” Keep It Simple: Go for easy-to-make gadgets that won't break the bank

šŸ” Build Customer Love: Happy customers come back for more - it's that simple

šŸ‘€ Brand Recognition is Gold: Why not scale with Direct Response ads AND build a brand at the same time? Thatā€™s what AJ did with his genius "As Seen on TV" label.

šŸƒā€ā™‚ļø Fail Fast, Scale Faster: Ditch the duds, double down on the stars

AJ's journey from pizza slinger to Direct Response mogul shows us that with the right formula, a dash of courage, and a whole lot of hustle, anyone can hit the jackpot. So what are you waiting for? Time to take that $20,000 gamble of your own!

Stay tuned for Part 3, where we'll dive into the products that made AJ's empire soar after this initial big win. 

Trust us, you won't want to miss it! šŸš€šŸ’°

Have a great week!

The VidTao Team

PS - Go here to claim a Free Trial of the all-new VidTao 2.0 YouTube ad library (complete with 10 million+ unlisted YouTube ads & their landing pages)

PPS - Are you spending $1k/day+ on Paid Ads? šŸ‘‰ Go here to set up a free YouTube Ad brainstorm chat.