STRATEGIES FOR CO-BRANDING IN YOUR ONLINE MARKETING

Online co-branding can be a little complicated.  If an Internet user clicks on a link on your website and is taken to a web page that has a different brand or company it can get a bit confusing.  They will wonder why they have been directed to an entirely different web page with unrelated content.  When it comes to co-branding you need to choose partnerships that have something in common with the product or service that you’re selling.

Co-branding can be very cost effective, particularly for small online businesses.  However, if you choose the wrong partner, or too many partners, it might be more harmful than beneficial. 

Adding Partners to your Website

As a small business you need to be cautious with your marketing budget.  When you add a partner to your website you need to ensure that you’re going to see strong and positive results from the union.  These positive results can include more traffic to your website, increased online sales, or more contact with your customers.  Online branding can be costly so be sure to choose partners that can benefit your business.

Co-branding is known by a variety of definitions that include:

•    Joint promotions
•    Value endorsements
•    Joint ventures
•    Alliances

Co-branding works best when both you and your partner company each provide a related service or product to the same types of customers. 

Powerful Co-branding:  Studies show that most online users like the idea of co-branding because it helps them to make decisions about the hundreds of brand name products that they come into contact with on the Internet.  When top-quality brands join together in a partnership it strengthens their customer’s approval.  If you have a lesser know brand it will be to your benefit to partner up with a more well known brand so that your overall image is improved and so that you get more exposure on the Internet.  And if a popular brand partners up with a lesser known brand it won’t harm the popular brand.  Your best bet is to partner up with a company that is equal to you.

A partnership needs to make sense and customers need to understand the connection.

Guidelines for Co-branding:  If you have the right partner you can share the costs of marketing as well as strengthen your company brand.  You’ll also have access to a larger customer base.  Following are some important co-branding guidelines:

•    What does your co-brand partnership say to your customers?  Will it make your customers feel better about themselves?
•    What do you and your partner have in common?  Are both of your products innovative?  Are they dependable?  You want to make sure that your image makes sense for your current customer base.  You don’t want to lose your current customer base but instead you want to build on it.
•    How does your co-branding partnership benefit your customers?  Will it save them money?  Or will it save them time?  Your marketing campaign should make the benefit very clear to your customers.
•    Your goal with co-branding should be to find the best solutions for your customers.
•    There should be an equal value for both brands in the partnership.  You need to have an equal partnership or your marketing strategy will be uneven.
•    Will your customers easily be able to see the connection and value of your partnership?
•    Does the co-branding partnership bring you into contact with new customers?

The above guidelines need to be answered before you join in a co-branding partnership.  Joint promotions take a great deal of time and thought to be implemented correctly.  However, when done correctly and accurately, a co-branding partnership can bring you results that are far better than other traditional online marketing methods.

One of the basic rules of online marketing is:  take your message, content, and promotions to your customers rather than focusing too much energy on the effort of trying to bring customers to your website.

Integrating Partnership Products

When it comes to co-branding partnerships you need to take the time to include the benefits of both brands into the overall design of your marketing promotions.  This way your customers will understand the connection between both products or services.

Simply putting your company logo, or a link to your website, on another company’s website will save you time and money but at the same time may cause you to lose some potential customers.  Co-branding that is successful never leaves your customers wondering exactly what website they are on.  Partnerships should improve a customer’s shopping experience by helping them to make buying decisions.  You’ll want to exchange content with your partner so that you both expand your expertise in the industry.  However, you’ll need to incorporate this content into your website so that it flows naturally and fits in with your own content.  The end result will be beneficial to both of you when you maintain professional consistency.

Complementary Partners:  Your website will be more legitimate and competitive when you have co-branding content that is well integrated into your own web pages.  Co-branding will only help your business if it complements the business goals you have defined for your company.  Always keep your business goals in mind no matter what online marketing strategy you’re trying to incorporate into your business.  This means that all your website content, promotions, and activities with your co-branding partners encourages your customers to follow through with the sales action.

THE BEST TYPES OF WEBINAR SOFTWARE AVAILABLE TODAY

Modern technology has brought marketing to a higher level. With the use of the internet, many marketing tools have been created such as article marketing, blogging, e-newsletters and social networking. Aside from these, another marketing tool is slowly on the rise. This is called the webinar which is derived from the merging of the word web, another term for internet, and seminar. Thus, webinars are seminars that are given out with the internet as the medium.

With the increasing popularity of webinars, different software were developed to support it. In order to come up with the best webinars, a webinar host should wisely choose the webinar software that he is going to use because it would determine the success of the webinar to some extent.

The decision to buy a particular type of webinar software should be based upon your specific webinar needs. Today, with the attention that webinars are getting, the most relevant type of webinar software is one that can be used for a big audience. As webinars are mostly being organized for marketing purposes, they usually target a bigger number of prospective clients. As such, choosing one is the wiser move since you can also use it for a smaller audience as well.

One such software is GoToWebinar which is considered to be one of the top webinar software available today. Its best asset lies on the fact that it is very user friendly. Even a person who has mediocre knowledge about the technology could easily use it. It also has several features that would really prove helpful to the webinar host which includes preset email templates and webinar registration. There are also free features like voice conferencing and practice sessions.  As this software is user-friendly, it can be set up anywhere as long as it is compatible with the computer. It can accommodate up to a thousand people for each webinar.

Aside from the above features, a good type of webinar software should also provide other functionalities like white boards for collaboration and interaction. Chat rooms are good to promote interaction among the members of the audience. Remote control capability would be beneficial for the speaker or the moderator.

It should be remembered that getting good webinar software does not guarantee the success of the webinar. It is actually value-rich content and skilled presentation that would ensure the sales, however, if you top these with the best webinar software available, then you would have a powerful tool that could skyrocket your sales.

BUILDING A COMMUNITY IN YOUR ONLINE MARKETING

Over 93% of Internet users take part in some type of online community.  But just why are online communities such a draw for so many people? 

•    Online communities are much like a virtual café, bar, or other gathering place for people to get together with people with similar interests.
•    Online communities are a great place to learn something new.
•    Online communities are where people can be anonymous and share their problems and fears.
•    Online communities allow people to talk with people of the same mind so that they can confirm their beliefs.
•    Online communities allow people who are facing a hardship to feel less lonely.

Online Community Defined:  An online community can be accessed anywhere at any time.  Some of the components of an online community include chatrooms, message boards, newsletters, event calendars, and anything else that lets an Internet user interact with others who are online.

Why should you be concerned about online communities for your online marketing strategy?  Customers who take part in an online community are a good target for your sales because they have a high affinity for loyalty to your product when they are participating in an online community.  When you have a strong and solid online customer community you know that you’ve built a loyal following for your company and the products or services you sell.  Your loyal customers will spread news of your company through word of mouth and this will further increase your sales.

Message Boards:  It will be to your benefit to provide your customers with a message board on your website.  You can break your message board up into categories for your different products or services and encourage your customers to share their ideas and opinions with others.  This is the first step towards building an online community.  Customers will answer each others questions and this will save you some money on the cost of customer care.  You just need to make sure that you moderate the message board on a regular basis so that your customers are getting accurate information.

Message boards also give you some great feedback about the products or services you’re selling.  Honest feedback from customers lets you better take care of their needs.  You also get to learn a lot more about your customers and what it is that they want from your business. 

Message boards are an important part of your website and your online community.  You can develop a message board without spending a lot of time and money.  Begin by asking your website hosting company if they can provide you with a message board template that you can include in the hosting package.  Otherwise look on the Internet for a message board that is free.  Choose a message board that fits the look and feel of your website so that you’re maintaining consistency.

Message Board Content:  A successful online community isn’t just a common message board.  The content on your website will play a big part in the quality of your online community. The more professional your website content is the better the quality of the message board.  Always keep in mind that it’s content that attracts readers and should be your major concern when it comes to your decision to develop an online community.

You’ll find that fresh content ideas will start to flow when you have an online community.  You’ll know exactly what your customers are looking for and just how you can provide that for them.  Active message boards are a cost efficient way for you to provide great customer service.

Message Board Calendar:  Calendars are a vital part of the online community because they allow people to meet offline.  Even if your company doesn’t have any offline events, a calendar will let you post valuable industry information.  For example, if your company sells stationary you could list the dates when you’ll be attending trade fairs in the search for new products for your customers.  This type of information lets customers know that your website and business content is ever changing.

Contests:  Contests are a great way to get customers excited about your company and your website.  Ask customers to share a story about how your product or service has benefited them.  When the contest is over you can post these stories, along with the names of the winners, on your website.  This marketing technique provides you with customer testimonials and is also a good way for you to see what your customers are interested in.

Maintaining an Online Community:  It can take a lot of work to maintain your online community.  You’ll need to invest a certain amount of time and effort if you want the benefits of an online community to come your way.  Make sure that all of your staff is involved in the maintenance of the community and that they know the importance of responding immediately to posts from your customers.  When your online community is in its beginning stages you might have to plant some of your own questions, answers, and comments to the message board.  Once traffic to your online community builds it will start to flow on its own and will require less maintenance.

Other Online Communities and Ad Space:  If you don’t think that you have the time and manpower to maintain an online community you might want to consider buying ad space on a community that is already established and which has a high profile on the Internet.  The online community should have some connection with the types of products or services that you’re selling.

THE TOOLS YOU NEED TO SUCCESSFULLY RUN A WEBINAR

Webinars are one of the most potent tools for marketing today. If you intend to include it in your marketing strategy, you must first establish that a webinar is the right marketing tool for the product or service you are offering. Once you have established this, your next step is to learn about the tools that you need to successfully run it.

There are three basic tools you need in order to come up with a good webinar. The first one is your webinar planning sheet. This sheet must contain all the necessary details that are needed to complete the webinar. The objective of your webinar should be primarily listed in this sheet. Are you looking to increase your sales? Do you want to get an appointment with each of your audience? Or do you want to educate your audience? You have to set a specific objective so that you will be able to map out your road to this.

The webinar planning sheet should list the possible titles of the webinar. You must remember that the title should already assert that the webinar will benefit the audience so as to catch their attention. The sheet should also list down the topics you want to tackle in relation to the title. The list must include a discussion on the problem that you want to solve with your product or service, your own testimonial on how you were able to overcome the problem or answer the need, the testimonials of other people or a discussion on the cases wherein you were able to help others, solutions to the problem and a call or encouragement to your audience to act upon similar need through the product you are endorsing.

The next tool that you need to have is your visuals. These tools are considered the heart of the webinar. As webinars are transmitted through the web, it could be difficult to hold the attention of the audience for long. They might fall asleep when they only hear your voice drone on and on for an hour or so. You can avoid this by preparing good visuals that would maintain their interest.

The last but very critical tool is technology. You would need a webinar hosting account, web conference software, telephone line, computer and, of course, internet. Although technical glitches can happen, you as the host should make sure that the technology you use will work on the day of the webinar. Thus, it would be wise if you can conduct a dry run once or twice prior to the webinar.

E-MAIL MARKETING IN YOUR ONLINE MARKETING

As the Internet has grown, e-mail marketing has become one of the most efficient and cost effective tools for online marketing.  E-mail marketing drastically affects businesses whether they are B2B or B2C (business to business/business to consumer).  Marketing through e-mail increases your brand loyalty and increases your customer service through the eyes of your customers.  When permission based e-mail marketing is done right it can be more effective than any other type of online marketing strategy.  The thing to keep in mind is that no one single component of online marketing can stand on its own.  For instance, an e-mail newsletter needs to have a great website to back it up as well as interest in your business to build your e-mail list in the first place.

The number one activity online is e-mail.  This is why e-mail can be used as a great online marketing tool.  Many Internet users say that they would rather get marketing messages in their e-mail than be bothered by sales phone calls at home.

Permission Based E-mail

One important key to an effective e-mail marketing strategy is to only focus on permission based mail.  This means that customers need to choose to receive mail from you.  This is known as “opt in”.

You should never rent or buy an e-mail list since this is considered to be spam.  No matter what the owner of the e-mail list will tell you, the majority of the addresses on the list did not opt in to receive e-mail or to have their personal information sold to you.  When you send e-mail to people who don’t want it you’re sending spam.  Spam will give your company image a cheap look and take away any trust that customers have in you.  You want leads that are quality and not quantity and this means building your own e-mail list.  You’ll find that the final results will be tremendous to you and your business.

E-mail marketing should be considered an extension of the customer service that you provide.  You want to be able to communicate with your customers at every point in the sales process.  When you give your customers what they ask for, without abusing any permission, you establish the base for a relationship that is founded on respect and leads to long term customer loyalty.
Build your E-mail List

It takes time to build an e-mail list but once you do you’ll have the names of people who are genuinely interested in what you’re selling.  The one thing you need to remember is not to abuse a person’s trust once they give you their private information and e-mail address.  Let your customers know that you value their trust and will respect their privacy.  You can do this through a privacy policy on your website where you promise not to sell information to other businesses or vendors.  You can go so far as to let your customers know what you’ll be e-mailing them and how often they can expect it.  Always provide people with the option to remove themselves from your e-mail list.  This promotes customer confidence.

If you take part in joint promotion and/or co-branding with another online company make sure that you don’t trade e-mail lists.  What you can do is include information about that company in the newsletter you send to your customers.  All e-mail should come only from you.  You’ll lose your customer’s trust if they think you’ve sold their personal information to another business.  And this means that they will disregard any future communication with you and your business.

To get people to join your e-mail list don’t ask them for much more than a few bits of information at a time.  You need to gain their trust before asking for too much information.  You can start out by asking for their name and e-mail address.  Your future marketing promotions will help you fill in other information such as age and demographics.  It will take time to get a clear idea of who your best customers are and what they want to get out of your website and e-mail newsletter.

If customers have trust in your business it won’t be hard to get an e-mail list together.  Gaining trust is as easy as holding a contest, offering discounts or coupons, regularly changing your website content, or providing informative newsletters.

Should you have on offline store, a great way to gather e-mail addresses is by asking people to give you their business card if they want to win a free lunch.  Other offline methods of gathering e-mail addresses include networking events and trade shows.  A good rule of thumb is:  if someone gives you their business card that has their e-mail address on it you can safely assume that it’s okay to send them an e-mail at least once.  If they don’t respond back you should then assume that they are not interested.  Take these non-respondents off your e-mail list.

Goal Oriented Marketing:  After you’ve created your e-mail list it’s time to develop an e-mail marketing plan.  Determine what your business goal is and how you plan to achieve this goal:  through (1) repeat customers? (2) more leads? (3) e-mail marketing?  You want to define your goals as well as you can so that you can keep track of the process.

E-mail Newsletters

If you’re going to send a newsletter via e-mail you need to provide incentives for people to want to stay on your e-mail list.

Ideas for Content:  You don’t always have to offer discounts or a free product as incentives to customers.  The content of your newsletter can also be a good incentive.  Good newsletter content includes:

•    Customer submitted success stories.
•    Information from experts in your industry.
•    A section for questions and answers.
•    News and/or statistics about your industry.
•    Feedback from customers.
•    Tips about your products or services.

Your newsletter shouldn’t include information such as “about you”, your company history, or your company news.  This type of information is only valuable for investors.  The bottom line is that your customers don’t really care about what is happening in your business.  They only want to know what you can do for them.  Good newsletter content is anything that catches the interest of your customers.  A newsletter, just like your home page, has only a few seconds to attract the attention of your customer before they decide to delete it.  Your newsletter should immediately let your customer know what you can do for them, how you’re going to do it, and why they should do business with you.  Newsletters are a great way to promote your business but make sure that you take into consideration the content, the length, and the frequency of the newsletter.

Keep it Short:  Your newsletter should be concise, short, and get to the point.  It should be no more than 1000 words and deal with no more than five different products or services at one time.  People don’t like to read lengthy e-mails.

Newsletters that deal with too many departments are more difficult for you to update.  This could be a roadblock to you sending out newsletters on a regular basis while at the same time providing new and fresh content.  If there is too much information in the first e-mail your customers won’t want to click through to your website.  And a no-click means you have no way to keep track of the success or failure of your e-mail marketing strategy.

The main difference between online marketing and traditional marketing is that online methods allow you to track what is happening.  If the e-mails you send out don’t encourage customers to click to your website you won’t know what is working and what isn’t.

Frequency and Timing:  You need to determine when and how often you’re going to send out e-mail newsletters.  You don’t want to send e-mails out too often as this will overwhelm your customers.  At the same time, you don’t want to wait too long between e-mails or your customers will start to forget who you are.  Timing and consistency will vary depending on what type of business you have.  If you’re not sure when and how often to send your newsletters, just ask.  Whenever someone joins your e-mail list ask them how often they would like to receive an e-mail from you.  Another way to track frequency and timing is by sending out e-mails at different times during the week.  Then keep track of which days have more viewings of your e-mail and your website to determine what day is the better one for sending out your newsletter.

List Hosting Services

You can build, send, and keep track of your e-mail marketing campaign by using an e-mail hosting program.  Using an e-mail program is an important method of effective online marketing.  An e-mail hosting service takes away some of the work of manually adding and deleting addresses from your database.  These services also have the ability to test your newsletters before you send them out.  There are multiple templates for you to choose from which means that you won’t have to learn how to use html in order to send a newsletter that is professional looking.  If you decide to use a template make sure that it matches the look and feel of your company brand and website.  Consistency is the key to effective online marketing.

E-mail list hosting services allow you to track and manage your e-mail marketing campaign.  You have the ability to receive reports that have precise details about which links and graphics your customers have clicked on.  This information lets you change the content of your newsletter when you know what it is that your customers most want to read and see.  As you start to send out more newsletters you’ll get a better feel for what it is that your customers want.  This is why you want the content of your newsletters to be flexible.

You should create newsletter content that is somewhat based on the profiles of the customers you’re trying to reach.  The majority of e-mail list services will allow you to set up your subscription pages so that your customers can indicate what they want to receive from your company.  When you can identify the audience that you’re writing for you can modify your newsletter so that you include the right kinds of promotions and product information.

If your newsletter contains something of value, such as travel information, your customers are more likely to forward the e-mail on to friends and family.  When you establish yourself as an expert in your industry, by giving your customers the information they want to see, you build credibility and trust.

Always keep in mind that no matter how great your newsletter content is, there is no guarantee that people will read it.  One way that you can make sure your newsletter isn’t deleted before being read is by have a great subject line.

Great Subject Lines

Many newsletters and business offers are never read by Internet users for the simple reason that the e-mail didn’t have an effective subject line.  A subject line may only be a few words but these few words are very important.

As more and more e-mails fill our in-boxes it’s more important than ever to have a subject line that catches our attention.  The subject line is one of the most important aspects of your e-mail marketing campaign because it’s what creates a first impression for your business.  With just a few words you can encourage someone to read your newsletter or you can cause them to delete your e-mail without another glance.

Here are some simple rules for creating a great subject line:

•    Keep the subject line direct and short.  Subject lines should never be more than ten words long.  In fact, five words or less is the perfect length.  Most e-mail browsers won’t let users see more than five or six words so a longer subject line will be truncated and not seen by the user.  Use strong and descriptive words rather than fluffy adjectives such as “very”.

•    Emphasize the benefits to the reader.  You want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to know precisely why they will benefit from reading your newsletter.  This can be as simple as a “reward” for just opening the e-mail.  A reward can be information or a discount coupon.  You want to use catch phrases such as “save money” and “save time” to get a reader’s immediate attention.  The key is to entice your customers to want to read more and open the e-mail.

•    Ask questions.  When you ask a question in the subject line you cause a reader to become curious and want to know more.  As well, when you ask a question the e-mail sounds more like it’s coming from a colleague rather than just a business and will more likely be opened and read.

•    Personal subject lines.  One big mistake that screams “spam” is sending your e-mail to “undisclosed recipients”.  Make sure to always use your company name or real name as the sender. Try to put the recipients name in the subject line if there is room as well as insert it into the greeting of the e-mail. 

•    Take advantage of holidays and current events.  If there is an upcoming holiday, such as Christmas, you can tie it up with your e-mail subject line.  For example, “Save time on your Christmas Shopping”.

•    Avoid using the word “free”.  Hard sales phrases, such as “free” and “limited offer”, are often filtered out by e-mail services since they are a clear indication of spam.  As well, try to avoid using hype which includes explanation marks or all capital letters.

SEVEN DAYS TO PROFITABLE BLOGGING SCENEN 6

The social networking and bookmarking debate

So far, we've touched on the basics of commenting, blog marketing and mybloglog – now we're going to go into slightly more advanced techniques for garnering readers.

Social networking and bookmarking has grown in popularity alongside blogging and though not all of them are designed to be used with blogging, most of them are.

There are four main ones that I always suggest people focus on

http://digg.com
http://stumbledupon.com
http://del.ico.us.com
http://technorati.com

Being fair, the last one isn't actually bookmarking, but is still, nevertheless, one of the mother lodes when it comes to promoting your blog.

Technorati.com

Technorati is quite literally, an index of all the blogs in the entire world, that it can see.

It tracks every blog post, removes the splogs, and then spits out a result based on the tags that people are using.  The more people using the tag, the more traffic it gets from Technorati, because in addition to tracking what people are doing, they share what their users are doing.

Technorati is one of the best 'non community' communities out there – you can't really hang out there and talk blogs, not least, you can't talk YOUR blog, like you can on mybloglog, but you can see what other people are using similar tags to yours for, and work out how, if any way, you can use that to your advantage.  At the very least, its yet another way to find other people's blogs (see Day 5).

Technorati, though not a community where you can talk YOUR blog, is still also a valuable place to get blogging tips as a whole – and find out where the hot trends are – tie them into your niche, and you'll generate more traffic.

Del.icio.us.com

Del.ico.us was one of the first bookmarking systems I ever used, and its great.  It was designed for people, originally, to store the stuff that interested them, and share it with others, and access it 'on the go'.  People soon discovered that like most social networking sites, delicious had a huge traffic effect for the sites that were being bookmarked regularly
This effect, further exploited by Digg (designed specifically around sharing the 'best of the community) has meant that blog bookmarking sites are gaining in both popularity and spamming.  And though del.ico.us is a less effective means of bookmarking than Digg, it shouldn't be overlooked.

Another great use for delicious is to use it to categorise information and links that you want, either from a research perspective, and to offer your readers links that show you are actually involved in your community.  Its amazing what a little relevant linking will do – and there's even some commentary that it works in tandem with your Google rank, because though Google looks for the votes to your page, in the form of links, it also looks for the pages you're linking to – possibly as a measure of how much you are involved in the community or niche you've chosen.

With its clean, clutter free interface, Delicious is also a great site in general to use, and was one of the first 'web 2.0' true sites.

Digg.com

Digg is, quite honestly, the mother ship when it comes to generating traffic from social networking – you can be pretty much certain that if anyone makes it on Digg, they'll soon be complaining.

NO server is designed to stream the loads that people see, after becoming a top Digg – its quite likely that though most people hope and dream of seeing traffic like that, you'll experience it once and think twice about ever attempting it again!
Digg is a great place to gain readers from certain niches – its a 'geeky' site, a lot like Slashdot, and is designed to draw attention to the sites that are in those niches, with worthwhile things to say.  They do, however, have a business category, which means Internet Marketers, with the right slant, can use Digg for bookmarking.

Digging someone is sort of like saying 'I recommend this' – its a global word of mouth script, and is very, very good.  Every time someone 'recommends' or diggs you, you rise back up to the top of the front page, giving you a brief chance in the limelight.  If you attract more attention there, you'll be dugg again, and again, and again, or you'll sink until someone else diggs you.

There is no time limit on Diggs – no statute of expiry.  So its also a great way to get traffic to older posts – and probably most importantly, you can Digg yourself.  You shouldn't use your Digg account only for that, but its perfectly acceptable to submit your own site to Digg, occasionally.

The community can't – really – be gamed all that well, because its so vast, but there are ways to cheat at every social bookmarking site – Digg is SO huge though that many people find they just get...buried.

Like every community, it is, in part about friendships – the gaming effect would be really easy if everyone voted for everyone else, but, to be quite honest, most people vote for the stuff that really interests them.  So once you hook them as a reader they WILL vote.

There's also no harm (whatsoever) in encouraging your readership, as it grows, to digg you, to bookmark you on delicious, or to add you to other sites – there are plugins and widgets designed specifically for that purpose – just make sure your traffic is voting for the best of your material, and you'll garner even more readers.

The main thing about Digg is its like a snowball.  Gain enough momentum and people will continue to vote for you and you'll keep popping right back up to the top.

Stumbled upon.com

If by its nature, Digg is deliberate and chaotic, stumbledupon.com is just plain chaotic.  Its a site designed around the 'random' browsing of most traffic exchanges and the voting of Digg.  Stumbled upon though brings a surprisingly steady stream of traffic to most people – you place your site in categories and you are stumbled (randomly visited) from there.

Combine all four (and any others you personally enjoy) with MyBlogLog and there's no reason why you can't gain a couple of hundred readers a month within a few weeks.

Social bookmarking itself is one of the things that is still – pretty much – an unknown factor in traffic generation.  Its important to remember that NOTHING is guaranteed, so if you do undertake any work on social bookmarking sites, track your results carefully.  If you get a good result, then continue, but remember that if you've only got a finite amount of time to promote your blog, and you have to produce content first, and then drive traffic second, then you should consider cutting 'loose' anything that's hard work.

You CAN take short cuts.  Bookmarking demon is one of several pieces of software that allows you to bookmark your blog without logging in, and out of each site and can speed up your time with bookmarking considerably.  The only caveat to this is like every other 'auto' posting program, they can get you banned for spamming and should, generally, only be used in moderation.

HOW TO PITCH YOUR PRODUCT DURING THE WEBINAR

If you are intending to use webinars as your primary marketing tool, you might have been advised that one of the errors you can make in hosting a webinar is to make it into an infomercial about your product. Covertly selling your product during the webinar might turn your audience off especially when the content of the presentation is entirely focused on the product. On the other hand, not mentioning or emphasizing the product at all would give you the sales results that you want. What you need to do is to create a balance between the informational and promotional aspects of the webinar.

To achieve this balance, there are several considerations that you would have to think about in conceptualizing the webinar. The first one is time. You should remember that your sales pitch must not overshadow your goal of giving something of value to your audience. Thus, in a webinar that lasts for about one hour, 45 minutes should be spent teaching and the remaining 15 minutes should be allotted for the promotional part. If you go beyond this, you might not be able to establish the rapport that you need with your audience.

While this time assignment is ideal, there is no assurance that you would be able to sell your products by following it. This leads us to the second consideration in achieving that balance in your webinar. What would actually sell your product is how you present it. A good sales pitch would include a detailed explanation of what your product is, testimonials from people who actually bought the product and were benefited by the product and, of course, how and where they could buy your product. You must also be able to give credible answers to the questions from the audience about your product.

Another important consideration if you really want to achieve your sales target is for you to be able to establish a need for the product in the informational part of the webinar. You should be able to present the rationale why they have to buy your product. Once you have done this, it will be easier for you to promote it since their minds have already been set to look for their options to answer the need that you created.

GENERATING ADVERTISING THAT IS FREE IN YOUR ONLINE MARKETING

One of the best ways to get leads on the Internet is by getting a product mention or a free link on another website.  Effective online marketing is all about putting your product or service in front of potential customers at the exact time that they are looking for it.  This technique is known as “pinpoint marketing”.  Pinpoint marketing is much different than advertising on radio or television, which are known as “interruptive marketing” techniques.  Interruptive marketing costs a lot more than pinpoint marketing and is less effective for the simple reason that you’re attempting to put your product out there in front of everybody instead of pinpointing those potential customers who want to find out more about you and your business.

Pinpoint Marketing:  Pinpoint marketing is the process of sending the right message at the right time so that it produces actual results.  For example, if you’re at a ball game and are eating a bag of popcorn. Just when you take a handful of popcorn the Coca-Cola logo appears on the big screen.  The next you thing you know you’re looking for the first vendor who can sell you a can of Coke.  However, if an advertisement for a new car appears on the big screen while you’re watching the game and eating popcorn, you’re less likely to be interested since it’s not something you’re looking for at that moment.  Interruptive marketing isn’t really targeted because it’s not something that you are actively looking for.  People who use the Internet are usually looking for a solution to a problem.  When you put your product in front of them at the right time you’ve reached a potential customer.

Day-part Marketing:  The placement and timing of ads on the Internet has become so important to online marketing that some companies, such as Yahoo!, are selling advertisements in “day-part”.  Day-part is something that has always been done in television advertising.  Day-part marketing works like this – specifying at which time of the day certain ads are viewed so that you can effectively target your customers. 

Embedded Marketing Messages:  These days, more people than ever are using the Internet to research a product before they buy.  As well, most Internet users are becoming more serious about the amount of time that they spend online.  Studies show that users are spending less time on the web and that the time they do spend surfing is focused and deliberate.  Many users bookmark their favorite websites so that they can access information fast and easily.  When people want a solution to a certain problem, such as a health issue or taking a vacation, they often look online for the answers.  This is why it’s important for you to put your product or service right in front of them whenever you can.

Establish Credibility

One of the main problems with online marketing is establishing credibility with your customers.  Since there are so many Internet scams out there people are wary of whom they do business with and even more cautious of companies they are unfamiliar with.  As a small business you need to gain credibility on the Internet by making your logo and company name a familiar item to Internet users.  One way that you can achieve this credibility is by setting up a shopping cart on Yahoo!  You’ll not only have access to the technology of shopping carts you’ll also find yourself affiliated with a familiar and successful online company.  This gives customers the confidence needed to do business with you.  When a customer buys something from your online Yahoo! Store they become more familiar with the name of your company and will be more likely to buy from you directly at your website the next time around.

Get your Content to Other Websites:  Another way that you can build credibility online is to swap content.  If you can position an article that includes a link to your website on another website that is at the top of the field of your industry you increase your chances of credibility.  This then increases your sales potential.  But just how do you get web editors to take any notice of your company?  In chapter 3 you learned the value of web content for companies of all sizes.  You also learned how expensive it can be to purchase web content.  The bottom line is that more companies are willing to trade a free mention on your website for a good article.  This way the content provider gets targeted and free advertising for their product or service, and the company that is posting the article (and the link) can feature content that is informative and valuable.

You can get some great leads by writing articles.  When a potential customer reads your article you establish yourself as an expert in your field.  When the customer links over to your website you have a very good lead that can generate sales.

People who use the Internet want results that are immediate.  They know exactly what they are looking for so your advertising message needs to be appropriate, concise, and to the point.  You need to think about what kind of people will be accessing the website where you plan to post your article. 

Swapping Advertising:  A great way to get your product information out to people is by using links, banner ads, coupons, and swapping articles.  If you’re in the home renovation business you can trade articles with other businesses such as painters and electricians.  In fact, you can trade articles with anyone in your chosen industry that isn’t in direct competition with you.  Extra content on your website will give you more credibility while having your articles on other websites will lend your company a position of authority.

Word of Mouth Marketing

The second most common way that people find new websites is word of mouth.  Search engines are the number one way.  Word of mouth can be generated from message board postings by virtual strangers or by e-mailing friends.  Effective word of mouth is known as “viral marketing” and is one of the biggest success stories on the Internet. 

Viral marketing works in much the same way urban legends and funny jokes on the Internet work as they are forwarded all around the world.  Viral marketing takes advantage of the socialization needs of society.  No matter how small the social network starts out as, effective viral marketing can turn a small unknown company into one that is known everywhere in the online world.  Some of the biggest companies on the Internet rely on viral marketing to stay successful.  You can set up an effective e-mail marketing strategy without a big budget or a lot of technology.  All you need to do is set up an e-mail signature that has a marketing message within it.  This marketing message will be attached to any e-mail that your company sends.  Messages are easily set up through Outlook and other e-mail programs.

You can take the concept of e-mail messages one step further by attaching your marketing message to all mail that is outgoing.  This is done through a simple process known as “mail rerouting”.  When you use this process you can track the results as well as know for sure that every outgoing message will look and feel the same no matter whether you or your employees send the mail.

Something for Free:  Everyone wants to get something that is free.  When you offer something that is free the word will spread very quickly.  And free offers will bring traffic to your website.  However, most small online businesses can’t afford to give away much for free.  What you can do is become creative and offer a free product for the first 20 people who buy another product from your website.  This can be as simple as movie tickets.

Message Boards and Chatrooms:  Message boards and chatrooms are great places for word of mouth and viral marketing to flourish.  This is particularly true for those people who are 25 years of age and younger.  In chatrooms people share ideas and concepts and this can lead to some great leads for your business.

E-mail makes it easy for people to share ideas and concepts with others anywhere in the world.  If you can attach your marketing message to these infectious e-mails you’ll be able to create a buzz and stir about your product or service.  When potential customers recognize your logo or company name you’re on your way to gaining trust, credibility, and the close of a sale.

Domain Names:  One last thing to remember when you’re trying to spread information about your company is the effectiveness of a memorable domain name.  You want to pick a domain name that is easy to remember, easy to spell, and that relates to what you’re selling.  When people easily find your website you’ll want to make sure that your home page content is dynamic so they keep returning.

USING FACEBOOK TO GET A BUSINESS RECOGNIZED ONLINE

Using Facebook to get a business recognized online is very effective and easy to do. Facebook users range in the millions at any given time thus making the platform for target audience almost infinite. Understanding the working of how to go about optimizing this tool will contribute to the success of any endeavor.

Just creating a profile is simply not the end to the Facebook style of launching and capitalizing on any endeavor. It entails much more than simply this and the following are some points to consider:

After creating a suitable profile the continuous step of ensuring the line of communication is kept open at all times is important. Positioning the business platform and staying in touch with the viewers will give the site the exposure it needs.

Unfortunate but all so true is the fact that the eye makes judgments’ long before the actual material is examined therefore presenting a pleasing file picture is very important as is the follow up information featured. This is the one chance the posting has to attract the viewer within the very slim window of opportunity.
The wall is the main platform of interaction thus the need to post relevant and interesting content. Keeping this light and entertaining will help to keep viewers come back for more.

However constant alerts may cause an annoyance so striking a comfortable balance is important. Society now is predominantly more attracted to visual stimulation and this is further broken down into the popular viewing of pictures and photos and other similar platforms when compared to the written word.
 

Therefore there is a need to explore the possibility of offering a well designed pictorial viewing that will help to enhance the viewer’s experience. Getting into a Facebook group is also another way to create interest in the endeavor being promoted as those within the group are usually like minded or connected to the posting in a more personal way.

THE 7 GREAT LIES OF NETWORK MARKETING - LIE NUMBER SEVEN

In my last post of the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing we stopped at Lie No. 6 – You just don’t have enough belief.

 

On this post we shall continue with Lie number seven (7) which is the last in the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing.

 

Lie No. 7 - The proven system
Just follow the proven business plan! This is basically a culmination of all the other lies.
The so-called “proven” business plan is a broken-down, rusted system that’s composed of faulty techniques and out-dated methods. And the worst part about it is that not only doesn’t it work, it’s severely harmful to your business (and your social life).

 

The only thing that the proven system is proven to do, is cause massive failure. According to the annual reports of many mlm companies, along with research done by numerous tax preparation services, only 1-2% of network marketers earn substantial incomes.

 

Similar studies indicate that 97% of network marketers never reach a positive cash-flow in their business. These sobering numbers give solid proof to the fact that the strategies and techniques being taught only work for a very small percentage of people.

 

Please understand, when I refer to “the proven system,” I’m not talking about network marketing itself, but the way people build network marketing. The techniques being taught are SO bad that they make this business as difficult as it possibly could be and success becomes nearly impossible. Distributors literally have all the odds stacked against them.

 

Let’s just re-cap what we’ve already covered:

1. Many times people are lied to, about the fact that they’re in sales.

2. Distributors are either provided no sales training or the training that is provided is extremely poor and ineffective.

3. Most of the sales methods commonly used are annoying “used car salesman” tactics that involve tricking – even lying – to your prospect, cramming information down their throat and relentlessly hounding them for the close.

4. The idea that anyone can do this business leads to the “thrown-‘em-up-against-the wall- and-see-who-sticks” mentality that is largely responsible for the attrition rate in this industry.

5. Because of the lack of good sales background, most people resort to hype and over exaggerated claims to win over customers and prospects.

6. Way too much emphasis is placed on motivation and belief…while the real rock-solid fundamentals of sales and marketing are ignored.

7. Distributors are given the impression that because their company’s product is the greatest and their compensation plan the most lucrative, they’re guaranteed success. This is far from the case.

8. Distributors are told that everyone is their prospect…which leads to millions of network marketers pestering the living daylights out of every human being they cross paths with…creating enemies of this industry in their wake and all the while seeing no results for their efforts.

 

No one who knows anything about marketing would ever, in their wildest dreams, try to sell to people who have no interest whatsoever in their product – let alone people who are downright hostile to it! Yet that’s exactly what network marketers are taught to do! Sales can be challenging enough as it is, let alone trying to do it when you’ve got two strikes against you by using crummy techniques.

 

The whole model of coffee appointments, home parties and hotel meetings completely ignores the real key to success, which is this: getting the customer to come to you first.
You see… People Never Want What’s Forced On Them! All those motivational speakers just tell you to waste more time, energy and sweat chasing people. And when it doesn’t work – get this - you’re supposed to do even more of it. That’s like telling a drowning man to drink more water!

 

Here’s another lesson that the proven business plan fails to take into account: More important than the company…the person…the product…or even the message…is the market!
If you’re not selling your opportunity to people who genuinely crave what you have, you’re always going to be trying to force a square peg into a round hole!
You can be selling the tastiest burgers in the world but if no one’s hungry, no one’s going to buy.

 

Here’s a million dollar secret for you to chew on: A Mediocre Message To A Great Audience Will Always Do Better Than A Great Message To A Mediocre Audience!

 

Fully comprehending said principle will change your business career forever. No exaggeration.
Therefore, your biggest concern should always be to make sure you have the right/best/hungriest/most rabid audience possible.

 

This also explains why it’s so puzzling to people when they bring a friend to their hotel meeting and they witness a phenomenal presentation, yet seem to be totally indifferent afterwards. They weren’t the right person in the first place.

 

There are millions of people who are actively trying to figure out how to make money from home. What good marketing does is stand right smack dap in the middle of this flow and catches people when they’re hottest – while they’re seeking solutions to their problems. It enters the conversation that’s already going on inside their head and gets them to take action.

 

In order for a business owner to be successful, they have to have a system that consistently does this for them over and over again. You hold up your end of the bargain and a good system will produce for you. It has to be fool-proof.

 

One of the most important functions of your system is that it needs to make sure you’re only spending your valuable time with the highest quality people. Prospecting simply means sifting and sorting through people to find the ones who are interested (aka – a lead). The sheer volume of lead flow you need to have coming into your business is impossible to achieve if you try to do it all yourself on an individual basis.

 

Doing it the old manual-labor-make-a-names-lists-and-ask-for-referrals way is like using a typewriter to bang out 10,000 letters when you could have a printing press do it in a fraction of the time. A finely-tuned marketing system should do this sifting and sorting for you automatically. It's like a machine used in a manufacturing plant: You put raw materials in one end, it spits out qualified results - prospects - on the other end. Predictably and consistently, ‘round the clock. Every day when you wake up you know it will produce new potential business partnerships for you to cultivate.

 

The problem that most network marketers face is that they spend so much time prospecting, they don’t have time to actually sell. Once you implement an effective marketing system, you can spend twice as much time in front of interested people and literally double your results immediately.

 

Sound good? But wait – there’s also the immeasurable benefit of positioning. When the customer finds you, instead of you finding the customer, her perception of you is totally different. She naturally has more respect for you and perceives you as a consultant, not a peddler.

 

Customers don't respect peddlers as reliable information sources. Any mlmer who goes out and tries to recruit people is improperly positioned as a “peddler.” By applying the above concepts, my business changed almost overnight. Sponsoring people became almost…well…too easy.

 

I don’t want to give you the wrong impression that everything is all of a sudden a cakewalk. There are a few months here and there were I’ve still had to work at it to get my numbers…but once I discovered these marketing and sales “secrets,” sponsoring double digits every month became the norm.

 

And you know what else? That whole problem of not having duplication went away. Because for one, I now had enough serious prospect flow to get the really good people in my business; and two, of course I was now teaching everyone in my organization the same techniques and they were sponsoring 5-10 people a month as well. Network marketing starts to get real exciting when your organization is putting out those kind of numbers.

 

Wouldn't you like your business to run that way? Wouldn't you like your sales process to be a machine that runs on autopilot, constantly generating leads for you whether you're awake or asleep? When you have that kind of marketing machine working for you…you'll make more money…have less stress…avoid the social grief that comes from warm market prospecting… enjoy the kind of natural motivation that comes from real results…experience visible, consistent growth in your business … you won’t have to work nearly as hard to get results…and your distributors will be forever grateful they ended up doing business with you instead of someone else, because they won’t become victims of the insane practices that dominate our industry.

 

So there you have it. The 7 great lies of network marketing. I was a victim of every single one of them for quite a long time. I never knew any better because that’s all I’d ever been taught. If I hadn’t been willing to look around and keep an open mind, who knows how long I would have continued beating my head against a wall.

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing but even more so, I hope it’s given you some fresh insight into this Network Marketing business and helped you realize that there is a better way to do it.


THE 7 GREAT LIES OF NETWORK MARKETING - LIE NUMBER SIX

In my last post of the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing we stopped at Lie No. 5 – We have the best product ever.

 

On this post we shall continue with Lie number six (6):

Lie No. 6 – You just don’t have enough belief!
Ughh!! Aren’t you sick of this one? Of all the lies in network marketing are there any that are more annoying than this one? The evil lie of motivation and belief has got to be one of the greatest shams in the history of sales (not just network marketing).

 

Millions of distributors everywhere are told that the reason they aren’t successful yet is because they just don’t have enough belief. Or they don’t have a big enough “why.” Don’t you just want to lose your lunch when some big shot in front of the room tells you that?

The heavy hitters in your company would have you believe that you just need to get to that “breaking point” where you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired and then…nothing will be able to get in your way!

 

So what do you do?
You listen to inspirational CDs.
You cut out pictures of the car you want to buy and the places you want to go.
You put those pictures everywhere – your fridge, your dashboard, your cupboard doors, your computer monitor – so you’re constantly reminded of what you’re working so hard for.
You think positive.
You go to every meeting you possibly can to energize your battery and “pump” yourself up for the week.
You go to the annual national rally because you know that just seeing all those massively-successful stars up on stage will be enough to kick you into overdrive.
You’ll be so overwhelmed and inspired that you’ll be unstoppable!
You’ll reach that magical turning point where everything starts working and your bank account is filled with cash!

 

Stop and think about it for a minute. Really think about it. Is that how it works? Is fanatical motivation really the missing ingredient to success? Last time I checked, you don’t need to have a huge “why” and a dream board just to make an average $30,000 income with a job.

 

So why do we need all that stuff in network marketing? I mean, wouldn’t it make sense that if you were doing what you’re supposed to be doing, you’d at least be able to make a comparable income with your business? Now I know what you’re going to say. Yes, of course owning your own business is different. It’s harder than working a job. You don’t make money immediately. It’s called delayed gratification. You have to lay the foundation first before you get paid. We all understand that concept.

 

However, network marketing doesn’t have to be as hard as it is for most people. The point is, if you’re truly building your business correctly, you’ll start seeing positive results, small as they may be at first. If you’ve been hard at it for over 3 years and you still aren’t cash flowing…something is seriously wrong! And I can guarantee you it’s not your motivation.

Think of it this way:
If You’re Using A Shovel To Dig The Foundation For A House – When You Could Be Using A Bulldozer – Then yes, You’re Going To Need A Lot Of Motivation To Get The Job Done.

 

Make sense? The more inefficient your system is and the more ineffective your tools are, the harder you’re going to have to work to get results. And because of that, you have to make up for it big time with motivation. When you’re using the right tools for the job…you’re seeing steady, consistent progress and things are trucking along smoothly…motivation becomes almost an afterthought.

 

Let me ask you: If you had highly-qualified prospects to talk to every day that understood what you do, expressed an interest in learning more and were eagerly awaiting your response, do you think that motivation would be a problem for you? No! But motivation becomes a major issue when you have to force yourself to pick up that 10,000 lb. phone to call your son’s soccer coach who you know doesn’t give a rip about your business! That’s when you need to whip out your handy-dandy goal statement and remind yourself exactly why it is you’re annoying the heck out of people.

 

That’s what I did. I willed myself to harass everyone on my names list 5 times over until eventually people just stopped talking with me. You know what though? I finally did reach that “magical” turning point in my business where all of a sudden everything started working. I went from barely signing up 1 person every 5 months…to sponsoring 10 people every month like clockwork.

 

What happened?
I stopped worrying about belief and started concerning myself with the real nuts and bolts of how to market a business. Which is this: Find the people who’re looking for what you have, use an effective marketing system to automatically sell to them for you, and then spend your time working with the best ones. That’s how I became so overwhelmed with interested prospects banging on my mail that I literally couldn’t handle them all myself.

 

But here’s the point I’m really trying to make: It Was Not My Motivation, Desire, Belief
Or Any Of That Intangible Stuff That Made The Difference In My Results. It was the system I was using.

 

You see, I was insanely motivated when I was getting poor results. I always was. That factor never changed. Neither did my belief, my desire, my discipline or my work ethic. I worked just as hard using a crummy marketing system as I did using an effective one (in fact, I worked harder with the crummy one). Motivation was not my problem and it’s not yours either.

 

You can be the most die-hard believer in the world…you can have the biggest “why” imaginable…you can have a desire so strong that there’s a literal physical burning inside you…you can be motivated till you’re blue in the face…but none of that matters if you’re using the wrong techniques.

 

If you listen to motivational tapes and you invest $50,000 into the stock market based on faulty, incomplete and outdated advice, are you going to make money? Of course not! It’s all about how you do something. Motivation Isn’t The Solution. It’s A Copout.

 

It’s what your upline tells you when you come to them broken and discouraged, looking for answers and they don’t know what else to say. It’s a very easy and convenient thing to tell someone who’s having a hard time in sales. You just don’t have enough belief! You aren’t motivated enough! You need to slap pictures up on your mirror of all the things you want in life! If you didn’t know how to help a frustrated mlmer, that’s probably what you’d say too.

 

Here’s what’s so great about the motivational lie: You can always get away with using it as a scapegoat because no matter how motivated someone is, you can always tell them they’re not motivated enough. And as long as they believe that hogwash, you never have to know what you’re talking about and you never have to give them any real, solid answers to their problems.

 

And that’s why people resort to using it. Because the truth is, they don’t know why most of their people aren’t successful.

 

Now I’m not saying any of this stuff is bad or that it’s not important. What I am saying is that when it comes down to it, you can do without the inspirational CDs. You cannot do without a good marketing system. Another crucial point to be made is that there’s a HUGE difference between internal drive...and…external motivation.

 

External motivation is almost like a drug. It feels great when we’re in the moment listening to a story of how someone defied all the odds and became the success we dream about being. We feel sure that this mental “boost” will be enough to carry us all the way to the finish line.

 

But then what happens? 3 days later the realities of life have kicked in and it’s already worn off. So we look for the next story to inspire us. And the next, and the next, and on it goes. It’s just a quick-fix, not a long term solution.

 

Do you know what the ultimate motivator is though? Real results!
In the last chapter I’ll explain how to get these by having people lining up to join your opportunity.

 

Continue enjoying your reading from our next post of the Number Seven Lie from the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing.


THE 7 GREAT LIES OF NETWORK MARKETING - LIE NUMBER FIVE

In my last post of the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing we stopped at Lie No. 4 – We’ll build your business for you.

 

On this post we shall continue with Lie number five (5):

Lie No. 5 – We have the best product ever!
Now it’s not that this statement isn’t necessarily true (although often it isn’t)…it’s that it doesn’t matter. Hang in there for a second, I’ll explain.

 

Like most of them, this lie takes on many different forms. Here’s just a few of the variations:
The product sells itself! Nothing else on the market can even compare to this! We have the most lucrative comp plan in the industry! Our leadership team is unbeatable!

 

Each one of these assertions could go off on their own little tangents, but really what they all boil down to is this: Network marketers place all the emphasis on all the wrong things. It’s not that all these things (product, comp plan, leadership, etc.) aren’t important. These are all critical elements.
The problem is that while everyone is hooting and hollering about this stuff, they forget about the most important factor of all.

 

To illustrate this problem, consider investment properties for a moment. There’s an important lesson to be gleaned from real estate that can help shed some light on the situation.

 

It’s often said that the three most important factors in choosing investment real estate are (1) location, (2) location, and (3) location. If you’re looking at a piece of property from an investment perspective, you shouldn’t be admiring the beautiful perennials out back…or concerning yourself with how many kids the neighbor has…or noticing how well the drapes go with the carpet. If you are, you’re looking at it through the eyes of a home owner, not an investor.

 

In order for your endeavor to turn out profitably, you have to keep the main thing the main thing. Well just like real estate, when it comes to running a highly-profitable business, a similar formula needs to be applied. Namely the most important factor of all is… (1) Marketing, (2) Marketing, and (3) Marketing!

 

This may seem obvious to you, but think about how many people go running around, diving headfirst into one company after another, following the latest and greatest product, only to end up scratching their heads when they don’t make any money. I know I used to.

 

Just as focusing on things like the landscape, the flowers and the neighbors is the way a home buyer looks at a property rather than an investor…putting all your focus on things like the product, the comp plan and the corporate leadership is the way a consumer looks at a company rather than a business owner.

 

Please allow this to sink in: You Can Have The Most Ground-Breaking Product In The World, But If You’re Not Using Effective Marketing, No One Will Know And No One Will Care.

 

Effective sales & marketing is bar-none the most important function of a business.
Think of it this way: A one-of-a-kind product that’s being shipped from one country to another is only as good as the truck that’s carrying it. If the truck breaks down and never reaches its destination, it doesn’t matter how great the product inside it is.

 

Well, your sales and marketing system is the truck that carries your product. No matter how good your product is, it doesn’t matter if your marketing can’t deliver it. Not only that, but sales is the only activity in a business that actually brings in the cash. Think about it. Every other activity uses up that cash.

 

The product, the compensation plan, the timing, the people, the leadership, the management…all crucial aspects of a business…but none of them are income producing activities. The revenue brought in from sales is what makes it all possible. It’s the driving force behind everything.

 

And that’s why you need to be more concerned about the sales strategies you’re using than anything else. This can’t be emphasized enough. It could be the most important thing you ever learn in your network marketing career.
And understand this: You Can Make A Lot Of Money With An Awesome Marketing Plan And A Mediocre Product. You Will Never Even Come Close To Making As Much With An Awesome
Product And A Mediocre Marketing Plan.

 

Like Seth Godin, former Vice President of Marketing for Yahoo!, says: “Marketing is all there is. You don’t win with better shipping or manufacturing or accounts payable. You win with better marketing…”

 

Why am I telling you this? What’s the lesson for network marketers? Simply this: Your product (or your opportunity), no matter how good, will not sell itself and will not make you rich.

 

Also, keep this in mind: You May Believe With All Your Heart That Your Company Is The Best, Hands Down… But So Does Everyone Else.

 

Therefore, the person who succeeds is not the one with the best company, but the one who can do the best job communicating the idea of their company. Now just so that no one gets the wrong impression, I want to stop and emphasize something. I am not saying that your product doesn’t need to be top-quality. It does. I am a firm believer that the only way to do business is to provide a product or service that far exceeds your customer’s expectations. Both for ethical reasons and for the obvious business reasons of getting repeat business from satisfied customers.

 

Anything that you sell to anyone should always be of enormous value in comparison to what they paid you for it. It should always over-deliver. An unbeatable combination therefore, is to have a killer marketing strategy and a killer product. You want the best of both worlds.

 

BUT_the reason I’m stressing marketing so much is because in our industry it is so sorely lacking. Many times people are given the impression that if they’ve got an awesome product, they’re as good as gold and the rest is all gravy. The product will do all the selling for them and they’ll be swimming in money.

 

At this point, you may be thinking something along the lines of: “Well, seeing as how I’m in network MARKETING…that means my sales and marketing system should be pretty much taken care of for me. I mean, we use one-to-one sales and word of mouth_which of course everyone knows is the most powerful form of marketing there is.” That’s what they’d like you to think. But unfortunately it’s not the case.

 

You see, one of the most important (and shocking) things I realized when I made my transition from a floundering distributor to a thriving one, is this: The Marketing In Network Marketing Is Missing!

I know that sounds crazy, but it all makes sense when you understand that…
(a) Network marketers do not truly use word of mouth advertising, as explained in Lie No. 2.

(b) Just because we use one-to-one sales does not in any way mean that it’s an effective form of one-to-one sales. That’s like saying - I play golf, so that makes me a good golfer.

(c) Most of the marketing materials (brochures, websites, etc.) used by mlm companies are awful and have very little value to you (the reason for this is too long to get into here but suffice it to say that most company’s marketing materials are little more than pretty showcases that fail to connect with what the prospect is really looking for).

(d) The “proven” system of names lists, referrals, warm markets, home parties and hotel meetings is not all it’s cracked up to be.

 

Continue enjoying your reading from our next post of the Number Six Lie from the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing.


THE 7 GREAT LIES OF NETWORK MARKETING - LIE NUMBER FOUR

In my last post of the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing we stopped at Lie No. 3 – Anyone can do this.

On this post we shall continue with Lie number four (4):

Lie No. 4 – We’ll build your business for you.
We’ve all seen the stuff on the net about fully automated online recruiting systems and how you can make outrageous money while they do all the work for you. Maybe you’ve tried a few. It certainly is an appealing idea. Who wouldn’t want a turnkey system that does everything for them?

Well, here’s the scoop on these type of deals: Why they appeal to people (not that that’s hard to figure out)…what they can’t do for you…and what a real automated system will do for you.

 

If you’re like most people, as I am, you’re probably a bit skeptical when you hear absurd claims like, “No selling or recruiting required - we build your downline for you!” As you should be. After all, if it was really that easy everyone would be driving a BMW right?

 

Really what these claims are is the lazy bum’s appeal.
“Just secure your position today and we’ll build and manage your downline for you. There are already hundreds of people waiting to be placed underneath you, all you have to do is secure your spot! With our amazing automated system, even a couch potato like you can get rich!” Just like every “get rich quick” scheme that’s ever come along, it’s an easy pitch to sell.

 

Because…People Always Want To Believe That The Road To Success, Fame And Fortune Is
Quick, Easy, Painless And Risk-Free.

 

An appeal to laziness is a very strong appeal indeed. The promise of something for nothing is as old as time itself. But let’s break this down a little further and reiterate a point I made at the beginning of this post. Network marketing is unique in that it’s a business venture that’s made available and offered to an extremely large amount of people. Never before has owning your own business had such widespread appeal.

 

With network marketing, the average person now has viable and realistic dreams of “making it big.” 50 years ago, the road to riches was not so accessible. You had to start your own brick and mortar business with employees and all the works. Here’s where the problem comes into play. You’re a salesperson. All business owners are.

 

There are two things that every network marketer sells. One is the products that the company provides, such as telecommunications services, nutritional products, etcetera, etcetera.

 

But what makes you unique is that what you’re also selling people is a business model. You’re selling them a vehicle to achieve whatever financial goals they may have. It’s really the first time that a business model has been sold to the public in this manner. Thing is, the average person, who’s known the employee model their whole life, doesn’t know a lot about business. They don’t understand basic business principles.

 

As a “customer,” the average Human is not business-savvy and does not know what to look for when selecting a home based business. So to our instant-gratification-society, the idea of a “hands-off” system that will generate a ridiculous income with no investment of time or effort and just a little bit of money, seems like an actual possibility.

 

Business 101 is that somewhere along the line, a product or service must be sold to an end consumer. If a company says that “no selling is required on your part,” this is a dead give-away they’re playing you for an idiot and you’re about to be taken to the cleaners.

 

Just ask yourself this one simple and obvious question: If No Selling Or Anything Else Is Required On Your Part, Then Why Would They Need You?
The answer is: They wouldn’t. If you’re not contributing anything to the business besides a measly sign up fee, there would be no reason to pay you obscene amounts of money.

 

You have to be contributing something in order to justify getting paid. That’s a fundamental economic truth. There’s no such thing as something for nothing. There’s no such thing as getting filthy rich with a $99 investment and no time or elbow grease.

 

Here’s what you are contributing in a real legitimate mlm business to make it work: The indispensable human interaction. This is why genuine network marketing companies do indeed need you and are willing to pay you big bucks for building a huge organization.

 

The key thing to understand is that…Automated Marketing Systems Are Crucial To A Successful Business – But They Can’t Do Everything For You.

 

The truth is, an automated system is only half the equation. You, a real live human being, are the other half. No matter what anyone says, network marketing is and always will be built on relationships. As any stable, long-term business is. Personal interaction and mentoring is the glue that holds an organization together.

 

When distributors hit those “rough spots” in their business, the coaching and advice that they receive from their sponsor…upline…downline…crossline…whoever…is what keeps their steam going. See what you’re really getting paid to do is manage an organization. Help your people succeed. Develop leaders. Something that no automated system can do.

 

No automated system will ever be able to replace human leadership and the ability to manage a group of people. Every person is different and is going to need individual guidance and direction in their path to success. It takes a human being to do this. And that is why you’ll never get paid for doing nothing.

 

Plus, all systems – no matter how automated they are – still require a human being to monitor and manage them. There is no perpetual machine that runs completely on its own steam. There still has to be someone who puts gasoline in the tank…starts the engine…operates the gas and the brake pedal…and turns the steering wheel.

 

HOWEVER…despite the trap that one can fall into when relying on systems, they are truly an indispensable piece to a successful network marketing business. It’s just important to know what they can and can’t do for you.

 

There are very distinct parts of your business that absolutely must be automated. (In Lie #7 I’ll talk more about these). Want to know one of the “dirtiest,” most best-kept secrets of the mlm industry?
Here it is: The heavy hitters don’t sell business opportunities. In fact, that’s the very last thing they sell to their prospects. This is not some tricky play on words either.

 

Continue enjoying your reading from our next post of the Number Five Lie from the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing.


THE 7 GREAT LIES OF NETWORK MARKETING - LIE NUMBER THREE

In my last post of the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing we stopped at Lie No. 2 - This really isn’t sales. We just share products with people.

 

On this post we shall continue with Lie number three (3):
Lie No. 3 – Anyone can do this!
This one is actually sort of a half-truth. A very dangerous half-truth. It can be very misleading because the simple fact of the matter is… Not All Network Marketers Are Created Equal.

 

Everyone comes into this game with different advantages and disadvantages. Some people have an enormous head start on others in terms of skills, time and money, and just because they were able to build an enormously profitable business in 24 months does not guarantee the next person will be able to.

 

The problem with statements like “Anyone can do this business!” is they imply that everyone - regardless of what their current situation is - can jump right in cold turkey and get the same results the heavy hitters got, just as fast. Here’s an example that’s not uncommon.
“Jane, who holds a high paying executive position in the corporate world, decides to enter network marketing. Say she was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for XYZ. She’s obviously got quite a background in sales or she wouldn’t have that job. So right off the bat, she’s way ahead of the pack. She’s also already making a high six figure income as it is, which means two things……First, she isn’t dealing with the same kind of financial “crunch” and emotional stress that most people experience as they try to pay their monthly residual bills. And……Second, she has plenty of cash to fund her new business venture”.

 

Now…if you’re looking at it from a “warm” market approach (a big mistake for anyone to make, which I’ll explain later) she also has truckloads of professional contacts to work with and these people have a lot of respect for her. Safe to say that pretty much everyone Jane knows is going to take her at least somewhat seriously if she brings a new idea to them.

 

She also has lots of professional sales contacts like herself, who also have tons of other professional sales contacts.

 

Let me ask you: Do you think that someone who’s a stay at home mom, secretary, college student, electrician, school teacher or bank teller is going to be able to see the same kind of results that Jane will in the same period of time? Probably not.

 

That’s just one example – more of an old school one – but here’s something else that happens all the time in mlm: When an upline with a big organization moves from one company to another and takes their whole team with them.

 

People on the outside looking in only see the rapid growth and big bonuses, but what they don’t see is everything that’s gone on behind the scenes. They’re not getting the whole story. Yes, that upline brought in a huge team with them and began earning big money pretty much right away…but…it took years and years before they got to the point where they were actually in a position to do that.

 

They had to develop relationships and build a team that was loyal enough to them that they would even be willing to move with them wherever they went.

 

The point though is that…
Everyone’s On A Different Timeline And There Are Multiple Puzzle Pieces That Come Into Play That Determine How Quickly And How Easily A Person Will Make Money. A big one is skill level.

 

As we discussed in Lie No. 2, multi level marketing is a sales business and the amount of sales skills that someone brings to the table in the beginning will have a huge impact on their success.

 

Anyone who wants to can develop sales skills. Some will take longer than others. Obviously someone who has 14 years of sales experience has a bit of an edge on someone with zero sales background and rather poor communication skills in general.

 

I don’t qualify people on skills because anyone who has a true desire can develop them.
Instead, these are the three areas I do qualify on: Time, money and interest.
I put people through a multi-step prospecting process.
I interview them to make sure they have a serious interest in building a long-term business…rather than just looking to make a quick buck.
I can’t get into all the details of a good marketing system here, but know that the more steps a person takes to get information, the more qualified they are.
I tell prospects that they can build this business with 8-10 hours a week, BUT – if they’re serious – they’ll need at least 15. The 8-10 hours needs to be pure action time (i.e. – income producing activities). After that you still need time for training and other “support” activities.

 

As far as money goes, every company is different when it comes to the initial start up costs. But aside from that, you do need an ongoing monthly marketing budget. Your upline or corporate team won’t tell you this, but it’s absolutely mandatory for running your business at full potential.

 

Without a marketing budget, you won’t have the constant flow of fresh, qualified prospects you need.

 

There are two ways to get these leads for your business.
You can generate them through your own advertising or you can buy them from people who do that for you. You want to strive to generate your own because the advantages of doing so are enormous, but that’s not to say buying leads from other sources doesn’t have its place. Sometimes a combination of both approaches can be highly effective.

 

But either way…without leads, you don’t have a business. Yes, you can start a network marketing business with very little time, money and skills. But what you start off with in the beginning will have a direct impact on how easy/difficult it will be for you and how long it takes you.
That said …I Occasionally Turn People Down. You Should Too.

 

If someone has only 5 hours a week and $50 a month, I’ll tell them it’s honestly not worth it for them until they can free up more time and a little extra cash. Let me just say that if they like the product and want to get it at wholesale cost, of course you want to sign them up. The majority of your income is generated from people like this. In order for a business to be profitable, it needs to move lots and lots of product.

 

However – if they are not in it for the product, you’re doing a disservice to both of you by recruiting them with the idea of building the business. It will only lead to headaches and in the end it’ll be more trouble than it’s worth. It’s in their best interest to wait until they’re in a better position. Starting a business ill-prepared usually only leads to discouragement, failure and ultimately quitting.

 

Are there people who have surmounted all obstacles and succeeded despite incredible odds against them? Absolutely. Which is why I’ll never turn someone down if they’re dead set on it. But the percentage of people who make it happen under these circumstances is so small that you cannot realistically count on finding these underdogs.

 

Smart business owners never plan on long-shots. They build their organizations by working with those people and performing those activities that are guaranteed to bring them the most results.

Take note: There is a trick though to making this whole thing work. The process of qualifying and setting requirements for your prospects can actually backfire on you and in fact, that happens to quite a few distributors.

 

Continue enjoying your reading from our next post of the Number Four Lie from the 7 Great Lie Of Network Marketing.