Archive for the ‘Marketing Rants’ Category

It’s the dawning of a new age. 32.4%* (or perhaps more) of the people  using the Internet are “social media experts”. They promise you riches  beyond your wild dreams, so long as you open a Twitter and Facebook  account.

(*Yes, I completely made that statistic up…much like many of those experts are making things up as they go along too!)

While I absolutely don’t dispute the positive influence social media can have on a business, I am  alarmed by some of the advice that flies by me and  countless others in the course of their day.

Let’s take this past Sunday as an example. As I lay in bed, I opened  up Twittelator on my iPhone. It’s what I do when I’m bored, feel like  seeing what people are up to or when I feel like making some silly  observance or remark.

Although the problem I speak of is ongoing, two things stood out on  this lazy Sunday that were particularly alarming.

#1 Myth: Email is a Dying Art

A friend tweets about what could be a useful guide on backing up  your Twitter account. But the marketing was misleading and one  statement stood out like a sore thumb (like a thumb that had been  bulldozed over and over, at least 436 times). The sales page said:

“Email is a dying art.”

I could make this a long-drawn out post, extolling the power of opt-in  email marketing (it’s direct, everyone has an email address and the effectiveness of a targeted opt-in list has not diminished in the last 8 years I’ve been using them)…but  let’s forget about that for a bit.

We all know (or we should know) that the best way to make more sales  is to sell to existing customers…instead of putting all our efforts into getting new ones.  When people purchase from you, you get an email address and that’s how  to keep in touch with them. It’s how you follow up…it’s how you sell  more.

Let me repeat – everyone has an email address, at least anyone who is going to make an order from you (i.e. YOUR customer). That’s why you ask for an email address when someone buys  from you. You can suggest they follow you on a social media site, but  Twitter, Facebook or X social media site will never become the  standard of communication. Email is a standard that runs across all  kinds of platforms, plus it offers:

• Private communication: It’s how your customers can ask questions and get support. And even if you use a ticket system, it’s still in conjunction with email. And yes, while some companies provide basic help to customers through Twitter and other platforms, detailed and private help comes directly through you.

• Privileged communication: Let’s face it, our customers should be treated in a privileged manner. They’ve shown they’re interested and that they are willing to spend money. You want to give them special offers, advanced access and other perks you don’t give to just anyone who becomes a Facebook fan. You can make a TON of cash, just by treating your customers better than everyone else.

• Direct communication of any length: No 140 character limits with email. Say what you want and how you want to say it…no extra clicks to the sale required. THAT is priceless.

• Continuous access: Not everyone checks email every day, but you can bet  that IN GENERAL the consistency with the average individual checks it is more consistent than with social media accounts. Of course, there are exceptions for those who live and breathe social media, but we’re talking about the general public here. And yes of course, you need to understand your own market to know what is best for you and for them.

We Heard This Dying Song & Dance Years Ago

All these email marketing is dead myths seem all too familiar.  Rewind about 4-6 years ago and people were saying it then. At that time,  they said RSS would obliterate email. But that never saw the light of  day, for many of the same reasons social media won’t replace email as  a marketing tool. Let’s look at the RSS thing:

i. Not everyone uses RSS or even knows what it is. Same issue with  social media today.

ii. As a business, you can’t directly market/sell as well through an RSS  feed. What you blog about and what you email about is not likely to be the same. Email allows for direct marketing and  selling…and you should take advantage of that. Today, social media lacks the same powerful direct marketing possibilities.

#2 Myth: Social Media Can (or Should) Be The Backbone of Your Business

Another friend posted a link to some guy who was looking for case  studies that would prove “social media cam be the backbone of a  business”. Nope, not a baby toe bone or even a little knee cap…a  full-on backbone! He said he felt businesses could run most of their  daily operations through social media. I assume (although his blog post didn’t clearly say), he meant that sales, support and customer relations could be run completely through social media.

Now I must admit, starting my business prior to this golden age of  tweeting, gives me a different perspective. I can empathize if it
feels like social media is a relatively easy way to get some bites for your business. I think it’s very valuable for that, but if you get stuck on social media as being the crux of your business, you put your business in the hands of other companies who have other agendas in mind.

So here’s my advice to you, if you are relying on social media to  build your business, make sure you have a core business plan in place to ensure proper growth and maturation of your business on your own terms. That is, if you don’t want to work like a slave and have a business  that grows and thrives over the long term.

You need mailing lists (including a highly-treasured CUSTOMER list), you need to focus on marketing methods that don’t have you sharing  this morning’s breakfast for hours on end. And most of all, your business is yours. It depends on you, your assets and skills…it  should not depend on the latest social startup.

I remember when I built my first website in 2002. It was a simple  site…I even used Microsoft Word to create it. Yes, I know coding  geeks everywhere are gasping in horror at the thought.

But the great thing about this site is that it was functional. It  served its purpose and served it well. Granted, esthetics weren’t
quite as important then, but just like today…if you get your message  out there to your targeted audience in a meaningful way, you’ll go far.

Fads and trends came and went. We had keyword stuffing, link farms and scraping software. Everyone was looking for a quick fix to get them their desired Internet riches. Those who approached Internet marketing from a quick fix perspective either burned out a long time ago or they eventually woke up and changed their ways. If you want long term profits, you’ve got to treat what you’re doing like a business. And if you’re actually building a business, the basics haven’t changed that much over the years.

The main core basics still apply:

You’ve got to have a target market that has money to spend and you need to have a product they want. If you want to eliminate competition, you’ve got to craft a USP (Unique Selling Position) and you need a clear message that conveys that USP. These concepts pre-date the Internet by far and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Of course, web website traffic methods may arise that are unique to Internet marketing. But the way you evaluate those traffic methods hasn’t changed – not one bit. You want targeted traffic and a good ROI (Return on Investment). See – if you’ve got the basics, you can do this Internet stuff.

More basics that were here then and are still here now:

• Nurturing your regular readers, customers. Getting to know them better, giving them what they want, selling them more stuff.
• Constantly evaluating what’s working in your business and making adjustments accordingly.
• Using the written or spoken word to show compelling reasons to buy your product.

If you started with fads and have hopped from one thing to the next,  you’ve missed a golden opportunity to build a solid foundation for  your business. Just think if you started with the basics, where could  you be now? Of  course, it’s not too late…2010 still presents a  world of opportunity.

Go grab that opportunity now. And ahem, while you’re grabbing that opportunity, get your instant access to my Greatest Hits collection. It’s a collection of interviews, guides and audio recordings I’ve put together over the years. Grab yours by Dec. 24 and you also get free access for a friend…plus, you’ll receive my 2010 Planning Guide & Workbook. All the details are here.

I hear the complaints all the time.

“Gurus don’t want you to succeed, so they can continue to sell you their rehashed crap.”

“Gurus are people who would never succeed in any type of business besides selling products to Internet marketers.”

Well, in some cases, it may be true. But you know, I prefer to live in a world where people are mostly good… and surround myself, where possible, with only good people. I simply choose to forget about the rest.

If a guru got you down, banish him from your inbox and your life. No need be dramatic about. Just click unsubscribe and move on with your business.

I’ve written about clearing your Inbox before here and here.

I’ve also written about finding your guru or teacher in the past (just can’t find the link right now).

But somehow, people get into the same traps of information overload and overwhelm. You sign up for a free offer here and buy a product there… and soon enough your inbox is crammed.

But let’s go back to the complaints and the subject of this blog post. If you gurus don’t want you to succeed or are duping you in some way, it’s time to take control of your success and your business.

Because after all – Who is responsible for your business?

Yep, that’s right. You. The CEO. The head cheese.

You call the shots and are responsible for the ramifications of your decisions. So don’t make decisions based solely on what someone else tells you.

No matter how good the guru or adviser, they don’t know your business like you do. So what may be a perfectly acceptable product that they are promoting, may not be the right thing for you.

Your business.
Your decision.
Your responsibility.

If there’s one thing to be said about the Internet it’s that you can (appear to) be anyone you want.

Like:

• 80- year old granny selling cookie mixes made lovingly in her kitchen.
• Hot supermodel (with a picture to prove it) looking to connect with men.
• Millionaire guru peddling his latest and greatest get-rich-quick product.
• Social media expert (with tens of thousands of Twitter followers to prove it)

Of course, our Internet Marketing Sweetie readers don’t put up fronts, but the fact of the matter is… many do and it’s important to be aware of the fact.

So while the sage advice of emulating the successful can be helpful, beware of whom you perceive to be successful. What you see is not always reality.

So, how do you find successful mentors?

Define success for yourself. Many people feel popularity and exposure are the definition of success. Others are more concerned about much money their businesses are putting in their bank account. And still, there are others who are less concerned about the dollar figures, and more interested in achieving their ideal lifestyle through their business.

Knowing what success means to you will help you find those successful people you are looking for.

Don’t take everything at face value. Look for consistency and potential clues from the messages people send. Whether it’s a blog post, email, or Tweet – people reveal a lot about themselves.

Of course circumstances change over time, but if you detect the person isn’t revealing a consistent message. For example, if rich guru suddenly runs a fire sale because the bank is going to foreclose on their house… be weary.

Just really pay attention. Make sure what they say matches the image they’re putting out.

Research them. Find out what other people say and scrutinize those reviews. If they’re just glowing affiliate promotions, you may need to dig deeper. But you can learn a lot seeking out the opinions of others.

I live in a world where people are basically good, but there are all kinds of people. Some people do deceive with bad intentions. Other times, it’s just good people getting caught up in a persona. And even other times, people may not even be trying to project a particular success image, but we look at them and make our own judgments. So with that said, use a little noggin with those judgments.

This is something I’ve thought about many times in the past and after a recent occurrence, it’s fresh in my mind again.

In short: Make sure you protect the privacy of your human assets – your subscribers, customers and clients, and affiliates.

The fact that someone is your subscriber, customer, client, or affiliate, doesn’t mean you then have the right to broadcast that fact.

(Side note: I’m not speaking legally. This is not legal advice. I’m just suggesting that as online business owners we respect the desire for other people’s privacy.)

Here’s what I’m talking about:

Many people will excitedly gush if someone of note signs up for their newsletter, but that’s private information and it shouldn’t be shared. Neither should you be blogging about it or posting on a forum when they buy a product or join your affiliate program.

If you want to share this information, ask permission first. You may see a high profile person purchased your product and think that could be good PR… so ask if you can share the fact with the customer.

First of all, that customer may not want those details shared. And second of all, PR attempt may backfire if she doesn’t like your product, it wasn’t what she expected or is somehow unhappy with her purchasing experience.

All these problems can be avoided with simple communication.

Here’s Another “Real Life” Example:

I recently sent out a very small promotion during a product launch. It was just a casual mention of a couple pre-launch goodies to a customer list.

Well, this affiliate manager (who means very well, I know! And I’ve talked to him about it) was running a contest on this launch. I did not expressly enter this contest, but found myself listed on the contest update page with a thanks for my efforts. This page also listed individuals who had earned prizes and other “honorable mentions”.

Now I admit, part of my annoyance for being listed is an ego thing. I wasn’t working toward a prize as I wasn’t committed to the launch, so my being listed as being in the contest makes it appear as though I can’t deliver the sales. It’s bad for my rep.

Well, guess what? We all have egos (so do your customers, affiliates and subscribers) and we all have reasons we expect privacy. It doesn’t matter what they are, those reasons should be respected. If people want to publish my involvement in something, they should ask me. If I had entered a contest and was told winners and participant names would be published, that would be one thing. This is not the case and unfortunately, this is how a lot of people approach the JV portion of their launches.

I realize it’s done to motivate and reward, but it should be handled a little more sensitively.

Look at How You Handle Sensitive Information

Are you publishing names of people whose privacy you promised to protect?

Are you tweeting to your clients that you’re working on something for them? I have coaching clients that are my friends on Twitter and I would never dream of saying anything (no matter how generic) about that relationship, unless they publicized it first.

Use your judgment of course. If you’re a VA for a client and your working for them is generally public knowledge, it’s probably no biggie.

But if you’re a ghostwriter for someone, they may not want you sharing that fact with the world.

So some may say, going back to my affiliate contest example, that my involvement in a program isn’t really a secret. The fact that I promote a product will be seen by my mailing list and anywhere else I promote the product. Sure, but the nature of our relationship should be my decision to reveal to others. Plus, in the case of this affiliate contest… I did not enter such contest, but the affiliate manager implied that I had and publicized it.

Now, do I suggest affiliates should have to specifically enter contests? Not necessarily, but be sure that at some point you receive permission to publish names.

Of course everything comes down to judgment and I think, for many of us, we need to exercise more of it. And whenever we run into a situation we aren’t sure of, just ask.

Following up on my small rant about “correctly“…

Often when I’m interviewed, people ask me “What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made with your online business?” I always find it hard to even process that question.

Sure I’ve goofed up a lot, but I prefer not to view things in terms of mistakes or negative experiences. For me, every goof up, mix up or blip has been a learning experience for me.

From causing my whole website to disappear to setting up my Yahoo group newsletters so people could spam it, to delivering the wrong product to customers… I’ve learned a lot of things. I still make mistakes, but it’s a part of life.

I think a lot of people focus on mistakes and worry so much about making them that they are paralyzed.

They think:

1. What if this isn’t the right autoresponder for me? (Result: mailing list not built – lost profits)

2. What if my info product isn’t good enough? (Result: no products are sold)

3. What if this isn’t quite the right WordPress theme? (Result: blog isn’t updated – lost traffic)

4. What if my sales copy isn’t good enough? (Result: no products sold and no opportunity for split testing an improving conversion)

I think you get the point. Without action, nothing happens. And without action, you don’t get to learn the best course of action. Sometimes you just have to DO to get where you want to go.

So what is my biggest mistake? I don’t have one because I can’t consider something that helped me learn and grow to be a mistake.

So maybe the question for you is: “What was your Biggest LEARNING Opportunity?”

I believe I ranted about this somewhere before (maybe to SSRC members – I forget), but it’s something that irks me and is often a real disservice to students of Internet marketing (whether they’re beginners or trying to expand their knowledge and skills).

I’m talking about the notion that there is a “correct” way to do anything for your online business.

You’ve seen the articles:

- “How to Correctly use Twitter”
- “How to Correctly use Article Marketing”
- “How to Correctly Conduct Keyword Research”

Please! There are almost always multiple ways of doing things and what you choose will depend on:

- Your desired outcome
- Your available resources
- Your style and preference

… and any number of other factors

Let’s face it, these articles are usually opinion pieces, presented as fact. Now I realize in many cases they are written to be helpful and authors mean well, but I think the language we use has a huge role in the way we act and think in our businesses.

Business is not a series mathematical equations (unless you’re doing your bookkeeping) or spelling tests from elementary school. And in business, some times 1 + 1 = 3 when you get surprising results from something you try to do a little differently.

I’ll admit it, I’m opinionated. I say words like should and urge you to do certain things. But at the end of the day, the choice is yours and it’s never “incorrect”.

And even if you end up choosing the wrong way for some of aspect of your business, it’s a learning experience. One you and your business can grow from.

Man, I thought safelists were dead. Seems they’re back with a vengeance and a new twist on Twitter.

You probably know I’m not the type to go all crazy for social networking sites, but I LIKE Twitter. Well, I used to like it a lot more. Now, I just think some Internet marketers have gone a little nuts, cheapening the experience for everyone.

I’m also not one to tell people how they should Twitter. I may have my opinions, but I think people should use it the way they’re comfortable. HOWEVER, I draw the line when people’s use of Twitter (or any site) impinges on the ability of others to enjoy their experience too.

The cool thing about Twitter, until recently, is that you had complete control over your own experience. If you get annoyed by spam followers, don’t auto-follow back. If you don’t like all the welcome DMs…don’t follow so many people. If you don’t like what someone tweets, unfollow them. It’s as simple as that.

But then I realized something the other day (and forgive my naivity until this time – I was enjoying my Twitter bubble). Here’s how it happened:

On Monday, my father-in-law said to me, “So I joined that Twitter thing because you said it was simpler and better than Facebook.”

I said, “Oh yeah?”

He replies, “But I think I made a mistake.”

“A mistake?”

“Yeah, I made a mistake and followed you because as soon as I did, I had all these people following me. [My wife] was wondering who all these people were and wanted to know why I had so many friends!”

He was joking on the wife thing (my MIL wasn’t annoyed or anything, but curious!), but I realized. Damn! People are mining my follower list (some near instantly) and following people that follow me.

Now it would be one thing if people were looking at his profile after seeing him following me and decided he was follow-worthy. But here is his profile (I’ve blacked out some information to protect the innocent and not-so innocent):

Why the heck would people be rushing to follow him? There’s NOTHING there. NOTE: He’s down to 2 followers because it’s been several days and I guess the people who auto-followed him have removed him for not following back.

What is This Madness?

Are people really this desparate to look popular or have they truly been duped into thinking that random people are going to increase their business? Hmmm…I’ve got an email list of 30,000 I can sell you for $20 if you’re interested. LOL!

Of course, this is all still just my opinion, but I think it’s downright rude and slimy. Think of the average person coming on Twitter who happens to follow an Internet marketer. BAM…suddenly, they’ve got all these followers who are so obviously trying to sell something. Not cool.

I was really surprised by the people who are doing this, but then I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s often people with really high follower counts who also follow tens of thousands of people (but obviously, this isn’t a instant indicator of such activity).

What I’d Like to Do About It

The other day I asked:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To which I got the kind reply:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And LOL, I did check Asfaq’s profile to see if he might guilty of such actions, but he looks like a fully human Twitterer to me.

So I proceeded to block those who were using this technique. I was really upset by one of them as I enjoy her tweets, but when you start to make others who know me feel uncomfortable – sorry. You gotta go.

So Please, Do Me a Favor If You Use This Technique

If you use this type of script that mines followers, post a comment here with your Twitter ID, so I can block you. Or simply send me an @ message on Twitter, so I can block you.

Yes, I’m serious. I won’t say anything bad about you, single you out or anything. I just don’t want to participate in your numbers game. Now, I don’t care if you try to amass a bunch of followers and look at my follower list to see who might be of interest. But this automated garbage isn’t cool with me.

NOTE TO MY LEGIT FOLLOWERS:

I’ve felt a bit overwhelmed by the noise on Twitter for a while. At first, I just followed everyone who followed me, but then I got to 900 people I was following and I realized:

• This is TOO much noise.
• I’m following people who really have no interest in me. They just want to pump up their follower numbers.

To help me manage my Twitter better, in the next few weeks, I will be unfollowing people I don’t immediately recognize. This is NOTHING personal. If you’re a subscriber, blog reader or customer of mine, just @ me and ask me to follow you (we will be searching names against our database before removing, but we may make some mistakes). I’ll be happy to do so. I simply JUST want to hear from people who have some interest in conversing with me.