Carbon Copy Marketing “No No’s”

There is actually a course called Carbon Copy Marketing, but this blog post makes no reference to that course since I know very little about it anyway.

What I’m really asking is “are you a carbon copy marketer and to what extent is copying someone elses marketing blueprint benefitting or hurting your online business?”

I’m all for copying to a certain extent but as marketing estrodinaire, Jim Connolly and I discussed with the some weeks ago, following someone elses marketing blueprint can actually be detrimental to your business.

What was interesting from my conversation with Jim was that he has been in marketing for many years and then when he came online, what he did, was applied his knowledge of offline marketing, online.  This is an observation I had made many years ago from the “big guns” in Internet Marketing … most of them worked in marketing prior to making a living online.

Now, I’m not suggesting you give up your online marketing strategies to go learn all about offline marketing since I think perhaps the underlying success factor amongst those who applied their offline strategies online, had something that I believe many online marketing beginners miss ….

They have a real understanding of marketing

They know “how” marketing works … who their target market is, the mindset of their target market and what will make them buy and, they apply these basic principles to their online business.

One of the few things I remember from working toward my MBA, was just how “bad” it was to compete on price only and yet online, whilst subtle, many marketers compete on price!  Have you noticed that all the home study courses cost more or less the same.  Membership sites are popping up all over the place using the same price structure?

The value added bonuses are from the same circle of affiliate marketers and to get the bonus, you have to opt into their list?

If you want to be different, if you want to stand out from the crowd, it’s time to add some value to the products and services you provide.

I stopped competing on price a long time ago but the value I give goes way beyond building a blog.  As I explain to prospects, in the early days when I built blogs, this is as far as most of my clients went with their blogs … the first and last post, was the one I helped them write.

When I began adding value by focusing on building an online business using a blog, over 95% of my clients worked their blogs and made it work for them.

The difference … I stopped competing on price and focused on giving value. And for me, this meant increasing my prices, not lowering them.

The likes of Tesco supermarket make value mean “cheap” but we are not cheap!

We are providing a solution to people wants.  And do notice I said “want” and not “need,” since want is actually a far more powerful motivator than need.  This is why the likes of Tesco do well with their “value” range … they appeal to those people who think they need to cut on spending when in fact, most of them want to reserve money for their wants … going to the cinema, eating out, buying their child a new computer game.

So, how do you add value?

You have to be different?

How do you “be” different?

You have to be creative and, you can start this creative process by asking “how do I want people to feel when they consume my product or use my services?”  “What value can I add that my competitors are not providing?”  You can create your niche within a niche just by being different and therefore, even in a so say oversaturated market, you can compete successfully and win.

Until next time,

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Image Advertising is Dead!

It was refreshing to watch Andrew Lock’s first episode of Help My Business Sucks earlier today as he talked about the fact that Image Advertising is Dead.

If you don’t know what image advertising is, it’s what Coca Cola, Ford Motor Company and other large organisations do … they take every and any opportunity to get their logo in front of you and, they attach emotion to their logo by advertising their product in the happiest setting such as on the beach or work break time (Coca Cola and Diet Coke for example).

The problem with image advertising is it’s hugely expensive and the truth is, few companies using image advertising make a return on investment but yet, they still pour millions of dollars into advertising in this way.

If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur, be warned …

Image Advertising is Dangerously Expensive to the Longevity and Growth of Your Business

I know most people are not going to want to hear that because this is what they were taught in Business School.  I was too, so it’s not sour grapes!  My MBA taught me little about “real world” marketing and depite spending in excess of £10,000 ($20,000) to earn it, it cost me much, much more to learn how to marketing my business both online and offline.

But I’m going to reserve my spiel about what it cost me participate in Image Advertising and the BEST way for small businesses and entrepreneurs to approach marketing for my next blog post.  For now, I want you to watch Andrew Locks’s video and take note of his 21st Century methods for marketing your business.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised that you don’t need an MBA to market effectively.

Until next time,