Who is in Charge of Your Marketing?

Are you in charge of your online marketing or are you leaving it to some third party?

I’m a big fan of Dan Kennedy’s marketing tips and when I first started online, I learnt some valuable lessons from him.  The one that really stuck in my mind is “be in charge of marketing your business.”

But what exactly does Dan Kennedy mean because if you’re a technophobe right, you don’t want to get your hands dirty or tied with website building, graphics or search engine optimization.

Well, the good news is, this isn’t what Dan Kennedy was referring to.

And, I’m going to use a real life situation here to explain my point and I hope after you read this short case study, you’ll be motivated to take control of your marketing.

I was speaking to someone a few weeks back who wanted to put some affiliate links on their site, but they had zero content on their site.  Naturally, I explained that putting up a banner with the affiliate link would be insufficient because to make money, they’d need traffic.

In short, it transpired that despite the fact that this person had been coached for 2 years, they didn’t have a clue about the process of marketing.

This person had thrown their hands up in the air saying they were not technical and in doing so had abdicated (and I do mean abdicated) their entire process of marketing.

Now, you’re probably asking the question “well what about her coach?”  Good question!  But here’s the rub … this person has changed their business model and online business so many times that I was not surprised that two years later, they had no content, no traffic and no business.

To me, it felt that in “deciding” that they were no good technically, they had outsourced everything technical (which is good) but also seemed to have adopted a mentality that you could make money online without traffic and without content.

Needless to say, I was very straight with them and suggested they go sign up to Ed Dales 30 day challenge so they could learn the process of marketing.

Even if you don’t “do” the techie stuff yourself, you need to understand that like anything else, there is a process to marketing.

If you fail to understand that process, you fail to understand marketing and you fail to be in charge of your business.  And the result … your business WILL fail.

With the casestudy I provided you with above, it wasn’t just the absense of content and traffic that was the issue, this person seriously missed the mark on how to get traffic.

I had one person say to me once “my blog’s been up for months now and not one person has signed up to my newsletter.”  Well the answer to that one was easy, “you have five articles on your site which are at best mediocre.”

And, I’m sorry if I offend the freebie seekers now, but learning how to do things properly online does not begin and end with gleaning “tid bits” from this site or that blog - here and there.  At some point, you’re going to have to SPEND SOME MONEY!!!  Did I shout!

I believe I did, but people really have to hear this.  None of us learned to read and comprehend grammar by picking up books and scanning them or reading a page from this book and another page from another.  Getting the whole picture is what what helped with comprhension.

So, if you want to be in charge of your business, you have to be in charge of your marketing and to do that, you’re going to have to learn the process of marketing.  The best way to learn?  Follow a step-by-step program.  If you find a free one then great and I do highly recommend Ed Dale’s 30 Day Challenge for starters.

You’d also do well to hire a coach or mentor who has done what you would like to do so they can show you exactly what you should be doing and, what to avoid.  Ask yourself the question, “how do I learn best,” and then find something that matches your learning style and stick to it.

Even if you outsource elemements of your online business and even if from day one, you have no intention of doing it yourself, understanding the process is going to turn you into a an intelligent and savvy marketer who will know the right questions to ask from the right people.

Until next time,

You new here? If so, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

What Will Smith Taught Me About Online Marketing

I’ve just done watching a YouTube video of Will Smith being interviewed by Jonathan Ross here in the UK and apart from the fact that I find Will Smith naturally funny, there were two things that he said that really resonated with me:

In the first video, he was asked by Jonathan, “what gets you angry” and to which Will Smith replied, “big fat liars” which reminded me of why so many newbies on the Internet are skeptical of purchasing new products.  Because in the past and and even now, there are some big fat liars who will sell you anything based on hype and make out that anyone can do it and in fact, you can make millions from your 4th room, wearing only your PJ’s. 

And yes, I know of many Internet Marketers who built million dollar businesses from their bedroom so, I’m not dismissing the fact that this is true and, I understand people’s skepticism about purchasing products from “snake oil” marketers but, on the other hand, in video two, Will tells the story of how he made a load of money and then lost it all when the IRS came and claimed all he had, including his home.

After he lost it all, he borrowed some cash from a friend and moved to LA where he hung around outside The Pauley Pavilion where the big names gathered for three months until one evening, he had a converstion with a man, that would change his life … he gave him the part for the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire.

Are you listening and reading now …

He stood outside The Pauley Pavilion, LA, for THREE MONTHS!  He would just speak to these guys and then through association, he landed himself a major part in an American Sitcom.

He didn’t give up, he was persistent and determined to win, because he knew what he wanted.

Sadly, these are some of the attributes or characteristics that are often missing when people begin marketing online.  Whilst skeptics of the “Get Rich Quick” schemes, they still have a misconception that they can make a lot of money in little time with little effort and, with very little or no money.

And I’m being transparent with you now, I promoted my own workshop using the marketing spiel of building a business with very little money and for all of the delegates, I built them a blog but, not one of them did anything with it!

They still had the “build a site” mentality instead of a marketing mindset which acknowledges that the blog is only the tool to help you achieve what you want to achieve online.

And, I actually don’t agree that anyone can start an online business either … okay to an extent I do … anyone can start, but it takes a particular breed to finish!!

Putting up a blog or website isn’t and never will be Internet Marketing.  Promoting and marketing the services, affiliate products or whatever you blog about IS marketing.

So be honest with yourself now, how many programs have you purchased, got half way through and abandoned because in your view it didn’t work?

Do you think if Will Smith had given up even after the eighth week he would have been the star of the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire, played Ali or stared in Men in Black?

Will Smith knew what he wanted and he wasn’t going to stop until he got it. 

Now the question is ….

Do You Know What You Want?

Because, if you don’t know what you want, you’ll just keep jumping on the wave of whatever new phenominon hits the web instead of focusing on your dream.

Mike Filsaime, Internet Marketer, wrote a report about a year ago which really was the turning point in my life.  He talked about being on your boat going to Tahiti which, is your dream destination but each time another boat passes by, the skipper suggests that some other island is the most fantastic place to be so you change course and head for this new lsland.  Five years later, you die on the boat, never having accomplished your dream and never having reached any of the Islands because you kept changing the course of your destination and direction. 

After reading Mike’s report, I stopped that day and took stock of my life … what did I want?  Was I following my dream of someone elses?  What did success mean to me and, how did it differ from those of some of my mentors?

I had met so many Internet Marketers in previous years who boasted about their big house, big cars (pleural) and big boat and for a start, the big boat just does not entice me … I’m happy to be passenger on someone elses boat!  I don’t want to live in a huge house (though I’ll be happy to own one) and, I’d be overly satisfied with one big car … so long as it’s a Merc!

My point is though, you cannot measure your success by what someone else wants or needs because it will throw you off course.  So, the first thing you have to do is be truthful to yourself about what your deep rooted desires are.  If you’re not mad on taking exoctic holidays, don’t feel guility.  If like me, you’d be very happy being a passenger on another person’s boat, don’t feel guilty.  Focus on what you want to accomplish, what you want to achieve and not only will it be easier to focus, marketing will become much easier and, it will be easier to achieve your goals.

As Jim Rohn said, “the bigger the reason why, the easier the how.”  Purpose brings persistences and persistence gets results.

Whatever you do, be like Will Smith.  Be persistent in the pursuit of your dreams and never give up.

Until next time,