Business Networking has always been a healthy thing. Prehistoric cave men probably got together and talked about the business of fire and about innovations that led to the wheel. Lately, with the advent of sites like Biznik and Meetup, there have been great advancements to the way in which and the ease with which networking both generates and proliferates. What about the way business networks facilitate benefit for those who become involved? Often times it seems this aspect of networking is still in the stoneage. Something fresh along those lines is happening in Seattle however.
Mundane networking meetings have almost always been about talk. There may be coffee, or donuts, or even a little lunch, but talk almost always wins out as the primary function of a network meeting.
We want to see purpose driven business networks that do more than just talk though. Safeway and Radio Shack collaborate with others in the sharing of traffic in Strip Malls. That's a form of networking. Boeing and Chrysler may have networked on projects that are not commonly known. The majority of business owners who desire to network are looking for less specialized relationships too, relationships that can bring them new clients or a stronger position in their market or field.
In actuality, many business owners are not sure what they are looking for. They just know they are in need and they're looking for help. In order to network helpfully in practicality a company has to actually do more than just say somthing at a meeting. They at least have to put up an ad, exchange a link, or trade leads. Even better yet, they need to establish purpose, then platform, and then regulate function.
In Seattle, there is a community organizer bringing companies together in free, weekly workshops to help them do just what we’ve described above in a strategic matrix of multi dimensional online ways. The goal is to get a group of business owners together, help each and every one of them to establish a broad spectrum online presence, and then go on to spend a couple hours per week in a wireless enabled venue with 20 or 30 laptops open and all participants linking to each other, clicking on each other, posting to each other, and otherwise trafficking and promoting each other's web presence through the roof.
Through this exercise, the participants find ways to network together in practical ways. They get to know each other's holdings online. They also get coached in strategies and activities that actually work so that they can actually promote their network partners with no downside to themselves.
One rule of these groups is, DON'T buy online products or services as one off's. Wherever possible and practical, get together and negotiate for package deals and for economy of scale. Another maxim is, DON'T ignore each other's needs. While you spend an hour or two each week looking after the interests of 10 or 20 other companies, there are 10 or 20 other people at the same time looking after yours.
Many vendors don't like the idea of customer bases getting together and holding them hostage for better deals. These days however, some companies actually enjoy the prospect. It dilutes the market, but the market is dead right now anyway. What about the future? An old saying rings true; "A live dog is better than a dead lion." And so a diluted market is better than no market at all.
In order to make the effort pay off for the participants, the groups need strong internet strategists and operatives to help them register domain names, host and launch web sites, create unique content, deploy and post to blogs, enable audio and video media in their footprints, and otherwise help them to diversify and energize their online presence. Providers that are already present benefit from including their companies in the program and gaining trafficking support from the collective in return for reduced and collective rate services.
The point is for every one to use as many avenues of promotion as are available on the internet. For example, everyone is encouraged to post video to the free sharing sites in promotional strategies. Every one is asked to write articles for blogs and to comment on each others content as well. Ghost writers are available for content development. RSS feed management and article submission activities are a big part of the collective itinerary each week. Creating and managing additional web sites and pages, some of them ad listings, some of them cross subject landing pages that serve to join the ranks of otherwise non-synergistic companies are important ongoing activities too. MySpace and FaceBook campaigns where companies promote each other are all regular, consistent efforts that go on like a heartbeat in these unique networking workshops as well.
In the tradition of the cavemen who came up with the wheel, we applaud the advancement and glorification of simple practicality. Nothing against coffee and donuts, but the active click of many links and the rapid strokes of many keys on many keyboards sounds much better to the ears than traditional old Homer Simpson networking meetings.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Effective Sales Today Requres Being Comfortable on the Internet
There was a time when a person could promote him or herself shamelessly on the internet or in person. People responded to pressure sales, and salesmen were not afraid to apply the pressure. These days though, a lot of pitches are being made online. The pitches we see today are seldom hard sell. How is the soft touch working, and why does it work?
People do not like commercial advertisements. The old days of the television where the station programmers hold the audience hostage and irritate them with a few minutes of ads during breaks in the programming are no longer here. That may still happen, but TeVo and the remote control have defeated that old champion for good. People want their entertainment without being hassled to buy something. Frankly, I do too. You catch more floes with honey than with vinigar.
If people watching television are that way, then internet buyers are even more sensitized to ads. 'In Your Face" advertising is slowly being replaced by a more gentle approach. Have you ever heard these words; “Blatant Self Promotion”? The popularization of that term online means only one thing. Commercials are becoming more and more frowned upon in the inner circles of the internet culture.
So, if we can’t engage in hard sales successfully on the internet, why be there as a busuness in the first place? The answer is, “so that you can relax”. Yes, learning to relax is the current main occupation of internet marketers. Blogging has made that a profession.
You see, people are honestly looking for valuable, meaningful interpersonal interaction. Or else they want insightful windows into an area of expertise that you might have. Blogging is what that represents. If someone likes your blog, they will come back to it, recommend it, comment on it, and promote it. Your soft touch can increase the traffic to your online portfolio. How does this translate to sales?
Well, your blog is only one area of your online portfolio. You also have some type of profession where you earn you living. Linking your pseudo personal portfolio to your pseudo professional portfolio is comfortable for your clients. They have learned to value your opinion, to trust you insights, and to like what you do. That is important in a sales relationship. Hit and run sales tactics don't require that, but a "Sales Relationship" does, and that's what we want to have online. Return buyers and recurring sales are a good thing.
The point of being in business now is simple; GENERATE TRAFFIC! This is done by attracting the visitor, and once he’s entered the site, to keep him there for a while to make an impression on him. As we discussed earlier, advertisements drive traffic away. Giving something away draws people in. Promotions are still the number one way to get people into your store. Have you ever thought of a blog as giving something away? That’s exactly what a blog is, and that’s why it works.
The newspapers do the same thing. They give away news that they have fought hard to find. Then, advertisers pay to ride along because the newspapers put their messaging into a high traffic stream, and then it becomes a simple numbers game to the advertiser. TV does the same thing, and so does radio. A blog is the same idea. Video blogs are even more thinly disguised. To blog though, you need to attract people. You need to give of yourself and to be comfortable in doing it. Otherwise, no one will come, and no one will stay, and no one will make it to the professional side of your portfolio.
Are you comfortable sharing of yourself? Have you shirked the traits of a hard driving goods pusher? Have you become comfortable and confident enough in what you have to offer the world that you can compete in today’s weird world of sales? Then congratulations. Make yourself at home.
People do not like commercial advertisements. The old days of the television where the station programmers hold the audience hostage and irritate them with a few minutes of ads during breaks in the programming are no longer here. That may still happen, but TeVo and the remote control have defeated that old champion for good. People want their entertainment without being hassled to buy something. Frankly, I do too. You catch more floes with honey than with vinigar.
If people watching television are that way, then internet buyers are even more sensitized to ads. 'In Your Face" advertising is slowly being replaced by a more gentle approach. Have you ever heard these words; “Blatant Self Promotion”? The popularization of that term online means only one thing. Commercials are becoming more and more frowned upon in the inner circles of the internet culture.
So, if we can’t engage in hard sales successfully on the internet, why be there as a busuness in the first place? The answer is, “so that you can relax”. Yes, learning to relax is the current main occupation of internet marketers. Blogging has made that a profession.
You see, people are honestly looking for valuable, meaningful interpersonal interaction. Or else they want insightful windows into an area of expertise that you might have. Blogging is what that represents. If someone likes your blog, they will come back to it, recommend it, comment on it, and promote it. Your soft touch can increase the traffic to your online portfolio. How does this translate to sales?
Well, your blog is only one area of your online portfolio. You also have some type of profession where you earn you living. Linking your pseudo personal portfolio to your pseudo professional portfolio is comfortable for your clients. They have learned to value your opinion, to trust you insights, and to like what you do. That is important in a sales relationship. Hit and run sales tactics don't require that, but a "Sales Relationship" does, and that's what we want to have online. Return buyers and recurring sales are a good thing.
The point of being in business now is simple; GENERATE TRAFFIC! This is done by attracting the visitor, and once he’s entered the site, to keep him there for a while to make an impression on him. As we discussed earlier, advertisements drive traffic away. Giving something away draws people in. Promotions are still the number one way to get people into your store. Have you ever thought of a blog as giving something away? That’s exactly what a blog is, and that’s why it works.
The newspapers do the same thing. They give away news that they have fought hard to find. Then, advertisers pay to ride along because the newspapers put their messaging into a high traffic stream, and then it becomes a simple numbers game to the advertiser. TV does the same thing, and so does radio. A blog is the same idea. Video blogs are even more thinly disguised. To blog though, you need to attract people. You need to give of yourself and to be comfortable in doing it. Otherwise, no one will come, and no one will stay, and no one will make it to the professional side of your portfolio.
Are you comfortable sharing of yourself? Have you shirked the traits of a hard driving goods pusher? Have you become comfortable and confident enough in what you have to offer the world that you can compete in today’s weird world of sales? Then congratulations. Make yourself at home.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Fundamentals of Powerful Business Networking
Business Networking is as old as business, which in turn is as old as the human sentient state. What are the underlying, unchanging precepts of networking in a competitive, goods and services oriented arena? Understanding these principles can put us in a powerful position in the business world if we understand, practice, and apply them.
One of the elemental issues revolving around active business networking is the competitor, non-competitor matrix. Simple strategies of networking can only involve non-competitive interests. If you are networking with your direct competitor, you will tend to be very protective, and this inhibits the flow of benevolence back and forth, thus throwing cold water on networking activity as a result.
More advanced and sophisticated networking strategies however, can and do engage fierce competitors into deep cooperation. This is a huge advantage if you can achieve it, because your competitors market is also yours. Again though, there has to be some pretty advanced tactics in order to gain that position. We’ll come back to this issue with more insight after we establish a few more important fundamentals.
The next matter involves forums. Forums are simply the venue in which your network can operate. There are meeting style networks that meet once per week for breakfast, or once per month for coffee. These companies are employing the “Meeting Forum”, and it is great for some types of exchange. There is also the telephone forum. Sometimes, local service providers use the phone extensively. Maybe there is a roofing company, a painter, a window cleaner, and a landscaper in a localized network. These companies are not competitors, so they feel free to share leads with each other. The telephone is a great forum for this kind of network exchange.
In the last few decades however, the most intensive networking forum has been developing more and ever more intensity. This, of course, is the internet. (net in internet is a reference, after all, to network). The internet is a forum that can be geographically far flung or localized. It can handle nearly every kind of business exchange from communication, to information, to monetization, to what ever else we can devise to help us relate to another entity.
This is not to say that the other forums for networking are things of the past. The face to face, voice to voice, personal touch is a very valuable factor that the internet does not do well, although there is video conferencing capability that is becoming ever more fluent. Even so, a mixed forum approach to business networking is a sign of good health and a fundamental factor in success.
Another important base concept in networking involves traffic, messaging, and real estate. There is virtual real estate upon which we can post our messages, like Television or Radio. Likewise, there is literal real estate, usually along a busy thoroughfare, where we can place our signs. The internet has real estate in the form of internet addresses, and some are traffic oriented, but others are process oriented. Just like some companies are not located on busy streets, but they do place their signs there, likewise, some internet addresses are not in the traffic, but they do put their links on sites that have a lot of traffic, like entertainment sites and the like.
Understanding this brings back to our mind the literal competitor and the physical proximity issue. If a competitor is geographically proximate to us, there is little comfort in networking with him, but if he is in another city or state, there may be a large reward in letting our guard down a little. So, we can discern a typographic element to intelligent networking that is part and parcel with the geographic one.
A non-competitor may be synergistic with your company typographically. In that case, the active market of that company is likely to interest you. On the other hand, if the networking prospect is not in proximity to you typographically, then there would be less potential benefit in business network exchange. This is where the concept of network to network association becomes viable. A business to business relationship is more delicate than is network to network, and value could be gained from that more involved approach.
A final though is about expansive interests and localized interests. There are local networks, regional, national, and global. Some regional companies want to expand to national reach, and some global companies want to be able to drill down into targeted localities. As we begin to transcend the limitations of our own immediate interests, we can see more clearly the coalescence of higher cognitive manipulation of accumulated networks.
Reflecting back on the trail of principle we’ve left behind in this article, we can begin to imagine how the engineers of the global economy are type categorizing not just entities, but actual networks too. Networking has indeed reach the age of true power through internet categorization, traffic, messaging, and virtual real estate.
One of the elemental issues revolving around active business networking is the competitor, non-competitor matrix. Simple strategies of networking can only involve non-competitive interests. If you are networking with your direct competitor, you will tend to be very protective, and this inhibits the flow of benevolence back and forth, thus throwing cold water on networking activity as a result.
More advanced and sophisticated networking strategies however, can and do engage fierce competitors into deep cooperation. This is a huge advantage if you can achieve it, because your competitors market is also yours. Again though, there has to be some pretty advanced tactics in order to gain that position. We’ll come back to this issue with more insight after we establish a few more important fundamentals.
The next matter involves forums. Forums are simply the venue in which your network can operate. There are meeting style networks that meet once per week for breakfast, or once per month for coffee. These companies are employing the “Meeting Forum”, and it is great for some types of exchange. There is also the telephone forum. Sometimes, local service providers use the phone extensively. Maybe there is a roofing company, a painter, a window cleaner, and a landscaper in a localized network. These companies are not competitors, so they feel free to share leads with each other. The telephone is a great forum for this kind of network exchange.
In the last few decades however, the most intensive networking forum has been developing more and ever more intensity. This, of course, is the internet. (net in internet is a reference, after all, to network). The internet is a forum that can be geographically far flung or localized. It can handle nearly every kind of business exchange from communication, to information, to monetization, to what ever else we can devise to help us relate to another entity.
This is not to say that the other forums for networking are things of the past. The face to face, voice to voice, personal touch is a very valuable factor that the internet does not do well, although there is video conferencing capability that is becoming ever more fluent. Even so, a mixed forum approach to business networking is a sign of good health and a fundamental factor in success.
Another important base concept in networking involves traffic, messaging, and real estate. There is virtual real estate upon which we can post our messages, like Television or Radio. Likewise, there is literal real estate, usually along a busy thoroughfare, where we can place our signs. The internet has real estate in the form of internet addresses, and some are traffic oriented, but others are process oriented. Just like some companies are not located on busy streets, but they do place their signs there, likewise, some internet addresses are not in the traffic, but they do put their links on sites that have a lot of traffic, like entertainment sites and the like.
Understanding this brings back to our mind the literal competitor and the physical proximity issue. If a competitor is geographically proximate to us, there is little comfort in networking with him, but if he is in another city or state, there may be a large reward in letting our guard down a little. So, we can discern a typographic element to intelligent networking that is part and parcel with the geographic one.
A non-competitor may be synergistic with your company typographically. In that case, the active market of that company is likely to interest you. On the other hand, if the networking prospect is not in proximity to you typographically, then there would be less potential benefit in business network exchange. This is where the concept of network to network association becomes viable. A business to business relationship is more delicate than is network to network, and value could be gained from that more involved approach.
A final though is about expansive interests and localized interests. There are local networks, regional, national, and global. Some regional companies want to expand to national reach, and some global companies want to be able to drill down into targeted localities. As we begin to transcend the limitations of our own immediate interests, we can see more clearly the coalescence of higher cognitive manipulation of accumulated networks.
Reflecting back on the trail of principle we’ve left behind in this article, we can begin to imagine how the engineers of the global economy are type categorizing not just entities, but actual networks too. Networking has indeed reach the age of true power through internet categorization, traffic, messaging, and virtual real estate.
Recognizing and Capitalizing on "Open Benefit" Viral Movements
There has been much written and otherwise espoused about the truly exciting phenomenon of socially viral online movements. The entire history of the internet is a viral one, even though you’ll seldom hear it openly defined that way. Those who understand the elements of viral stratagem stand to benefit most efficiently if they have the programming savvy to launch their own viral effort, along with the money (and the luck) to make it succeed. The strategists, the programmers and the funding investors are the risk takers, and normally they will be the benefit takers as well, leaving the rest of us to simply enjoy the novelty of the movement rather than any of the unfathomable material gains realized out of it.
Less efficiently, there is benefit for those who understand the strategic elements in that they can profit hugely through wise exercise of that knowledge. But there are few opportunities, these are all early on, and they can be gathered from only what we call the “Open Benefit” movements. Here are a few things to look for. If you find an effort that matches these requirements, drop everything, get in right away, and ride it up before you miss the ride entirely.
The first thing to look for is something that is being given away for free. This is easy to find, so there must be some caveats to this first identifier. There is. It needs to be something that you feel people will really pick up and use, but not only that. You should feel strongly that people will recommend it also to their friends. This is what drives a social viral movement. It is THE number one hard requirement in a true viral phenom.
Secondly, it needs to be easy to deploy and easy to manage. Easy however, does not necessarily mean simple. There should be some elements of true manageability to the viral element. If it is too simple, it will not be very useful. This is an absolute metric of factuality. The simpler it is, the less useful it becomes, but the more complex it is, the less USABLE it becomes. The viral element needs to strike a balance here in order to really catch fire socially.
The third thing is that the viral element of the movement must have cross social utility. In other words, individuals should be attracted to it, business should see the benefit for themselves, education, charity, government, who-ever looks at it should be able to see themselves benefiting from its use. The broader the user ship categorically, the greater the explosive potential.
The fourth factor is benefit ratio. There must be multi level benefit built into the strategy. The top level (the company launching the movement) needs to have a sufficient benefit horizon, and a realistic one. That will certify that your involvement benefit will not die when the sponsoring company fails. Secondly though, there has to be benefit that trickles down to you too, and to a few other levels under you.
We are not talking about MLM here. We are talking about being able to fire up a first generation of users and guarantee them some piece of the action in order to get their undivided enthusiasm. Then, once their interests are met, the first level needs to shut off in order to do two important things. First, it protects the interests of the first generation participant, but secondly, it increases the value of the second generation participant and lights new enthusiasm on that level. This process should continue strategically at least five or ten tiers deep, and you need to get in on the upper tiers. Be fast though. In a viral movement, the top positions disappear within months. It is really a true get rich quick happening.
The sixth thing is to help to push it out. Secure your interests, understand them, and settle down to help start the fire and fan the flames. That is the only reason you have been invited into the potential is so that you can work like a mad, insane, crazy person for a month or two in order to retire for the rest of your life in luxury.
With the above information you should be able to identify a viral effort that is young, that is open benefit, and that has true and realistic potential to rocket into the stratosphere. If you have trouble finding one, it would be insightful to contact the information source that gave you the deepest insight into the subject. That depth usually comes from inside information.
Less efficiently, there is benefit for those who understand the strategic elements in that they can profit hugely through wise exercise of that knowledge. But there are few opportunities, these are all early on, and they can be gathered from only what we call the “Open Benefit” movements. Here are a few things to look for. If you find an effort that matches these requirements, drop everything, get in right away, and ride it up before you miss the ride entirely.
The first thing to look for is something that is being given away for free. This is easy to find, so there must be some caveats to this first identifier. There is. It needs to be something that you feel people will really pick up and use, but not only that. You should feel strongly that people will recommend it also to their friends. This is what drives a social viral movement. It is THE number one hard requirement in a true viral phenom.
Secondly, it needs to be easy to deploy and easy to manage. Easy however, does not necessarily mean simple. There should be some elements of true manageability to the viral element. If it is too simple, it will not be very useful. This is an absolute metric of factuality. The simpler it is, the less useful it becomes, but the more complex it is, the less USABLE it becomes. The viral element needs to strike a balance here in order to really catch fire socially.
The third thing is that the viral element of the movement must have cross social utility. In other words, individuals should be attracted to it, business should see the benefit for themselves, education, charity, government, who-ever looks at it should be able to see themselves benefiting from its use. The broader the user ship categorically, the greater the explosive potential.
The fourth factor is benefit ratio. There must be multi level benefit built into the strategy. The top level (the company launching the movement) needs to have a sufficient benefit horizon, and a realistic one. That will certify that your involvement benefit will not die when the sponsoring company fails. Secondly though, there has to be benefit that trickles down to you too, and to a few other levels under you.
We are not talking about MLM here. We are talking about being able to fire up a first generation of users and guarantee them some piece of the action in order to get their undivided enthusiasm. Then, once their interests are met, the first level needs to shut off in order to do two important things. First, it protects the interests of the first generation participant, but secondly, it increases the value of the second generation participant and lights new enthusiasm on that level. This process should continue strategically at least five or ten tiers deep, and you need to get in on the upper tiers. Be fast though. In a viral movement, the top positions disappear within months. It is really a true get rich quick happening.
The sixth thing is to help to push it out. Secure your interests, understand them, and settle down to help start the fire and fan the flames. That is the only reason you have been invited into the potential is so that you can work like a mad, insane, crazy person for a month or two in order to retire for the rest of your life in luxury.
With the above information you should be able to identify a viral effort that is young, that is open benefit, and that has true and realistic potential to rocket into the stratosphere. If you have trouble finding one, it would be insightful to contact the information source that gave you the deepest insight into the subject. That depth usually comes from inside information.
Internet Marketing, the Real Story
In order to get someone to work with you, you need to be able to offer them something in return. If they have something that you want, how can you get them to share? Equitability is the answer. Networking is a simple function of that equitability. What do you have that they want, and visa versa. If you can establish that, then you have the start of a good relationship.
The current era of internet marketing has taken that personal aspect out of the equation. It has resulted in mass confusion over which the big players online have taken great delight and profit. So many duped souls have forgotten that the internet really does level the playing field and they have become enslaved, working hard for a benefit that few will ever attain. What are we talking about? Working to promote the big guys and getting nothing in return.
If you want to market on the internet, you have to have something to market. Many so called internet marketers have nothing to market, so how could they actually be? Really, what most are doing is trying to make pennies from the products of real companies who have hired real internet marketers to dupe you and I into spreading their message and their cause on the promise of a rarely materializing income stream.
How is it that these real internet marketers have convinced so many of us to work for them for little or nothing in return? It is a combination of factors that have contributed to this strange phenomenon. First, most of us have nothing to promote, but these people convince us that their stuff is actually ours. Then we talk about our stuff, we get passionate about our stuff and we promote that stuff with a passion, pouring intense time and resources into that promotion. The only thing is, it isn’t really our stuff, and we’re getting paid pennies for dollars worth of effort.
Can this work? It has worked to make some people wealthy, but only in the beginning. If you could get ten people together and you all worked hard to make the value of my stuff grow from $100.00 to $1,000,000.00, I would share that with you 10 people. You have helped me to establish my stuff and I’m now going to go on and get really wealthy. After that deal with the initial 10 people though, why would I want to share the rest of my stuff with the rest of all of you? I don’t want too so I’m not going too. It doesn’t matter what the marketers tell you, I’m going to keep my stuff because it is not yours.
The point is that you don’t have to work for someone else. Get your own stuff and work for yourself. Get an internet address and if you want to be an internet marketer, promote yourself, find other companies that you can work with and promote them. Don’t just throw all your efforts into something that will yield you nothing in the end and yet provide huge gains for the really big guys that are laughing at you behind their hands.
The current era of internet marketing has taken that personal aspect out of the equation. It has resulted in mass confusion over which the big players online have taken great delight and profit. So many duped souls have forgotten that the internet really does level the playing field and they have become enslaved, working hard for a benefit that few will ever attain. What are we talking about? Working to promote the big guys and getting nothing in return.
If you want to market on the internet, you have to have something to market. Many so called internet marketers have nothing to market, so how could they actually be? Really, what most are doing is trying to make pennies from the products of real companies who have hired real internet marketers to dupe you and I into spreading their message and their cause on the promise of a rarely materializing income stream.
How is it that these real internet marketers have convinced so many of us to work for them for little or nothing in return? It is a combination of factors that have contributed to this strange phenomenon. First, most of us have nothing to promote, but these people convince us that their stuff is actually ours. Then we talk about our stuff, we get passionate about our stuff and we promote that stuff with a passion, pouring intense time and resources into that promotion. The only thing is, it isn’t really our stuff, and we’re getting paid pennies for dollars worth of effort.
Can this work? It has worked to make some people wealthy, but only in the beginning. If you could get ten people together and you all worked hard to make the value of my stuff grow from $100.00 to $1,000,000.00, I would share that with you 10 people. You have helped me to establish my stuff and I’m now going to go on and get really wealthy. After that deal with the initial 10 people though, why would I want to share the rest of my stuff with the rest of all of you? I don’t want too so I’m not going too. It doesn’t matter what the marketers tell you, I’m going to keep my stuff because it is not yours.
The point is that you don’t have to work for someone else. Get your own stuff and work for yourself. Get an internet address and if you want to be an internet marketer, promote yourself, find other companies that you can work with and promote them. Don’t just throw all your efforts into something that will yield you nothing in the end and yet provide huge gains for the really big guys that are laughing at you behind their hands.
Misconceptions About Online Marketing
A lot of people write about online marketing and offer advise for free, or for a fee. As we attempt to sift through the avalanche of material and to make some sense of it, there are a few things that begin to come clear through the fog. The subject is very complex and there are many variations on a theme. Let’s try to distill a few important fundamental facts out of the fray.
By far, the vast majority of so called experts in “Internet Marketing” are really not what they claim to be. There are many gullible fish that have bitten the bait of real online marketers and who then try to get others to bite smaller hooks with less compelling bait, and on down the line in like manner. Rather than biting more skanky bait, we need to look carefully at the basics.
What people and companies really want to do is to promote their message or their product and to get it out as widely as they possibly can. That’s what you want to do if you’re an online marketer on interested in being one. Behind the effort to do that is a pretty basic motivation. We need to earn a living. The better their income, the better we like it. So when we evaluate a marketing effort, we need to be able to see the motives of everyone involved. Just getting into an affiliate program is not going to do us much good. That program represents a long list of interests, and the chances of anyone at the bottom of that chain understanding what’s really going on are pretty small. The rewards for promoting that chain are smaller at the bottom too.
The best thing to do is to get in at the top. Even better yet, be the top. So, what should we really do? Again, the answer to that question comes down to the basics. The internet is all about networking. That is what Internet Marketing is. It is exactly the same as if a Pet Store on the corner by your house asked you to put a sign in your yard promoting their business. Think of it like Real Estate and traffic.
The Pet Store wouldn’t want to put it’s ad on your lawn if you were the last house on a dead end street. They are interested in the house on the corner of two major arterials. So if you want to have a valuable marketing presence, then you need a busy piece of online real estate. Your ADDRESS should see a lot of traffic.
Getting an address is pretty easy (Real Esatate). Putting a site up on it is easy too. Getting the traffic to your site is the hard part, and it takes some commitment, some time, and some expertise to do that. Actually, if you think about it, that’s what the Pet Store was trying to do in the first place, increase their traffic. So, if the Pet Store has a lot of traffic coming into their store because they’ve done a good job of putting signage on every busy corner in town, then other companies will be wanting to put signs in their store window, put brochures on their front desk, put flyers on their bulletin boards, and business cards in their cookie jars. This is networking. This is what the internet does so well, and that’s what true internet marketing is all about.
So, when you’re listening to people talk about affiliate links, or about viral marketing, or about blogging, or article submission, or whatever else, just remember that real value comes when you have your own real estate and when you have a lot of traffic in and around that site. If it’s not YOUR site, what value you are able to attain and what income you do generate will be mostly for other people. For example, if you were renting the house on the corner of the arterials and you allowed companies to put signs in your yard, the landlord may allow you to share some of the value of that, but when you moved out, who would retain the value of what you had built?
Here is where the problem for many so called experts lies. They are advocating that you work very hard to promote other people’s interests. Why would they do that? Because that is what they are doing, and if they can get you to do that too, then they make a few temporary dollars off your trafficking. Now you’re suppose to be the last guy on the totem pole and try to make money by getting people even lower than you? Most of it is really very shallow.
Find local companies and network with them. That’s how to really build value. Before you can do that though, you will need to have your own presence with a value point. Putting ads on a website is not hard. Finding companies that will network with you is pretty easy too. Start local and work up to regional. Put together groups of non-competitive companies and promote them. That is what the internet is all about. We do not have to give all of our efforts out to the huge internet interests and receive little and temporary benefit. Put the same effort into building real value for yourself and for organizations that are reachable.
By far, the vast majority of so called experts in “Internet Marketing” are really not what they claim to be. There are many gullible fish that have bitten the bait of real online marketers and who then try to get others to bite smaller hooks with less compelling bait, and on down the line in like manner. Rather than biting more skanky bait, we need to look carefully at the basics.
What people and companies really want to do is to promote their message or their product and to get it out as widely as they possibly can. That’s what you want to do if you’re an online marketer on interested in being one. Behind the effort to do that is a pretty basic motivation. We need to earn a living. The better their income, the better we like it. So when we evaluate a marketing effort, we need to be able to see the motives of everyone involved. Just getting into an affiliate program is not going to do us much good. That program represents a long list of interests, and the chances of anyone at the bottom of that chain understanding what’s really going on are pretty small. The rewards for promoting that chain are smaller at the bottom too.
The best thing to do is to get in at the top. Even better yet, be the top. So, what should we really do? Again, the answer to that question comes down to the basics. The internet is all about networking. That is what Internet Marketing is. It is exactly the same as if a Pet Store on the corner by your house asked you to put a sign in your yard promoting their business. Think of it like Real Estate and traffic.
The Pet Store wouldn’t want to put it’s ad on your lawn if you were the last house on a dead end street. They are interested in the house on the corner of two major arterials. So if you want to have a valuable marketing presence, then you need a busy piece of online real estate. Your ADDRESS should see a lot of traffic.
Getting an address is pretty easy (Real Esatate). Putting a site up on it is easy too. Getting the traffic to your site is the hard part, and it takes some commitment, some time, and some expertise to do that. Actually, if you think about it, that’s what the Pet Store was trying to do in the first place, increase their traffic. So, if the Pet Store has a lot of traffic coming into their store because they’ve done a good job of putting signage on every busy corner in town, then other companies will be wanting to put signs in their store window, put brochures on their front desk, put flyers on their bulletin boards, and business cards in their cookie jars. This is networking. This is what the internet does so well, and that’s what true internet marketing is all about.
So, when you’re listening to people talk about affiliate links, or about viral marketing, or about blogging, or article submission, or whatever else, just remember that real value comes when you have your own real estate and when you have a lot of traffic in and around that site. If it’s not YOUR site, what value you are able to attain and what income you do generate will be mostly for other people. For example, if you were renting the house on the corner of the arterials and you allowed companies to put signs in your yard, the landlord may allow you to share some of the value of that, but when you moved out, who would retain the value of what you had built?
Here is where the problem for many so called experts lies. They are advocating that you work very hard to promote other people’s interests. Why would they do that? Because that is what they are doing, and if they can get you to do that too, then they make a few temporary dollars off your trafficking. Now you’re suppose to be the last guy on the totem pole and try to make money by getting people even lower than you? Most of it is really very shallow.
Find local companies and network with them. That’s how to really build value. Before you can do that though, you will need to have your own presence with a value point. Putting ads on a website is not hard. Finding companies that will network with you is pretty easy too. Start local and work up to regional. Put together groups of non-competitive companies and promote them. That is what the internet is all about. We do not have to give all of our efforts out to the huge internet interests and receive little and temporary benefit. Put the same effort into building real value for yourself and for organizations that are reachable.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Business Networking and the Internet
How many of us have gotten involved in business networks that went nowhere? We go to regular meetings and we talk across steaming coffee cups over boxes of donuts, hopeful at first, but ever becoming more disillusioned as the months roll on. Wouldn’t it be great to network in profitable ways instead of simply wasting our time?
The internet is a network, as the name implies, and there are some powerful tactics to be employed there-in. Many are seldom used. Combine internet networking strategies with intelligent street level tactics, and forget about the donuts! Bigger things can happen, and do!
The first thing to look at is, “Who should my network consist of?” Joining an existing network is great, if it fits your needs. Non competitive participants are best, however you define that. Sometimes a company that is in close geographic proximity is a competitor because they provide comparable goods or services, but the same company that is geographically distant can be a great non-competitive partner. In the second scenario, both of you can usually benefit from cooperation.
Otherwise, there are companies that are non-competitive and synergistic. A window cleaning company and a painting company are good examples. After the painter has finished the house, the windows will really need to be cleaned. Of course, there are companies too that are non-competitive, but not really synergistic either. These can fit into their own networks, and then networks of synergistic companies can network together as well.
The point is, custom networks usually serve the interests of all better than just falling into something randomly. Obviously however, in a customized network someone will have to have taken the initiative organizationally in the first place.
Next, there is the consideration of what KIND of benefit you can bring to each other. There is messaging assistance where one company will allow the other to pitch its message to their audience. There are also straight referral activities that businesses can trade in. In order to perform these tactics effectively, it is good to prepare what we, at Dragnet Marketing, call a Media Map. This is an exercise that identifies what kinds of media each company already uses. This can be telephone book ads, radio or TV commercials, vehicle or storefront signage, or any number of other common or uncommon media activities. If everyone in the network knows the media map of the other companies, then intelligent economy of scale tactics, as well as blended messaging and other strategies can be enacted, driving down the cost of message delivery, and at the same time increasing the effectiveness of it.
Peer Maps are another Dragnet Marketing concept where each member of the network looks at the different interface methods that it has with its micro market. One company may have an in-home presence either in sales, or installation, or both, while another company has a strong walk in market. How can these access points be shared to the benefit of both while at the same time not being detrimental to either. Email messages can have references to other synergistic companies on them without detracting from the legitimacy of the primary company. Also, business cards have two sides. The primary side can be a normal card while the secondary side can say, “We Trust Company #2”.
Peer Maps and Media Maps are great exercises for business networks to go through. They can see very quickly how to benefit each other without hurting each other. Every one forgets about the donuts pretty quickly when the very real prospects of doubling or tripling business come into view.
The internet is an indispensible means of networking. Linking company websites together is the primary contemporary means by which organizations network. One of the problems with that is basic. Few brick and mortar companies want to have their hard earned traffic siphoned off by intentionally posting the enticements of another company, competitor or not, on their own main website. So, in comes the concept of setting up a secondary network of pages that point to, and are pointed to from, the primary company sites. Online listing services do this, but usually in a crude, one way, boiler-plated manner. Businesses that decide to network together should each put up a page that intentionally lists the other partners in the network. Efforts can be made by all in the network to increase traffic to these secondary pages as well as to their own primary sites. By working together in this way, again, the result is to maximize resources, gain economy of scale, and benefit each other without detriment.
In review, great business networks are custom created by good organizers. Media Maps and Peer Maps can help business networks to see where and how to equitably capitalize on each others micro markets. Secondary customized web pages networked through ads and messaging and promoted independently can create great shared benefit without detriment to the autonomy of individual company sites. Use these tactics and strategies, and others will appear to you in obvious abundance.
The internet is a network, as the name implies, and there are some powerful tactics to be employed there-in. Many are seldom used. Combine internet networking strategies with intelligent street level tactics, and forget about the donuts! Bigger things can happen, and do!
The first thing to look at is, “Who should my network consist of?” Joining an existing network is great, if it fits your needs. Non competitive participants are best, however you define that. Sometimes a company that is in close geographic proximity is a competitor because they provide comparable goods or services, but the same company that is geographically distant can be a great non-competitive partner. In the second scenario, both of you can usually benefit from cooperation.
Otherwise, there are companies that are non-competitive and synergistic. A window cleaning company and a painting company are good examples. After the painter has finished the house, the windows will really need to be cleaned. Of course, there are companies too that are non-competitive, but not really synergistic either. These can fit into their own networks, and then networks of synergistic companies can network together as well.
The point is, custom networks usually serve the interests of all better than just falling into something randomly. Obviously however, in a customized network someone will have to have taken the initiative organizationally in the first place.
Next, there is the consideration of what KIND of benefit you can bring to each other. There is messaging assistance where one company will allow the other to pitch its message to their audience. There are also straight referral activities that businesses can trade in. In order to perform these tactics effectively, it is good to prepare what we, at Dragnet Marketing, call a Media Map. This is an exercise that identifies what kinds of media each company already uses. This can be telephone book ads, radio or TV commercials, vehicle or storefront signage, or any number of other common or uncommon media activities. If everyone in the network knows the media map of the other companies, then intelligent economy of scale tactics, as well as blended messaging and other strategies can be enacted, driving down the cost of message delivery, and at the same time increasing the effectiveness of it.
Peer Maps are another Dragnet Marketing concept where each member of the network looks at the different interface methods that it has with its micro market. One company may have an in-home presence either in sales, or installation, or both, while another company has a strong walk in market. How can these access points be shared to the benefit of both while at the same time not being detrimental to either. Email messages can have references to other synergistic companies on them without detracting from the legitimacy of the primary company. Also, business cards have two sides. The primary side can be a normal card while the secondary side can say, “We Trust Company #2”.
Peer Maps and Media Maps are great exercises for business networks to go through. They can see very quickly how to benefit each other without hurting each other. Every one forgets about the donuts pretty quickly when the very real prospects of doubling or tripling business come into view.
The internet is an indispensible means of networking. Linking company websites together is the primary contemporary means by which organizations network. One of the problems with that is basic. Few brick and mortar companies want to have their hard earned traffic siphoned off by intentionally posting the enticements of another company, competitor or not, on their own main website. So, in comes the concept of setting up a secondary network of pages that point to, and are pointed to from, the primary company sites. Online listing services do this, but usually in a crude, one way, boiler-plated manner. Businesses that decide to network together should each put up a page that intentionally lists the other partners in the network. Efforts can be made by all in the network to increase traffic to these secondary pages as well as to their own primary sites. By working together in this way, again, the result is to maximize resources, gain economy of scale, and benefit each other without detriment.
In review, great business networks are custom created by good organizers. Media Maps and Peer Maps can help business networks to see where and how to equitably capitalize on each others micro markets. Secondary customized web pages networked through ads and messaging and promoted independently can create great shared benefit without detriment to the autonomy of individual company sites. Use these tactics and strategies, and others will appear to you in obvious abundance.
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