We can't seem to get enough

From the outset I want to say I am probably going to offend some people in this article. I am simply fed up with the lying and pretending that goes on with marketers online.

And I’m not just referring to the little guys either.

Sure there are plenty of them, but it’s some of the big guys that are the biggest promoters of the bull.

See, before I joined the online scene I had been reading material by people like Jay Abraham, Stephen Covey (self-help), Bryce Courtenay, Michael Hewitt-Gleeson, Allan Pease and Michael E Gerber. Oh and an awesome crew based in Brisbane called The Results Corporation.

My association to the word “marketing” was based on things like testing, research, honest appraisal of the current marketplace, asking questions, utilizing untapped resources, and creative ways of finding people that want what you have to offer.

So now shift to the online arena and everyone seems to think they’re into marketing!

Anyone can and does setup shop as an “expert”. This hasn’t just watered down the (in my mind) established traditional marketing concepts but rather redefined marketing to mean something along the lines of “sell as many products to as many people as possible for as long as you can, with as little effort as possible”.

The internet has created a mad rush of half competent “entrepreneurs” with dollar signs in their eyes and only one aim: To get more followers and/or subscribers that they fleece for cash . The money is in the list, etc etc. So get the list happening asap and start selling them stuff right now regardless of the quality.

As a result I see a few major mistakes being committed over and over again:

1. Outright lying – If every sales page out there is for real then there are thousands of millionaires sharing their “secrets” just because they want to give something back. If they work so damn well, why are they selling a program to me that shows me how to do it?
2. Selling to everyone – The most extreme practice of this is spamming, but at least spam is obvious. The bulk of pretend marketers fit into this category and typically don’t care who you are but only if you have seen their sales page. Which leads me to…
3. Long drawn out sales pages – You know the ones. Three miles of sales copy, loads of really over-ripe testimonials and lots of guarantees with motivating phrases like, “This price will only last today” and “You will not see this offer ever again” blah blah. Sure a lot of these sales pages do work. But does the product work?
4. Over promise, under deliver – Building something up to be “the turnkey solution to all your money worries” should set off alarm bells for any sane person. More like Turkey!
5. More is better – Giving someone a lot of information is less and less being seen as a great thing. But wait… If you buy now I’ll throw in these three other free products you will have to sift through to find the gems. Thanks but no thanks.
6. No follow up – the second you buy a product you get absolutely zero follow-up that makes sure you get full value. Wouldn’t it be a novel idea to use an auto-responder to follow up and spread the program out into digestible pieces instead of to try to sell you the next thing.

Think About it!

As I see it there are six different categories of marketers online:

1. The real deal – These people are the right stuff. These are the astronauts of Marketing that blaze the trail and continually try to teach us that there is no “secret” but rather principles that can be learned. They give out unbelievable value for free and even better value in their products. Some examples? Seth Godin, Anthony Robbins, Frank Kern.
2. Humble learners – Honest people like you (hopefully!) and me that are in the process of understanding and applying the real principles of marketing and selling. They apply themselves in a sequential manner and are constantly open to new information. Hopefully imparted by the first group.
3. The big deceivers – These are the early adopters that managed to get in early enough to build a big enough list that they really can make enough money to make some of the promises they make, but their products are sub-standard and as a result they have to keep bringing them out and pushing them on to you and me. Either that or they are people that stumbled on a quick way to make cash that only lasts on the short-term.
4. The positive self-helper – These people essentially repackage the works of the new-age or self-help crowd (some of which do the same!) in conjunction with some product or service. They rely on the fact that most people are pretty uneducated and think that being positive alone or using “The Secret” is going to suddenly make you buy their stuff. Yes, it’s better to be positive but in most cases these people sell the illusion of transformation instead of a consistent learning process.
5. Lowly pretenders – These people setup shop and will do anything to appear to be successful in order to sell you something. These people may appear to be pros, but reality they are probably having trouble paying for their electricity, or they will be paying off that Porsche for another 10 years.
6. The rank amateur – These people don’t even attempt to hide their lack of understanding and instead of admitting their ignorance they go on as if we can’t tell. Need I say more?

People in the last four on this list are probably well meaning, but at every step you should exercise critical awareness and use it as a chance to observe what works and what does not work in the real world.

Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.

Stephen Covey

1. Get real with yourself and engage some self-awareness.
2. Admit when you don’t know something – Admission of ignorance is the first step in your education.
3. Tell the truth
4. Share what you do know in a real, caring way
5. Draw on your untapped or unrecognized skills and resources. Write them down and start developing them.
6. Associate with greatness and quality. Have a strong standard for what that means.
7. Don’t settle for less
8. It’s easier to sell something with integrity if you really believe in it. Remove anything that does not make you feel proud.
9. Tell your story honestly.
10. Survey your followers and or subscribers and ask them what their concerns and fears are. Be interested in them and their world.
11. Develop multiple pillars of success. Smart business people know that you need many different ways to attract business and customers.
12. Articulate or at least develop a USP or Unique Sales Proposition. Read more about this here.
13. Develop a mission statement that drives you emotionally to tap into your best. Read more about developing a mission statement.

I’m sure there are more but the underlying shift here is from quick-fix to a principle centered awareness. As long as you have a desire to rush the process and fast-track or control success, the more ineffective you become and the less you are able to respond to the signals and realities of your chosen marketplace. e.g.

• The Rupert Murdochs and Bill Gates of the world that think the internet can be monopolized.
• Journalism that under-utilizes social media
• Musicians that refuse to give any music away online.

So take the time to think clearly and discover the needs and desires of your audience/customers, then engage with them. They will thank you for it!

You are surrounded by simple, obvious solutions that can dramatically increase your income, power, influence and success. The problem is, you just don’t see them.

Jay Abraham

Even more interesting to me is if you could share some real world experiences that add to the conversation.

To the rise of True Marketing!

“The entrepreneur builds an enterprise; the technician builds a job.”

Most businesses don’t work because the people that start them don’t know what they are doing. They know how to make widgets, or install plumbing or create a website but have no idea how to create a business that works.

Michael E Gerber is the author of the best selling book, The E-Myth. He has been working with small businesses for over 30 years and challenges us to start reviewing the way we think about what we do and what our roles are.

An entrepreneur studies the marketplace and asks good questions:

• Is there a need for what I have to offer within this area or if it’s online is their a genuine need for what we have to offer?
• How would I need to make my product or service in such a way as to be original and in demand?
• What are the frustrations and problems that my customers experience?
  

These are the questions that an entrepreneur must ask and they are vital to framing your goals within a context of reality and actual demand.

Most entrepreneurs are merely technicians with an entrepreneurial seizure. Most entrepreneurs fail because you are working IN your business rather than ON your business.

There are 3 main roles in a healthy business. All are necessary, but the key is to get them working in synergy.

1. Entrepreneur – Ideas, strategy and vision.
2. Manager – Reaching goals, hiring and firing, keeping standards, following the plan.
3. Technician – Doing the work, making the widgets. Creating and distributing the products or services.

If you work alone or in a small business the challenge now is to move between these distinct roles so as to get the benefit from each way of thinking and being.

How does this all fit into your marketing strategy? The true spirit of entrepreneurship is to create a solution that solves all the problems and answers all the questions and concerns of your customers. The more confusion you can cut through, the more simple you can make it, the more elegant your product, the more your customers will appreciate you. And by default, how many others they tell in the process.

What are the take-home points from Michael E Gerber’s presentation?

• Invest in documentation and training – This allows you to create a structure that can be replicated and therefore refined. Even if you work only for yourself, you can begin to separate the roles of technician, manager and leader.
• Create a strong business ethic – Part of what makes great businesses is that they have a special way of going about things. It may be a specific  standard or process. It may be a specific packaging with personalized attention. Whatever it is that delineates you from your competitors, do it with commitment and certainty.
• Be objective and start gathering feedback – If you have been doing it doing it, working hard and not looking down the road, feeling that soon it will all happen, perhaps you need to review your strategy. The technician is by its nature enamored by the “work” part of the job and wants to keep going, and going and going… Begin to gather feedback from customers. Create a rewards program for the ones that really take the time to interact and share with you.

E-Myth and Business Development expert Michael Gerber

The entrepreneur is our visionary, the creator in each of us. We’re born with that quality and it defines our lives as we respond to what we see, hear, feel, and experience. It is developed, nurtured, and given space to flourish or is squelched, thwarted, without air or stimulation, and dies.

Michael speaks about being a learner and always growing

“If your thinking is sloppy, your business will be sloppy. If you are disorganized, your business will be disorganized. If you are greedy, your employees will be greedy, giving you less and less of themselves and always asking for more.”

Micheal E Gerber

Official Website

http://michaelegerber.com/

More YouTube Videos

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+e+gerber&search_type=&aq=f

Revolutionize your thinking and listen to his practical, usable advice. Mr 3000 dollars an hour for free right here!

Explore more Jay Abraham here: http://www.abraham.com

He defines it as:

The art of telling a story to a consumer that they want to hear, that lets them persuade themselves to buy something. Inherent to that story:

1. You have to have something they want. You must not force it on them.
2. You have to be authentic. Tell the truth.
3. Your story has to be so remarkable that people want to tell your story to others.

Remember, we have so much choice today that permission marketing is just the beginning of your strategy.

The nature of the web has ubiquitized products and services. What you provide must serve a real need in your audience but also have that special quality that shows a deep regard for elegant solutions.

Take the new Apple MacBook for example.

Apple MacBook

Never before has there been a portable computer so remarkable. Read more about the new MacBooks here.

Seth is a fantasic teacher and an innovative marketer with some very relevant ideas that reflect the general state of what it takes to make an impression in the current marketplace. Enjoy!

If you’re selling something or promoting yourself online and you’re not using video, you’re crazy. The number of visitors to video sharing sites is growing at an incredible rate with some focusing only on training and learning. e.g. www.Sclipo.com only allows web training and learning videos.

In addition, if you only upload videos to YouTube you may be missing a lot of potential traffic as well. To read some valuable video research go the video research page on TubeMogul. (new window)

TubeMogul allows you to upload one video, with a title, description and tags, and then publish it to many video sharing sites with one click.

As well as allowing one click publishing TubeMogul can track all your movies across all the sites and show your statistics as well.So here are the steps you need to take in order to start drawing more targeted traffic to your website and your product or service:

1. Create a video! – This is probably the biggest step but for the purpose of this article we are going to assume you have already done that. Just briefly here are some suggestions: Make it succinct, professional, edited or planned, insert you web address at the beginning or at the end of the movie (or both) and make it provide some clear benefit or entertainment at the very least.

2. Sign up with all the main Video sharing sites including TubeMogul - Use your domain email address i.e. greathotpants@gmail.com and create accounts with all these sites.

HOT TIP: use the same email address, username and password and let Firefox save them in your browser.

HOT TIP 2: If you already have accounts with YouTube or other video sharing sites you are still better off creating new accounts because it makes for a more focused channel when people visit your profile page. e.g. We create video training for WordPress and other web technology.

If you don’t create accounts with all these sites, TubeMogul can upload to the ones you have missed later anyway.

Here is the list of the sites and sign up links (open in new windows):

• TubeMogul.com – Main account for this video marketing campaign.
• YouTube.com – The number one video sharing site. Open season.
• Yahoo.com – Another big one. No limits on content.
• MySpace.com – Also a huge social networking site.
• MetaCafe.com – Another video sharing site.
• GoogleVideo.com – The big guys have this one too!
• Revver.com – Good high quality video sharing site.
• AOL.com – Aren’t microsoft involved? Oh well…
• DailyMotion.com – Good quailty encoding site.
• Blip.TV – Cool widescreeen format and player choices.
• Veoh.com – TV and Video sharing.
• Vimeo.com – Yet another…
• Viddler.com – What is this. Fiddler with a V?

The following video sites are for special content such as web courses and training etc. You will need to check them out individually and see if they suite your content. Also TubeMogul requires a quick appplication to be able to publish to these sites as well.

• Sclipo.com – Broadcast your skills. DIY and How To videos.
• HowCast.com – A How TO video site.
• 5min.com – Instructional and DIY videos.
• Crackle.com – Indie TV Shows.
• StupidVideos – This one explains itself…

There is one site that deserves an honorable mention because it is so socially relevant. This site doesn’t show up on TubeMogul. Its a site initiated by Al Gore to allow the public to create and share topical documentaries with the world. I have found it to be a wonderful form of communication and learning. Visit the site at www.Current.tv

3. Upload your video to TubeMogul – Here you select the file and while it is uploading you can enter the Title, Description,Tags and select a category. Here it is useful if you have done some keyword research that potently describes your video and what it is about.

HOT TIP: Make the title and the description compelling and succinct and rememeber to put your website link in here too, including the full url like so; http://effectiveclassywebsites.com/ Once your video has uploaded you will need to click UPLOAD then choose a thumbnail to proceed.

4. Enter your username and passwords for all the accounts we have created – Remember to get TubeMogul to save all your details for the next video upload. Press LAUNCH!

Now we have absolutely maximized the exposure and effect if your video marketing. The only other thing we need to do is visit the actual websites of our video accounts and complete our profile information so that there is something that invites them to take action!

Some tips on Video settings.

When you export your movie ready for uploading here are some settings to get the best quality possible.

• Keep video length under 10 min. 2-3 min videos are the most viewed.
• Put your web address at the end and at the beginning if you feel it works.
• 640 x 480 pixels
• 30fps
• MP4 Quicktime file using H.264 or (DivX, Xvid) format.

How To Make YouTube Videos Look Great – from Squidoo.com

Good luck and have fun getting your videos out there!

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Why? This guy is so cool. And I mean that in the “I don’t need to harp on my opinion” kinda way.

His insights are human, applicable, up to date and very useful.

Step 1: Do yourself a favor and go to this link now and subscribe to his blog.

Click here to go to Seth Godins Blog. Enter your email address at the top left to receive his blog daily.

Step 2: Go to his link and download his free e-book called Unleashing The Idea Virus.

Unleashing The IdeaVirus Download

Step 3: Visit his website for more depth and access to his books and programs. www.sethgodin.com

Step 4: Read it, think about what you learn and dynamically apply it to your situation. This guys bald head is made of gold!

Well its one of the most fundamental ideas of marketing, and to answer that question I am going to refer to someone that is undoubtably one of the greatest marketing minds on the planet. He charges $5000 per hour for consultations and here I offer you some of his best ideas free.

His name is Jay Abraham and he has been a big influence on me and my way of approaching websites, music, producing and communicating. He is a powerhouse of creative ideas and passionate implementation of what makes marketing exciting.

Visit his website at www.abraham.com for a more in depth look at his process.

The Unique Sales Proposition is :

“The single most self serving advantage you offer your customer above and beyond your competitors”.

In a sense its a condensed statement about what makes you special and different, presented in such a way as to make the benefit to others clear. So we need to start exploring together to get clarity on this for you.

Here are some questions that will help to draw this out.

First I just want to point out quickly that this applies to literally anything. Music, art, business, ideas, your career, etc etc. And if you think you’re not selling anything, consider for a moment ideas as being a commodity.

So here we go…

• What do I do that sets me apart from everyone else?
• What unique experience and background do I have that I can draw on to communicate and contribute?
• When people give me feedback, what do they say that they enjoyed or got out of the interaction?
• What resources both personal and environmental have I failed to recognize and utilize?
• How can I communicate the benefits of what I do to the people that need it?
• What kind of person will want what I have to offer?
• How can I communicate that benefit in a potent way?

Ok so that’s just some of the questions we need to be asking. Remember its an ongoing process. Don’t stop asking them. Write them down and reflect on them. Ask your friends and associates what they think.

Consider the tagline on this site.

Its a statement of what I strive to bring to this resource called a website.

Empowering you to update, edit and add value.

For me its about sharing some of the things I have learned and also giving people a way to take charge of their presence on the web. With tools both online and in their heads.

Because who needs a website? Really.

Well a lot of people judging from the web right? But is it a website they want? No.

We want to be entertained, or meet people, share ideas, learn something new, watch the news or make money, (theres lots of that!). The web is just a medium. The same old human needs are still there we’re just using a more streamlined and also chaotic mechanism called the internet to do it thats all.

So write them down, and ask them often. Post your comments on this blog, or on a writing pad, it doesn’t matter. As long as you’re asking you will come up with something to work with. Then we can start (or continue) to put it out there and present what you do more skillfully.

I’ll finish off with some more quotes from Jay Abraham.

“You are surrounded by simple, obvious solutions that can dramatically increase your income, power, influence and success. The problem is, you just don’t see them.”

“An amazing thing, the human brain. Capable of understanding incredibly complex and intricate concepts. Yet at times unable to recognize the obvious and simple.”

“Understand that you need to sell you and your ideas in order to advance your career, gain more respect, and increase your success, influence and income.”