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July 19, 2006

Insider Tip of the week - 07/19/06

What's smarter - online marketing, or...

by Bob Serling

Last week, I did a limited attendance teleseminar for
just 100 people on creating and marketing information
products. One of the key points I make to people
interested in creating information products applies to
anyone in any type of business.

Let me give you a quick bit of background information.
The vast majority of clients that I work with - I'd estimate
at least 90% - tell me their main goal is to be a more
effective online marketer. This is a critical mistake!

Don't get me wrong, I have a strong online presence
myself. But the real goal of any business should be to
become an "effective marketer", NOT an "effective
online marketer".

The great "Online Marketing" myth

I don't know how this myth got started, but many people
think they can have an "online marketing business". Let
me clear this up for you once and for all - there is no
such thing as an "online marketing business". Online
marketing is merely one more form of media - just
as direct mail, space advertising, radio and tv are forms
of marketing media.

Let me ask you - would you ever say you want to have
a "television marketing business"? Of course not.
Companies who are savvy enough to make profitable
use of tv also use many other forms of media.

And this brings me back to the original point. FORGET
about being a successful online marketer. Focus instead
on being an effective marketer in whatever media are
most productive for your business.

Two real life examples

Here are a couple of excellent examples of what I
mean. You may have seen some of my emails talking
about how one of the people in my information products
mentoring program sold more than 9,500 copies of
his first information product right out of the gate.

How did he achieve this? By mailing a proposal to a
Fortune 500 company suggesting they purchase his
info product in bulk to provide to all their distributors.

He did not have a web site. Had he taken the time
to build a web site, build an ezine list and online
presence, it would have been a major distraction
that would have prevented him from hitting this
home run.

A second client, who already had an existing web
site, used my advice to change the strategic purpose
of his site. This resulted in an overnight increase in
response of more than 300%. It made good sense
to do this because he already had the infrastructure
in place.

Bottom line, it's counterproductive to predetermine
what marketing media to use. Only by understanding
your market and the best ways to reach them, will
you become the most effective, profitable marketer
you can be.

====================================

How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html

Posted by Bob Serling at July 19, 2006 08:43 AM

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