Online Marketing - useful tips made easy

[Dancarter]

Hi Kevin please have a look at the following link

Some great reading sure you will enjoy it

*url removed*

[Just Gone]

I have a build a very successful business on these principles

Does this mean you HAVE built a very successfull business or you are GOING to build a successfull business on those principles ?

[adrianh]

So Steve Jobs is a prostitute?

[Blurock]

I buy every single book i can get my hands on!!

In the end it come down to:

Becoming a leader to others and helping them build there leadership qualities to succeed in business or on a personal level

The ability to express your value to prospects through marketing

This type of language sounds a bit like MLM to me. THEIR (Not there!) Leadership qualities, their personal development, on their personal level, their value prospects and reading every book that the MLM principal encourages you to buy. Being brainwashed like sheep...

Dan, please be honest, are you into MLM? Maybe a new recruit, all motivated, fired up and ready to roll?

[Norri]

That quote is by Perry Marshall, an absolute AdWords (and online business, and even offline business guru!) and it's worth it's weight in salt.

Someone asked a specific question about the drill brands. Well, if you sell the Black & Decker, then you should be offering a report on why the Black & Decker drills better, faster, more precise holes than any other drill on the market and it does it SAFER than any other drill and it's easier to use for a newcomer to drilling than any other drill. I'm not saying lie, I'm saying that if your product CAN claim those things, then that's what you sell, NOT the drill.

The reason he talks about this is too many people are talking about the speed the drill spins at, and the plastic the handle is made out of, and how re-inforced the thingie at the top is (chuck? eish I'm not a driller ) instead of selling the best way to make a damn hole in the wall!

Changing this one aspect in your marketing can explode your sales.

As for the rest of what this chap has posted, I have no comment. I just wanted to defend the good quote he used. Sometimes the value of a good quote (or lesson of any type) is lost because of the way it's delivered.

[adrianh]

I think it depends on who you are trying to reach. I am a very technical and critical person so I want to know the specs of the drill, nothing else. If I am confronted by a drill marketing campaign about holes rather than drills then they will not get my cash. The point that I am am trying to make is that some people like the technical specs and dislike all the fluff.

I'm going to by an Aston Martin, not because I saw an add of a pretty girls sitting on the bonnet of the car, I want the car because I want the car.

I think that marketing companies shoot brands in the foot by over-associating them with certain imagery. We should have 'cut the crap' campaigns, where we get to see the real value of products, not the 'concocted value by association'

The problem with marketing quotes is that they they are taken out of context and then applied badly by people who will do anything to sell.

I know all about selling the sizzle and not the steak, but the fact of the matter remains that you will sell the sizzle of a crappy steak only once.

[Norri]

Adrian, Perry's advice is actually geared specifically to technical people. The lesson is not different, the depth is. You still sell the hole, you just sell it in a much more technically verbose manner than you otherwise would.

Hannes Dreyer teaches, and I agree 100% with: The only value is perceived value. An example he teaches is how he turned a struggling lodge, charging R800 a night and seldom-booked into a fully-booked lodge charging over R10k a night. He didn't sell the accommodation, he sold his training AT the lodge. That suddenly made the accommodation worth a lot more!

Another example is he wrote a book. It was worth R150 per sale or thereabouts. He modified that book a bit and printed it as a "manual" for a course. He now sells that "book" at over R2k a pop. Same ACTUAL product, different delivery, different perceived value, different bottom line results.

These examples may seem not to fit because the product delivery was changed but the same is true for most products. My wife no longer sells photography, she's learned to sell "Memories". She books more than she ever did before and commands higher prices.

A security company can sell burglar bars or they can sell "security" and peace of mind.

In all examples, we're talking about the SAME product or similar, selling because of the perceived value in how you present the product, NOT actual changes in the product!

One last example, I have a website editor tool called "Just1.co.za". These days it's outdated so before I market it better, I'm bringing it up-to-date (never sell a shit product) and then, once that's done, I will be selling you an "internet business" or "instant online leads", NOT a website! But I DO have to up my game to at least match my competitors before I have a hope in hell because a shit product, once sold, costs you more than if you never sold it!

If people only sold the facts about a car, there would still only be Fords, only available in black.

Keeping in mind that we're not talking about an ideal fantasy world, we're talking about reality.

If I'm selling a website and I talk more about the leads it can get you than the code I will use to make it, I'm focusing on the perceived value of the website, not the facts. And you know what, I will outsell the next guy selling the facts.

So while I'd also love to just know the facts, this thread is about Online Marketing and, in online marketing, as with all marketing, it's got bugger-all to do with the product and everything to do with the perceived value of the product and that is indisputable. There is no shortage of companies selling awesome products who are struggling when faced against competitors selling lesser (although still acceptable for their intended use) products who are fantastic at marketing, and so they win.

My favourite (and worst) example is Microsoft vs Linux. Linux is more stable, and these days about as easy to use and yet Microsoft still proliferates the market. Why? Because they are amazing at marketing. Also because they have incentive programs and things like that to encourage the selling of Microsoft-preloaded computers.

On the other side of that coin, Linux completely and devastatingly dominates the server software market. Is it because of marketing? Yes it actually is. I got into Linux because somebody told me how stable it is. They didn't tell me about how it was programmed (which is what makes it stable), they just told me it's stable. So yes even really technical things are still sold with marketing, it just happens to be peer-to-peer.

So while I agree that the pretty girls in the Aston Martin have got NOTHING to do with the car, they do say something. They say, "This car is so sexy, these girls will think you're cool" and that talks directly to our need to feel cool and accepted and it sells the damn car!

You and I may be exceptions in one or two areas but you'll find that most of what you value is actually perceived value thanks more to how it was marketed to you and less to the actual product specifications.

Also, keep in mind, you market to yourself. You read the specs of something and then translate that, in your mind, into benefits. For example, I buy a new PC with 8Gb of RAM because I know that RAM = speed. My brother buys a 512Mb graphics card (or whatever) because he knows that that = better game performance which = more fun playing games.

All that said, I'm not saying let's sell the sizzle of crappy steaks. I'm saying if you have a great steak AND he has a great steak, you're screwed if you think the steak is what you're selling. It's not!

PS: This is not an attack, just expressing views I enjoy your posts very much.

[Blurock]

I agree with Norri. At the bottom of all marketing is not the product, but the solution or convenience it represents.

If you are buying matches, you are actually buying a flame. You have a choice between the hassle of carrying matches or the convenience of a lighter which is more convenient, but comes at a slightly higher price.

[adrianh]

Norri, you are very good at what you do. You've been able to make me reconsider my own views.

And yes, I admit, imagery is very powerful; the Allan Gray ads are so simple, say nothing directly, yet capture the essence of the business beautifully.

[Dave A]

Dan, please link to pages with content, not just a signup form.