20 Major Marketing Mistakes -
No1: Failing To Understand The Nature Of Internet Marketing
By Donald Saunders
A surprisingly high number of people who are new to the
world of online marketing believe that it is a simple
art. If only this were true!
I'm not saying that they believe that all they need to
do is find themselves a product, build a website,
plug-in an order system, place an advertisement or two
and then wait for the money to roll in, but many people
simply fail to appreciate the significance of the use of
the word Marketing in the phrase ‘Online Marketing’.
A quick look at the index of any online marketing course
will be an indication of just what is involved in
setting up your own internet business with such headings
as, ‘Building a website’, ‘hooking-up your order pages’,
‘Setting-up a newsletter’, ‘Winning the search engine
war’ and a great deal more. Now, each of these elements
is important in its own right, but together, they simply
create the framework necessary to allow you to start
marketing your products or services.
However, even once you've dealt with all of this, people
aren't going to start flocking to your website with
their credit cards in their hands. You are going to
have to go out and find your potential customers, get
them to your website and then persuade them to buy your
product or service.
So, the first question you need to ask yourself before
you try and sell anything online is whether or not you
are a salesperson?
Before you invest even one single penny in setting-up
your online business, you have to understand that your
principle role will be that of salesperson.
Now, many people have a problem when it comes to seeing
themselves as a salesperson, often because of the
stereotype that paints all sales people as dishonest
and ready to do just about anything that they
have to do, to get us to part with our hard-earned cash.
Naturally, the problem with stereotypes is that they are
often very wide off the mark. The vast majority of
sales people are simply ordinary people doing a job and,
like most of us, they are decent, hard-working and
honest people. Despite this, the many of us have been
brought up to distrust the salespeople and that makes
your job as an online marketer that much harder.
So, how do you jump this particular hurdle? Well, there
are really only 2 ways to deal with the marketing needs
of your business.
The first is to accept your role as salesperson for your
business and learn as much as you can about selling
online. In practice, this means doing your homework and
seeking out some of the more successful internet
marketers and following their example. There are too
many to list them here but, as you do your research, you
will discover names such as Jim Edwards, Jay Abraham,
Ken Evoy and Terry Dean that come up time and time
again.
Each of these successful marketers has his own
particular style and you will warm to some immediately
and find that there are others that you simply can't get
in tune with at all. All are however extremely
successful online marketers and have a great deal to
offer by way of help and advice.
The second approach is to accept the fact that you are
not comfortable filling the role of salesperson.
Now this doesn't mean that you can merely ignore the
problem of needing a salesperson in the hope that it
will go away, because it won't! Like it or not,
marketing is crucial to your success and it must take
the prime spot in your online business plan. However,
if you really feel that you can't take on this role then
don't. Simply get somebody else who can fill the role.
This might mean taking on a partner, or employing
someone to take care of your marketing for you, both of
which are major, and possibly costly, steps.
Nevertheless, your business will suffer badly if you
don't put marketing at the centre of your operation and
this in one bullet you are going to have to bite.
Of the many hundreds of new businesses that appear
online every week the majority will fail and, of those
that do make it, only a tiny proportion will be
truly successful. In almost every single case the
secret to their success lies in will be the importance
that the business owner places on the role of marketing
and on his own role as a salesperson.
About the Author: Donald Saunders is the author of a
number of internet marketing reports including ‘20 Major
Marketing Mistakes’.
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