Good morning, you fellow marketers! Well, you do not have to give me that look, there is always a morning coming up somewhere (what a cheap cliche!)
Have you been online later I suppose so... Was there nothing to bother you, on the thousands of sites dedicated to marketers, or at least claiming to contain marketing-related resources Personally, I cannot stop being continuously distressed by a curious writing phenomenon: the enormous amount of articles with numbers included in their titles. Still do not know what am I talking about Here are some dreadful examples: 5 Steps to Easy..., 20 Tips for Better..., X that, Y other, all of them promising either dramatically raise in your marketing audience, incredible sales boost, the perfect marketing plan, the greatest sales letter ever written, costless promo campaigns. The list can go on forever and keeps on amazing you of how easy a marketers life would be if we just follow those guidelines, rules and tips.
Is that true Have those writers discovered some sort of a simple wisdom that the rest of us are not yet aware of Hardly possible... though this aspect is not striking people, otherwise why would we see so many pieces of unprofessional writing
With that type of articles, writers bring a huge disservice to the professional marketing world. First, they promote the idea that marketing is a simple thing to do. Only if you are mentally retarded (no offence meant), you do not understand and cannot apply those easy simple rules, glorious pieces of advice. Take some time and look at the titles: almost all of them contain cheap pick-up words such as easy, simple, tips, inducing the idea that the subject is available to anyone. No, it is not, and we must face it.
Second, a beginner entrepreneur seeking information on how to start / how to develop his business might reach the conclusion that marketing, sales, promotions, are fields that do not require a professional to handle them, it is sufficient for him to follow step by step the great tips he finds online at every corner. Why then we wonder when so many small businesses fall apart around us
At last, students who are involved in any major related to marketing, they might fall into the trap of thinking theory and study is, well, not quite important. Any problem can be solved by applying some of the tricks the online world is full of, and here they are, no need of thinking, no need of developing a strategy... why did they register for expensive, time consuming universities in the first place
You might say this sounds paranoid, and you would not be too wrong. The purpose of the above statements, with all their intended exaggeration, is to ring a bell.
Another issue is that of the audience and the purpose of the writings discussed here. Since they are published mostly on sites claiming to offer marketing resources for the professionals, we might assume this is the target audience. Still, it is very doubtful that true professionals would bother to read something entitled Increase your sales 10 easy tips, unless some morbid curiosity or a weird sense of humor drives them on. Why Because they know there is nothing new under the sun, those tips are just rewritten old principles, same content with a different cover. Taking a better look at the content of the incriminating works, one can recognize the principles taught in school, now extremely summarized and simplified, written in a very accessible language level, and in most of the cases presented as the authors very piece of mind. Well, if the professionals are not the audience, then who is Students They are stuck with their bulky books trying to become the next Philip Kotler... Maybe business owners No... they must have either hired someone or they got busy running the business themselves, unaware of the Z number of advices waiting to be read.
It means we return to the first assumption, that the number entitled articles address to the marketing professionals. And, hey, almost forgot to mention that the author is, in most cases, a marketing guru (I am terrified by this guru thing!) From this point, the real worries begin: since when the level of professionalism lowered so much Are we losing our creative thinking Cant we come up with something new anymore Do we need those cheap works to have us promoted
... Finally, are we getting dumb
Otilia Otlacan is a young certified professional with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business, currently working as independent consultant and e-publisher. She developed and teach her own online course in and is also a volunteer Economics teacher.
You can contact Otilia through her Marketing resources portal at
Think about everything you can do in your business that would contribute to bringing money into your bank account.
The most important thing is Building Your List!
* Running split tests to see which one attracts more opt ins.
* Doing direct email campaigns.
* Weekly newsletters to your list with upsells in it.
* Writing sales letters for a particular offer or campaign.
* Going to meetings and industry seminars to make contacts.
* Sending Joint Venture offers to people on the Internet.
* Putting ads in the paper or online e-zines and comparing the results.
* Making follow up phone calls or emails to prospects that have not yet bought.
* Putting on your own teleconferences or webcasts.
* Getting reciprocating links to your website.
Etc,Etc,Etc!
Now lets look at all of the things that are essential to your business but arent as important as bringing in the money.
* Organizing your desk and papers, again.
* Flicking through training manuals and not filling in the Action Steps.
* Surfing the net for hobbies not listening to tutorials.
* Waiting for everything to be exactly right, like having business cards or logos.
* Watching what other people are doing instead of working on your own business.
* Rewriting the training material after having found a few spelling mistakes.
* Creating products for months and months without testing if theres a market.
* Organizing the business and tax structure before there is an income coming in.
Weve All Done It!!
When I first started in business I was rewriting my newsletters and web pages first by hand, then again into the computer so that it would Help Me Learn It.
All I was doing was delaying having to take action, and if there is anything I have learned is that Massive Action is the only thing that counts.
As Zig Ziglar says If you wait for all the lights to turn green before yougo to town, Youll never leave the house.
Business will never be perfectly right but what really matters is that you get into the game for real. Make some mistakes and spend some money on further education so that you have all the ammunition you can get to become successful.
True Entrepreneurs ask themselves How Can I Not Why Cant I
Focus on what matters the most and that is bringing money in the door. The rest can wait.
Become obsessed with your business and look at every person you meet as a prospect.
Youll find customers in the most unlikely places.
Tamra Forde
Director of Marketing
Freedom Business Opportunity