Some think internet marketing is their lottery ticket to a better life. If you are a professional marketer it is your ride down easy street to win more clients with little effort. If you are an entrepreneur it is your shortcut to creating a passive income while sipping pina coladas on a beach in Brazil.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and if you dabble in internet marketing long enough you will realise that it is not a get rich quick scheme.
Internet marketing is the new way of finding hot prospects and converting them into paying clients. It can be effective, it can be low cost and it can bring in massive amounts of new business. But it’s currency is time, execution and patience.
If you don’t have these then you will find yourself disappointed and disillusioned by all the hype your hear about internet marketing and the lack of results you may see in your efforts.
There are 3 key fundamentals you require to ensure you can start being successful using internet marketing strategies. These three fundamentals are not conclusive but without this foundation much of what you do will be in vain.
A Real Client
You need to know who your client is. Some call this an avatar or a persona. Knowing who is your client is so important to your success when executing internet marketing activities. When you know who your client is you can find out where they are online.
Facebook for example allows marketers to find people by their interests, age, marriage status, income, city they live in, if they are in the market to buy a car or if they rent a house. This is pretty phenomenal, but is all of no use if you don’t know who your perfect client is.
Additionally, if you are a start up you need to ensure that the client actually exists. I have seen so many create a fictional character whom they would like to target, when in reality that person doesn’t exist. Save yourself a tonne of time and disappointment by ensuring that the person you are targeting is real.
I see this a lot with the teachings of the internet marketing gurus. They help their followers create avatars of people that don’t actually exist, to sell products that aren’t useful to solve a problem they don’t have. Why? Because it suits the lifestyle or goals of their follower. Don’t make this mistake and be sucked in by this nonsense.
A Real Problem
So now you have a real person, find out what their real problem is. People don’t buy products and services. They buy solutions to problems. People are more motivated to solve a pain they have than create an opportunity.
If you try to make up a problem that you want to solve and then try to convince people they have that problem, you will find it difficult to get an ROI on your efforts. Make it easy for yourself in the long run by solving real problems that people already have instead of inventing convenient problems that you want to solve.
A Real Offer
Finally you need to craft a real offer which solves the real problem of your real client. If you have followed these steps so far you will have identified a person that has a real pain. At this point they will be highly motivated to make that pain go away, so now is your chance to solve it.
Create a product or service that is irresistible to them. One that they can’t refuse because it is what they have been looking for. When you have a real offer, it simplifies your marketing effort. No more do you have to sweet talk your way into the hearts of your prospects, they will self convert if you are offering them exactly what they are looking for.
So remember to keep it real online. People are the same online and offline. The same fundamental marketing principles work in both worlds. Internet marketing techniques are just tools which need well crafted strategies. The tools are useless if you are walking down the wrong path.
Find a real client, with a real problem, and offer them a real solution that will solve their pain. If you can do this then you are on your way to making this internet marketing thing work for you.