My Changing Worlds and Internet World

This time last year I was living in Hampshire, England, working full-time building the audio branding consultancy Sound Strategies with my business partners, while addicted to social media and helping to run the Social Media Club in London. I also devoted three full days absorbing in the 'technology' conference, Internet World.

How things have changed.

In February this year, I permanently relocated back to Northern Bavaria, Germany, where my husband works at one of the several Siemens businesses headquartered here. I've now spent more years outside my native Scotland than in it, taking in Switzerland, France and England on the way. Strangely, once you start a family somewhere and become part of the community, it becomes your home. In a very real sense, we've come back home, I just don't speak the language as well as my children!

After much soul-searching, I've also decided to return to mainstream international communications, ideally for one of the several local corporations, either as an employee or through my consultancy RPPR Limited. I'll be thrilled to add in for good measure a dose of social media, as one thing that hasn't changed is my conviction that it is permanently changing how we communicate with each other. In the meantime, I'll remain an active member of Sound Strategies Advisory Board, and drive ahead with some internet-based business and client public relations projects.

If, as you read this, you have any thoughts or suggestions, projects I can support you with, or people I should speak to at companies including Siemens, Adidas, Puma, Playmobil, Staedtler, and Stabilo I'd love to hear from you at ronna(dot)porter(at)btinternet(dot)com.

So why mention Internet World? Well, Internet World 2008 kicks off again at Earls Court in London tomorrow for three days - 29 April to 1 May, and were I in London I'd definately be there as its a great value (ie. free) opportunity to learn about and emerse yourself in the marketing and new media imperatives of the internet. My greatest pleasure at Internet World 2007 was recognising that it was no longer a technology exhibition and conference, but a business and marketing one. You really don't have to have spent much of your working life in the technology and telecommunications business, as I have, to get a huge amount out of going along.

Another reason for mentioning Internet World 2008, is that my Sound Strateges business partner, Michael Spencer will be closing the Enterprise Content Management Conference at 15:00 on 1 May, picking up on our reseach that only 2% of multinational companies show strategic thinking in the use of sound on their websites. Michael would love to meet you if you make it along to the exhibition.

How to Uniquely Position a Membership Site for Success

By Brian Clark

STOP PRESS -- Take advantage of your last chance for a $1 7-day sneak peak at the Teaching Sells offering which will no longer be available after noon Eastern Time on Thursday 17 April (that's tomorrow!) Lot's of new member upgrades are planned, so now is a good time to have a look!

Everyone wants to create a cash cow with a membership site. But what you really need to do is create a purple cash cow.

In the Teaching Sells training program, we reveal how to identify a target market and how to spot a learning need that the market has already demonstrated is worth paying for. Once you’re focused like a laser on topics and markets that already show high demand for information and training, the next step is the most important of all.

• What’s the point of your offering?
• How is it unique?
• Why should anyone buy from you instead of the competition?

The way to answer these questions dates back thousands of years to the days of Aristotle. But let’s stick closer to home and only go back 45 years or so.

The Unique Selling Proposition
In 1961, a gentleman by the name of Rosser Reeves published a book entitled Reality in Advertising. In this book, Reeves revealed the secret behind his success as a copywriter and later as chairman of the Ted Bates advertising agency. He called it the unique selling proposition (USP).

Reeves enjoyed great success throughout the relatively languid competitive climate of the 1940s and 50s by pointing out a specific and compelling benefit to the buyer that was unique to that product. The value-added benefit had to be something desirable that the competition did not, or could not, offer with their product.

Positioned in Your Mind
In 1981, Jack Trout and Al Reis released Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind based on a concept the two developed way back in 1969. Moving beyond the USP, Trout and Reis focused not on what you do to the product or service, but what you do to the mind of the prospective buyer.

Jack Trout relentlessly preached the power of positioning into the 1990s with The New Positioning, and into the new millennium with Differentiate or Die. The latter book comes full circle back to Rosser Reeves and the unique selling proposition, as Trout takes to task “creative” advertising that pulls heart strings but gives the prospect no reason to buy.

Purple Cows and Liars
In 2003, Seth Godin gave us Purple Cow , a book that riffs on the USP and positioning, but takes it a step further. Yes, your product or service must be unique, and yes, you must aim to position yourself in the prospect’s mind. But is it something worth talking about? Will your customers market for you?

In 2005, Seth released the essential companion to Purple Cow, and cleverly sought to avoid controversy by calling it All Marketers are Liars. It’s not enough to be remarkable—after all, we talk about distasteful things too. You’ve got to take it one step further and make sure that the story you’re telling is one that people want to hear.

Made to Stick
In 2007, brothers Chip and Dan Heath released Made to Stick. While positioned as an advanced exploration of the ideas contained in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, the book’s core stands on the shoulders of Reeves, Trout, and Godin, but takes it that one critical step forward.

How does something stand out on its own, in our minds, get us talking… and also endure? What determines whether you’ll get 15 minutes of fame or create a lasting impression?

What These Smart Guys Can Really Teach You About Positioning
The topic of unique positioning in marketing has been explored so thoroughly because it’s the most important part of any business that hopes to succeed. These books are wonderful, and I suggest you read them all if you haven’t yet.

But there’s a more immediate lesson about positioning contained above, especially for people selling content. Did you notice it?

Each of these books on positioning is itself an example of positioning.

In a nutshell:

• Each book is talking about the same thing
• Each author is building on what the last guy said
• Each catalyst for the next book is a simple change in context

All of these books are exploring how to stand out in a market, and it all boils down to the same thing, which is to be unique. Trout, Godin and the Heath Brothers owe their success to the thinking Rosser Reeves did over 45 years ago, because at the core, they’re not saying anything he didn’t say.

These gentlemen have just provided a prime example of creative adaptation. They are simply expanding the parameters of the 45-year-old Unique Selling Proposition to fit a new context—an increasingly hyper-competitive and advertising-blind world.

Before you start feeling sorry for Rosser Reeves because he’s not getting the credit he deserves in these later books, well, Reeves stood on the shoulders of giants as well. His ideas likely originated from earlier advertising pioneers like Claude Hopkins and John Caples, and the true root of the USP goes back to Aristotle’s Rhetoric.

So How Does This Work for Membership Sites?
In Teaching Sells, we explore six proven ways to uniquely position your training program, each with concrete examples. You’ll also learn how to make sure you’ve covered the four critical elements of modern market positioning, plus a methodology for working out your market, the existing market need, and how to uniquely position yourself even in the fiercest of markets.
Plus, positioning is so vitally important that we launched an entire advanced course about it. Advanced Positioning and Creative Adaptation walks you step-by-step through the entire positioning process, and then rolls into case studies that provide crystal-clear examples of how to create your very own Purple Cash Cow.

Check out the inside of Teaching Sells for only $1… but hurry, we’ll be ending the “take a look for a buck” 7-day trial period soon. Jump in with both feet and get started today.

Have We Arrived In The Conceptual Age?

I like to revisit the books on my shelf, rather than throw these ideas out wholesale in favour of the latest offerings. So for my journey to a client meeting the other day, I grabbed my copy of Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind - Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Celebrated as 'a ground-breaking guide to surviving, thriving, and finding meaning in a world rocked by outsourcing of jobs abroad and the computerisation of our lives' (see video), now that I'm permanently outsourced to Germany and attached to a computer much of the time, it seemed a good time to check if we're there yet?



Published in 2005, it made quite an impact on me as at that time I was picking up my career again following a break to start a family. It gave me a much-needed confidence boost, as I read about the Six Senses Daniel beleives we all need to develop:

In the Conceptual Age, we will need to complement our left-brain-directed reasoning by mastering six essential right-brain-directed aptitudes. Together these six high-concept, high-touch senses can help develop the whole new mind this new era demands.

1. Not just function but also DESIGN. It's no longer sufficient to create a product, a service, an experience, or a lifestle that's merely functional. Today it's economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionaly engaging.
   
2. Not just argument but also STORY. When our lives are brimming with information and data, it's not enough to marshal an effective argument. Someone somewhere will inevitably track down a counterpoint to rebut
   your point. The essence of persuasion, communication, and self-understanding has become the ability to fashion a compelling narrative.
   
3. Not just focus but also SYMPHONY. Much of the Industrial and Information Ages required focus and specialisation. But as white-collar work gets routed to Asia and reduced to software, there's a permium on the opposite aptitude: putting the pieces together, or what I call symphony. What's in greatest demand today isn't analysis but synthesis - seeing the big picture and, crossing boundaries, being able to combine disparate pieces into an
   arresting new whole.
   
4. Not just logic but also EMPATHY. The capacity for logical thought is one of the things that makes us human. But in a world of ubiquitous information and advanced analytic tools, logic alone won't do. What will distinguish those who thrive will be their abilituy to understand what makes their fellow woman or man tick, to forge relationships, and to care for others.
   
5. Not just seriousness but also PLAY. Ample evidence points to the enormous health and professional benefits of laughter, lightheartedness, games, and humour. There is a time to be serious, of course. But too much sobriety can be bad for your career and worse for your general well-being. In the Conceptual Age, in work and in life, we all need to play.
   
6. Not just accumulation but also MEANING. We live in a world of breathtaking material plenty. That has freed hundreds of millions of people from day-to-day struggles and liberated us to pursue more significant desires : purpose, transcendence, and spiritual fulfillment.

Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning. These six senses increasingly will guide our lives and shape our world. Many of you no doubt welcome such a change. But to some of your, this vision might seem dreadful - a hostile takeover of normal life by a band of poseurs in black unitards who will leave behind the insufficiently arty and emotive. Fear not, the high-concept, high-touch abilities that now matter most are fundamentally human attributes. After all, back on the savanna, our cave-person ancestors weren't taking SATs or plugging numbers into spreadsheets. But they were telling stories, demonstrating empathy, an designing innovations. These abilities have always comprised part of what it means to be human. But after a few generations in the Information Age, these muscles have atrophied. The challenge is to work them back into shape. Anyone can master the six Conceptual Age senses. But those who master them first will have a huge advantage.

What most appealed to me on first reading was the idea of Symphony, where I felt well placed after a career of managing complex, cross-border communications programmes. And I'd argue that your average mother needs to develop advanced Empathy and Play skills just to get through an average at-home-with-the-kids-and-stay-sane day!

But what strikes me now is the extent to which each of these areas illuminate many of the social media behavioural affects we are now seeing, particularly on the Design, Story, and Meaning senses.

The Challenge of Communicopia

Every time I hear my fellow business communicators struggling to come to terms with social media, it reminds me of an article I wrote in the first weeks of my new life as a public relations consultant, my MSc in Public Relations still shiny in my pocket, for the journal of the UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations in 1995.

Although, at that this (practically pre-email!) time it was the wonders of interactive CD-Roms and other such 'advanced' multimedia communications tools I was discussing, the message still holds true in the social media era:

"Public relations practitioners have little choice but to rise to the multimedia challenge if we are to compete in an increasingly dynamic communication industry, to flourish rather than survive. Ultimate success is better founded on adapting our current strengths to the ever-widening communicopia - through a highly developed understanding of clients' business, an appreciation of corporate and brand positioning, and the ability to reach specific audiences, rather than jumping on the techno-junkie bandwagon."

Please forgive a few stray allusions to 'control' and 'message' - it was a simpler time. Writing it today, my behavioural studies training would have come more to the fore ....

Greetings to all my old Citigate colleagues, now Citigate Dewe Rogerson.

The Challenge of Communicopia

First there's the baffling 'techno-babble' to contend with. Then comes the hype - never in the field of human endeavour have there been such breakthroughs, say the evangelists. Finally, you hit a fear of the unknown, the incomprehensible. It will result in a technophobic paralysis.

Despite this, few professionals can afford to ignore multimedia - the convergence of broadcasting, telecommunications and computing - which will bring a multitude of market opportunities and affect virtually every sector. This is poignantly true for the public relations industry as a contender in an increasingly high-tech communications arena, where our competitors range from computer programmers to advertising agencies. Will multimedia fundamentally change our business, or simply offer new mills for our grist? And can we survive it?

As with most issues in public relations, it depends on your definition. If the central role of public relations is to provide a network and a context for distributing information - whether through the press, speaker platforms, brochures or whatever - adapting our expertise to include the sea of new high-tech communications will fundamentally change what we do. What's more, our technology-led competitors will have a real advantage.

Alternatively, if public relations is the definer of corporate and brand messages, the multimedia challenge is more attainable: we shall be applying a well-developed core skill to the exciting new 'communicopia.' An appreciation of what is technically posible and the relative cost feasibility and advantages of a variety of communications vehicles continues to be vital. However, the difference is that technical know-how can be rightly commissioned from the technical experts, allowing public relations to concentrate on developing the 'creative software' and controlling the effective communication of messages through a medium which reaches an identified target audience.

With a solid foundation of skills on corporate and brand positioning, the Citigate Group is monitoring developments in multimedia to expand and add value to the service it offers clients. According to Reginald Watts, deputy chairman of the Citigate Group, its forays into multimedia fall into three distinct areas: "Our first is to offer clients informed advice on the use of multimedia as a business and communication tool and to develop in-house expertise to support the design and development of products for clients.

"Next, we are concerned to understand how wider multimedia industry issues will affect our business and that of our clients, in real terms over the coming months and years. Lastly, we plan to use multimedia and new technologies to improve our service and efficiency.

Specialised projects
A key task in public relations is to identify the most effective, cost-feasible communication medium to suit a situation. With an increasing complexity and number of media on offer, will we still be able to advise on a comprehensive range of options, or too easily fall back on traditional methods?

To guard against such complacency and to build on their creative design services, Lloyd Northover Citigate set up a new media unit in May 1994. Projects include the deign of multimedia presentations, interactive multimedia projects on CD-Rom and on-line communications for clients. One project is developing the brand identity and graphics for a multimedia shopping kiosk, where the graphic designers will work hand-in-hand with the software designers and hardware manufacturers to integrate the brand's image throughout.

The wider issues
Monitoring the possible impact that wider multimedia issues could have on our business and that of clients - in industries ranging from utilities through pharmaceuticals to automotive components manufacture - is important. As advisers to senior management, public relations practitioners must be able to offer counsel. What effect, for example, could multimedia have on a development corporation?

As part of a full-service public relations programme for the Cardiff Bay development on the South Wales coastline, Citigate Corporate is working with the corporation to develop a solid 'product offering' attractive to the media sector. Based on an understanding of the business needs and resulting property requirements of such companies - developed through focus group discussions with experts - Citigate Corporate is helping Cardiff Bay to promot itself as a European centre of multimedia excellence.

Within consultancies
How to use new technologies to improve our internal working methods and communications? Susy Frith, managing director of Northampton-based Citigate Technology, warns against the dangers of investing in technology for technology's sake. "There should always be a demonstrable benefit to our customers." she says. "Does it make us faster, promote accuracy or improve accessibility? The new systems must also be user-friendly, otherwise what would turn 'filing time' into 'thinking time' is instead a technological nightmare.

Public relations practitioners have little choice but to rise to the multimedia challenge if we are to compete in an increasingly dynamic communication industry, to flourish rather than survive. Ultimate success is, however, better founded on adapting our current strengths to the ever-widening communicopia - through a highly developed understanding of clients' business, an appreciation of corporate and brand positioning and the ability to reach specific audiences, rather than jumping on the techno-junkie bandwagon.

Book Launch : Personality Not Included

I'm quite excited about tomorrow's lauch of Rohit Bhargava's 'Personality Not Included.' I'm a firm believer in the fact that brands need a "Personality (that) is the unique, authentic and talkable soul of your brand that people can get passionate about." If you'd like a taster, you can read the books introduction here.

As a proponent of social media (he celebrated his 500th Influential Marketing blog post this week) Rohit's taking a fairly enlightened and inclusive approach to the launch. He's asked bloggers to send him five questions, which he will answer. Here are mine and I'll update with the answers when they come in:

1. As a director of Sound Strategies, I believe that sound and music has a powerful, yet largely undeveloped role to play in corporate personality - particularly in an online world. What's your view on this, Rohit? RB: I think you are absolutely right, and you will probably find my technique section on what I call "Sensory Marketing" very interesting. One of the examples I share about this, which is more of a marketing gimmick but does demonstrate the tecnique (if not necessarily the entire idea of personality) is the promotion for the Sony picture The Messengers with their secret ringtone that only young people could hear because of the frequency.


2. Which - if any - role models do you beleive are the ones to watch for using sound and music to create a 'unique, authentic, talkable soul?' RB: I think the most obvious example has to be Apple and their success with setting their advertising to songs that become iconic. Case in point, the New Soul song that has been #1 on all the charts thanks to its debut as part of the Macbook Air TV spots. The other place I would point to is YouTube, though in that case it is not so much brands as indivuals, but some of the most iconic videos are set to songs that convey the emotion in the most powerful way.


3. Perhaps the better examples are from outside the worlds of marketing and branding. Are there lessons we can draw from other fields of study on how to use sound and music to stir the passions of our audiences? RB: I am sure there are. For example, what about sound research as a part of physical therapy or as part of treatment for a high risk pregnancy. There are lots of applications that we have not yet even begun to understand. This is a fascinating area and I love this series of questions you have here.


4. Companies are increasingly experimenting with video and audio as part of their marketing, what is it that makes the combination of image, words and sound so much more compelling and dynamic than words alone? RB: I think it's simply because we as humans are very visual learners and prefer that type of interaction. What is most powerful today is that technology has finally caught up so that these experiences can now be delivered with a relatively good experience.


5. How are you using sound as part of your outreach, Rohit? RB: Ok, of all the question I have had so far, I have to say this is the one where I am going to like my answer the least. I'm not doing very much and this interview has gotten me thinking about what more I could be doing. At the very least, publishing a podcast of some of my speaking engagements. If you have any other ideas to share, I would love to hear them!

Thanks for such quick responses Rohit, I'll have a chat with my Sound Strategies partners and come back to you!

Social Media Starter Moves for Freelancers

I spent most of yesterday researching some business ideas for the public relations freelancers niche, and specifically as an option for women returning to work after childcare breaks who find their options more limited. So I was pleased to come across this great post from Chris Brogan: Social Media Starter Moves for Freelancers. If you’re a freelancer hoping to use social media to get work, here’s a quick summary:

• Make your blog your storefront.
• Kill all the extraneous stuff from it.
• Write posts that establish your experience and abilities in the industry.
• Write other posts that promote other people, too.
• Contribute beyond the walls of your blog.
• Attend real time events, too.
• Consider if you want to add audio and video.
• Give to get.
• Ask for the sale.

If you are a freelancer, pop over to the post and comment on what else you want to share with people seeking Starter Moves? What’s your take on this advice? What can YOU do to help freelancers?"

11 Deadly Marketing Myths | Marketing Tips Featuring Derek Gehl

A word of warning…

Included here are the most common myths and misunderstandings that keep would-be entrepreneurs from making their dreams reality and starting their own online businesses.

These stumbling blocks are also the primary culprits in keeping new Internet start-ups from building a solid business foundation and growing a successful online e-commerce site.

So don’t fall victim to these 11 deadly myths!

MYTH #1: Starting an online business is expensive

Reality: Depending on the type of business you wish to start, your start-up costs can be as little as 50 bucks.

The fact is, most businesses do NOT need to incur expensive start-up costs… and most businesses should not invest a lot of start-up capital before they’ve tested their business and their market online. That’s where so many "dot bombs" made such a grave mistake in the past, and there’s just no need to take that risk.

Only once you’ve tested your business idea on the ‘Net and found it to be a viable opportunity should you start investing in the kind of software, web design, inventory (or whatever) that you’ll need to grow your business. Then again, you may want to just do it all yourself every step of the way…

We started our first site in 1996 on a budget of 20 bucks.

MYTH #2: I need to be an expert before I can start a business

Reality: It’s really a shame that so many people put off starting the online business they’re dreaming of because they think that before they can start, they need to become a web designer… a search engine expert… a programmer… and an MBA.

The truth is that the most successful people on the Internet are often none of the above!

The key: Learn just ONE thing, and learn it well… then move on to the NEXT strategy, and the next, and the next…

Anybody can start an online business. All it takes is a little courage to start and a little resolve to keep going and keep learning new strategies, techniques, and ways to grow and improve your business.

MYTH #3: All the good Internet business ideas are gone

Reality: Opportunity abounds on the Internet, and e-business success is not a waning proposition. Far from it — the online shopping community is rapidly increasing both in terms of how many online shoppers there are and how much they’re willing to spend.

And there are so many proven business models on the ‘Net that you can simply follow… or there’s plenty of room for you to develop your own, unique approach to your market. And there are so many different things you can sell! For example, you could…

• Sell your own products
• Sell your own services
• Drop ship products
• Recommend affiliate products
• Sell ad space
• Joint venture with like-minded businesses
• Start an affiliate program

… and more.

These are the top online profit streams, but of course you can always find others. Plus, there’s no reason why you can’t incorporate several of them into your business model! The key is to focus on one, maximize revenue from it, and then move on to the next.

MYTH #4: I need a good product idea before I can start

Reality: You do not need a product idea to start — and not only that: If you do start with a product idea… you’ll be off to a bad start!

The reality is, most businesses that start off with what they think is a good product idea are destined for failure. Your product might be great, but if nobody wants it, your business isn’t going to get very far!

That’s why it makes so much more sense to look for your market first. If you can find a need in a market you can reach, then simply give them what they’re asking for… your business is bound for success from day one.

For example, we know a man named Eric Weeks who doesn’t really like trucks very much — he’s never owned one himself. But when he noticed that thousands of people search the Internet for "truck accessories" every day, he knew there was a market just waiting for him to give them what they needed…

Well, we interviewed Eric for our "Secrets To Their Success" Private Web Site when his Truck-Bed-Covers.com site was only one year old… and already Eric was generating $800,000 annually in online sales!

Eric’s advice is, "I sure as heck wouldn’t consider building an e-commerce site on personal interests. So whether it’s weight loss or travel, home business or truck bed covers… if enough people are interested in those subjects, then THERE is where you need to apply your efforts."

It pays to remember: Find your market first. Then look for a product to give them.

MYTH #5: I need "brand recognition" on the Internet

Reality: Online branding has been preached in the past as one of the big "Do or Die" marketing strategies. But the fact is, "brand recognition" is something you probably don’t even need.

Effective branding creates the kind of fierce product loyalty that leaves customers indifferent to the marketing tactics of the competition. It’s what compels you to walk past all of those no-name-brand on-sale colas at the local grocery store and pick up the 6-pack of Coca-Cola that costs three times more. It’s what makes children plead and beg to go back to McDonalds again and again. And it’s what has made the phrase "Just Do It" synonymous with Nike.

It’s all very impressive, right? Well… yes. But the truth is, most small, online business do NOT need to make their company or product a household name — and will likely go bankrupt trying.

You’ll be most successful and most profitable if you closely target your market. Focus on getting your business name and your advertising in front of your best potential customers — the people who have an expressed interest in what you’re offering — as opposed to everyone!

If you’re a small or home-based business then, chances are, you don’t have the millions of advertising dollars it takes to build a nationally recognized brand and make your company a household name — at least not yet!

So let’s skip the high-priced large corporate branding techniques — after all, these strategies simply don’t translate to e-businesses with limited advertising budgets — and instead, focus on your target market.

MYTH #6: Affiliate programs are hard to start

Reality: Enlisting an army of affiliates is extremely easy!

The great thing about affiliate programs is that it’s easy to persuade people to join. They have nothing to lose as there’s no cost to them, it just takes them a few minutes to get set up, and they have the potential to make a lot of money!

They persuade visitors to click through to your site by posting a simple banner ad or text link on their web site — or perhaps by writing a short referral letter to their customers — and you do everything else. You lead the visitor through your web site, close the sale, process their payment, fulfill their order, and handle any customer service issues.

You also track how many orders each affiliate sends you, calculate their commissions, and ensure that they get paid what they deserve. You take care of the big issues and they get paid for simply referring new customers to your site.

So what’s in it for you?

There are no advertising costs! With your own affiliate program, you only pay for advertising that gets results! It doesn’t matter how much traffic an affiliate’s site receives — whether the site gets 10 visitors a day or 10,000 visitors a day! You are paying on a per result basis… so you make money every single time!

And, thanks to affiliate tracking software, managing hundreds, even thousands, of affiliates is extremely easy. The software automatically keeps track of which affiliate made which sale… where each customer is coming from… exactly how much you owe each affiliate… etc.

So tracking 10,000 affiliates is just as easy as tracking one affiliate! It takes us about two days a month to run our affiliate program — and we have over 100,000 affiliates who generate over $3 million in business for us every year! (That’s about $250,000 in sales for every day that we work on it!)

So the moral of this story is: Affiliate programs are incredibly easy to start, easy to run, and definitely worth your while!

MYTH #7: Pay-per-click advertising is expensive and doesn’t work

Reality: Pay-per-click listings are an excellent option for small online businesses, or for those of you who need a quick, cheap injection of highly targeted traffic to your web site!

Pay-per-clicks can get you to where you want to go in the search engines fast — and if you ensure that you are not competing against large, wealthy corporations for hugely popular keywords, you can get there without spending a lot of money.

If you are just getting started online, you are in an especially interesting position to begin experimenting with the pay-per-clicks, because the beauty of pay-per-click advertising is that you can see immediate results. You don’t have to wait weeks or months for your listing to be posted. You can simply fork over the cash for a top-three position and see how it affects your business…

Just keep it simple! Don’t try to outbid industry giants who can afford to pay big money for the highest-traffic terms. Go after the lower numbers and the neglected terms that you can scoop up for next to nothing and use to your enormous advantage.

If you don’t get the kind of ROI (return on investment) you expected, you can simply cancel your bids for that spot, and try out another one!

You can test, hone, re-test, and perfect your pay-per-click marketing campaign very easily with pay-per-click search engines, as long as you keep an eye on your bid amounts and watch to ensure that you are always at least breaking even on your bids.

MYTH #8: "If you build it, they will come"

Reality: Many people think that if they build an attractive, well-designed web site, people will come to it.

Don’t believe it! It may be true of phantom baseball players in Kevin Costner movies… but it’s not true for YOUR business on the Internet!

You can’t just build a pretty web site and pack it full of interesting, useful information… and expect it to succeed. No matter HOW good your site or your business model may be, this just won’t work.

Why? Because nobody will find you!

People won’t just appear out of nowhere. In order to build a business that has a good chance of being successful, you have to take your great business model and your beautiful web site… and promote the heck out of it!

You know how the old saying in the brick-and-mortar business is "location, location, location"?

Well, online, you could say that the key to success is: "Promotion, promotion, promotion!" The only way to get people coming to your web site is to let them know about it… and to put it right in front of their faces at every opportunity. Whatever marketing techniques you choose, whether they’re free or paid, online or offline, small scale or huge endeavors, make sure that you’re running your promotional campaigns constantly and that you test their effectiveness.

MYTH #9: Viral marketing does not work!

Reality: Viral marketing allows you to exponentially increase your visibility online by turning your existing network of clients and newsletter subscribers into a giant word-of-mouth referral machine!

Much like a flu virus which can easily spread from one person to many others, awareness of your company can be dramatically increased by persuading your clients and subscribers to refer you to their friends and family.

Hotmail, for example, is probably the BEST example of viral marketing there is. Why? Because their phenomenal success has been based on their simple tactic of adding a small Hotmail advertisement to the bottom of every e-mail sent by a user on the Hotmail system.

A Hotmail user sends a friend an e-mail. At the bottom of the e-mail, the following advertisement appears:

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

The friend thinks to themselves, "Hey Look! I can get a free e-mail account from MSN Hotmail. Obviously they are a reputable company because my friend has an account with them… I think I’ll sign up for one too!"

A word-of-mouth referral from a trusted friend or relative carries much more weight than self-proclamations of greatness!

So the friend clicks on the Hotmail link and heads off to get their very own Hotmail account. Essentially, Hotmail has developed the ultimate referral system! Hotmail users promote Hotmail each and every time they send an e-mail.

The power of viral marketing lies in the snowball effect these referrals can have on your business. And these referrals pack a great deal of punch, because people who learn about your business via a third party are much more likely to trust you.

So believe it when we tell you that viral marketing does work, and it works very well.

MYTH #10: My customers don’t want me to e-mail them

Reality: If you don’t e-mail your customers and subscribers, you’ll be doing them a disservice!

Think about it: Your opt-in e-mail list is made up of people who want to hear from you. (They’ve visited your site, or they’ve come into your shop, and they’ve decided that they like what they see enough to give you their e-mail addresses.)

And that means you are giving your customers and subscribers something they’ve asked you for. When someone gives you their e-mail address, they understand that you’ll be using it to send them information that they actually WANT to receive.

Plus, you are developing valuable lifetime relationships with your customers and subscribers. E-mail allows you to contact the people on your list over and over again, so that you can build genuine relationships with them. Don’t think your customers won’t appreciate this!

And the best part is that e-mail marketing really works! 82% of online buyers have completed at least one purchase in response to an e-mail promotion. With numbers like these, you can understand why we’re always stunned to hear about a business that STILL hasn’t started using e-mail marketing.

MYTH #11: Web salescopy should be short

Reality: Long copy is generally preached as a "no-no" by online marketers. They’ll tell you that you should stick to using multiple short "pages" that contain a single, complete thought.

But do you know what I discovered after extensive testing and re-testing? Long copy sells! The key here is that if people are interested, they will read as much as you can write. I have proven this time and time again.

We have always used a direct salesletter that is about eight pages long….

We use these eight pages to walk the reader smoothly through the sales process… so by the time the reader arrives at the section where we explain our offer and ask for the sale, they are convinced of the value of the product and are open to our sales "pitch."

Have we tried short copy on this site? You bet!

We tested a multi-page web site, but when we broke it down into four separate web pages, sales dropped by almost 70%!

The fact is, a well-constructed salesletter leads people through each stage of the sales process, giving them exactly the right information at exactly the right time to ensure that you overcome their objections to buy and close the sale successfully.

It takes a certain amount of time to orchestrate this process, and you need to implement a number of steps to create the right formula. That’s why your salescopy often needs to be long.

So the moral of this story is, long copy can definitely work!

It all depends on your business, your market, and the product or service that you are trying to sell. You should take the time to test both strategies on your web site and see which works best for you.

If you want to learn more about the ins and outs of internet marketing, and how it can boost the profits of ANY business (online OR off) -- I suggest you check out my best-selling course, Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business on the Internet.

It will tell you exactly what you need to do start running highly lucrative email campaigns that will boost your profits by at least 50% -- or more!

Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year.

To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he's used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit: MarketingTips.com.