Internet Marketing Is Simple

Yes, Ray.... Internet marketing is indeed simple. Simple... but not easy. Just as all forms of marketing is. And just as you said, it's all about "The Basics."

The game of Golf is very much like marketing. It, too, is simple... but it's not always easy. The concept of Golf is simple... "Just get this little white ball in that hole down there." Simple. Not complicated at all. But easy? Not in the least. There are lots of things that can affect the outcome of your simple task. To be successful at Golf you MUST practice "The Basics." Nothing fancy, revolutionary, or "sexy." Just doing a few things right.

Same with marketing (Internet or otherwise). Doing a FEW things right. Not a hundred. A FEW. The "5 M's". Getting the right Message to the right Market, using the right Medium, at the right Moment, with the right Motivation for them to respond the way you want them to.

The Message has everything to do with matching your product or service to the wants and needs of your identified Market, in a way that they can see or hear about it (Medium), when they are receptive (Moment), and are willing and able to take action (Moment).

You've (as you always do), laid out a very simple explanation of a process that so many people try to complicate so they can sell the next "whiz- bang" solution, software, product, course, seminar... what-have-you. Vince Lombardi was famous for teaching his multi-year domineering Green Bay Packers "The Basics", by beginning every season with the statement, "Gentlemen, this is a football."

We, as marketers, can all do better by following your advice and focus more on Market, Product, Persuasion, and the Basics.

Hi Ray,

For me it all comes down to basic daily rituals.

Things like exercising, dedicating X hours to writing and Y hours to
calling potential clients every day, whether I feel like it or not.

Definitely not a very sexy approach, but time and repetition eventually
show up with a beauty all their own.

Later,
Mark Henderson

Doing a few "right things" - consistently - produces amazing results.

Spot on, Martin. Take today, for instance. At my office today we are spending the day on... GASP... a DIRECT MAIL project. You know, where you send an actual LETTER to people. In the ACTUAL MAIL. Not sexy, not whiz-bang... just good ol fashioned BASICS.

2 Simple ways I keep distractions to a minimum, so I can focus on the basics...

1. I turn off the e-mail "ping" sound so that I don't get distracted every time a new e-mail comes in. This allows me to stay focused so that I can finish what I'm doing without distraction.

An example of why this is beneficial is because as I'm going through my e-mail, there will often be links to web pages or maybe I'll receive a document that I need to review. I can keep my e-mail open while reviewing that document, and can even make edits as needed, without being distracted by the "ping" of a new e-mail.

Ray's e-mail newsletter is a perfect example of how this comes in handy. His newsletter is the only copywriting/IM newsletter I have been reading recently and I want him to start "noticing" me, so I'm taking the time to comment on his blog (I'm pleased he responds to posts). While I'm posting, I don't want to be distracted by the "ping" of new e-mails coming in, but when I'm done, I'll go back to reviewing/answering e-mails. Turning the "ping" tone off in e-mail allows me to stay focused on the task at hand.

2. I've unsubscribed from all the "big" guru lists, except one. At the beginning of my online venture, I was completely overwhelmed with trying to read everyone's newsletter. Following just one person's newsletters allowed me to not only be able to limit my newsletter reading time, but also eliminated "information overload" which was adding to my feeling of being overwhelmed. I couldn't process all that was being taught by so many people, each day.

So I've unsubscribed from most lists except a few, and at the moment, I'm only reading Ray's newsletter daily. Some of the others I keep for reference, because there are times I want to see how they did a launch, or I want to "swipe" a subject line, so they're still valuable, but they don't eat up my time each day.

Staying focused on the basics of my business means making time to stay focused, and these two tips are big helps.

The cartoon reflects one of my pet peeves:

Buy this super-guru-everything-you-need-to-become-an-instant-gazillionaire-extraordinaire for the reduced price of $97, normally $497 -- and we'll give you this [long list of bonuses] worth $3948!!!

And my BS meter goes completely off the scale.

A CD or DVD "worth" $97? It might sell for that in normal settings, but is it *really* worth that much?

Especially for someone who thinks it's worth that, but never uses it?

Of course that's their fault for not using it, but methinks sometimes the price isn't exactly a good reflection on the seller.

I recall a teleseminar several years ago where a veterinarian, as I recall, had publshed in e-book and priced it at a reasonable price of $27. Then he tried testing the same product at $47.

Sales tripled.

That says a lot about consumer stupidity -- spending another $20 per unit for the same product, perceiving a higher "value" due to price.

Happens all the time.

Some people are idiots. Willing fish in the big pond who snap up bait like it's a banquet, while ignoring the sometimes fatal hook hidden inside.

I'm not saying none of them have value. Compare the cost of "instantly accesible knowledge" in printed form versus the cost in time and lost opportunities while you go out and learn it on your own and probably get it wrong.

But "goo-roos" who sell over-priced, over-hyped, fiscal magic on how to get rich on the Internet hoping to get rich on the Internet remind me of a co-worker from my corporate days who was feeling the pinch and decided to get out of debt by marketing seminars he wanted to present on the topic of -- you guessed it -- how to get out debt.

He ended up putting his wife out on the job, leaving the kids to fend for themselves when both parents were not home.

But then I look at the piles of cash people fight each other to throw away to a willing venue operator so they can go see some empty-headed "performer" put on an act that is making them prosperous calling it a few hours of "fun".

And not being a football nut, I sometimes wonder if the excitement over some hot-shot, high-paid, NFL quarterback as they chat the next day about some spectacular feat isn't about them vicariously thinking it's they -- themsellves -- out there on the field getting the accolades...

And my friend who came through the area where I worked exclaiming, "We won!" When I asked who won, he excitedly addressed my obvious (and intentional) apparent ignorance said, "You know -- the Broncos!"

When I asked him when he bought the Broncos, he insised, "You know what I mean..." to which I responded, "No -- the Broncos won. They're paid to do that by somebody else. You're just the sucker who spends hard-earned cash making somebody else rich while supposing you're better off because of it ... which I doubt is true."

Nope ... I'll pass on the hype. Give me value, like the many honest operators do, and let the hypsters go into a well-deserved oblivion.

I had to work too hard for too many years to go out wasting money.

But then there are those liars on Wall Street who "advised" me into the complete destruction of my retirement fund.

Alas ... but there is a God in Heaven, and He won't be letting them escape ultimate accountability for the frauds, and that's something they'd be wiser to consider...

But the cartoon says it well -- for those who understand the problem.

CE