what really matters (imho)
You know what the THING is.
But here's THE thing...what happened to the soul of marketing? The heart of it?
I'm talking of course about the pride and dignity and humanity and integrity of CREATING QUALITY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT REALLY MATTER AND REALLY HELP PEOPLE.
The questions are all too often :: how can I make money, what can I do to make them buy, how do I convert people into sales.
People should not be converted into anything but..people. I fear we as marketers have often lost sight of what matters, being those who ambitiously seek to provide unique quality information, products, and services to other people.
I know I know, not everyone does this. But it seems too often the focus of everything on here. How to make $10K a month, how to make $200,000 a year..what about how to create a really great quality product or service?
Because when you create quality, you don't have to worry about the money.
When you do what you love and produce the fruit of your passion and hard work, simply putting it clearly in front of those who you think or know would like it, they love it buy it, talk about it, buy more...etc.
I see short and long "How To's" about making money online, giving advice that leads newbies down a road of creating fake and empty businesses where the only goal is making a buck and trying to trick people into taking the bait and hoping they don't realize how empty the product really is or how it was thrown together by someone else for a few bucks, just to make it look reasonably valuable.
Don't be an empty marketer! Make real value, create it with your own paws!
Want to know how to make money? Do real quality work that is for the purpose of actually providing that quality to someone! Then you can price it at practically any number and see results.
I have an offline business in consulting that I do off and on. I recently doubled my rates. Why? Because I am a scarcity and provide the highest quality service and help to my clients. How do I know this? Because I've worked at nearly all the similar companies to mine and know for a fact that most people get by giving crappy service.
So for example, if you're wanting to put together a report that draws subscribers, create that report yourself and in a niche that you're proud of and really knowledgeable and into! If you're not knowledgeable but into it, create a series of youtube videos that follow your process of becoming an expert and build subscribers with these.
If you're creating a landing page, write the damn thing yourself! Think you suck at copy? Just be yourself and express your passion and do your best, read about how to write copy, make your inability to write good copy a "damaging admission" that builds respect with readers.
Making a squeeze page? Don't pay someone to do a fancy one, make it yourself! Follow the rules of basic conversions and sales pages and just make it even if it's ugly. My ugliest pages outsell my nicest ones consistently.
The goal isn't to be ugly, it's to ingrain yourself into your work, every fiber, and you'll stand out from your competition because everyone else is having cheap and hollow crap made for them in order to try and get money fast. Be the marketer who is willing to take the road less traveled and out-genuine the sh*t out of your competition.
I've said too much.
Bleh!
~john
edit: oh, and be patient! be willing to wait even a year before seeing real profit. If you stay true to doing your best at really giving your best, the results will come. Sometimes someone hits a "lottery niche" where they happen to be super passionate and ready to provide quality in a niche that's been untapped and they see almost immediate results when they launch, but for the most part it will take time to see those results. After a couple years you'll be doing the $10k, $15k, etc months, but stop sweating the money and start focusing on being amazing at creating amazing stuff for the amazing people you serve.
Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
SteveBrowneDirect