Is This Internet Marketing Mindset Causing You To Lose Sales?

I think that a lot of Internet marketing techniques work well for a wide variety of things, including commodity products.

Those people may be rare. And, there may be more people that claim they are among that group but will still end up buying products from such sites.

I don't know that I agree with that fully. I mean, I'm not going to buy socks from a one-page salesletter site, unless they are very specific socks for something. I agree that a one-page salesletter in and of itself is not the best method of selling all products. But, as many Internet marketers learn, you have to present your product in the way that best suits your target audience. That doesn't mean that techniques used in one-page salesletters aren't applicable to other types of products as well.

Let's say you're buying shampoo online. If you know the brand and type you want, you want to go to a site, find that shampoo, drop it in your cart and buy it. If you know what you want, you are probably just looking for the best value, which will be the lowest price among sites that appear trustworthy. In this case, you've already been pre-sold on that product.

So, for the Internet marketer selling that product online, what they need to do is let you know they carry that brand at a reasonable price. They don't need to explain to you the benefits and so on, which is one of the parts of a good salesletter: selling you on the product's benefits to you. That part is already done.

And many online stores do just that. They are betting that you already know the benefits of a product, and are competing to be the place you buy that or those products from.

But, let's say you have people coming to your shampoo or sock website to buy XYZ shampoo or socks. What if you have your own store brand that is comparable? What if it is of equal quality? What if it's at a lower price? (And, as it's your brand, you have a higher profit margin on your store brand than the XYZ brand?) You would rather the customer buy that product than the XYZ brand, right?

How do you do that? Well, you might have an attention-drawing headline. You might have copy explaining the benefits. You might have a comparison chart. In other words, you might have the content of a one-page salesletter, but presented a little differently. Same goal though, right? To sell them on your product over the other one. Sure, you'll sell them either one, but you want them to buy your own brand.

A typical eCommerce site may be like a typical store. Here are the products. We have cheap prices. Please buy from us. You know? They compete with prices and coupons and special offers and such. You go there, you pick what you want, and you buy it.

But, what if you have a question? In many typical stores, clerks and salespeople and stuff are often clueless teenagers. They may be older, but they're often not knowledgeable about the products in the store. They can tell you what aisle the socks are in. They can do a price check on your shampoo selection. But, which shampoo is the best shampoo for your hair? They probably don't know. Maybe they'll grab the bottle off the shelf and read the label for you--something you've already done! But, that's about it. And that's how a lot of eCommerce sites are run. You want something? Fine, you can buy it, but you'll have to depend on other sites for information and comparisons.

A better eCommerce site is run like a better store. They have products, but they also have salespeople knowledgeable about those products. They can do more than read the packaging for information; they've been educated on the products. They've used the products, if not for themselves then at least in training sessions. They can tell you which shampoo is best for oily hair, which is best for dry hair and which is best for that hair that just can't seem to make up its mind. The eCommerce site will have product comparisons, reviews, additional information, and so on. You can find out the benefits of the product, which will work better for your needs. They may have live help or online assistance.

If you're pre-sold on a product, you can add it to your cart, checkout and be done! If you need more information, though, it will be all right there for you. You don't have to leave the site to find out more about a specific product.

You may not see what we think of as Internet marketing techniques, but they're there!

On a superficial level, things may look different. But, when you dig deeper, the techniques that Internet marketers use, they're there. There are commodity-product sites using affiliate marketing. They're using article marketing. They're using press releases. They're using the various techniques that get discussed on WF every day. Maybe they're not asking the questions. Maybe they're just lurking, gleaning what information they can. You may not hear from them, but they're here.

The typical one-page salesletter site doesn't necessarily have the benefit of a customer already sold on the product. So, that salesletter has to perform a different function than the Popeil or Snuggie sites. Those products have been presold to customers in the TV ads. Breakdown the TV ads, and it's essentially a salesletter!

As others have mentioned, Internet marketing techniques are not all new to the Internet. Many techniques have been around for decades, perhaps longer! Much longer. Think of the traveling salesman, standing in the middle of town, announcing the benefits of his product. Some were selling snake oil; some were selling useful goods. But they grabbed attention, as headlines do. They talked about the product's benefits, as salesletters do. They appealed to the customers' emotions to help sell the product, as salesletters do. They gave a limited time offer, as many salesletters do. In short, they were "Internet marketers" before the Internet was ever dreamed up!

Infomercials aren't much different from those one-page salesletters either!

Internet marketing is just marketing on the Internet. It works because it speaks to the way most people buy. Sure, everyone knows people that say they won't buy from "those" types of ads or people or websites, but people do, including some of those who say they don't! Usually, when people say they don't buy from such places, it's because they haven't seen a product that appealed to them.

But, present them with a product that they just can't live without, and they'll get pulled in hook, line and sinker by one of "those" places!