Let's face it..many offline bizz do not need Int marketing

alrighty then.

This is true. Well, to a certain point....

I had a meeting with a company a couple months ago who has some very bleeding edge security technology...all kinds of facial recognition and biometric security. The meeting was for a website and SEO (the SEO was pushed by me).

Not only did they not want or need SEO, but even for their website they were worried about marketing it. Their target market consisted of 1) certain government security agencies and 2) prospective investors. These guys did not want any commercial website traffic.

It was interesting for me...my mindset had always been "everybody needs to market to someone."

In this case, there was really nothing I could do for them. We did get the website business, but even then, we had to make a conscious effort NOT to market it. The CEO wanted to secure all of his funding and have a definite go-to-market plan first. The government agencies he is talking to could be counted on one hand.

So.... I agree. Not everyone will need IM.

Yeah, not all of them need it. I frequent a small coffee shop that has loyal local following and doesn't really use the site nor they would benefit from it a lot... maybe from a big campaign involving big national websites but not traditional SEO.

Mobile app? Maybe..as a loyalty program it could work...

Would be interesting to learn form experienced offliners how one could promote that coffee shops online tho..

This seems more like a reply to a thread vs. it's own topic.

We have touched on it multiple times here. I suggest that people doing this become marketing consultants and stop thinking inside the box(coomputer box in this case). if you can offer real marketing advice tailored to the business you will make more in the long run.

Of course you can also simply choose one or a handful of services and be a service provider. No one would fault ATT for just offering their services vs more.

It all depends on what the person wants to do.

But we do get too many threads here where some offline marketer complains about such and such company not seeing how paying them for a mobile website or what have you is a good investment. To them I always ask why is it a good investment for the business. If you can explain it well to me you should be able to explain it well to the potential client but if you don't have real reasons other then your "faith" in the internet is the end all and be all of marketing that is your issue and not the client's.

Some don't need internet marketing.
Some have their marketing handled already.
Some really can't afford it.
Some are not confident in their ability to close prospects.
And some are complete idiots.

All are outside of your target market, so focus on marketing to those sub-groups of businesses most likely to buy, based on your working knowledge of what works, for whom, and their common characteristics.

I agree with this... very much so.

I would even say over 50% of businesses fall into this category.

It depends on various factors. what industry the company is in ? and who their target client is ? Most consumer brands and business need social media as a way to boosting their PR and getting feedback on new products etc...

If you are talking about high tech companies like the one aforementioned then this isnt necessarily the case. I cant help but detect a certain level of snobbery towards IM in your post though..

For some reason, this post really annoyed me when I first read it. I had to re-read it to figure out why.

First off, you say,

- what does this even mean? And who are you talking to? There are a lot of people on this board that are very competent in marketing and business. I just don't understand why you would start a thread off acting like this.

And then this:

This is the most general statement ever.

If someone doesn't know that to sell something they have to show the value in it for the customer, then they have no business selling anything. At the same time, I doubt there are a ton of people on this forum trying to sell twitter accounts to funeral homes.

I'm not trying to be an a**, and I get what you are trying to say. But I don't understand the point of this thread or how it adds any value.

And the follow-up e-book, "Don't Target Your Market Improperly"

I think even saying that traditional advertising methods don't work anymore, just makes you look like an idiot in front of a client that uses those methods and gets results.

I would disagree...I would say close to 90% of businesses need some type of Internet Marketing. Even a Gas Station needs is Google Places Optimized for when someone is searching for gas in a strange city...for example....

whilst i have not done any testing on the exact number I doubt it's 90%. I'd say a bit more % just do not need to bother with I.M.

EG a hedge fund....now....they aint going to get $500k+ clients from SEO,youtube videos etc...I know...you are going to "scream" but surely some people will search for them using SEO? No..no serious investor looks on the Net for such a business. It's so full of spam and scams they wouldn't bother. (ok maybe 1:10000 will.).....But I know many do not bother with I.M. as they secure their clients by face to face meetings/word of mouth, joint ventures with other busiensses etc.etc...They aren't interested in I.M.

Many of the B2B industries hardly bother with I.M.

There ARE MANY OTHER INDUSTRIES WHERE i.m. IS A NO-NO TO THEM. Many here live in the I.M bubble world not realizing many other industries out there aren't interested in it. That's all i am saying.

of course there are some industries where I.M. is the BEST method of aquiring new customers.

My opinion: Nobody NEEDS internet marketing for their business.
But everybody would benefit from it. It wouldn't hurt to have it.

They can convince you up and down that they don't need it, and they're probably right. BUT, at the same time, you could convince them that while they don't need it, they would still benefit from it and it would still help their business. Esp if they're billion dollar corporations. This means that they've mastered many other fields of marketing. Internet marketing would only further advance their business.

I agree and disagree. I have been doing a lot more internet marketing for B2B clients lately. And yes a lot of the more old school guys could care less about internet marketing. But the fact of the matter is the "good ole boy's" tit for tat, face to face marketing system is going to always work...However whenever I have a prospect tell me the same thing you're currently saying I say this language pattern it it works for me most of the time..

Excellent! I can see you've really figured out the word of mouth marketing and you've really invested in building up your network which is of course one of the most valuable assets you can create! That's why Internet Marketing is going to be brilliant for you. ..

Internet marketing is like networking on steroids. Imaging being able to connect with 30X more people you're successfully connecting with now and being able to filter out which people you want to work with quicker...

Well with a good Internet marketing system in place we can systematize what you're currently doing that's obviously successful for you...

Wouldn't you agree with me that if you could reach out to more prospects with YOUR networking abilities you could skyrocket sales?

End in a question that they would be stupid to say no to. Remember the more yeses the closer you are to a close. It's all about how you position yourself. I ended up getting a nice $8,300 check from a prospect who yelled at me, and told me how the "Internet was destroying business and real networking is dead" But at the end of the day I got his money because I made him feel like he was so good at what he does that internet marketing will just ENHANCE what is obviously working for him.

-Ronnie

I think it depends on the kind of business. For example, small local shops usually dont need it. But vacation homes and inns would greatly benefit from it.

very true, and 1000% agree with Sloanjim that the leads these HIGH ENDS offline Biz corporates got mostly from "connections",, those in top 10 possibly have deals with government projects! LOOL........timber/plywood companies or "coal/mining" dont need seo at all. LOOOLL.

that's the industry i was actually thinking about all along...Can't see Glencore wanting any S.E.O., youtube vidoes made up...There are a lot of big industries that barely have web sites.

Net is moslty for the mass consumer markt. Mostly ..

This is gold...

Internet marketing does however complement offline marketing very well, and hence most warriors intertwine the two.

Yes it depends on the nature of the work involved and the size of the concern.
because small set up will not have the budget to afford for IM but big companies will definitely need.

Uhh yeah okay, thanks for the warning while I go back to doing what I do...