Offline marketing - Wild west until it gets ruined

The fact that it is harder and more time consuming is the very reason why there will remain a good, strong market. One of the hardest things about getting started with an offline business is building relationships, trust and authority. One of the reasons why IM is so attractive to a certain type of Internet Marketer is that they lack those qualities (in other words, they're not a "people" person.) A barrier to their entry is the fact that it requires meeting people face-to-face and presenting a compelling argument; shaking hands, looking them in the eye, and delivering results. How is this any different from any brick-and-mortar business? It's not. Those with lots of tenacity and sales experience will be able to enter this field with ease. Of those, the ones who can nurture client relationships and deliver on their promises will remain in the game. Everyday, new local businesses are created. As long as offline marketing remains a discipline that requires inside knowledge and expertise, there will remain opportunity for all. The problem with this being the Wild West is that there are a lot of gun-slingers out there (You know, the ones who promise a 1st page listing on Google.) Make promises like that and you'll kill the market for the rest of us. (Would you trust a stockbroker who absolutely guaranteed that you'd make money on a particular stock? Would you trust a doctor who absolutely guaranteed that he could cure you of cancer? Then why would anyone trust an offline marketer who guarantees a 1st page placement on Google?)

Anyway, it's obvious that every IMer who ever built a blog farm or promoted a POS **** berry diet program is now running to offline marketing:

Go, lemming, go!

As always, those who are honest, genuine and tenacious will remain in the game. It's only a matter of time before the "next BIG thing" comes along to entice the masses towards a new, improved IM strategy. God, the things people will do for the sake of working in their pajamas. This says a lot for how extremely AWFUL it is to work a j.o.b. for 'the man'. I know I'll never do it again.

There will always be money to be made going offline. I think of it as Adwords when it first came out or EzineArticles 4 years ago. You can still make money now, in fact you can make more than ever. But...It would've been nice to get your start early on to rack some early profits to sustain any future business growth.

I concur with everything that people have said on this thread. The "Offline Model" is completely bogus from a business point of view. What businesses are looking for is results - ie. increase in new customers and sales - the bottom line.

Internet Marketing in principle is no different than any other form of marketing. The end goal is the same, more customers, more sales and more profits. A small business owner does not give a hoot how its achieved (apart from ethical and sustainable) and they are not interested in the latest IM fad.

Its quite true that "Offline marketing" is harder as business owners will not pay for failure and if you go in promising the earth you will get burnt.

You have to actually go out and meet your clients, put together realistic proposals and then deliver on your proposals. I have been on the receiving end of the constant tele sales calls form so called "SEO" companies claiming they can get you to the top of the search engines - what bull. they are in for the quick buck not the long term. all this has done is harden the market and made it more difficult for the genuine people who provide a good quality service.

I have just been asked to work full time with a company on a decent retainer and a commission based on results. This came about because I offered to set up and run a PPc campaign (only because it would get near instant results) for free to prove to them what was possible. This has mushroomed their business to the point where they now want me full time. The brief is to now reduce the PPC costs (they are spending £6,000 per month at present) by getting more organic search traffic.
Unfortunately once I had set everything up they succumbed to one of the dreaded tele sales calls promising them that they could increase their click through s and reduce their costs. I was horrified when I saw what this company had done. They had 1000s of keywords per ad, poorly written ads, poor relevance which ultimately gave them a poor quality score. I then had to re do the whole campaign and get it back on track.
I also provided free advice on website design, opt in forms etc at the beginning of the process (they didn't have a clue about how to actually engage a web developer). This was very important as the website designers they had engaged were more interested in how the site looked rather than the actual functionality from a business process point of view.

The moral to all this is that "Offline IM" is a lot more difficult than is touted and unless you understand how businesses actually work and what their expectations are I would advise any newbie to steer well clear as they will probably fall flat on their face and as some else has said you cant visit potential customers in your pyjamas.

When I got into offline marketing I thought there was going to be a ton of competition from others buying these courses. I haven't seen that at all. It's still very wide open especially if you are using good marketing and networking techniques.

I've been doing Offline Gold (I mean consulting) since the 70's, yeah 1970's.

Offline will always be there and it will never get saturated with REAL consulting. But, there are a lot of "one trick ponies" marketing their goods or services. For the last few years it's been PPC, SEO, now it's VIDEO, WOW!

I love offline marketing. I don't compete with ANYONE, real consultants are no where to be found. When I first approach my prospects and walk them thru my Questionnaire they are BLOWN away. They expected some PPC, SEO, website guy to come along and then I show up. Nothing to sell except my marketing knowledge, what works, what doesn't, pay me a high fee for my knowledge Mr Business Owner and we'll get along just fine.

Increasing sales and revenue for most small businesses is VERY easy. Most have no marketing system whatsoever, all spray and pray advertising. Then along comes Mr Guru who can really help them, track there advertising, and use proven marketing methods that work. Oh my, what a concept. Actually marketing to your Existing customers to increase sales.

Most companies spend 90% of their advertising/marketing budget on NEW customer acquisition vs Customer Retention Programs.

Page ONE of Google for Local means nothing in many cases. ALL of my clients are Page 1, ALL. I have Google Places, organic, sister sites, PPC campaigns, etc... it doesn't mean you will get a ton of new customers.

Hate to Bursts anyone's FANTASY!

Relying on the SERP's is a fools game, everyone is chasing Page One, lol.

Everyone please WAKE UP and smell the coffee.

What happens when your New Client gets to Page One and the Gold doesn't flow, then what? Uh, Mr Business owner I got you Page ONE Google but you haven't seen any real increase in business? I was told getting on Page One would make you Rich.

Go ahead and test it yourself. Call up a business on Page One Google and see if they are making a Killing, go ahead, make my day!

REAL Marketing is a Campaign, a series of promotions. You can use Newsletters, eMail campaigns, Direct mail, Social sites, Google Places, Free Press Releases, Article writing, PPC, SEO, Video, Flyers, Trade shows, Blogs, Paid traffic via banner ads, Joint Ventures, training staff/personel for increased sales, Increase pricing structure, create a USP, etc...

There is more to Marketing than just V-I-D-E-O.

You are doing your clients an injustice by only using one source of traffic. Shame on you for being LAZY!

What happens when everyone has video, I guess the next fad will be this thing called Newsletters, lol.

~AP

P.S. I want everyone to understand that all media has it's place. Video is good, newsletters are good, PPC is good, SEO is good, just don't think that ONE source of anything is the Answer.