16 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
16 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

offline marketing..misleading?

by Collier
14 replies
Well, I don't know so I'm asking. The recent upsurge of offline marketing and offline marketing courses has put a big question mark in my mind. The courses sales letters almost always make the point that no seo or marketing knowledge is necessary. I wonder how can this be, if I'm going to approach businesses in regards to helping them drive traffic to their business, wouldn't one need to be able to at least drive traffic to their own business first. I guess I'm asking if this is just the latest trend for the sale of courses or is it possible for a person who can't drive traffic to his own business to sell his services to offline businesses. I don't think so but maybe there's something I'm missing. Just thought to ask
#marketingmisleading #offline
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Nguyen
    They are conning you to think you don't need this or that. Come on...as a marketer you should have all round knowledge of marketing and if you can't drive basic traffic then forget it. So when Google said that a very high percentage of searches are for local markets, I guess those offline authors forgot about that.

    Offline marketing for small business is not just about stinking seo, ppc, email, and all the other terms that author uses. Your ideas don't even have to be IM related as long as you can increase sales.

    My aunty owns a restaurant and I gave her a tip on how to increase sales without more customers. Basically have a competition between the waiters. Whoever sells XYZ and first one that reaches 10 will get X $ more. She had no idea of this, you see its not just about internet marketing. Basic marketing skills will work. Teach upsells, cross sells etc

    Don't be fooled that IM skills is all you're gonna bring to the table. Be a people person and really grow the business IM wise as well as skill wise.

    Jay Abraham said, it doesn't matter how you get to profit as long as you do.
    Signature
    FREE Cold Calling Course: >>> Looking for Serious & Aspiring Cold Callers to Train for FREE <<<
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2749870].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Collier
      That's the way see it also.. Thanks. I just avoided yet another distraction
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2749886].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Dave Weaver
      You forgot to mention that no money is required....except for the money to buy their course or system.
      I guess you could define an expert as someone with more knowledge than yourself. I have found that many small business owners don't have a clue about IM, SEO, Auto Responders, etc. You should learn all you can so you can answer any questions that your customer may have.
      I agree it seems kind of dumb to talk to a customer about websites if you don't have your own.
      I think if you want to be in the offline field you should have a strong desire to help people.
      Check out a couple offline forums like Offline is a goldmine forum | Offline Business | Make money with local businesses | Offline Is A Goldmine Forum - Index (Gina Gray) or http://www.localbizbuilders.com

      Also sales letters have a tendency to want to sell!! I don't think they highlight the pitfalls and stumbling blocks.:-)

      Dave Weaver
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2750024].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    I think you're confusing 'offline marketing' with whatever the people/products you're talking about are selling.

    Of course you need to know SEO, PPC etc if that's at all part of what you're offering to sell others.

    What you're probably seeing is people referring to outsourcing most of the work so that you personally don't have to deliver the service you're selling your clients.

    That's fine and you can do that but I would suggest that not understanding something which you're supposed to be selling is just stupid and at some point likely to make you look like an idiot when you're asked about it by a client you're trying to sell to

    The answer with all of these things is - you need to know...... whatever is appropriate for your personal business model. No-one else can tell you what that is.
    Signature

    nothing to see here.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2749952].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Martin Luxton
      It helps if you can show prospective customers an example of a site where you have done exactly what you are promising to do for them.

      If you say you can drive X amount of targeted traffic to their site it would be more convincing if you have stats/screenshots/videos/testimonials to hand of a site where you have already done this.

      Also, as Michael mentioned, just observing a business and giving the owner the insight from a fresh pair of eyes is another possibility.


      Martin
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2750043].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author john17
    @Michael - Nice response.
    My take on this is that if a business is going to take you seriously, they will probably want to see a website that you currently have up and running. Secondly, they will probably like to see some case studies of other businesses that you have helped and results that ensued from your help.

    Most offline business owners work very different than online business owners and for the offline owner it mostly boils down to - How many more clients can you help me get? How much more revenue can I expect to see from your help?

    If you are trying to sell SEO, PPC, or PPV training to an offline business; you had better be an expert at it or you are just wasting your time and the offline businesses money and time.

    Just as Michael was saying, there are plenty of other things the offline business owner should learn other than SEO, PPC, and PPV.

    How to begin capturing the name and email of their clients.
    - Ask people and give them a coupon if they do.
    How to follow up with those names and emails and get a response.
    -Use aweber, IContact, or another one of the hundreds of autoresponder services.
    How to leverage social media.
    - Set up facebook fanpage, twitter, etc...
    How to add upsells and downsells.
    The importance of holding sales and special deals.
    How to truly capitalize on the "impulse purchase."

    and much more.

    The internet has made business be an entirely new ballgame and offline business owners must begin harnessing its power in order to keep up.

    My biggest recommendation is to not walk into a business and say, "Hi, I'm an internet marketing guru and can help your business out."

    If you talk to business owners in a casual environment and ask what they think about internet marketing, many won’t even get what that is… and others think “just some other fly-by-night company selling me some garbage about about SEO or something”.

    Bottom line is, you are looking to help a business increase their revenue and gain more clients, educating them about the power of advertising on the internet, and giving them new ideas on how to get more people to look at their products and services.


    Refer to yourself as a Business Consultant and not an internet marketer.


    just my 2 cents...
    Signature

    Start your own Video Sharing Website at VideoSharingEmpire.com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2750084].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      I've seen some of these courses. Once the payment(s) have cleared, here's what you end up with:

      > Hire a bunch of commission sales people to beat the bushes for you.

      > Hire a bunch of specialists to do the work for you.

      > Pocket the difference.

      Here's the rest of the sequence:

      > Hire someone to deposit the checks.

      > Hire someone to keep an eye on everything while you sip umbrella drinks on a tropical beach.

      > Hire a lawyer to get you out of the mess your hired help made when they realized they could cut you out of the deal.

      [Offered with tongue only slightly in cheek... ]
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2750233].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Robert Domino
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        I've seen some of these courses. Once the payment(s) have cleared, here's what you end up with:

        > Hire a bunch of commission sales people to beat the bushes for you.

        > Hire a bunch of specialists to do the work for you.
        No disrespect but you do realize that this is what 99.999% of successful businesses do, correct?

        There's no other way to scale up. As I wrote in another thread, do you prefer making 100% of 5,000/mo, or say 20% of 100,000/mo (random numbers)?

        The first is your typical service person. The latter is a service business.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2750261].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by Robert Domino View Post

          No disrespect but you do realize that this is what 99.999% of successful businesses do, correct?

          There's no other way to scale up. As I wrote in another thread, do you prefer making 100% of 5,000/mo, or say 20% of 100,000/mo (random numbers)?

          The first is your typical service person. The latter is a service business.
          I do realize that. I also realize that most of the businesses with any legs have someone at or near the top who understands the business. Or at least understands business well enough to apply what they know to the specific business at hand.

          Most of the courses I've seen lately are not targeted to someone who fits that description. Most of them are targeted at either clueless newcomers or failed IM types. They've read Ferris and Kiyosaki and they want to jump straight to 'business owner/investor' with no sweat.

          On the sales end, you can try going with straight commission on the theory that you only pay for results. The trick to that is hiring sales reps who won't lie, cheat and steal to make those commissions (a relative minority, but they tend to prey on the naive). It's not quite as simple as 'run some ads on Craigslist' and we both know it.

          But the big problem is on the delivery end. If the business owner/consultant doesn't know anything about the business of providing the service, there's no sure way to know when they've hired someone competent. Again, it's not as simple as running some ads on Craigslist, elance et.al. or, heaven forbid, Fiverr. Not when you're taking someone's money and mucking around with someone's livelihood.

          Too many of these courses are being sold by blowing smoke up the skirt of naive but earnest people, and the only one who doesn't get hurt is the person selling the course.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2751065].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Digital Info Diva
          Originally Posted by Robert Domino View Post

          No disrespect but you do realize that this is what 99.999% of successful businesses do, correct?

          There's no other way to scale up. As I wrote in another thread, do you prefer making 100% of 5,000/mo, or say 20% of 100,000/mo (random numbers)?

          The first is your typical service person. The latter is a service business.
          Yes - it's what successful business people do AFTER they have the business
          running successfully. Unfortunately, these "offline crash courses" make it
          sound so easy. They lead people down the path of "look how easy this is"
          to have other people doing the work for you. They don't tell the reader
          how to manage the people they hire. And if you have outsourced the
          technical work, you still need a way to train and monitor the people to
          make sure they are doing the work the way you want it done.

          That's the goal of any business owner, but you don't start at the top.
          You have to actually build the business to know how to hire people and
          train them to do the work for you.

          Anybody who has actually built a real business will tell you this. If they
          don't, then they obviously had enough money to throw at the problem to
          make it work.

          Working for offline businesses is time-consuming, tedious and a
          management nightmare. It's actually what I do well, but hate doing.
          After a lifetime of building and selling businesses, the last thing I want to
          do is manage more people. So I'm phasing out my offline work, in fact I
          don't even post the testimonials I get on my site! I kinda fell into it just
          to pay the bills.

          Unfortunately for me, I am better at this business than actually selling
          my own products! And that's where my passion actually is. My goal was
          always to sell products and be able to work from my laptop wherever I
          was. What a drag having a timetable with offline businesses!
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2753454].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kershawm
    No matter what, you need to be able to speak intelligently about online marketing. Some of the people I run into actually do know a little about online marketing. And, the people that actually buy my services typically know more about it and use ppc to drive traffic.

    It's a tough sell these days and it helps to be able to communicate effectively about it.

    As I said, more and more potential clients I talk to have an idea about SEO and online marketing. In fact, I usually target people that have used it and that have a website because they already know that it can help them.
    Signature

    Semi Retired Offline Consultant

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2750229].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    I can only speak to my success with Offline Marketing. I educated myself with SEO, SEM and SMM(Social Media Marketing) and learned these skills at an expert level. Then I build up my online resume including LinkedIn James Hickey - LinkedIn so when a potential client does their due diligence and asks for references, I can provide that to them. Then...you have to perform...dominate...month to month. When you get to this point, you can charge $1,500 up to $5,000 per month depending on the clients needs.
    Signature

    Learn Digital, Internet and Social Media Marketing For Your Business
    Click here to learn more - Digital and Social Media Marketing Training Course

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2751193].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jimian
    Essentially, what OFFLINER's are doing, is taking all their Offline Marketing knowledge (know-how, that, over a period of time, they probably took for granted -- thinking EVERYONE KNOWS THIS STUFF) and began using it on brick and mortar owners who want to tap the online prospects interested in their biz service or products.
    Signature

    OFFLINE Marketing Strategies For The OFFLINE Warrior
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2751385].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author GoGetta
    I think outsourcing is a HUGE part of most businesses now, you can't grow without delegating tasks.

    However, regarding the points risen in the OP,

    I strongly believe that if you want to offer online marketing services to offline businesses, you need to at least have an understanding of exactly what works and what doesn't. This could mean doing the first few jobs yourself etc.

    Having knowledge of what it takes to optimize a local site to the top of the search engines makes outsourcing easier because you know what needs to be done!

    I outsourced web design from day one, but I made it my goal to learn about the process of building the websites I was offering, I feel it makes it easier to outsource this way, and also SELL, because you understand it.

    Although, you probably could outsource everything without having any knowledge, I am much more comfortable outsourcing when I know how it works.

    Just my opinion though, I am sure there are many here that have outsourced from day one!

    GoGetta
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2754238].message }}

Trending Topics