Skills needed to start Offline Marketing

There is a common misconception that before you are able to offer online marketing services to offline businesses you need to know how to build a site, how to do seo etc.

You do not need to know any of this. You do need to have the knowledge of how to build a site, you do not need to have the knowledge of how to do the ins and out of seo and so on.

Here's what you do need:

1) An understanding of the benefits to a business of having an online presence
2) The knowledge of how a business can benefit from dominating the search engines in their niche and geographical area(s)
3) The knowledge of the benefits to a business for whatever service you believe the business can benefit from, ie email marketing.
4) Access to people you can outsource the actual work, ie design, copywriting, seo etc
5) The ability to manage projects

If you are a complete newbie i suggest you have a read around the forum, gain an understanding of marketing in general and internet marketing specifically. Once you have an understanding of the basics you can quickly realise how offline businesses can benefit from implementing them in their business.

Hope that helps.

Riz

That's a good general guide. Thanks for that.

I guess I was just a bit concerned that I would sound phony if I was marketing something that I couldn't do myself, if you know what I mean?

If there is anyone out there that started offline without previous SEO/website or sales related experience I would appreciate if you could share your experience starting out.

If you are new and want to get going a.s.a.p, then I would suggest knowing WHY a business should be doing x, y, z online and the benefits of doing so should be your priority.

Instead of learning HTML, CSS and PHP to code a website, if you know WHY a business would benefit from one and can implement a website for a business to use via outsourcing - then I would say you know "enough" to help a business.

I have been doing online marketing for 5 years and learned many skills along the way that would be of great value to an offline business, that doesn't mean you need to learn everything i have to help a biz owner.

If you can identify what a biz owner needs because you UNDERSTAND their business, all you need to do is get someone who does know the "how".

Best,
Steve

All you REALLY need to know how to do, is meet the needs of businesses. I suggest and recommend learning the reasons why certain things will help these businesses. You don't need to know how to personally do everything, you can outsource ALL of it!

I agree with all that has been said so far but would add:

You need to know how to LISTEN to the business owner. Tighten your conversation skills up and practice with everyone you meet.

When you sit with the owner, don't try to push your ideas on them. Rather, find out THEIR desires. Find their business goals. Find what they want help with. Find out what they want to do next in their business.

Once you have these things, then you can start to offer them things that they already want. You can't lose.

Make friends. Show concern. Offer Solutions.

To have the right mindset is important.

To be able to sell.

To be organized

To be truthful.

I guess that I'm parroting everyone else but they are right. Always keep in mind that you are out to HELP your clients get new customers; do not try to sell them.

You only need to understand the benefits of what you are providing. You do not necessarily have to know how it's done. There are many car salespeople who don't know how to fix or build a car. But, they DO know how to convey the important benefits to the people they talk to. And, that's how they "make a sale".

Believe in your heart that you can help others and you will be fine. Learn the benefits of the different services you can bring to the table then, as was said... listen. Hear what your prospect is telling you then see if you can match a service to it.

I have found throughout the years it's best to equate things to what they already know. If I decide that I should talk about Google Places, I talk about Google being the new Yellow Pages. I equate text marketing to having the ability to deliver flyers to customers within minutes.

If you talk in their language they'll understand.

Don't ever try to impress them with online jargon. You'll just watch their eyes turn glassy then they'll fall on the floor twitching. It means nothing to them.

The biggest thing?... be yourself and be truthful. If you can't help them, tell them so and walk away after a handshake. You can't be everything to everybody.

Internally, develop a SYSTEM. Know what you are going to do today, tomorrow and every day to make your business grow. Never get up in the morning without knowing exactly what you should be doing that day. Create good, steady habits.

The hardest thing about this business is making sure you work when you should be working. It's easy to spend time online and get nothing done. (Gulp... I guess I'd better stop and get to work!)

Good luck.

Thank you so much.

From this thread alone, I can see clearly what my immediate next steps are. What I need to get together before I get that first client.

Please keep it coming...

If anyone can give ideas on how to kick start this business while still doing a corporate 9-5 job, I'll be very very gtlad to hear it.

Thanks for your contributions.

Buy a WSO or a product that you like on google places and google local - read the reviews and you will know if they are any good. There are plenty out there - this will cut down your learning curve as you watch people do the real thing in videos / audios / pdfs. It takes some time to digest all the nitty gritties and there are quite a few of these. There is plenty of guidance in various threads and posts on this forum. Along with knowledge, you will also need a few good resources and tools to save you time and effort.

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IMO, you need to learn Internet Marketing at an expert level, Social Media, Blogging, Search Marketing, SEO, Video Marketing and much more. Start small....build your brand.