Have you ever read a provocative quotation and asked people what it meant to them?

On a different Community, this quote was put in:

"If you don't drive your business, you will be driven out of business."

-- B. C. Forbes, Founder of Forbes Magazine

Just about everyone who posted in that forum, by the way replied in terms of marketing.

Personally, I had first looked at this quote form the position of being in the drivers seat of any business and answered as a business owner or chief executive.

A few were not in agreement, so I decided to look at this quote form the marketing perspective.

Here is what I wrote:

Lets look at this quote from the angle of assumption - that the business model has been chosen, the business created.....

What next?

How to get the word out..the call to action...or the promoting aspect to any successful business.

We have off and again..online affiliations, commission sales..affiliate programs, call it what you will. They all follow a formula if you will.

Just to be clear there are those who are Master Affiliate Marketers, who have through trial and error learnt the ropes to this type of industry and make their living doing this type of business very successfully.

So what is the criteria to making driving your business successfully?

1. You need to know your product. Unless you know the ins and outs of any product, from its uniqueness, its history everything there is to know about a product, you can not talk with authority.

2. You need to know your market. This to me is simple, but complex. You need to understand the demographics of where you are going to sell. You need to understand people, their wants and needs. Does it answer a need, answer a problem or create a solution.

3. You need to know all the different avenues..or venues where you are going to get the information about your product to anyone and Mary did give some good ideas to this.

4 You need to know the trends in how things are marketing in the now as well as in the future. If you study the net, you will see that everything is moving towards Web 3.0. We are in Web 2.0 ( not to be confused with the program of the same name), so be aware of this.

5.You need to be organized. In the context of marketing, being organized means having your log ins organized, how long are you going to do any one activity, taking care of your single best tool, your computer, knowing how to use the Web 2.0 platforms to your advantage. This means learning how to use forums, social communities etc properly with proper content and good manners.

6. You need to Create relationships with your customers in an ethical manner. Know how to be a good sponsor and being there to answer all the questions one might have.

7. You need to have your focus. Without a focus you can not succeed in any business affiliate or not. If there are programs out there that can help in your primary business, then logic says if you have done your due diligence, then of course you will add to your arsenal.

8 You need to learn how to brand yourself, so that when you create those relationships, people, in this sector or your customers, will learn to to go to you, because you have shown you are an authority figure.

9.You need to learn the business laws of advertising. The fact is there are many who come into the marketing platform, ill equipped to know what is spam, copyrights, how to read the small print such as the TOS etc.

10.You need to hold on to your humor. Regardless of whether you are an owner of a business, an executive or working on the net in whatever capacity, if you cant laugh, then it is just a fact, it will end up being just another job, that surely will drive anyone out of their business.

11 You need to keep your mind open and be prepared to constantly learn and hone your craft. The Internet is evolving, without having a good grasp and learn new techniques, you will fall behind.

Regardless of what style of busniness, without good friends to support and help you, having a successful business will mean very little.

Since I wrote my thoughts on this provocative quote, I keep wondering if I missed anything. I would love to know your thoughts and opinions.

My very best to all who read - To Your Success,