8 CRUCIAL Marketing Tips - Miss These and You're Finished!

What's in it for me?

We start with one of the key-factors of marketing in general. Nobody, and I say nobody, will perform an action just because you ask him to do so. It can be buying a product, filling an opt-in, reading an article and so forth. 'Read this' or 'Fill this out' is not enough. People need to have a reason to act - a benefit. The benefit must be a real and effective solution for a problem they have. Let's focus on the words 'real' and 'effective'. To promise something that is unrealistic and not effective is the best way to annihilate your reputation.

What does it mean, in other words? It means that you have to do an in-depth scan of your average customer's desires (niche-related forums are the best place to understand what he is looking for), and provide him with the exact solution for his needs. Explain to him why they should deal with you, and not with someone else.

This kind of mindset should influence your way of doing marketing. Marketing is about dealing with people, not with automated bots performing actions.

Build Reputation and Trust

When you are a newcomer in internet marketing, it can be very hard to stand out from the crowd.

I see that there are a lot of people who, in their first day, start their adventure in internet marketing – they are always very excited about it. On day two, they begin promoting a product to make money online, and they even pretend to teach someone how to make dollars online – like ten-years-experienced gurus. Day three: obviously they don't make any sales, they feel frustrated, and eventually they quit. Wrong!

The first thing you have to do – once you have a product/service to sell - is to build trust in your customers. You want to become an authority in your market. Her are just a few tips on how to do that.

·Creating a website is the fundamental step. Today, thanks to WordPress and other CMS, it is very easy. No website, no worldwide visibility. No visibility, no money. It’s as simple as that.

·Article directories are one of the best places in which to connect with your targeted niche. Write something that is really useful to your potential customer, and add in the resource box a link to your website.

·Create a logo for your brand, and then place it in your blog/forum profile. Nowadays, there are hundreds of logo-creation services, some cheap, others expensive. Visit the companies' portfolios and check if you like the way their graphic designers work.

·Instead of using a logo, you can always use a photo of yourself. This is even more personal; folks love to deal with people! Be simple, be yourself and avoid any exaggeration.

·Again, you can use niche-related forums. Remember to participate actively on the topic, posting valuable comments. Avoid the 'I agree'. Once it is allowed, add a link to your website in your signature.

Of course, there are dozens of other ways.

Copywriting

Your attention please! Without a doubt you will use this skill over and over again.

When it comes to copywriting, it can be anything: writing a headline, a squeeze page copy, a sales letter or an email.

While becoming a top-notch copywriter takes huge efforts, you don't have to be as good in copywriting to achieve success.

People don't care if you are the best copywriter in the world, who you are, if your company is the leader in the industry and so on...

They want solutions. Quick, real and effective solutions, if possible. Copywriting will allow you to stand out from the crowd, to hit specific emotional triggers that will bring customers to act instantly.

There are a lot of copywriting courses out there; however the best are not always the most expensive. Read some forums and check by yourself which ones you should pick, and go buy a couple of them. Why not just one? Two courses, from different authors, will give you different approaches for your writing.

Be Unstoppable

As I always love to say, 'Google's algorithms have no holidays'.

Don't worry – even if you don't know how Search Engine Optimization works, the principle is the same. I am not telling you that you have to be a stakhanovite! Although many marketers have achieved success by working up to eighteen hours a day, I believe it is not strictly necessary (nonetheless, this exhausting work rate can shorten the time you will need to do something, like setting up a website). It is really hard to give you a minimum number of working hours, because it is related to the kind of business you own.

Three quick notes:

·Time is the most valuable good you own. It depends exclusively on you. It is critical to your business when learning how to properly handle it.

·Do a series of things, everyday, so that you can set up a genuine routine. Your productivity will increase, guaranteed. Usually, in the morning people are more creative, so they can write or produce something interesting in this part of the day. They leave the automated stuff (such as reading emails) until the end of day, when they are tired. Bear in mind though that this is an absolutely subjective thing. The truth is that there are no fixed rules. Model your tasks to your time, skills, and attitudes.

·When you have a brilliant idea, immediately write it on a sheet of paper! Doing so, you will remember it and you will be able to apply it later.

Never Stop Learning

“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

I'm sure you will recognize these words, which were said by Steve Jobs during his famous speech at Stanford's University.

You have to accept this: whatever level of knowledge or skill you will reach, regardless of your success, you will never know everything. Internet marketing is a huge world, too large to be known in full by a mere person.

That is okay, because you do not need to be omniscient.

·Be humble: there will always be something that you do not know.

·Keep your curiosity alive, but do not allow it to provoke time-loss.

·Be open to change. Someone says that online marketing is three times faster than the offline game, so things here change very frequently.

·Look for places in which you can find other marketers like you: sharing your ideas and comparing them with others will literally upgrade your way of thinking.

Isn't it exciting, everyday learning something new?

Self Improvement

There is a ton of stuff about self improvement. Without going into details, self improvement will help you get the best out of yourself. Self improvement is quite a wide topic to discuss, but the biggest goal that a marketer should aim to reach is the winning entrepreneurial mindset. In particular, how to improve his relationship with failure. This is a counter-intuitive fact.

Failure exists only if you allow it. There is no exact definition of what "failure" is. It is simply a self-imposed goal you do not achieve. People usually tend to be more pessimistic and harsh with themselves.

The truth is that everything you do is converted into experience. Whether it be positive or negative, it is experience. And experience is the best thing you can get.

I personally made a lot of mistakes, I failed countless times, and guess what? Today I'm happy to have done what I've done, because I learned a lot thanks to my failures.

'Failure' or 'success' are not hurdles in themselves. They come and go. The key is being critical in what you do. Once you get this, you can throw any expensive self improvement e-course away, because nothing will stop you until you get what you want.

Throughout this process, you will start to see your experiences under a very different light.

Don't Lose Your Focus

When you are involved in your business, the worst thing you can do is to jump from one plan to another. Expert marketers sometimes run many projects at the same time, that's true, but they have the experience needed to do so. So, if you are starting right now, focus on one opportunity at a time. You will face a lot of problems (some bigger, some smaller), but have to hold on, always. If you don't... well, do you remember the story of the three days written above? Yeah, you got it.

Focusing your mind and efforts to reach a specific goal is a great way not to lose your focus.

Bear in mind that this goal should be realistic. To make $10,000 overnight is not realistic. However, to increase your sales by five percent in a certain amount of time is realistic.

List Building

This is probably the most powerful marketing tool that web businessmen have on their side. If you run an online business, and you are not building your list yet, you are just wasting your time, plain and simple.

Many people say that 'the money is in the list'. Unfortunately, the matter is not that simple. You don't need as many people as possible to join in your list.

You need motivated and targeted people. Your main aim, from the moment they fill out the opt-in, is to convert them in loyal subscribers.

You want them to be exalted any time they receive your emails.

You want them to click on your email before they do anything else.

Definitively, you want them to trust you and that you become, for them, their landmark.

Of course, this is not as easy as it sounds. The only way is to treat people like people and not like wallets to take money from, according to your needs. Provide them with value and you will be fine.