The 4 points critical to online marketing success

Thanks to Josh “the Wizard” Williams for this awesome video of business guru Brad Sugars outlining the key points to promoting your business successfully on the internet.

The four key points I took away are;

1. Be Human

Don’t come across as an insincere automation out to grab people’s money as quickly as you can. Leave that to the professional actors and paid spokespeople in TV advertising land. If you sincerely believe in what you are promoting and are enjoying yourself while you’re doing so it will show and you will naturally gain empathy for your message.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s passion for wine translated into a massive following for his wine show on the internet. The internet is just a tool to share your passion with the world, that’s it! If you use that tool to convert that passion into cash then good for you.

2. Add value (before selling)

If you can give someone a boost in some way, shape or form, then do so. Take this blog with all its free advice for example. If I can help at least one person achieve their goals and improve their online marketing prowess then I have succeeded and hopefully gained some goodwill in the process.

3. Interact

Don’t just focus on the broadcasting aspect of a campaign as if the internet is a loudspeaker, that’s called spam and we all despise spammers. Focus on the listening aspect that social media is so good at. When a customer asks a query via Twitter or perhaps in a forum or on Facebook, answer them to the best of your ability promptly otherwise you will appear to be uncaring or perhaps even arrogant.

The internet is a democracy and this is why traditional advertising agencies are in crisis, they’re not used to having the audience talk back!

4. Sell softly

The whole 19 page “free set of steak knives” infomercial which is the internet version of the screaming spruiker doesn’t work anymore. Our audience evolved beyond that a along time ago not that many so called gurus have noticed. Build the relationship first just as I am building a relationship with you dear reader via this blog or my Youtube videos or other snippets of me on the web. It takes time but you remain in the front of your audience’s mind and when they do need you for something, you’ll be the first person they think of.

Youtube is the second most popularly searched site after Google

It appears that most businesses are neglecting online video and are perplexed by it despite the fact it is incredibly easy and cheap to create. This is a massive opportunity I look forward to showing you how to exploit effectively in coming posts and videos.

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