Are You Credible?
| Category: Marketing Strategy | Date: 2001-04-05 |
Did you know that 90% of all Direct Marketing efforts will most likely fail? That is a pretty horrible thing to say and yet it is the truth. Why does this happen? Selling anything requires that your target market believe almost every word that you say. Your credibility is the one thing that you really have in a business when most selling is not done face to face.
In the direct mail medium, most people will throw your mail in the garbage unless they:
Know you and trust you already (i.e. have already bought from you in the past)
Know your name.
This is very important to understand. This is one reason why famous marketers will include their picture and some teaser copy with their name attached to it on the front of their direct mail pieces. Do you think that if people have bought from them in the past or they recognize a famous name like Ted Nicholas or Gary Halbert that they will be more than likely to open their mail? They will be more likely to open that mail than one from Joe Public who they don't know and just see as another shyster.
Direct Marketers like Gary Halbert and Jay Abraham have succeeded in proving their credibility to their customer base. They will get more of their direct mail pieces read and they will sell more of their products than someone who is an unknown.
On the internet, credibility plays an even greater role in your marketing efforts. For a long time, my website:http://www.goldbar.net was not bringing in the sales that I believed it could. So I began to ask myself why that was. I started to study the sites that made money online, not Amazon or Ebay but sites where infopreneurs were selling. I looked for examples of content and sales and could not find what I needed.
(Incidentally do you realize that much of your web time is wasted trying to learn from people who don't even sell? How can someone be a credible marketing authority when they don't sell anything other than books on how to market?)
Frustrated, I continued my search. Quite by accident, I discovered the websites that drew in massive amounts of traffic and make tons of money selling their products to their frequent visitors: Marketing Discussion Forums.
For those of you who don't know what these are, these are websites where groups of people are brought together by a common interest (in our case Marketing). They post various messages back and forth in a question and answer type of environment. There are three kinds of people who visit the boards, those who go to get their questions answered, those who hang around and just absorb all the useful free information, and those who answer questions in matters where they have experience. These three groups coexist and all serve an important purpose.
There is also a fourth type of person who visits these boards; these are the spammers who visit and post to get their message viewed by as many people as possible in hopes that it will bring them business. Their messages are nothing but commercial solicitations for their website and these people have no value and share nothing that the group is interested in, therefore, they have no credibility or have lost the potential for ever building any credibility with this group.
Those who answer questions are generally viewed as an authority and are usually paid close attention to in future postings. They have credibility. When I discovered some of the Direct Marketing forums I began to hang around and read the various posts back and forth and I noticed one thing: The same people answer over and over again. You will see their names all throughout the forum.
These are your experts or wannabe experts. You can always tell the experts from the wannabes. The experts have already established their credibility. The wannabes jump in the second they arrive on the site and then answer everything they possibly can just to get their name on the board. They usually repeat what others have said or what they have read in different books. They do not know their stuff and it shows.
Experts answer questions with examples of life experiences and offer viable solutions to problems, or advice on how best to avoid them altogether. They will usually only join in on answering a question where they either:
Know the answer.
Can offer constructive criticism.
Can point out what the questioner is doing right or wrong.
What is the reward for this? How about credibility? People begin to recognize your name and seek you out as someone who can answer their questions and possibly someone who might be selling something they would be interested in.
How do I know this? I have first hand experience. I started out visiting some of the boards and learning what the rules were before I posted my first comments. After a while, my hits and sales began to skyrocket. One page in particular became one of the biggest sales weapons in my arsenal.
There are written and unwritten rules on every board, as in every social group, try to familiarize yourself with them before you make any moves towards posting.
One steadfast rule that I noticed on several boards was:
NO BLATANT ADVERTISING
It is very important to realize that these are places where you have no right to hawk your products in your message. What you are allowed to do is key to your success and that is: leave a hyperlink to your website.
Ah hahh!! You say, this is how I sneak in my sales material. No, not at all. This is where those nice people who host the forum have provided you a reward for the time that you have put into answering questions, helping people out and in turn building your credibility.
So you do not advertise your products like:
Hey,
My website has the hottest widget ever created and we are selling them for only $19.95 to the next 20 visitors, come and see. Click here.
This is complete and unadulterated garbage and will not be tolerated on the boards.
I have a couple of insider secrets to share with you:
A lot of the visitors to one marketing forum visit all 12 or 30 others!!!
Direct Marketing is a small business and news travels very fast, if you fall on your face, people will know and they will talk. This is a bad way to get name recognition.
People who frequent these boards have a very, very long memory and they will not be forgiving if you try to deceive them or take advantage of them.
In other words, you have very few chances to prove your credibility and you need to make the smartest of moves in order to do so.
I am a frequent visitor and contributor to about 10 or 12 boards. Some I visit on a daily basis and others I visit every few days or so. When I began contributing, I first asked advice on a few of the boards and then I began to offer some of my own, again sticking to the rules as stated above.
What began to happen was quite phenomenal. The visitors to my site began to increase tenfold and so did my sales. People began to send me private email asking for advice and consultation and I began to build relationships with some of the big names in the field who I talk to regularly now.
This did not happen overnight and it was not even a goal of mine. I simply found a community of people with similar interests to mine and thought I would share my own experiences with the group. I believe that this honesty came through in my postings. I only post when I have something to say and I will only answer questions that I have either experience in or where I have a rather strong opinion (which is often).
While posting frequently will help build your credibility with an audience, an even bigger boost comes when big names agree with you. When Tony Blake and J.Nicholas Schmidt agree with what you have to say, it gives even more of a boost to your credibility.
If you receive endorsements from some of the big names in your industry, you are on the way to success in Internet Marketing, as this will give you and your site another huge boost.
Here are some surefire ways to remove any trace of credibility from yourself on the forums:
Post commercial messages.
Post the same question to more than one forum. This is known as cross posting and is generally frowned upon.
Lying or posting fake messages designed to get people to visit your site.
Asking for a "website review" in order to get people to view your sales content not caring whether they actually review your site.
Any of these methods are sure to get you FLAMED or ripped to shreds in public and private and shatter any hope of ever being credible.
Here are some ways to assure you begin to build credibility:
Make sure that you always post using your first and last name. The Internet is a faceless place and people like to believe that they know you. Your name will become your brand so when people see Marc Goldman instead of Marc they will begin to recognize you and respect what you have to say. Besides a lot of people have the same first name, so you want to differentiate yourself from the crowd.
Begin to align yourself with the board owners, not by being a kiss up, but simply by being helpful on their board and always following the rules. They will appreciate it and you will reap the benefits of their support, which includes greater credibility, getting your own questions answered and maybe joining up with them for mind-blowing, profit-producing joint ventures.
Always admit that you could be wrong or are wrong. Forget about always being right. None of us are GOD and we do make mistakes. If you give faulty advice and are called on it, deal with it, admit you are or could be wrong and move on or better yet:
Don't answer something unless you are positive about the answer. Otherwise, you end up looking like a fool because chances are someone will correct you PUBLICLY!
Answer questions where you have expertise.
Avoid getting into petty fights and name-calling, it is immature and a sign of an amateur.
Post frequently on several boards, but again following the rules above.
Do not post the same message to different boards, you look like someone who is blatantly trying to get visitors to their site and you will lose credibility for this.
If you stick to these rules and use your common sense you are bound to drive traffic to your site and your email address as well. Always keep in mind that you chose this path and it is not a quick trip. The road to credibility takes a while to reach but the goals are many, including financial success.
About the Author
Article by Marc Goldman, Goldbar Enterprises subscribe to The Marketers Resource Weekly: The Free Internet Marketing Resource for the New Millennium. Subscribe at http://www.goldbar.net Discover the exclusive members only website that will propel your business to dizzying heights.
webmaster@goldbar.net
http://www.goldbar.net
In the direct mail medium, most people will throw your mail in the garbage unless they:
Know you and trust you already (i.e. have already bought from you in the past)
Know your name.
This is very important to understand. This is one reason why famous marketers will include their picture and some teaser copy with their name attached to it on the front of their direct mail pieces. Do you think that if people have bought from them in the past or they recognize a famous name like Ted Nicholas or Gary Halbert that they will be more than likely to open their mail? They will be more likely to open that mail than one from Joe Public who they don't know and just see as another shyster.
Direct Marketers like Gary Halbert and Jay Abraham have succeeded in proving their credibility to their customer base. They will get more of their direct mail pieces read and they will sell more of their products than someone who is an unknown.
On the internet, credibility plays an even greater role in your marketing efforts. For a long time, my website:http://www.goldbar.net was not bringing in the sales that I believed it could. So I began to ask myself why that was. I started to study the sites that made money online, not Amazon or Ebay but sites where infopreneurs were selling. I looked for examples of content and sales and could not find what I needed.
(Incidentally do you realize that much of your web time is wasted trying to learn from people who don't even sell? How can someone be a credible marketing authority when they don't sell anything other than books on how to market?)
Frustrated, I continued my search. Quite by accident, I discovered the websites that drew in massive amounts of traffic and make tons of money selling their products to their frequent visitors: Marketing Discussion Forums.
For those of you who don't know what these are, these are websites where groups of people are brought together by a common interest (in our case Marketing). They post various messages back and forth in a question and answer type of environment. There are three kinds of people who visit the boards, those who go to get their questions answered, those who hang around and just absorb all the useful free information, and those who answer questions in matters where they have experience. These three groups coexist and all serve an important purpose.
There is also a fourth type of person who visits these boards; these are the spammers who visit and post to get their message viewed by as many people as possible in hopes that it will bring them business. Their messages are nothing but commercial solicitations for their website and these people have no value and share nothing that the group is interested in, therefore, they have no credibility or have lost the potential for ever building any credibility with this group.
Those who answer questions are generally viewed as an authority and are usually paid close attention to in future postings. They have credibility. When I discovered some of the Direct Marketing forums I began to hang around and read the various posts back and forth and I noticed one thing: The same people answer over and over again. You will see their names all throughout the forum.
These are your experts or wannabe experts. You can always tell the experts from the wannabes. The experts have already established their credibility. The wannabes jump in the second they arrive on the site and then answer everything they possibly can just to get their name on the board. They usually repeat what others have said or what they have read in different books. They do not know their stuff and it shows.
Experts answer questions with examples of life experiences and offer viable solutions to problems, or advice on how best to avoid them altogether. They will usually only join in on answering a question where they either:
Know the answer.
Can offer constructive criticism.
Can point out what the questioner is doing right or wrong.
What is the reward for this? How about credibility? People begin to recognize your name and seek you out as someone who can answer their questions and possibly someone who might be selling something they would be interested in.
How do I know this? I have first hand experience. I started out visiting some of the boards and learning what the rules were before I posted my first comments. After a while, my hits and sales began to skyrocket. One page in particular became one of the biggest sales weapons in my arsenal.
There are written and unwritten rules on every board, as in every social group, try to familiarize yourself with them before you make any moves towards posting.
One steadfast rule that I noticed on several boards was:
NO BLATANT ADVERTISING
It is very important to realize that these are places where you have no right to hawk your products in your message. What you are allowed to do is key to your success and that is: leave a hyperlink to your website.
Ah hahh!! You say, this is how I sneak in my sales material. No, not at all. This is where those nice people who host the forum have provided you a reward for the time that you have put into answering questions, helping people out and in turn building your credibility.
So you do not advertise your products like:
Hey,
My website has the hottest widget ever created and we are selling them for only $19.95 to the next 20 visitors, come and see. Click here.
This is complete and unadulterated garbage and will not be tolerated on the boards.
I have a couple of insider secrets to share with you:
A lot of the visitors to one marketing forum visit all 12 or 30 others!!!
Direct Marketing is a small business and news travels very fast, if you fall on your face, people will know and they will talk. This is a bad way to get name recognition.
People who frequent these boards have a very, very long memory and they will not be forgiving if you try to deceive them or take advantage of them.
In other words, you have very few chances to prove your credibility and you need to make the smartest of moves in order to do so.
I am a frequent visitor and contributor to about 10 or 12 boards. Some I visit on a daily basis and others I visit every few days or so. When I began contributing, I first asked advice on a few of the boards and then I began to offer some of my own, again sticking to the rules as stated above.
What began to happen was quite phenomenal. The visitors to my site began to increase tenfold and so did my sales. People began to send me private email asking for advice and consultation and I began to build relationships with some of the big names in the field who I talk to regularly now.
This did not happen overnight and it was not even a goal of mine. I simply found a community of people with similar interests to mine and thought I would share my own experiences with the group. I believe that this honesty came through in my postings. I only post when I have something to say and I will only answer questions that I have either experience in or where I have a rather strong opinion (which is often).
While posting frequently will help build your credibility with an audience, an even bigger boost comes when big names agree with you. When Tony Blake and J.Nicholas Schmidt agree with what you have to say, it gives even more of a boost to your credibility.
If you receive endorsements from some of the big names in your industry, you are on the way to success in Internet Marketing, as this will give you and your site another huge boost.
Here are some surefire ways to remove any trace of credibility from yourself on the forums:
Post commercial messages.
Post the same question to more than one forum. This is known as cross posting and is generally frowned upon.
Lying or posting fake messages designed to get people to visit your site.
Asking for a "website review" in order to get people to view your sales content not caring whether they actually review your site.
Any of these methods are sure to get you FLAMED or ripped to shreds in public and private and shatter any hope of ever being credible.
Here are some ways to assure you begin to build credibility:
Make sure that you always post using your first and last name. The Internet is a faceless place and people like to believe that they know you. Your name will become your brand so when people see Marc Goldman instead of Marc they will begin to recognize you and respect what you have to say. Besides a lot of people have the same first name, so you want to differentiate yourself from the crowd.
Begin to align yourself with the board owners, not by being a kiss up, but simply by being helpful on their board and always following the rules. They will appreciate it and you will reap the benefits of their support, which includes greater credibility, getting your own questions answered and maybe joining up with them for mind-blowing, profit-producing joint ventures.
Always admit that you could be wrong or are wrong. Forget about always being right. None of us are GOD and we do make mistakes. If you give faulty advice and are called on it, deal with it, admit you are or could be wrong and move on or better yet:
Don't answer something unless you are positive about the answer. Otherwise, you end up looking like a fool because chances are someone will correct you PUBLICLY!
Answer questions where you have expertise.
Avoid getting into petty fights and name-calling, it is immature and a sign of an amateur.
Post frequently on several boards, but again following the rules above.
Do not post the same message to different boards, you look like someone who is blatantly trying to get visitors to their site and you will lose credibility for this.
If you stick to these rules and use your common sense you are bound to drive traffic to your site and your email address as well. Always keep in mind that you chose this path and it is not a quick trip. The road to credibility takes a while to reach but the goals are many, including financial success.
About the Author
Article by Marc Goldman, Goldbar Enterprises subscribe to The Marketers Resource Weekly: The Free Internet Marketing Resource for the New Millennium. Subscribe at http://www.goldbar.net Discover the exclusive members only website that will propel your business to dizzying heights.
webmaster@goldbar.net
http://www.goldbar.net
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