Is Marketing Online Dying?
It seems that every 6 months or so someone feels the need to claim that internet marketing is “dying” in an effort to sell more products. No doubt, fear is a powerful motivator.
To be clear, I have no problem with fear as a marketing tool IF it’s based in truth. If you are selling a “stop smoking” product then fear can be a powerful tool. Of course, there are real reasons to fear smoking long-term just as there are real reasons to fear eating 4 Big Macs a day, or not having car insurance.
So, is the fear that internet marketing is “dying” based in truth? NO.
I’ve already received a couple of emails from frustrated newbies who were getting ready to start a business, but started wondering “if it was worth it” because of what they had been told by fear-mongers trying to sell their latest product. The fact that they felt this way obviously shows how powerful fear can be, but also calls into question the ethics of spreading this type of fear when I see no justification for it whatsoever.
What others call “death” I simply call “change”. It’s been said that 3 years in the online world is equivalent to 10 years offline. I think that’s probably accurate. The key is simply learning to adapt.
Let’s look at why starting an online business RIGHT NOW is better than ever:
People are Comfortable Shopping Online
I remember some time in the year 2000 trying to convince my grandfather to purchase something online. I don’t think he even had internet access at that point. He brushed it off explaining that the internet was full of scammers and that he didn’t want to use his credit card online. Fast forward to 2011- my grandfather shops on Amazon all the time, subscribes to Netflix and even reads books on his Kindle. People who typically weren’t comfortable purchasing online are now purchasing more things online than ever. The market just keeps getting bigger.
You can Actually Get Paid!
It seems so long ago but anyone who tried to get paid 15 years ago remembers how tough it was. Merchant accounts would not touch online business without tons of investment to back it up and even then online businesses paid huge fees. I lost merchant accounts because “internet sales make the underwriters nervous”. I also lost my fair share of money to third-party processors that closed up shop and took my funds with them. Now, it’s easy to get paid with trusted third-party options (Paypal, Clickbank, 2Checkout, AlertPay etc.) and merchant account providers are welcoming online business with open arms.
The Path has Been Paved
Think about how much marketers know about increasing conversions, selling more product, how to construct sales copy, etc. In addition, think about all the great tools out there (analytics, autoresponders, wordpress) that were in their infancy just 10 years ago. I have literally created a product in the morning and made money that evening…there are so many tools out there that let marketers get to work creating products and adding value to their marketing channel without worrying about technical issues at all. These tools weren’t always available.
Despite all of the above, some people still want to accentuate the negative elements of the current online marketing state and claim that things are “dying”. I continue to assert that nothing is dying, but simply changing. It is true that the focus has shifted and there are various things you SHOULD be doing to stay on top of current trends.
Below are some elements that have changed and should continue to be a focus of your current marketing strategies:
Social Leverage
I admit that I did not see the social juggernaut coming, but it is amazingly powerful for creating new streams of traffic and buyers to your products. In addition, it makes you seem “real” and can be a tool to close sales with skeptical customers by joining in on the conversation about your business or products. Social is just getting bigger. I don’t know where it will end up, but for now most all of us would benefit from leveraging social networks to grow our business.
Video
Video was a novelty years ago, but now it’s a necessity. If you’re not using video on your sites you’re already three years behind the curve in my opinion. You don’t need to be on camera, but you should use tools like Jing or Camtasia to create customer engagement videos talking about your offering. In my testing video has just about never decreased response. A poorly made video is almost always better than no video at all. Start using video on your sites today and watch your profits increase.
Demographic Targeting
In a way this is strongly related to my comments on social networks, but demographic targeting is the future. Direct response marketers have known this for years. With standard pay-per-click advertising you have the option of locating people searching for a keyword, but with demographic targeting you can reach people in one specific city, with a predefined educational background, income level, family structure and specific sets of interests. It’s nice to target the searcher but with demographic targeting I can cast such a small targeted net that I’m practically guaranteed success. Learn to leverage ad networks that allow demographic targeting.
Lifetime Value
It’s becoming more difficult to recover your investments by simply targeting upfront sales. This is good news for marketers that work smart. While your competitors are “smashing themselves on the rocks” trying to raise their prices YOU can be acquiring customers through lower-priced offerings and making more money on the backend sales. Competitive markets are impenetrable if you simply focus in the initial sale value; smart marketers calculate how much a customer is worth over their lifetime. How else do you think advertisers can pay $25 for a $1 trial offer? Learn to think about more than one sale per customer; start creating sales funnels.
Transparency
More than ever, customers want to be able to reach out and talk to the businesses they are dealing with. You have to have open channels of communication to make them feel comfortable purchasing from you. No one wants to wonder what happens after the sale. Make it easy for customers to talk to you, give refunds promptly and never engage in public negativity with customers- just move on to those that value what you offer. If you treat people right overall your customers will defend you against unreasonable people who attack your business (it happens to everyone).
Overall, the idea that online marketing is dying is ridiculous. Things will continue to change and certainly we will see a shift in the coming years where by regulation and competition certain aspects of our jobs will become more difficult. Despite the changes mentioned here, I still feel the online landscape is ripe for anyone who puts in the work required to start a business. We are very far off from “death”.
What say you?
Hey Luke, Brandon from Livefyre here! Just wanted to welcome you to Livefyre. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me directly or e-mail support [at] livefyre [dot] com should you have any questions or concerns regarding Livefyre! Thanks :)
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LikeA few years ago a 'guru' said that email marketing was dead too... umm it's very much alive and well today.
Just look at Groupon - their primary marketing model is driving people to local offers using email.
You can't see a local offer until you join their list.
So is email marketing dead? Not at all. You just need to give more value and better reasons for signing up.
So don't believe what anyone says if they say this or that doesn't work anymore.
Test it for yourself.
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LikeThe internet scammers are a dime a dozen that's for sure.
This high society of self elected scums (yes self elected! How else could one become a scammer if one does not elect to be one...heh-heh-heh) use fear as their main weapon to drive up their sales quotas.They are stubborn as mules, clever like a pack of coyotes and cunning like hungry tigers stalking their defenseless prey.
And then there's the good guys, those that do promote and sell true business sytems that are practical in step by step format and are simple to understand, implement and follow.
(Notice I did not say No Work Involved. Do You want Financial Freedom? Then you must Work for it!)
You are one of the good guys that I try to emulate among others. Why? I have purchased 7 secrets of 7 figure sales from you and if you happen to be on my site I'm sure you'll recognize your teachings at work.
So is online marketing dying? Not a chance. The internet will never stop changing ,evolving into more advance stages and as long as there will be good guys online marketing will live on strong!
I am blessed by good honest internet marketers such as you.
Respectfully grateful,
James
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LikeRoarrrrrrrrr
Ok Maybe a big miaw
But on the way to an almighty roar,
This might not be all that ethical but I think people are more educated now and realise that in about 1 week you can get offered a 20000 course for peanuts instead of working out large amounts of cashola when in a super hyped up state.
I think the new medium is great value as always .
But helping your buyers/ fans/ tribe
Consume the product.
How many unused products do we all have on our hard drives wrapped still in the box or unread books that someone recommend.
Clear the cache
Strip down
So their is a void to be filled
And guard your void with ferocity.
Roarrrrrrrr
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LikeHi Luke,
Ever since I read '7 Secrets' I take you very serious. It's all a matter of endless testing to see what works and what not. And absolutely nobody knows for sure what will work in the future. All you can do is just take the steps [I want to avoid the word 'action' for a change] and see what happens. I like your example of making a product in the morning, and money with that product in the evening. You will never know for sure that that will be possible, until you simply give it go!
And then the negativity. It's true what you say that fear sells. Remeber the famous email subjectline 'BAD NEWS'? I unsubscribed from everybody's list that send me an email like that. Also people deliberately give false information in the hope to have less competitors. Don't believe everything you read on the Warrior Forum Ken Jefferies! There also are plenty of threads of people explaining specifically how they make a great living with Adsense. It's just a matter of who you believe.
When I say to people in the street that I sell ebooks online, 99 out of 100 propably will say that they would never ever buy an ebook. But 1 will, and that's the whole point.
All the best,
JP
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LikeHi Luke,
I agree that playing on one's fear is what a lot of 'gurus' do. Mobile marketing (that has gone a bit quiet) was all de rigeur a year ago; you are going to FAIL if you do not embrace mobile marketing NOW!
Then it was Facebook, 'if you are not on Facebook you are DOOMED'; then video 'if you cannot make a video you are TOAST'. So the distraction just keeps coming and it is hard, as Keiran has so rightly pointed out, to believe in yourself and just go out and do it.
Sure these things are important in the general scheme of things, but there is only so much of one person to go around and you need to choose your battles.
I am still struggling but one thing is getting clearer : quality, customer connection and care, as well as being transparent as you (and Vlad) say is getting more and more important. People are wising up and you cannot throw up some auto-blog (been there, done that) and expect to retire on a yacht.
What's all this with yachts and red Ferraris anyway? Such a turn off.
Thanks for the post. Internet marketing is alive and well - you just have to work at it and stop thinking it is the easy way to get rich.
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LikeLuke,
Couple of things stand out from earlier comments. And that is believing in "hear-say", and even more importantly an apparent lack of belief in yourself.
Addressing the "he said she said" situation, if you follow the train of thought based around scarcity (little guy can't make it, hard to make money, can't get conversions, etc) then yes, your online success will be tough. But if you have an abundant mentality and raise your awareness to the success all around you, it will become clear what works and what doesn't, and therefore deduce what you need to do.
My biggest challenge was my own limiting beliefs, and I consistently failed for my first 12 months online. It wasn't until I spent my last dollar on a coach/mentor and had everything to lose, that I took massive action.
All it took was a 60 minute consult to reframe my thinking and beliefs, and create a plan. 5 weeks later, I launched my first product at the Warrior Forum and it has gone onto gross $12,000+.
Have been making 4-figures per month ever since, and am planning for 5 figures next month.
The tipping point has been to get a taste for making money online - when that happens, you can easily re-frame your thinking and discover the methods that actually make bank.
Great post Luke - loved your Marketing Mind Hack program!
Kieran
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LikeHi Kieran,
Thanks for your comment!
You really "hit the nail on the head". So much of my past failure came from a lack of clear direction, and more importantly, a lack of faith in myself (and fear of what "might" happen).
Even though I've had a lot of success, I still sometimes get clouded by those same things and it takes a moment to step back and realize it's those same old beliefs causing problems. Once identified, they are easy to deal with.
Anyone who has limiting beliefs and operates out of fear is like a ship lost at sea; they will be stuck moving wherever the wind blows and it will be difficult for them to make good decisions.
So much of success is just mindset and implementation "no matter what".
Great insight.
-Luke
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LikeI have been involved in IM for about 18 months and ever since I started I have felt (especially at the beginning) that the way a lot of big name marketers think and act is based on very short term thinking.
I mean things like finding and using loopholes to try and "trick" Google or worse, tricking customers into buying products they don't need. You know, we’ve all seen and experienced the trickery of the more unscrupulous “gurus”.
Although I am yet to truly embrace the whole social aspect of marketing, I believe this is the future. A future where REAL connections are made and where REAL people discuss, comment and hopefully buy REAL products. Not because they were tricked into doing so but because the product is actually good as is evidenced by the ever growing power of social proof.
I also agree with Ken Jefferies that now as never before, the door is wide open for the "little guy" rather than an established "guru" to build relationships and provide a real and honest product/service to a community of like-minded people that are treated like individuals rather than dispensable and gullible idiots.
The Online Marketing is Dead, Long Live the Online Marketing!
Vlad
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LikeDefinitely, the little guys have so many more tools now and more importantly, people are listening.
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LikeI think that there are going to be a lot of changes coming. Internet marketing isn't dead however the methods are rapidly changing. It is becoming more essential to be seen on twitter, facebook, forums with a professional profile and contributing more. These people will succeed. The marketers who just get people to join their list and offer no real value yeah they're going to suffer. I also feel webinars are going to be huge in the next year and if you dont utilize them you will be left behind. Don't forget some of the big gurus took years to get where they are.
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LikeI agree, webinars are huge right now and they are only getting bigger.
They are a great way to offer great content for free and make sales as well. It's a win for everyone involved.
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LikeThat is quiet encouraging to know specially for me who is still on the verge of plunging into the IM world abyss. I am already feeling overwhelmed and frustrated and I have not yet even begun. But I guess that is the challenge ahead and I will move on my precarious journey one step at a time.
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LikeThere is PLENTY of time to start an online business in the majority of markets (certain markets like online dating are extremely saturated). Anyone who tells you otherwise is either mistaken, bitter because of their own failure or trying to sell you something.
All I see on the horizon is change, but that's no different than any other year.
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LikeHi it is very interesting to read that you make money but you do not say if you make a great living.
I have read twice now that visitors to sites are getting very resistant to do anything you want them to do.They will not even click the adsense links because they do not want to give you 33 pence.I read this on Warrior Forum this afternoon.Internet marketing is growing for the known big names but not for the little guy.
You only have to look at all the marketing courses and software and plr packages,that used to make big bucks.They are now being sold for peanuts.The gurus are bleeding,I believe.Now I hope I am wrong that it is getting more difficult for the little guy to make any sales.
This is only my thoughts and what I have read from others.Hopefully little guys will write in in their droves saying they are selling en masse.Now that would make me very happy.
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LikeI actually think the opposite is true...it's getting very tough for the "gurus" to make money slinging the same high-priced stuff; meanwhile plenty of small marketers are selling tons of their products left and right because they are providing value at a low cost.
I'm not saying that all expensive products are garbage, far from it. I'm simply saying that customers are more jaded than ever and with the current economic environment people are going to great lengths searching for value.
I continue to hear stories of promotions for big 2k launches where affiliates make a couple of sales total. Then they promote a $50 product and sell hundreds or thousands of copies...obviously the latter is working better for everyone involved.
I've made the majority of my income selling products that cost less than $50.
Things aren't tough for the little guy. This is the age of the little guy. Let me hear your battle cry little guys! *ROAR*
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Like