Internet Marketing

What IS this "Internet Marketing" thingy anyway?

A lot depends on how you look at it.

From our perspective Internet Marketing is marketing. The principles are the same.

If you own a shoe store - you open your doors every day and try to

a) attract prospects and customers

b) sell those folks who come in

c) take care of the customers you've sold

Sure there's more to it than that but these are the basics - right?

Well any business works about the same way and the principles are the same. The difference is is you sell to someone on the Internet they may have a hard time trying on shoes before they buy. Then again - L L Bean has the same problem with catalog sales. And L L Bean sells on the Internet - as does Disney.

The point is the Internet is simply a medium that can be used to sell things - like television, newspapers, brick and morter storefronts, door to door salespeople, direct mail sales letters - they all are ways people become familiar with products they buy.

Of all the above "sales channels" Internet Marketing most closely resembles Direct Mail Advertising in practice.

The great advertising genius David Oglivy was a big fan of Direct Mail. He felt all advertising should learn from it. And he was right.

Too often "Internet Marketing" means "selling stuff to people so they can make money selling stuff to other people who want to sell stuff to people who want to sell stuff on the Internet" Yuck!

My latest example is the Internet series "The Next Internet Millionaire" (read about my thoughts on that on my blog). It was a "reality show" featuring 12 people competing to win the right to join in a Joint Venture (two or more people joining forces to bring out a product) with Joel Comm.

Warning Spoiler here: The show ended up with the final two contestents doing a Joint Venture (JV) with Joel. So what product did each contestant come out with? One that shows "How to make money on the Internet" of course! One of the two admitted to knowing NOTHING about Internet Marketing before coming on to the show.

Does that mean the products were bad? No. Not at all. I've got GIGABYTES of products on that subject. And my library is far from complete. Can't ANYONE come up with a REAL product anymore?  One was an experienced scriptwriter. Why not show how to do that?

In any case, this should NOT be the focus of anyone looking to market goods via the Internet. Sure it's a lucurative field. And there's nothing wrong with recommending or selling tools you've found useful. We offer LOTS of products in these pages ourselves. But our goal is to take these products and make money selling other stuff. These same techiques can sell refrigerators, cell phones, garden tools and ceramic supplies. They can increase sales in your business too.

If you own a business - then you should consider marketing via the Internet. But the Internet is only one distribution channel. If your business is a storefront, warehouse, or even a garage workshop - you've probably sold to folks passing by, or gone to shows or put an ad in the local paper. You should continue doing those things you've been successful at while adding Internet marketing as another avenue - just as you might consider adding radio or television to your marketing mix.

That said, marketing via the Internet is a mixed blessing. On the one hand there is a wide range of ways one can go. You could start a newsletter and deliver it electronically. You could expand your borders and sell nationally or even internationally. You have a bunch of options to choose from when it comes to promoting your business both online and off. It opens up a whole 'nother world!

How you approach it depends on where you're at now and where you want to go. For example if you sell Ice Cream Cones then you are not likely to want to sell them online. But that doesn't mean you can't take advantage of the Interent to expand your business locally.

To be continued...