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I got a comment recently from Jacqueline who mentioned that she had no problem marketing other people’s products and services but lacked in marketing her own. Since I am actually planning on talking about this subject with local business owners, I figured I might as well start practicing here.

Personal or business blog.

Blogs are a huge tool in marketing you or your product. People are waking up to this fact every day. The last I heard, and I am sure it’s higher now, 175,000 new blogs are started every day. That is a huge number, but when compared to the 2-3 billion people using the Internet, it is a drop in the bucket.

A blog is a tool as much as it is a platform for you to share with others. The best part about a blog is the way you can share your thoughts, experiences, business ideas and products. 10 years ago when you had a product idea you would send out questionnaires or fliers to ask what people’s needs were and what they wanted in a product. Now you can pretty much Google whatever you are looking for and find a forum, message board, Yahoo answers or videos talking about your subject. In a matter of a few minutes you can get a good pulse of what people’s needs and wants are. With a blog, you could add a poll or ask for responses to get your answer.

Just like the winner always writes the history books, so does a blogger. You can present yourself however you want, including being completely anonymous. I would highly recommend being a real person that others can relate to as the preferred method of communicating. You can always paint the picture however you want when it comes to you or your business, but down the road someone might call you out on it if you are not truthful.

A place to connect to others.
One of the best ways to market your product is to generate leads and sales without having to pay for advertising. This is done a lot easier online and especially in the blogosphere. Frequently, I offer to give back to my readers because I appreciate when they link to my blog and tell others about me without being asked. This is why I will in return post links, give free things away, subscribe to others RSS, answer question or anything else I can make time for (I wish I could do more).

There is a big sense of reciprocity online and among fellow bloggers that says, “I will scratch your back if you scratch mine.” This is of course equal to the amount of time and effort you put into your online persona. All of this connectivity and networking comes to play when you develop a product or idea you would like to share (sell) with others.

Steve Pavlina’s blog was the first blog I ever read. I learned a lot from his blog on personal development that eventually lead me to quit my job and start my own business. Recently, he wrote a book and it is set to release next month. He offered to give everyone a free copy of his new book a month ahead of time in return for a review. Steve is not asking people to sugar coat the book but to be truthful and honest in their assessments. You can even include your own Amazon affiliate link, possibly profiting from a free book that very few people have read. I signed up and am waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail. I volunteered to review his book because I believe it will have some great content that I can share with others. I will also gladly post the review here, because I have received a lot of value from his posts and feel it is the least I can do. Talk about a great marketing idea. Steve is probably going to spend $0 on marketing simply because he connected with his audience and added value to their lives.

Establish trust.

As you begin and maintain your relationship online and off line, you build a level of trust that is in essence like a line of credit. Your patrons and visitors subconsciously extend you a line of personal credit on the assumption you will continue doing what you have established. Everything we do as a friend, employee, consumer, producer and individual is based on assumptions, (thank you Bill for the explanation).

We all make assumptions that a product will be on time, that we can get gas at the gas station, that when a friend tells us something we can count on it. Assumptions are what lead and build up trust. Sometimes we assume too much and we learn the hard way or visa versa. As you build your trust and network, people will assume that you will do what you say and say what you do (that is if you are doing it right). When I place an ad on my site for a product or share with you a new service I launch, I assume you have enough trust in me to at least check that product out. You on the other hand assume that I won’t screw you by presenting a product as something it is not.

Like jugglers on a tightrope, things can go wrong in a hurry with trust and assumptions. The key is to be open and truthful. In the end, that will carry you through even when you make mistakes. The one think I have learned the most about working online is when a mistake is made it is far, FAR, better to admit fault and make amends than to try and lie or sugar coat something (everyone makes mistakes, we are all human). When it is all said and done, things are quickly forgotten when addressed properly.

Instill confidence.

You are on the mission to instill confidence in yourself and others. When the proper level of confidence is reached, you have opened a door to reap what you sow. It is not to be said that at that point it is ok to take advantage of people, but you can successfully sell services and products under the assumption you are doing it openly. There is no set rule of where that line of confidence is, only that there is a point where enough exchange has gone on to prove yourself to others.

The best comparison I know would be the business of White’s Boots. For years this company has stood behind their product 110%. At anytime you can go in and get your boot resoled for practically no cost and know it will last another 5-10 years. I know some retired people that have had the same boots since they were in their teens. You know what? I can promise you that they have told their friends and family about their love for those boots and the service that stands behind them.

Be their solution.

Because of the nature of a blog, people are able to open the doors of communication like never before. You can Google blogs by CEO’s and see that many of the heads of huge international companies are taking up blogging. If you come across one of those blogs and feel like sharing your thoughts about a product or service, you can. You don’t have to contend with any security guards or annoying secretary (not that all are annoying). You could go to the comment section and leave your thoughts knowing that someone important will probably read it.

If that important person is you, what a great opportunity to allow the rivers of word of mouth marketing to flow. Let’s say my confidence in a product was shaken. If I shared my disappointment with the CEO of that company, and in turn the CEO offered to remedy that experience, I would probably use that product for life knowing that they really did care about me. After all, the end user is the bottom line in business.

I hope that this gave a loose sense of ways to market yourself online. There is no cut and clear path to determine what successful online marketing is, it depends on what you want. All said and done, blogging is a great way to market yourself personally and a great tool to give, share and better those you would like to work for.

Welcome to TEABERRY Fargo! As some of you know, I write to you primarily from Fargo, North Dakota, and like to share some marketing ideas I can easily take pictures of. This brings us back to TEABERRY in downtown Fargo.

If you aren’t familiar with Fargo, during the winter it gets very VERY cool here. As you would expect, coffee is quite the staple drink for about 6 months of the year out of the necessity of staying warm. What Fargo doesn’t have is a lot of varieties of tea outside of Starbucks or Dunn Bros. Some astute people felt that not everyone likes coffee but still like to share in the experience of those delirious hot and cold beverages, so they created TEABERRY.

TEABERRY is owned and operated by a man named Trung. He was quite busy when I stopped by so I only got a few words (that’s a good sign for a new business). By my estimate, they have about 40+ different flavors of tea and hundreds of possible combination of different flavors by adding jelly (basically a jelly bean added for a different flavor) or pearls (like a taffy that adds a little kick of sugar). My favorite tea so far has been the Aloe Vera. You can taste the chunks of aloe along with some amazing bursts of other fruit flavors such as strawberries, orange and lemon. It is quite the combination. I also hear they do serve one type of Vietnamese coffee that is super strong and dark as night. I will have to try it sometime.

The beauty of the whole TEABERRY idea is the simplicity of the idea and providing something to people that doesn’t currently exist. What a concept! Never forget that it is OK to be the only one in town, or in your niche that is doing what you are doing. When you are the only one around, people will naturally refer others to you. A while back I was looking to have some engraving work done on something other than jewelry and ended up at a very nice trophy shop at the suggestion of the jeweler. It worked out very well for me and I am pretty sure there can only be 1-2 of these in town to begin with.

Cheers!

This guest post on building better business relationships is by Chelle of itmightbelove.com. If you haven’t visited her blog I would recommend doing so you wont regret it. You can also go to the Guest Posters page and read up on her Bio and see her other links.

One of the things I write frequently about on itmightbelove is building solid relationships. What many people probably don’t realize is that many of the techniques I share on IMBL for dating are actually successful networking and business marketing strategies I’ve picked up through my experience working in the real estate industry.

I started out in real estate thinking typical marketing strategies would help me sell houses: putting ads in the paper, sending direct mail, cold calling…after a few months of failure I realized these things don’t sell houses or gain clients effectively (I could spend $200 on mailers with zero return!). Meanwhile, the breakfast club I met with once a month started bringing me regular customers for the price of a cup of coffee.

It didn’t take me long before I stopped advertising completely and decided to solely focus on building business relationships with the people I met instead. It can take a few months before you start seeing results with this unique marketing strategy – but it will drastically improve your marketing efforts if you keep in mind these tips below:

Start off Small:

You only have to meet 3-4 new people every day for a month and follow up with them before you have over 100 new people referring business to you. It isn’t about the quantity – it’s about the quality. You’re looking for people who like to communicate, may have their own business needs to share with you, and are open minded to possibility. Do this consistently for a few months, and soon you’ll be networking with more people than you can keep track of.

Join Local Organizations:

Your chamber of commerce, nonprofit groups or clubs with similar interests as you are all good places to start. You can volunteer for a good cause, be active in your community or even resort to knocking on doors. If there’s not a group near you – start one.

Be Personable Online:

With blog directories, forums and hundreds of social networking sites, it’s easier to reach out to people online than ever before. But before you start adding friends with wild abandon in all of these places, take some time to send personalized messages and leave thoughtful comments first. Sending copy and pasted messages will turn a lot of people off or worse, they’ll call you a spammer and ban you from the site.

Be Consistent:

You have to regularly follow up with someone in order to build a solid relationship. If you meet someone, make it a point to stay in touch with them every few weeks. Ask them how they are and what they’re doing – they’ll naturally ask the same of you. Visit their blog regularly and set up a system to remind you to stay in touch with them.

Provide Exceptional Service:

Customer service is a dying art. It doesn’t matter where I go anymore – the service is just terrible. When I do meet someone who actually takes time to listen or help, it leaves a long lasting impression. Don’t get so tied up in rules or fighting over a few dollars that it causes you to lose business.

Create a Referral Program:

Once you have business relationships and loyal customers established you can reward those who send more business your way. Offering things like gift cards after a sale, future discounts or other rewards will make people feel appreciated anytime they send you business.

Show Some Pride:

If you’re not confident in your business or stand behind it, nobody else is going to either. Everyone you know and meet should be aware of what you do. Add a signature line to your outgoing emails, hand out business cards (hint: if it’s plastic they will be less likely to lose it/throw it away) and routinely talk about what you do in a positive manner.

Learning to build solid business relationships takes time. You won’t have instant success. But if you do these things you will find within a few months that marketing suddenly became a lot easier and business is growing. More importantly, your clients and others you work with will come to respect and trust you.

This is the third post in the series on how to make the switch from your 9-5 job to full-time work online. Part 1 and Part 2 here.

I know everyone wants the magic bullet or the secret elixir to making money online, and the truth is I don’t have it. The most I can do is tell you what I have done and the things not to do in order to make the switch. The best part about not being able to tell you how to make your money online is that it will not limit you in your pursuit to do so. The sky is the limit and when you find your niche you’ll watch your business returning more than you ever thought possible. I don’t have to remind, but the Internet can deliver more customers to your business than being located in the most expensive and trafficked intersection in downtown Manhattan. Here are four lessons to keep in mind while discovering your calling online. Hopefully they will reduce the bumps along the way.

First:

Wait before you act. I am sure most of you were like me and discovered how some others were making their money online and decided to do the same exact thing in order to make some cash. You have to give yourself a breathing period before you act on those urges and more importantly before you spend money. Here is a simple rule: For every $100 you are about to spend, wait a day. The average wage is about $10 an hour and $100 is roughly 1 days worth of work. Before you spend that money on something, ask yourself if it will help you in your quest to making money online. Wait, think about it for a day, then if you still think it is a good idea, go for it. Even if that idea doesn’t pan and make you money back, you had the time to properly analyze the information and hopefully did a little more research and soul seeking. You’ll be surprised how much money you will save when you employ this tactic of waiting.

I love to read both online and offline and when I get into the mode of one idea or another I want to jump on it while it is fresh and seize the day. This is particularly dangerous online because of all of the information and plethora of ideas available from all sorts of people who claim to have made it big online with whatever technique they are promoting. Don’t forget they got rich promoting those ideas and encouraging that “I can do anything” emotion.

Second:

Ask for someone else’s opinion. When I say most of my friends and family don’t know what I do online, I mean it, they don’t. The reason for them not understanding what I do is simply because their generation was not immersed in the age of the Internet like my generation was. But business is business and marketing is marketing both on and offline. I know there are a lot of different techniques, but the basic principles hold true in both worlds. Before you set out to make your millions online, tell someone else how you plan on doing that. On top of telling them, ask for their opinion and listen. More often than not, you will have to explain things like you are talking to a 5th grader, not in disrespect but in order to bring understanding of what it is you are planning on doing. If it is a get rich quick scheme or sounds to good to be true, you will probably see that in your discussion. Listen and heed those warnings. Don’t get defensive with question after question. A one-hour discussion with another person can save you hundreds of hours of work and more importantly wasting your time. The Internet is full of ways to make money online, but if you can’t name one person who has done that to make money, it is probably because no one else has.

Third:

Develop a leather skin. I know after that last point you might think this is counterproductive, but I am referring more to the criticism you will for sure get. I was fairly lucky in the area of criticism. Most of my friends and family have come to expect that I would try and do things others typically don’t. With the help of family, I bought a house at 19 to rent out the rooms while going to college and many more atypical things. Other people are not so lucky when it comes to criticism from their support group. It is hard to combat that negative energy and comments while you aim for your goal. Most of that criticism comes from a lack of understanding on their part. Take the time to sit down with them and explain your logic and method you are using to obtain your goal. Hopefully that will squelch the criticism, but it is not guaranteed to do so. The truth is those criticizing your idea normally care about you and don’t want you to fail trying to obtain some lofty goal they don’t understand. In this case, the more they know about your goal and method, they will probably start supporting you in your endeavor.

If talking fails to rally the support you need, surround yourself with others who have the same type of goals you do. Find a forum or small group that is aiming to do what you are doing, and join the community. Others might not understand your need to go after these goals, but your new friends will. Make your intentions known, and see who is in support of them. Those are the people you should develop a strong relationship with.

Fourth:

Draft your ideas. Like doing an outline for a paper in high school, it is still important to map out your plan of action and develop the idea. The last thing you want to do is get caught with your pants down in the business world. Having a clear thought written down with the steps you want to take will save you a lot of time. As you truck along on your online ventures, it is easy to get sidetracked and lose focus. Having your plan or goals down and in a visible place will bring you back to where you need to be, much like the Constitution is for the United States (bad example but you get the idea). Goals and visions change all the time, and that is okay. When you feel the project is going to take you in a new direction, simply make the changes to your business constitution.

On a final note, I wish it were easy to tell people how to live and make money online, but it isn’t. The most I can do is give you a set of guides and some time saving methods to help you along in your quest. I have had to learn the hard way more often that not even though I had the counsel of others that had gone on before me. I still tried the same stupid techniques guaranteed not to make you money and wasted countless hours doing so.

Believe it or not, online marketing is a lot easier than it might seem. In fact, here are 3 simple steps.

The major hurdle for people is getting past the marketing aspect of a blog or website. People dread marketing for many reasons. Either it is too much work, they don’t know where to start, or they are afraid to present the wrong image. I am going to make it as simple as possible (A.S.A.P.) instead of oh my god this is ridiculous (O.M.G.T.I.R.).

1. Provide Valuable Information

This is often overlooked as a new blogger sets up a site to start making the big bucks. If the average person knows as much about your topic as you write about, you will have problems. So find a subject you know the most about and share all you know about it. The more you learn and share about your subject, the more you and your blog will grow in both presence and authority.

2. Entertain

What does entertaining your guests mean anyways? This means to deliver your message in the best way you possibly can, as well as in many different forms as possible. If you like to make videos and audio recordings, develop your skills and make your presentations the best you possibly can. Nothing zaps the life out of you quicker than reading a text book or listening to a boring lecture, so don’t put your audience through this. Each person has his or her own abilities and talents. Now it is time to develop yours.

3. Build Relationships

The days of old where you plaster you logo everywhere like Coke-a-Cola and hope that people recognize it and want to have a drink are dying. The sites and blogs that build a community around them are able to leverage that community into cash. Ask a lot of questions, find like blogs and talk with them, respond to comments and follow suit, start swapping guest posts and any other way possible to encourage interaction. Then when you have a great idea or product to sell, you have a community that respects your opinion and will consider motivating themselves behind you. Imagine the marketing and advertising possibilities possible if 10 bloggers work really well together.

These steps are not an overnight success, but with focus they can be achieved in a short time. Keep them on the front of your mind or even write them down on a piece of paper next to your computer. If you want steady growth and income, there is no magic elixir. But there is community, and community is the thing that will bring you to success. Now harness that power.