January 25, 2007 22:11
Category: Other Information
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The other day, a would-be client of mine from distant shore was inquiring about tips to jumpstart his e-commerce site. He has readied plans of his site, and has even run a few trials. But before actually joining the fray, he wants a clear answer as to whether viral marketing is a potential weapon, and if so, how best he can reap the benefits in coming days.
I'm not an expert on viral marketing, and to be true my knowledge on the subject is limited as a content writer. However, I do feel when you start a venture and want an immediate cash flow, you need to hit it running.
Since there is no historical data to guide your newly founded web venture, yet you want not to miss some action, the best way would perhaps be to fix a path and keep running on it for a good length of time before you pause to take stock and improve thereupon. And what best way could it be except a well-thought-out viral marketing plan?
In a recent article (Indexing and Ranking: The Chicken or the Egg?), noted SEO-practitioner Mike Grehan has opined that marketing and promoting is a better option than bothering about the whims of search engines' indexing and ranking.
With that in perspective, David Badurina's article below makes immense sense. His suggestion that giving things free is a time-tested powerful tool of viral marketing is especially relevant for new web-entrants, for they have to encounter competition that is already well entrenched.
Perhaps e-commerce start-ups can consider this potential option and create a position for themselves in order to get noticed by larger share of viewers.
David Badurina is President of Viral Marketing Tool and creator of VMT Viral Marketing Software. VMT is being used by more than 35,000 people in nearly every country in the world and is the premier Relationship-Building Viral Marketing Tool available online. Let's now go to his article.
Don't Fear the F-Word!
As a business owner, when you hear the word "Free" what do you think of?
As a customer, when you hear the word "Free" you might feel skeptical about the offer, as in, "What's wrong with it?" As a business owner, you might see "Free" as a true four-letter F-word. Something that takes up your time and resources, and ends up simply losing you money.
One or both of those feelings could be 100% correct, but that doesn't mean that when you're looking to work with something that's "Free" that you have to keep that trend. Why not make "Free" fantastic?
Customers are a fickle bunch. Give too much, and all that's expected is what's free. Give too little, and you're just a mysterious shut-in. Offer consistency and quality on a regular basis and striking a balance between showing people who you are, and offering stellar products or services is where success really makes it's home. Free information is the perfect way to do that.
Picture yourself as a customer visiting a website. You see some information about a product, but nowhere can you find how it works, what it does, or even the price. You might see testimonials, saying it's an amazing product and it "worked for me," but nothing of actual substance. So, you sign up for their newsletter to try and obtain further information, but it's all the more of same. Cryptic, mysterious, but oh boy it works for everyone else even though it's apparently an unexplained phenomenon!
That's not a good way to win a long-life, loyal customer. That's how you sell things quickly, by cranking up the mystery and hoping for an impulse buy. Maybe the business is simply distrustful of competition. If you don't trust your competition, the worst mistake you can make is to not trust your customers either, no matter how hard you're trying to protect something.
Instead of being cryptic and holding back information, how about giving information away? Giving it for free? If you run a fishing store and you sell fishing poles and bait, when someone asks you for good fishing spots do you say, "Oh the fishing around here is amazing! Everybody catches gigantic fish!"
No. You tell them how to get to a great little spot only the locals know about and recommend the right fishing pole and bait to use for that lake. That's building a relationship with your customer. Offering information free of charge and offering solutions as well. The concept is no different in the online world.
Newsletters would be immensely boring if they didn't offer any information of value. Offering quality information in exchange for nothing is just like telling your customers, "I trust you, and I want to see you happy." There's no better message to send and your customers will consistently come back to you because of that philosophy.
When I was just starting out developing VMT for clients, I would receive many questions like, "How am I going to make any money if I give away my tips and advice for free?" My response has always been, "How do you expect to make any money if all you show your customers is distrust?" Don't give away the gold your business is built around, but definitely give your potential clients value in exchange for nothing. That's how you build trust, turn yourself into someone's favorite resource, become a recognized expert, and develop long-lasting relationships that will sustain you and your business for years to come!
