The BIG Change For IMers In 2014
Here we are...
A day before 2014.
It got me thinking.
How long has Internet Marketing been around?
Not long. Just a blink of the eye.
When I was born in 1979, the way people did business was completely different than it is right now. Back then, people would have killed to get the kind of instant results for a campaign that we get today.
But that's not the biggest change that came with the dawn of IM.
This less-than-two-decades-old game changer (sorry, I hate cliches too) made it possible for anybody to easily put on the entrepreneur hat.
This is now a world where regular, every day people can compete against the big brands.
It's an even playing field.
Well... kind of.
Sure, the big brands knows the cheap tricks that get them atop Google. But the little guy can still take a hefty bite out of the profit pool.
In other words...
There's always a way to connect with an audience - IF you have a better solution and a clearer marketing message.
And that's where a lot of people stumble. They don't have a product that's worth the digital paper it's printed on. They're too busy acting like a teenage boy who just discovered masturbation (i.e. over-stimulated, irrational and running around like a chicken with its head cut off.)
"I gotta get something out! I gotta get something out!"
Really? Do you?
Solutions don't have have to be sexy, but they DO have to be actual solutions.
Look at the guy who invented the seatbelt retractor. He died a rich, rich, rich man for something too boring for most people to ever give it a second thought. And yet, you probably owe your life to it. So does your family. It's a REAL solution. It fills a need that millions (and in this case, billions) of people actually need, want and benefit from.
Sure, we're all not so fortunate to be the one who invents something needed by so many types of people. And in this Internet Marketing age, we really don't want that. We're more interested in appealing to a small, small, small targeted group of people.
But online or off... the 1970's or the 2010's...
The constant is...
Your product... your invention... your innovation... your solution... actually has to meet a desire that people want, need and benefit from. No matter how big or small that group of people is.
Creating a product isn't about you. It isn't about making money. It isn't about putting another piece of $%!& ebook or guide on ClickBank that nobody needs.
It's about observing the problems that people (and the planet) have... and creating a solution that fills a very specific need.
How do I know most every day people, putting on their entrepreneurial hat don't observe these things?
Simple. Because product developers aren't demonstrating that they intimately know their avatar - front and back, up and down. Seriously, how the heck can you offer a solution that fills a specific need - if you're unclear about exactly who you're helping? It's the biggest farce ever.
Instead...
Product creators are focusing on their own problems, like a lack of money, and putting whatever they can out there - trying to make a buck.
I say...
Let's make 2014 different.
Let's make the collective declaration to look outward, see what problems people are having... and filling a need with REAL solutions.
Go back to basics. Start asking questions like...
Who EXACTLY are these people? Where do they live? How much money do they make? Religious? Spiritual? Doomsday-believing? Health-conscious? If so, why? Young? Old? Male? Female? Transexual? WHY do they benefit from a solution you're observing they need? What makes you qualified to give it to them? How could your story make that connection? What's your BIG idea or hook to make these people see the value you want to give them?
At the end of the day...
2014 brings more problems than perhaps at any other time in human history.
What does that mean?
People need more solutions.
So give them solutions. Real ones.
Take the time to fully understand the problem... and the people suffering because of that problem.
Just because you CAN create and market a product does NOT mean you should. Don't be that teenage boy who is obsessed with "the end result." Focus on the process.
After all...
Sales and marketing is all about emotion.
And if you can't pinpoint the exact people, who have a very specific (but fixable) problem...
...who are feeling the kind of emotion that screams for HELP, then I doubt your product will do much more than be a toxic presence in an already crowded marketplace.
...Just another worthless piece of junk that might attract a few hopeless saps, but doesn't actually provide any real value or solve anything.
I expect more. You should too.
Mark
P.S. It's so easy to create a website and slap something up on the web. So of course the internet is going to attract hustlers. Be better than that. Be amazing. And remember, this isn't about YOU. It's about the people you want to help. Just by making that shift, you'll see things... clearer.
A day before 2014.
It got me thinking.
How long has Internet Marketing been around?
Not long. Just a blink of the eye.
When I was born in 1979, the way people did business was completely different than it is right now. Back then, people would have killed to get the kind of instant results for a campaign that we get today.
But that's not the biggest change that came with the dawn of IM.
This less-than-two-decades-old game changer (sorry, I hate cliches too) made it possible for anybody to easily put on the entrepreneur hat.
This is now a world where regular, every day people can compete against the big brands.
It's an even playing field.
Well... kind of.
Sure, the big brands knows the cheap tricks that get them atop Google. But the little guy can still take a hefty bite out of the profit pool.
In other words...
There's always a way to connect with an audience - IF you have a better solution and a clearer marketing message.
And that's where a lot of people stumble. They don't have a product that's worth the digital paper it's printed on. They're too busy acting like a teenage boy who just discovered masturbation (i.e. over-stimulated, irrational and running around like a chicken with its head cut off.)
"I gotta get something out! I gotta get something out!"
Really? Do you?
Solutions don't have have to be sexy, but they DO have to be actual solutions.
Look at the guy who invented the seatbelt retractor. He died a rich, rich, rich man for something too boring for most people to ever give it a second thought. And yet, you probably owe your life to it. So does your family. It's a REAL solution. It fills a need that millions (and in this case, billions) of people actually need, want and benefit from.
Sure, we're all not so fortunate to be the one who invents something needed by so many types of people. And in this Internet Marketing age, we really don't want that. We're more interested in appealing to a small, small, small targeted group of people.
But online or off... the 1970's or the 2010's...
The constant is...
Your product... your invention... your innovation... your solution... actually has to meet a desire that people want, need and benefit from. No matter how big or small that group of people is.
Creating a product isn't about you. It isn't about making money. It isn't about putting another piece of $%!& ebook or guide on ClickBank that nobody needs.
It's about observing the problems that people (and the planet) have... and creating a solution that fills a very specific need.
How do I know most every day people, putting on their entrepreneurial hat don't observe these things?
Simple. Because product developers aren't demonstrating that they intimately know their avatar - front and back, up and down. Seriously, how the heck can you offer a solution that fills a specific need - if you're unclear about exactly who you're helping? It's the biggest farce ever.
Instead...
Product creators are focusing on their own problems, like a lack of money, and putting whatever they can out there - trying to make a buck.
I say...
Let's make 2014 different.
Let's make the collective declaration to look outward, see what problems people are having... and filling a need with REAL solutions.
Go back to basics. Start asking questions like...
Who EXACTLY are these people? Where do they live? How much money do they make? Religious? Spiritual? Doomsday-believing? Health-conscious? If so, why? Young? Old? Male? Female? Transexual? WHY do they benefit from a solution you're observing they need? What makes you qualified to give it to them? How could your story make that connection? What's your BIG idea or hook to make these people see the value you want to give them?
At the end of the day...
2014 brings more problems than perhaps at any other time in human history.
What does that mean?
People need more solutions.
So give them solutions. Real ones.
Take the time to fully understand the problem... and the people suffering because of that problem.
Just because you CAN create and market a product does NOT mean you should. Don't be that teenage boy who is obsessed with "the end result." Focus on the process.
After all...
Sales and marketing is all about emotion.
And if you can't pinpoint the exact people, who have a very specific (but fixable) problem...
...who are feeling the kind of emotion that screams for HELP, then I doubt your product will do much more than be a toxic presence in an already crowded marketplace.
...Just another worthless piece of junk that might attract a few hopeless saps, but doesn't actually provide any real value or solve anything.
I expect more. You should too.
Mark
P.S. It's so easy to create a website and slap something up on the web. So of course the internet is going to attract hustlers. Be better than that. Be amazing. And remember, this isn't about YOU. It's about the people you want to help. Just by making that shift, you'll see things... clearer.
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