Why sharing our favorite local small businesses through word of mouth improves our standard of living:
Pay attention to the statistics found in the second half of this post and find out how our decisions and actions are key to economic survival.
I clearly remember how appalled I was when IBM told us (us being technical employees known as CEs or SSRs) we had to start selling.
Selling was a dirty word to me.
Marketing and sales were the people who promised what we could not deliver and pressured customers to buy what they did not want or need.
Customers trusted techs and we did not want to lose their trust.
In most organizations, marketing is paid much more because they are seen as an income source. The IBM salesman I knew best made 25 times what I made (and the IBM CEO pay is 530 times more) and their phones did not ring all hours of the day and night like mine did.
Support staff is paid much less because they are considered an expense instead of an asset. At least in IBM’s case that is a serious mistake because what we once called Customer Engineers and later called SSRs are the only IBM employees most customers see on a regular basis and the primary reason those customers keep buying IBM equipment. But we’re getting off track.
Let me explain WHY marketing is NOT Evil.
I know that I am not the only person who had a negative view of marketing. The thing is, if there were no marketing we would not know who offered what we need and want. If a business doesn’t market well and close sales they can’t stay in business. Marketing and sales are both essential to us as buyers and to make an honest living. What we need is a different perspective on marketing.
Marketing is how we find what we want and need.
Marketing is how we know who does what. Businesses must have a marketing plan so we will know what they do. They need to clearly understand the differences between marketing, advertising, promotion and PR. Brad Harmon’s excellent post Are You Confused about Marketing provides the perfect Definition of Marketing.
No matter what that plan is – even if it is only a sign in the window or handing out business cards – the purpose is always just that: to make sure those who need or want what they offer know about their products and services.
Marketing is essential to small business success and small businesses are essential to improving our standard of living.
If we want the most people possible to live a comfortable life with at least a roof over their heads, clothes to wear and enough to eat we have to change how we feel about marketing.
Why do we buy from Corporations whose commercials depict us as insects, animals or stupid? Why do many pay for clothing and products that make them walking billboards for brands?
Why is that kind of marketing acceptable while we refuse to allow small businesses to reach out to us? We create forums but refuse to allow them to add a link to their business or a description in a signature line.
We install dofollow CommentLuv and KeywordLuv and then delete quality comments seeking anchor text or even report any business leaving comments as a spammer.
What we need is a change in perspective.
Small traditional and online businesses are best for our economy because almost every penny we spend with them is almost immediately spent with other businesses.
When you buy your groceries from your local independent grocer or through a Food Coop or Consumer Supported Agriculture you support all the suppliers and businesses they use.
Money we spend with small businesses improves our economy and increases the standard of living for all.
What you spend in stores owned by multi-national publicly traded corporations goes to support boards earning seven figure executive compensation and continue to pay huge bonuses while their employees barely make a living wage – or for many of the worst Corporations do NOT make a living wage.
“The chasm between America’s haves and have-nots has reached Grand Canyon-esque proportions. Thirty years ago top executives at S&P 500 companies made an average of 30 times what their workers did — now they make 300 times what their workers make.“
Is it any wonder that the new television show Undercover Boss is so popular? This income disparity has a serious negative impact on our economy, on each of us and on everyone else in the world.
“Income inequality now is at an all-time high: The top 1 percent of Americans earn a quarter of all income, and the top 10 percent earn 50 percent.” More on tying CEO to employee pay.
If 50 percent of all income is in the hands of 10% of all Americans how much of that money do you believe is kept circulating where it can support other businesses and improve the economy?
How much of YOUR income do you spend? For a huge percentage of Americans the answer would be ALL of it and then some!
If we put more of our money directly into the hands of people who spend it our economy WILL improve and so will our standard of living!
Small business is key to improving our economy and is the bright spot in creating jobs – and not just any job – better jobs that pay well and have a future! Gallop estimates 30 million Americans – over 20% of Americans – are already underemployed.
Many are working two jobs and still making only a third of their former pay not to mention loss of benefits and the impact on their lives of working all the time and still not making ends meet.
I will borrow a quote from Andy Sernovitz‘ new book Secret and Mysterious Order of Word of Mouth, a book I highly recommend:
“Word of mouth marketing only works if you have good products and services. It only works if people like you and trust you. (If you’re a jerk,word of mouth with backfire horribly on you.)
If your product or service sucks, no PR campaign, clever TV ad, or announcement on your website will make consumers believe that it doesn’t. Not any more. And the speed of word of mouth on the Internet spreads the truth almost instantly.
You won’t hear a lot of good word of mouth about cable companies.
When word of mouth works, good companies are rewarded with gobs of free advertising and attention, and they make more money.
When word of mouth works better, bad products and bad companies are punished with negative buzz, and they lose customers.
Think about what this means for you and your family. We have a new social force that rewards companies with free marketing, sales and profits when they treat people well and produce good products. The same force stops companies from treating people badly by killing their sales.
For the first time in the history of modern business, we have a force for good that is also driven by the all-powerful profit motive. For years, government regulators and consumer advocates have tried to use legal and public pressure to make companies treat people well. I’ll bet that the profit motive works better.
This is why word of mouth marketing is so exciting. Everyone can do it. It makes money. It makes products and services more exciting. It makes business more honest and ethical.
It is better for all of us.
If you have a business or blog you need a copy of this book so you will avoid making mistakes that stay online forever. Also visit his site for viral marketing ideas on how to make your online activities memorable to tap into the power of viral marketing. (Follow Andy Sernovitz on Twitter)
We can each bring more power faster to word of mouth marketing. Marketing is NOT evil when it is honest and ethical. It is only evil when it is deceptive and only benefits the already wealthy.
Bloggers are especially important to making sure that small businesses thrive and we need to take action NOW while we still have small and online businesses to support!
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Most ecommerce and online businesses receive 60-90% of all their traffic and sales from one search engine that has publicly announced their intention to focus on brands to “clean up” the Internet.
Any traffic not directly attributable to that search engine is likely to also have been found using that search engine.
We must preserve our ability to find the businesses, products and services we want to use and a great way to do that is to start supporting them with our spending and by recommending them.
It wouldn’t hurt to use a different search engine too. DuckDuckGo is my favorite search engine and I hope you’ll try it out because their results are cleaner and every site I can find in you know where has been in theirs (and yes, I do test that regularly).
WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO:
Participate in our BizLuv MEME to Support Small Businesses to support your favorite businesses, causes and blogs. You can get involved in Blog Outreach or join our private blog collaboration which has developed a process for generating and sharing unique guest blog posts.
If you own or work for a business, you MUST learn how to market it. The survival of your business will depend on it. You do not have to have money to spend and anyone can get free advice on what works and what doesn’t right here.
We are continually working and testing new methods especially for businesses like the Florida Millwork company Good Millwork hard hit by the economy such as those in the home improvement, construction and real estate niche. If we can make it work for them it can work for any business.
SCARY SEARCH ENGINE FACTS:
- Six Delusions of Search Engine’s Arrogant Leaders
UNDEREMPLOYMENT:
- Working Two Jobs and Still Underemployed
- Reuters: The Massive Cost of Underemployment
- Underemployment is a Growing Problem Even as the Job Market Turns
TROUBLE MAKING ENDS MEET:
How little does the dollar buy and how high are expenses already? I will add links here to real people who are challenged to make ends meet.
- What if you can’t make ends meet on $25/hour, make too much to get assistance, and then lose your job? Angie Marion titled that post Her Fall From Grace but this is NOT her fault and not a fall. It is where the sliding dollar is going to land everyone who doesn’t have a new plan and soon. Read this post and the information in Support Small Businesses. If you have computer skills contact me and I will share how you can earn a good living online by providing services to small businesses including getting them Local Search Directory listings, Blogging for their businesses and using Article and Social Media Marketing to drive more traffic to their sites. I will teach those who are interested and send them referrals.
INTERESTING GRAPHS and VIDEOs on the WAR ECONOMY:
- Why the Internet Scares Politicians
- Truths about The History of the United States, the rise of Multi-National Corporations, “American” Corporate support of Hitler, suppression of competition, and who controls the economies of the world and how: The Elkhorn Manifesto
- IBM and the Holocaust
- Spending Freeze When Hell Freezes Over (See the graph Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes at the very bottom.)
- The Cost of War
- War is a Racket by Smedley Butler who was was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history.This is the very best speech on the truth of war I have ever heard. I read a portion of it years ago and have been looking for it ever since. I sincerely hope everyone will take the time to watch it. It could change your life and the lives of everyone else on this planet.In recognition of its excellence I share here the StumbleUpon review of War is a Racket posted by mystiker:”This a re-enactment of the famous speech by two-time Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Smedley Butler. Although the speech is dated around World War II the theme of the message is timeless.Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed “The Fighting Quaker” and “Old Gimlet Eye”, was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history.During his 34 years of Marine Corps service, Butler was awarded numerous medals for heroism including the Marine Corps Brevet Medal (the highest Marine medal at its time for officers), and subsequently the Medal of Honor twice. Notably, he is one of only 19 people to be twice awarded the Medal of Honor, and one of only three to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor for two different actions.”
Gail Gardner
Latest posts by Gail Gardner (see all)
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Wow, just wow. The economic ignorance displayed here is beyond belief. Your explanation of how buying local raises our standard of living is textbook stupidity. Anyone with even the most basic understanding of economics should know this. We don’t buy from big companies because we’re stupid. We buy from SOME big companies because they supply us with products that are cheaper than we could get them locally. This IMPROVES out standard of living as any 1st year economics student will tell you.
Hi Joe,
We’ll have to agree to disagree. The proof is abundant across the U.S. Leave your ivory tower and open your eyes to what is really happening out in the world.
Take a drive to any rural area. Small businesses have been shuttered, and along with them the prosperity of their former owners. The jobs they provided are long gone. All that is left is crap wages at Wal-mart where the burden of health care and even being able to afford food has been transferred to the taxpayer.
All you get when you focus on CHEAPER is a race to the bottom where the middle class is gone and the lower class can’t even afford to shop at Wal-mart or the dollar store anymore.
The end game will be one company store, probably Amazon. What people have work may be paid in company script and spend all they make in that company store.
Others will try to live off the land if they’re allowed to get away with it, going off-grid because they can’t afford utilities anymore.
We already have massive numbers of homeless and people building their own tiny homes on wheels because they can’t afford to buy a house. This is the new reality of America.
Yes, some still have jobs in cities. But how long will they last if we keep sending manufacturing overseas and running up national debt?
The people who are going to be the most shocked are those who are comfortable now and don’t see it coming. Everyone else will already be in survival mode.
Our standard of living has declined massively in just the decades I have been alive. The inflation rate is outrageous. When I was a child, full-size candy bars were 5 cents, soda was 5 cents, gasoline was 25 cents a gallon. What are they now? Wake up already!
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Lyft and Uber Are the Worst Ways to Fund Your Startup
I’m just getting started in the world of Marketing and I’m a bit overwhelmed. Great info, thanks for sharing
Hi Carlo,
What you need to do is prioritize your efforts. You can start with this post:
Small Business Internet Marketing: Where to Start #smallbiz
Or go to GrowMap Services as that shows all the various marketing priorities I work through.
Or you can subscribe to my autoresponder series of short emails. See the orange and black box in the right sidebar where it says:
What I do is create a Trello board to organize and prioritize everything. Trello.com is free to use, easy to learn and very visual. My Blogger Mastermind group post has a video that shows how to use it.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Bloggers Hiring Bloggers: Kinds of Work You Outsource or Get Hired to Do
Evil – maybe not, but it’s less a satisfying position. Ethical marketing is a myth, a paradox. But its inevitable for all businesses – doesnt matter how big or small the brand is
Hi Nish,
I totally disagree. If a business is providing excellent service and products making sure we can find them is highly ethical. It is NOT inevitable that businesses must lie, steal or cheat – it is just that people have been conditioned by the media to accept such bad behavior as “normal”.
It is high time that those who believe in ethics shun every person and business that does evil and seeks out alternative solutions from those who do not. There would already be alternatives if we supported the honest and had not tolerated greed.
growmap would love you to read ..SOPA Blackout Strike Already Started; Why Major Sites and Blogs Went Dark in Support
Imagine the additional wealth that individuals and small and local businesses would have if so much of what they earn was not taken from them off the top. | 😛
hunterX0506 would love you to read ..online car games
I would like to help nip in the bud is promoting Major Brands and Fortune 500 companies. Why help them hoard even more money and squeeze our economy dry when you can be paid to promote better small and online businesses that appreciate your efforts?
negra would love you to read ..Answering Service
You’re a person after my own heart, negra. That is exactly my thought, too – and why I promote small businesses and encourage bloggers to add a local focus to their blogs.
Coming to your point about keywordluv and commentluv plugins, I think most bloggers are just afraid of PR leak, they want to get the ‘extra’ traffic that these plugins can give to their blogs, but won’t approve genuine comments because they don’t want to provide a ‘free’ link to someone.. | 😛
jazz0506 would love you to read ..car parking
That is true in many cases, but they just have to decide which they want more: real visitors or to play the game of the 800# gorilla.
growmap would love you to read ..Blogging Ethics: Time to Choose
great post!thanks for sharing this to us for me marketing is more about what the benefits are while sales requires the ability to close.
Good way to market something is to not be aggressive and bore the potential users to death with pointless spam commercials that in the end alienate the customer. This is something that people these days just don’t understand and still think that there is something good in it. The best you’ll get from me when you use aggressive marketing is a nice place in my junk folder.
Why marketing is not evil..Because the owner is not evil so that marketing is not a evil..SIMPLE! | 😛
buggy would love you to read ..driver ed games online
thanks for the posts. i really learned something, i need as much infos as i can get since i’m just new to this stuff.
crys would love you to read ..angry birds online
If the marketing comes from an honest standpoint.
But many times a product gets sold under the pretence that it fixes a problem, a problem that they make us realize we have. You can’t blame them for trying to make us want a product like that, and without it the whole system wouldn’t work. But it’s still not honest so I try to be careful not to fall for that.
Danny would love you to read ..Black & Decker NPP2018 18-Volt Cordless Electric Pole Chain Saw
Gail,
It’s articles such as this that keep me coming back again and again, even on days like today when Safari takes FOREVER to load. On almost any other site I’d have clicked off long ago. But I not only read your blog, but the comments afterwards. Not only for the comments themselves but because you’re so engaged with your audience and sometimes your replies apply to my situation(s) more than the articles to at that time. Definitely Stumbling this one-one of your best (and that’s saying a lot).
Hi Marla,
Thank you so much for your comment – and your patience – and for sharing my posts, too. I do my best to answer questions for anyone who asks knowing that my answers will benefit others as well. Do always ask any questions you may have – and tweet me a link if I don’t answer right away and I’ll head right over and do so.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Economy: How to Beat the Recession
I agree re: supporting small biz in the ways described. This is easier to do with service-oriented businesses than those that deal with commodities. For example, I prefer my local family-run Italian restaurant to the giant Olive Garden chain – and I can justify spending 20% more there for the experience. I cannot say the same for the local hardware store selling me a hammer for $25 that I can buy at Home Depot for $20. The challenge for small biz is in differentiating themselves in a way that adds value (e.g., product/service quality, warranty, delivery, hours of operation, efficiency, etc.).
Hi Steve,
That is how many people feel; however, I believe if they really knew the entire reason that stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, and other multi-national corporations can sell for less at least those with a heart would spend the extra $5.
If we support those corporations we are equally culpable for their actions which include child labor and wages so low that they are virtually slave owners. No company that does not take advantage of others in such onerous ways can compete on price against them.
We can’t expect small business to compete against companies willing to treat others horribly nor can we expect them to compete against companies that can afford to give away what they sell such as Google.
Our economy is proof of what focusing on low prices and saving money for ourselves and the expense of others reaps. The solution is Fair Trade and being willing to pay reasonable prices for what we buy.
growmap would love you to read ..Bloggers And Small Businesses Can Conquer Cyberspace With Collaboration
Perhaps we should agree to disagree. It’s unrealistic to expect consumers to pay 20 percent or more price premiums to demonstrate that they have a heart while interest rates on their consumer debt as well as food and energy prices climb. Many consumers have a relatively fixed income and less discretionary income than they may have enjoyed in the past. This, coupled with rising prices, creates more urgency to stretch dollars – and paying an extra $5 for a hammer, for most, doesn’t make sense…
Again, I see it as Ma and Pa Kettle’s responsibility to figure out a way to compete. If they leave it up to the hearts of consumers (many of whom are unemployed or underemployed with mortgages that exceed the value of their homes) to pay a price premium for their products and service out of a sense of responsibility, they’re doomed.
Sometimes we confuse in sales and marketing . so the better the marketing , the best the sales will be. but sales will be depend on the feedback of the customer. The best feedback of the products the more sales too 🙂
Harry would love you to read ..Backlink Profit Monster Software Real Review
Hi Harry,
I never confuse them because I’m fairly talented at marketing but not very good at selling. 🙂 I do agree that many don’t know there is a difference, but it is a big one.
growmap would love you to read ..Social Media and Increasing Website Traffic
You are thinking ONLY of big brands and corporations and what I am writing about here is how to find and buy directly from local small businesses, manufacturers and growers.
IMHO, no one needs insurance or prescription poisons or to support the evil of multi-national corporations. What they DO need is to be able to find farmers and ranchers who grow healthy food locally and people that still remember how to build furniture or repair homes and local suppliers of what we need to repair instead of continually replacing what we need.
You think it is easy to find the best small businesses. Look at the image in the post I’ll put in the CommentLuv link at the end of this reply. The masses use Google and Google decides what they see and what businesses thrive – or die. What people really need to wake up to is the Truth – and I don’t mean the illusions the media feeds them.
Did you even read this post or are you just trolling? The very first paragraph IN BOLD says:
Perhaps you don’t know what a small business even is? I am definitely NOT talking about BP or other oil companies or insurance companies.
growmap would love you to read ..Google Results Image: Paid Versus Organic Listings
Marketing is not an evil because without marketing or advertising I doubt there will be development. People cannot think of going back to the traditional method of marketing when we have modern means like the internet. Without marketing we would get aloof because we won’t know what’s new in town and what’s the latest trend.
anyone who think its EVIL is way to naive and in denial…marketing is everywhere and anywhere.We do it all the time
Mexican Drinks would love you to read ..A Simple Quesadilla Recipe
I must admit that I totally suck at sales and in fact very recently came to know the difference of sales and marketing. Thanks for such a detailed article on why Sales need not sound *bad* or *evil* and yet can boost your business.
Its great to find another business enthusatic mind like mine. I’m bookmarking your blog to come back and read more awesome articles in future. Keep writing 🙂
Stan would love you to read ..TechInline Re-Defines Web Based Remote PC Access Technology
Hi Stan,
That is why I know the difference! Because I too, “suck at sales” but love marketing. Do comment here when you have time so I can remember to support your efforts.
growmap would love you to read ..Social Media Sharing – How to Make It Fast and Easy
I agree that marketing is not evil. But some people not offering any informative ins rather than sales. I don’t like such ethic. If you want sell something, makesure you give the best service to your audiences first so that your audiences will trust in you.
Danial would love you to read ..How To Treating Mesothelioma Cancer
I never liked to sell, maybe because I had to do so many fundraisers for private school growing up as a kid, all that door to door sales business just wasn’t fun for a shy kid. Yet what line of work do I find myself in… internet marketing, well in some fashion anyway – the problem is I don’t really think of myself as an internet marketer – and maybe that’s why I don’t earn enough in one day to retire in 2 years like the top dogs do 🙂
The term internet marketer tends to have bad connotations for so many people because so many people trying to make money on the internet do it in such an unsavory way. No one likes to be sold to in such an aggressive way, successful marketing is really an art and there are a lot of paint by numbers marketers out there who probably should find another line of work. 🙂
Chris would love you to read ..Invicta Men’s Watches
Hi Chris,
The first thing you need to know is that many of those “top dogs” are big time liars. More than one has been exposed for photo-shopping their supposed income.
Retirement is a silly illusion sold to the gullible to keep their noses to the grindstone. Even if you could earn a million dollars this year there is no telling how little that might buy in another year or two. Certainly not enough to live off of for the rest of your life.
Most people – not just kids – would not find any selling fun – much less door-to-door selling. (That only works for kids because people either want to support their efforts or feel guilty if they don’t buy or have to keep up appearances – which of those depends on the type of people asked.)
Most of us are NOT good at sales and although many assume I am they would be wrong. I am very good at marketing (sharing why I love something) but not good at all at selling (closing – pressuring people into buying what they may not want, need or be able to pay for).
Yes, selling is an art and the best artists are able to make the buyer feel happy they bought. The worst are the high pressure sales people that can be so effective that most places you can back out of major purchases if you do it within usually three days.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing
True, there are a lot of shysters out there that fake what they make -and a lot of marketers making their money solely on people trying to learn how to make money online without having actually done it themselves.
While retirement may be an illusion for most the beauty of online income is that it keeps going, thus once you’ve made enough to pay off all those big debts (house, cars etc..) it takes relatively little to live comfortably. I wouldn’t mind that 1 million in a year, but until then I’m certainly happy trying to achieve it while having more time to spend with the family. 🙂
Chris would love you to read ..Invicta Men’s Watches
I believe that marketing per se, is not evil. It’s the people who makes marketing a disadvantage or they are making marketing their way to cheat other people by promising the impossible. I hope these people will change their strategy and be aware to make profit in a non coercive way.
I agree. There is far too much dishonesty in marketing and that is getting worse every day. That is why we must all learn who to trust and avoid believing those who continually lie to us.
growmap would love you to read ..Why Support Collaborating Local Communities
Gail, it’s not that marketing is evil, it’s the problem that way to many marketers use UNETHICAL practices, and that’s what makes it so. There are just way to many out there willing to lie, cheat, steal, and make outlandish claims to entice people to buy. As this continues to proliferate, it makes all the rest of the ethical marketers look bad. Over time, good ones cave in because of what the others take away as well, and fighting fire with fire only perpetuates the situation.
Take for instance all the get rich quick schemes. Those are prime example where it’s easy to make money online, you’ll be rich over night, and you can do it in your sleep with little money or time invested. It’s further exacerbated because of the prevailing society mind frame and expectations of something for nothing. The methodology has permeated other markets as well where they use the same outlandish claims and suggestions that simply are not true.
Until such a day when marketers and society change views, the problem will continue to cycle and self perpetuate. Marketers need to learn to be ethical, and people need to learn to think and use the minds they were born with.
Jim Sanders would love you to read ..trogar1971 wrote a new blog post- Ezine Articles Smoke and Mirrors
Hi Jim,
I agree that some marketers are highly unethical, but it is also true that many consumers who tolerate what big brands do scream if a small business advertises, markets, or contacts them.
The con artists are telling people what they want to hear and they’re lapping it up. Then Newbies listen to what the get-rich quick types like Chow and Shoe teach and start writing about things they know nothing about yet. IMHO, THAT is why it takes so long to figure out what works – because so many Newbies are out hawking nonsense to other Newbies.
There IS room for highly ethical marketers to teach what IS and IS NOT ethical to new bloggers and marketers who do not really understand what they are doing yet. Many are not intentionally unethical – they are only doing what some famous con artist is teaching.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing
Exactly Gail, my next blog post will be about Alen Sultanic along with Matt Bacack, and a bunch of others in one of their recent Mass Moneymakers send the internet a message thing through ClickBank sales. I’m lining up the research on how they took a get rich program, knowing that Google was about to make radical changes that would render some of that program useless, yet they still pushed through selling thousands, if not more, worth of memberships to that program alone. I’m also including some screen shots of emails from Sulatic himself, how he mentions that something will only be available until such a date, yet ironically, I wind up with messages AFTER that end date for the same thing.
I’m also including links to some things outlining some of the big names that went along with it as well, including names like Shawn Casey and others. If this piece doesn’t get people thinking, I don’t know what will. It’s not done yet, I just finished the research, and yes, I DO buy these once and a while to see what the norms are. This is one of the recent ones I did to see if anything had changed.
Jim Sanders would love you to read ..trogar1971 wrote a new blog post- Ezine Articles Smoke and Mirrors
If one intention is scamming then i think that is what people call Evils in Marketing…i agree with U.Ethical Marketing is possible if given the right tools
I see marketing as a necessary aspect of business and no more evil or ethical as the organization behind the message. In a way small businesses have an advantage over larger corporations in that they are able to quickly adapt their marketing message based on current marketing trends.
Thank you for illustrating the point, that small business owners need to become more net-savvy and engaged in a marketing campaign using strategies, technology and vocabulary that did not exist 20 years ago, in some cases even 5 years ago.
The new Economic Normal will be heavily slanted toward those businesses and individuals who use the social media effectively to facilitate such marketing campaigns. It can be a daunting task yet an opportunity at the same time.
Good marketing is only possible if you have quality products and complete communication with the customers and introduce every novice product in the market at cheaper price
Whatever you’re trying to sell, I think it’s important to get the quality of your product or service right first. Seems an obvious thing to say, but I’m sure some leap into marketing without fully testing what they’re selling and / or whether it truly satisfies a need. If the quality’s right, then word of mouth marketing will surely be effective.
Your comments on IBM really took me back, I too was an SSR for a while and saw the exact same pay structure! Selling is still the most important part of any business and I don’t know why it is such a dirty word. It’s hard to make any revenue if you aren’t selling anything.
A couple of years back I was working as a team leader for a bank call center. It was a sales job with a bit of customer service thrown in, essentially. However I found it interesting that 70% of my staff, particularly when they first started, didn’t appreciate why the job was sales first and customer service second. Many didn’t even realize they would be selling when they joined the team.
Every business has to sell to survive. It doesn’t matter what you do you’re selling something to someone.
I think it’s odd that people don’t realize this and think that marketing and sales are evil things and should be put down the priority list. It’s just the nature of the beast.
james would love you to read ..Business Contents Insurance
Hi James,
It must be a deficiency of our educational system that so few have any clue about how our economy works. I believe many hate marketing because they are tired of being pressured into buying and dishonesty in advertising. Marketers can choose to be honest and helpful instead.
growmap would love you to read ..Local Search Directory Listings
Small business is place where actual profit lies but marketing is only successful when persons are dedicated and honest and that men of words.
Very true stuff you are mentioning there and the ways in how one can easily market. Especially when you need to make ends meet and can go to places where you can market for free.
That’s right every little thing in this world has it’s negative and positive effects .I need it Thanks by the way.
The flip side of spending on products and services offered by small businesses, is that small business owners – particularly those with specialist skills and/or who make one of a kind items – can sell to those with higher incomes, and bring more money into circulation for the masses.
This means, for example, that crafts people on etsy.com, bonanza.com, artfire.com, zibbet.com, local crafts fairs etc., need to stop underpricing their goods, and/or utilizing the lowest quality resources they can get for cost reasons, and start thinking like business-people: market up the income ladder to those with surplus cash to spend; use high quality resources (maybe purchased from another crafts person, or small business); not be embarrassed about increasing their own monetary worth; talk about the handcrafts INDUSTRY, not the handcrafting community; forget petty jealousies; refuse to compete with discount retailers and big box stores; and learn the proper pricing techniques for their industry.
I have had some difficulty conveying this to crafts people, mainly because the “I can’t possibly charge that/look at what other people are selling for/I have to compete with big brands/everyone who purchases handmade is a bargain hunter” mentality is so entrenched – if not in individuals, then in the handcrafts industry (handcrafting “community”) as a whole.
Of course this applies to a number of other industries – crafts was simply an example. In short: bringing more money into the community happens when we sell up the income ladder, but still buy from small businesses. This would not be needed in a balanced society, where all would have a reasonably equivalent income, but it’s a really good way, for now, to create more economic and societal balance.
Hi Monica,
I totally agree with you and it is not only crafts people who do that. The first thing almost every client I ever advised wants to do in times of a downturn is cut prices. All that will do is put them all out of business.
I have had horses for decades and that industry is a prime example of what happens when people do something they love and charge far too little when they choose to sell anything from saddles to horses to hay.
I strongly advise people NOT to compete on price alone. Price should ALWAYS be secondary to quality and service. A year after someone buys they may not remember what they pay but they will definitely remember if the quality was poor or the service is awful – and if you do not charge enough you have no choice but to skimp on both (or work yourself to death or into the poor house)!
Your comment would make a great guest post. If you would be interested in having it published as one do let me know?
growmap would love you to read ..Support Small Businesses
You’re most welcome to use my comment as a guest post. Let me know if you’d like me to fill it out in any way so that it looks post-like, rather than comment-like!
Marketing is not something I’d ever call evil. In fact, quite the opposite – it’s an extremely clever tool. Someone once quoted to me that marketing is the transformation of something people don’t want to something people think they actually need – very true. Online however, it seems people feel that spam tactics will work?
I agree. Marketing is not evil. But sometimes marketers can be evil 🙂
Whoa. However, it is a serious post. I am happy to have found your blog, I'm so tired of reading garbage from people who have really nothing to say, as the proverb "A wise man speaks because they have something to say, a fool speaks because that they have something to say …. "Anyway – decided, marketing is not evil. But there is an alarming trend in modern, especially with affiliate marketing and other sectors where I honestly think that people of what they sell. They just want money. We must fight!
.-= bob@how to make money´s featured blog ..Make Money Taking Online Surveys =-.
Dennisyu! You are so correct. I become quite frustrated when I see business focus on one aspect as if this was the reason for existence and the total sum of its rise or fall. A holistic approach that incorporates all aspects of the business, including the whole of business recognizing that they are responsible for the marketing, promotion and service levels for their particular work area. Furthermore some of the more in tuned business also recognized that their is internal relationships that must be approached in the same manner as that of the traditional customer.
I used to frown when I hear the word Marketing. I associate it with people who are persuasive to the point of harassment. My perception turned 180 degrees. Marketing people are great assets to companies because they are one of the key people to keep the company alive.
Marketing is not evil, unethical, immoral or not appropriate for human services. It can be a most useful and beneficial tool if used effectively.
I totally agree with you as i feel Marketing is certainly not an evil as it provides the organization a base to grow rapidly.
By gum, Gail; I forgot how well you can write! 🙂
Many thanks for visiting our blog and reminding us.
It’s great to be on the same page as you. I sure hope the locusts and honey hold out until we can swap this wilderness for a bright new world.
Best regards indeed. P. 🙂
Thank you, Paul,
We really need to collaborate more. I am just overwhelmed with too much to get done right now.
.-= Gail´s featured blog ..Happy Birthday GrowMap 2 Years Old =-.
Gail,
Great article! I personally believe that great marketing is indistinguishable from having a great product or service– they are the same thing, whether you call it word of mouth marketing, business development, sales, or any other name. A brand is the net accumulation of all of these efforts, while just pure advertising is the weakest, shallowest embodiment of this.
Unfortunately, marketing companies, whether they be search engines or ad agencies, make money on advertising, as opposed to truly helping a client build their branding.
Dennis
.-= dennisyu@facebook-advertising´s featured blog ..Why your Facebook fan count affects your Post Quality Score =-.
Pure advertising campaigns are why so many people hate advertising and advertisers. They don’t see that we benefit when we know which businesses are worth patronizing and which products are quality.
I have got to get with you about Facebook.
.-= Gail @ Blogging Best Practices´s featured blog ..The Cost of Word of Mouth Can Be 180 Million =-.
Marketing = all the communications that occur between product creation and getting it into the hands of a new loving owner… therefore it must be good. It is messaging about an item that meets the wants and needs of the person who finally reaches the ‘end’ of the buying cycle. So friends, carefully think about ‘buyer’ keywords. Game over. GD.
.-= Geoff Dodd@Residual Income Perth´s featured blog ..Local Business Internet Marketing =-.
Great article.It is great to see more encouragement and education for small business around the need for a complete solution rather than just a presence , ‘brochure ware’, that will not meet there business goals although it may look pretty.
It has been a long time since “brochure-ware” Web sites were the norm, but many businesses are still using them. As the economy continues to decline only those who really start understanding how to reach out to new customers are likely to survive. There is no time to waste.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Best of GrowMap – Our Most Important Posts All in One Place =-.
Great article. I installed both plugins on my blog and I saw exposure increasing!
The amount of comments we receive has increased exponentially.
.-= Bedroom furniture´s last blog ..Bedroom furniture: Feng shui can aid designs =-.
Thank you. Let me know if your blog is dofollow and I will add you to the DoFollow CommentLuv KeywordLuv list.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Affiliate Tips Tuesday: Holiday Promotions =-.
Your article and comments are great.I learn so much things.Thank you very much.
Grab your niche by magic chromatic hexagonal tool,Purchase Precidely & Promptly
This website is small wikipedia:
http://purchasewikipedia.com/
.-= mohammad´s last blog ..Elance Made Easy =-.
Hello Mohammad,
Your comment started out well but the way you ended it will get it deleted in most blogs. Any time you turn a comment into a commercial you will irritate many people.
Please read the posts about How KeywordLuv works and How CommentLuv works because those two plugins allow you to get better anchor text and more benefits for your site while still making the blog owners happy so they keep your comments and links.
You will have more success if you make it obvious on your home page exactly what your business does. That could be a slogan or a sentence or two that lead to detailed information. Many will think to read your about page but others will not.
.-= Gail @ KeywordLuv´s last blog ..Keyword Tags, MetaTags, Tags: How Many Are Best? =-.
Really great article.
The tide is starting to turn. But it’s going to take a while. Years.
Thanks for stopping by Gail.
.-= Dave Doolin @ Website In A Weekend´s last blog ..3 Ways Daily Blog Posting Benefits You (and your readers) =-.
Hello Dave,
We can hope so, Dave. I will continue to work to speed up the process. 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to comment. I’m off to read your post about daily blog posting. I fully intend to follow that advice; the challenge for me is making it happen when I must make helping specific businesses survive a priority.
I do have a plan and it is getting closer to working. All I need is to get some posts scheduled ahead of time.
.-= Gail @ KeywordLuv´s last blog ..Freelancers: How to Get More Freelance Work =-.
Nice topics, I want to know more about this topics, While all the marketing media coming to the unlimited world of internet marketing.So, Why not Dental marketing? To be updated with latest technical marketing, It must be dental internet marketing.
Hello,
Yes, there is value in businesses learning how to market to their specific niche and/or geographic location.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Why Marketing is NOT Evil =-.
wow i really love the information you share that benefits small businesses.
Hello,
Thank you. I do my best to spread the word about what works and warn businesses away from what doesn’t. Have you read the post I’ve put in CommentLuv in this reply? Every business really needs to do that first.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Free Business Listings in Local Search Directories =-.
Marketing is certainly not an evil as it provides the organization a base to grow rapidly. What really important is the attitude by which people look at marketing solutions provided by the organizations. If people are more aware of the marketing practices and strategies then it eventually helps in building the relationships with the organizations as valuable customers. When the customers start believing that marketing only leads to spam, junk advertisements or salesmen then it turns into an evil.
Welcome Brad,
Many sales and marketing practices have led to the general public thinking that they hate all advertising and marketing. That is not actually true because if they are interested in the offer they won’t complain and they will buy.
When most Americans had their own farms, ranches and businesses they better understood the need to get the word out about what they had to offer. People who have always been employees often have very little understanding of how business works.
I would be willing to bet if someone stood outside a store and asked everyone coming out how much of the amount they just spent the business made from what they spent the answers would be outrageous.
Many people think a business keeps all of what they spent and have zero idea about overhead and the costs involved in generating sales. Many consumers are appalled at the markups and small business owners often refuse to charge enough to cover their actual spending (which is one major reason so many new businesses fail).
Every business must charge enough to cover their overhead and spend at least time if not money on marketing. This is yet another thing that should be taught in school along with managing money and practical skills that have been lost since so many moved to cities and never learned to garden, bake, sew, fish or fix anything.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Keyword Tags, MetaTags, Tags: How Many Are Best? =-.
Your blog article made me smile and yes, selling was a dirty word to me also.
Welcome,
I suspect it is for the majority of people and even many small businesses. Those that do not learn to sell will be first to fail as the economy worsens.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..New Weekly SMM, WOMM, Affiliate Columns =-.
Great post! Every business is a marketing business. Most just don’t do it well.
I already have CommentLuv, but this post has convinced me to install KeywordLuv also.
I’m not sure if anyone mentioned it in their comment because I was unable to read all of them. But, small business owners should really start doing videos to market their businesses. The technology to produce HD quality videos is very inexpensive and will allow them to compete with the big boys. A Flip Camera can be purchased for less than $100.
.-= Dr. Kal@Weight Loss Tips´s last blog ..How To Lose Weight Fast =-.
Welcome Dr. Kal,
I dropped by your blog, left a comment and having confirmed that your blog is DoFollow and has CommentLuv and KeywordLuv installed I added links to you from this post and added you to my KeywordLuv Blogs List and DoFollow Blogs List at Twitter.
Video can be an excellent addition to any site and is also very effective at bringing traffic in from sites like YouTube. Anyone who creates videos would do well to post them on major sites to drive traffic back to their own site and raise their visibility.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Social Media Marketing Monday – SMM Overview =-.
“Marketing and sales were the people who promised what we could not deliver and pressured customers to buy what they did not want or need.”
My trademark is Statistics don’t lie, salesman do. Salesman are 99% scumbags and by nature good liars. I know too many salesman who lie and take advantage of people. Thanks for the post.
Hello,
I suspect there are more decent salespeople than we realize but there are many who will do most anything for a sale. If more businesses would change to High Probability Selling that would be a good first step.
Statistics are actually extremely misleading, partially because the user may not realize what variables they are not considering and largely because it is very easy to “prove” nearly anything by simply changing the time periods used.
One of my favorite quotes is “lies, damn lies and statistics” and another is “It ain’t so much what we know that gets us into trouble. It’s what we know that just ain’t so.”
Both quotes are widely believed to be by Mark Twain, the pen name of writer Samuel Clements but most likely he was quoting others.
The bottom line with most people is when their actions and what they say do not coincide, what they DO is where the truth lies.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Free Business Listings in Local Search Directories =-.
The people who practice ethically and for the better good of the public will be rewarded soon. People are getting sick of being treated like inferior animals compared to the extreme wealthy. The top 10% may control 50% of the money, but the other 90% have the power to change what is going on. It’s going to take the majority of people to use their power to shift where the money is going. If 90% of the people buy locally our economy would be a gillion times better. Obviously, that isn’t going to happen overnight. It will eventually happen if there are enough people similar to the ones on this blog. Like you post says, word of mouth is the best way. I’ve only read a hand full of posts on this blog and recommended it to MANY people :).
Hello again Jumpness,
If you read the comment just above yours you will see why small local and online businesses have such an uphill road to travel. Maybe he has taught me what I was missing: that many do not have any experience with caring business owners so they don’t realize they even exist?
Thank you so much for sharing this blog with others. The more people these ideas can reach the faster we can improve the world for the few who see the potential.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Who Can You Benefit by Sharing GrowMap? =-.
what’s marketing. i’m numb to it.
yes, become a banker. then wait until the public burns your house down.
Hello Adam,
I recognize that many people lump all marketing into the evil category and that is the very subject of this post. Do you believe that ALL businesses are bad?
Have you never known a mechanic who really cared about his customers and went out of his way to help them? I know Dallas mobile mechanic who will go out all hours and travel to where you are broken down and then give you a great warranty, charge less than the dealer and possibly even give you time to pay because he knows you are good for it.
Have you never shopped at a small grocery store in a small town? When I mentioned to my local store that I really wanted a particular product it was on the shelf the very next week! Try that in a major chain store and see how likely they are to add what you most desire.
Is there no local auto parts or hardware store where you live? They stock replacment blades and bulbs for what they sell. Try finding them at the major chain store where you BOUGHT the tool in the first place! They won’t even order them for an item you just bought a few months ago.
While I have never known even a small local banker that actually cared much for their patrons I don’t rule out the possibility that some community banks might actually be different.
Did you actually read this post? Marketing is NOT evil but many unethical companies use unscrupulous marketing methods. Marketing is simply how we find what we want and need.
In the “old” days that would be yellow page ads, display or classified ads in our local newspaper, handing out business cards, distributing fliers, or having a sign on the building, out front or information painted on windows.
Are these bad? It is NOT the method – it is the honesty or lack of truth behind the marketing that makes it evil or good.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Why We No Longer Recommend Yelp to Businesses =-.
You really did point out well your thoughts about marketing. Marketing practice tended to be seen as a creative industry in the past, which included advertising, distribution and selling. However, because the academic study of marketing makes extensive use of social sciences, psychology, sociology and mathematics, the profession is now widely recognized as a science. I recommend this post.
.-= Nancy@National Association of Professional Women´s last blog ..napwinc: Annapolis chapter has monthly meeting, read all about it on our press page found at http://www.napw.com/presspage http://tinyurl.com/yfcudme =-.
Thank you Nancy,
I often have unique views on many subjects because I am always seeking deep understanding about what is best for everyone. Where most go astray is in focusing only on what is best for them.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..My Review of The New Community Rules =-.
Hi Gail
I came over to this article after your recommendation from a recent post you did that I commented on. I have bookmarked this page as so much information for this newbie to take in. I am trying to put everything into place that is recommended but sometimes I am getting information overload, hence the bookmarking. I am still building up my blog slowly and last week after my laptop crashed thought I would see a dip in traffic as couldn’t publish posts or visit blogs to comment. Back on line now and ystdy several people stumbled me and I saw a huge spike (for me anyway) in my traffic. I don’t even understand the stumble thing but it sure works.
After reading this post I realise why you can help so many people with their small business. Not only are you passionate about it; you also are very experienced techie who knows what she is talking about.
I am so blessed to have found your site. Also want to say thanks for your link to my site. I don’t know how to do that yet either but saw you have linked to mine in my dashboard info. Thankyou so much.
BTW I always buy from small business first and don’t like dealing with the multinationals unless I really have to. Supporting local business is a priority even though we have not had the economic downturn in Australia that the US has had recently. Our mining companies have kept us afloat here.
Patricia Perth Australia
.-= Patricia@lavenderuses.com´s featured blog ..Lavender Health-Embracing An Organic Lifestyle =-.
Whoa. Now this is a serious post. I’m glad I found your blog, I am so sick of reading garbage from people who don’t actually have anything to say, like the proverb “A wise one talks because they have something to say, a fool talks because they have to say something….” Anyway – agreed, marketing is not evil. But there’s an alarming modern trend, especially with affiliate marketing and the like, where I don’t honestly think people care less what they are selling. They just want the cash. We must fight against this!
Welcome to our community Alex,
I totally agree that marketing can be evil or misleading or helpful and good and it all depends on how you use it. It is the negative ways it is used that have given ALL marketing a bad name.
Affiliate marketing is just like all other marketing. It can be wonderful when the affiliates only promote what they truly believe in and just more misleading garbage when affiliates will promote anything for a buck.
Every individual whether affiliate marketer or blogger MUST make a decision about who they are and where they stand ethically. [HINT for those who don’t “get this” yet: if you allow money to affect your actions those actions will be tainted and unethical.]
We can NOT endorse ANYTHING at ANY TIME for the money. On the other hand if you simply love something and recommend it regularly and they decide to offer an affiliate program there is absolutely nothing wrong with your being compensated for being a cheerleader and using affiliate links.
Every reader must learn to discern the difference – and it is NOT difficult to tell – between those who will do anything for a buck and those who have integrity and whose recommendations can be trusted.
You already have this built in. It is why you distrust those long sales letters. They work because the greedy buy from them but you KNOW instinctively that their purpose is to convince you to buy whether whatever is being offered is worth it or not. You also know they are usually intentionally misleading.
Even ethical, good products use those types of long sales pages online because they generate sales. How truthful they are and whether what they are selling will work for you can not be determined by what they say. You have to research elsewhere to make a valid decision.
TIP for those who want to make money online: If you aren’t going to actually do whatever it is you’re reading or buying it won’t work – but they will make money if you buy. Do the world a favor and don’t create more of the same to make a living. There is already way too much of that online already. Focus on something new and substantial instead.
Alex, I’d love to know more about what else you’re doing online. If you want to speed up the process feel free to use my Contact Page.
.-= Gail @ Support Small Businesses´s last blog ..Who Can You Benefit by Sharing GrowMap? =-.
I will probably change the title to say. Marketing is NOT Evil all the time. I have seen some mediocre products being bestseller because they had a cool marketing strategy in place. At the same time the ‘great product’ couldn’t even sell one copy.
If there was no marketing (or mass marketing), there wouldn’t be so many brands and vendors will probably stick poor quality products to consumers.
Coming to your point about keywordluv and commentluv plugins, I think most bloggers are just afraid of PR leak, they want to get the ‘extra’ traffic that these plugins can give to their blogs, but won’t approve genuine comments because they don’t want to provide a ‘free’ link to someone who made a brilliant comment on their post (and thereby added some content to the blog).
Welcome Adam,
What you have said is so important I want to emphasize it: “most bloggers are just afraid of PR leak, they want to get the ‘extra’ traffic that these plugins can give to their blogs, but won’t approve genuine comments because they don’t want to provide a ‘free’ link to someone who made a brilliant comment on their post (and thereby added some content to the blog).”
In other words, they want to get something for themselves without giving anything back. In my book that means they are selfish and not part of our community.
If page rank really leaks so be it – and it is not clear whether or not it does. See the great debate Does DoFollow Leak PageRank for a discussion where I posted examples of sites that are dofollow, have tons of links and comments, and still have PR that may or may not be affected by dofollowed links.
You have made several excellent points that do not seem to be obvious to many who should understand them. What becomes most popular is what gets the most exposure and that is usually who has the most money for advertising (or owns the media!).
It is our collective fault that so many automatically buy from big brands and do not seek out other – often better – alternatives. While Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) will benefit those who buy from Fortune 500 companies by revealing which products they are promoting are not worth buying it is not the best way.
It would be far better to use WOMM and the Internet to support small and online businesses as I have explained in this and many other posts.
We all have some serious decisions to make and we have to understand that most people will just continue to do what they do.
Only a fraction of 1% of all people will be interested in creating a different economy where some of us thrive because we are supporting each other. Even that small percentage is a pool of hundreds of thousands or even millions so it DOES make a difference and it WILL work.
Bloggers are part of the 2% of people who think and act. Most of them will continue to emulate the traditional model of putting themselves first. The wise who are not so selfish will realize that the more people we help the more people will help us.
Those who don’t truly believe in being generous and only use dofollow, CommentLuv or KeywordLuv for what they can get from it without giving back will quickly be exposed and ignored by our community.
Being selfish is SO obvious online. They can save themselves time and effort and do us all a favor and don’t even bother because it won’t work anyway.
If you decide to create a blog I would love to collaborate with you. Every business related to home improvement and real estate is going to be among the most challenged in this economy.
The many complimentary businesses related to yours could provide quality blog content to each other using a system we’ve put together to syndicate unique versions of each blog post. I’ll be writing a post about how that works very soon.
As many realize, dofollow links within the body of a post are far more valuable than dofollow comment links so being able to distribute information readers interested in what you sell want to dozens or even hundreds of related blogs is key to greatly growing your business.
I have two other quick ideas for you:
1) Be sure to read the post about getting your free local search directory listings.
2) Become a regular commentator in the Good Millwork blog. I work with them and often moderate their comments which are 100% Dofollow and have CommentLuv and KeywordLuv installed.
They have some exceptionally good content for those interested in home improvement. If you are interested in collaborating with us you can plug into our guest blog post syndication system.
Now would be a good time for me to mention that readers need to be able to clearly discern the difference between a recommendation and sharing information.
Publishing a guest post is NOT an endorsement of the author or their company or product UNLESS the blogger adds their own clear recommendation to the guest post. If you DO know and passionately recommend them be sure to say so!
Those who read my blog know how strong my recommendations are and should have no trouble telling the difference.
.-= Gail @ Support Small Businesses´s last blog ..Free Business Listings in Local Search Directories =-.
I’m actually a marketer myself, and I don’t think it’s evil, it can be hard at first though because you feel you are trying to fool or convince people to buy.
.-= clickonportal@ Teen Book Reviews´s last blog ..Vampire Academy: School With Bite =-.
Hello ClickonPortal,
If you only recommend what you truly believe in you won’t feel that way. Blogs can change the way people make money online by allowing us to focus on what we are passionate about. We can write honest reviews and recommendations of what is really worth buying – QUALITY related products and services.
Sites can offer other related products and services and affiliate links but be careful to NEVER recommend what you don’t actually know is a quality product or service.
Be honest in your reviews. Share both the things you like and even more importantly what you do NOT like. Don’t be afraid that will reduce sales because every buyer is different and what you see as the reason you would never buy might be just what they wanted.
Be willing to remove bad products, services and companies if your research reveals issues or if you receive valid complaints. The only site worth visiting is the one that provides value and honesty is always valuable.
The old online marketing concept of researching what makes the most money and putting up sites that cater to that interest will eventually die out.
A new trend that I would like to help nip in the bud is promoting Major Brands and Fortune 500 companies. Why help them hoard even more money and squeeze our economy dry when you can be paid to promote better small and online businesses that appreciate your efforts?
Affiliates don’t have to worry about not getting paid because Affiliate Networks like ShareASale which is considered the most honest, cleanest, best Affiliate Network collects from the merchants and pays you.
We work with Adam Riemer who is super honest and hard-working and is the Affiliate Manager for my favorite personalized gift store with a Gift Affiliate Program.
Almost any blog writes about holidays and gifts once in a while and can share what they love with their readers. I am always ready to make suggestions on creative ways to monetize your site without covering it up with ads and text links. Just ask me if you want some ideas.
.-= Gail @ Support Small Businesses´s last blog ..Who Can You Benefit by Sharing GrowMap? =-.
Same thing going on with these big banks, We should be supporting and putting our money with local community banks instead of these big banks who do not give back to the local community and only care about how much profit can distributed to the top.
.-= Danny @ Florida Vacation Rentals´s last blog ..Where are the best beaches in Florida? =-.
I absolutely agree Danny. Community banks may be in major jeopardy right now as Community Banks are Vanishing in America.
The wise Community Banks Reject Fed Bailout Money because it allows the government to take them over or sell them off to big banks.
Even if they stay away from that pitfall Regulators are closing community banks using the excuse they are “protecting” us from bank failures.
Huffington Post has written about why we should Move Our Money and we can use the My Community Bank Web site to find a locally owned bank or support our own with testimonials and recommendations.
Share these links and How Community Banks Can Succeed with your local bank
Write reviews for your local bank as I recommend in my post about supporting small businesses and do the same for your neighborhood stores and owners of services.
I feel compelled to mention that the illusion of choice is not real choice. I was seeking a page to link using the famous quote Edmund Burk quote “The Only Thing Necessary for Evil to Triumph is for Good Men to Do Nothing” and most are politically polarized sites.
While there are appearances of difference there is no substantive difference in which party controls the Presidency or Congress. I encourage anyone who thinks these are Republican or Democratic issues to step back and look at the bigger picture or research specific important topics to see who is really pushing them through.
Be aware of how the Economic Recovery Act distributes stimulus funds.
We can all do our part and benefit from Word of Mouth Marketing which is simply sharing what products, services and businesses provided by small local and online businesses we most love.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..BizLuv MEME: How to Support Your Fav Businesses =-.
i have to agree-there really is no business like banking business– you get to earn great profits by investing other people’s money. In a way, i think the government is imitating that principle (lol).
Hello Monika,
While both banks and governments could choose to benefit the public, what they have actually done is rarely beneficial. At least the banks controlled by multi-national corporations are vehicles for wealth transfer to the few with governments emulating those actions.
Both keep the majority in poverty by design by onerous taxing, fees and charges. Imagine the additional wealth that individuals and small and local businesses would have if so much of what they earn was not taken from them off the top.
An enormous percentage of all the productivity of all who work at any trade is intentionally being removed from circulation. Consider the cumulative taxes on a loaf of bread and realize that it is possible there could be as much as 95% tax rate on everything we buy.
I highly recommend reading those two links I included in this reply to get a far better view of what has happened to the once great American economy and the solution.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Merchant Affiliate Management Tips =-.
I think I’ve always separated marketing from sales. I think of marketing like advertising the products and services, whereas sales is the part where the pushy / sleazy things happen. Marketing seemed more factually based, and sales is where things were glamorized to make money.
Good WOMM is going to depend on the customer service agents of a company. No matter how good the product or service, it is likely going to need people to support it. And if those support people do a bad job, the WOMM will definitely backfire for a company, just like the service guy who was filmed sleeping on a customer’s sofa. That video is still in the top five search results for the particular company they worked for. That’s the power of WOMM via social media channels.
.-= Kristi @ Blogging Tips´s last blog ..Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & Official Eclipse Trailer =-.
Thanks for commenting Kristi,
I have a clear awareness of the difference between marketing and sales because I am good at the prior and bad at sales. Marketing is more about what the benefits are while sales requires the ability to close. (I am a fan of the concept of High Probability Selling which might allow even me to be decent at selling.)
Both marketing and sales can be unethical, misleading or worse. What we all need to be clear on is that they are not inherently good or bad – HOW they are implemented is what matters.
Businesses really need to read Andrew’s Word of Mouth Book for exactly the reason you mention – mistakes can live forever on the Internet so it is best to avoid them whenever possible.
Those who understand how to properly encourage organic WOMM will benefit and that book and Andrew’s sites (linked in this post) are as good a place to start learning and to get great ideas as any.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..KeywordLuv: How Using It Benefits Us All =-.
One other REALLY important point I should have mentioned for businesses and bloggers. Not participating is not an option because you WILL be talked about online so it is best to be able to add your input and see what is being said.
There will be complaints no matter how honest and ethical you are so what matters most is how you handle them. We just had an excellent example of how to do that in the last post in this very blog.
I linked to reviews that indicated that Search Status was being called spyware and that is where the conversation might have ended.
Fortunately , the developer of Search Status came by to explain that all of the tools we are using are reporting the same way so their tool is no more spyware than any other option. His input changed the perception of his product for the better.
One of his users, Internet Marketing Coach Dennis Edell, who is a respected regular commentator here, recommended his product and provided his input as well.
This is how WOMM will work. Businesses will be able to add to our knowledge of their products and services and happy customers can and do defend quality businesses they like.
.-= Gail @ Support Small Businesses´s last blog ..MEME: BizLuv in Support of Small Businesses =-.