Fundamental Marketing Lessons

They are giving all the newcomers a chance to get caught up, and everyone else a chance to digest all the new learnings before putting it all into action.And there was a lesson in Direct Marketing as it applies to the Internet.  In fact, I’m really excited about what Ed said in today’s podcast, because the emphasis was on the fundamentals… and especially on MARKET RESEARCH!

It’s amazing how few businesses do their homework before releasing a product or new service.  This is universal in all parts of the business world, from Hypnotherapists to Fortune 500 companies.  A classic example is the collosal Pets.com flop in the Dot Com Days.  You can see evidence of their blunder in my post The Only Purpose Of Advertising Is To Make Sales.

Before I sign off today, I’ll leave you with the Four Fundamentals of the 30 Day Challenge:

1. Market Research –  It all begins with research.  This is the difference between marketers who have smash success and those who constantly lose money.
2. Traffic – You can have the best website in the world, but if you don’t have traffic, you might as well not exist.  Note that the 30 day challenge is about getting traffic for FREE.
3. Conversion – Can you get the traffic to give you contact info (email, address, phone)?  This is known as converting a LEAD.  Can you get the traffic to purchase something? This is known as converting a SALE.  If you can’t convert, you are wasting all the traffic and eventually you’ll run out of money.
4. Product/Service –  This comes last, because if you don’t know your market (research), can’t get traffic, or can’t convert the traffic… it doesn’t matter what you have to sell.

You might notice that this is the opposite of the way most businesses do things.  It usually starts with I’ve got a great new product.  Next comes, “how do I sell it?” with no idea if the market gives a damn it even exists.

This is a Million Dollar Lesson.  I hope you are paying attention!

See you tomorrow…