Marketing as an activity is all about reaching the right customers with
the right products, and the result sought is delighted customers who
are more than willing to open their purses wide enough to boost your
revenues. For many years, marketers stalked their target customers
through various means and by trying to get their message across to
spread awareness about their wares.
Traditional Means of Communication
Traditionally, marketing communications were conducted via print,
broadcast and such traditional media through disruptive advertising,
where advertisements appear in between the content of interest
for the customer.
Traditional media does give a large reach to a marketer with its
programming of mass appeal. However, the wastage is equally high,
since a large portion of the audience would belong to a different
segment than the one that is to be targeted by the marketer.
Enter Social Media and the Internet
The revolution stirred by the internet as a medium took place because
of the fact that it is highly personalized and provides more content
on-demand than any other available medium. Social sites proliferated far
and wide in their usage for a few simple reasons:
The power to create and distribute content is equally available to
every user, irrespective of him/her being a customer or a marketer. In
the earlier forms of media, that power rested with the editorial staff of
the channel or the advertiser, but hardly ever with the user.
The medium is completely personalized, and a user can create or
join groups and further create content based on what he/she likes.
Opinions are free and fair. This is one reason why social media is of
utmost concern to marketers, since buying decisions are no more
influenced as much by advertisements. The traditional word-of-mouth
marketing approach has grown leaps and bounds on social networks.
Facebook – At the Center of Social Media
With 500 million (and growing) unique users worldwide, Facebook
is the number one social networking site in terms of activity and
subscriptions. What started as a garage initiative by Mark Zuckerberg
has now become the biggest phenomenon on the internet.
A user interface that allows for quick communication and the
ability to create fan pages and groups at the click of a mouse
button are what make Facebook extremely popular. Another
important reason for its immense popularity is the wide variety
of social applications that have been developed and made
available within the Facebook environment.
These applications can allow users and friends to do joint
activities like playing games that run endlessly, sharing
photos, videos, and web links, and many more.
How does this help a marketer?
Traditionally, media plans were drawn to include television channels,
publications, or any other media that can grab maximum eyeballs
and effectively reach a selected target audience. The science
of segmentation and targeting has become only more accurate in
the case of social media.
Facebook provides a wide variety of avenues to communicate with
the audience, which opens up an entirely different world of possibilities
to have a fruitful dialogue with customers. Some of these methods
used popularly by marketers are:
Advertising: The first opportunity, which is the most obvious one, is
advertising on Facebook. The difference, however, is the fact that
you can create your own advertisement in a matter of minutes and
also specify the details of your target group in terms of demographics
and types of discussions where you want your advertisement to appear.
Fan Pages: Facebook allows every brand, as well as individual users,
to create fan pages for their favorite celebrities and their own homegrown
businesses. Large brands have also created their official pages on
Facebook that have a huge, immediate fan following around the world.
The fan page has immense utility to convey first hand information
about the brand and also to collect immediate and frank feedback
from your customers.
Branded applications: One of the most effective ways to engage
a user toward your brand is by creating an application; this could
be a game or a contest, with your branding coming across subtly
through it.
What makes Facebook even more exciting is the way it allows you
to target your communication sharply just to the customer segment
you want to attract. It also provides analytics and page insights
that give good feedback and measurement on the activity done.
The options provided by Facebook can be creatively explored
and used judiciously for bringing about maximum benefits to any
brand.
However, while doing all this, you need to be aware of the fact
that customers have an equal say and have the ability to respond
immediately to any of your actions with a thumbs up or a thumbs
down. Availing the service of a social media consultant to work out
a social media strategy may be required so that your efforts will
not be in vain.
Savy network marketers will become educated on how to use
Facebook effectively. The potential is simply staggering.
Get more information here for the best Facebook
training available here:
http://viralurl.com/mlmmc/Facebook
========
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.
The last 3 months I have been in a whirlwind like
you wouldn’t believe, but it is all good!
I will probably do a video for our mlmhelp.com
subscribers around the first of the year, just to
clarify what I mean.
I am in the process of selling several of my niche
websites and trying to put the finishing touches
on several other projects.
I wanted to share 3 announcements with you today.
#1 If you are involved with any product line such
as weight loss, skin care, cosmetics, product that
help people LOOK BETTER, I have a new prospecting
CD for your business called “Vanity Wealth†that will
be released sometime in January.
The website will be www.VanityWealth.Biz. It is NOT
UP yet, but my goal is by mid January. Some of you
remember “The Secret to Network Marketing Successâ€
recording I did 15 years ago. This is CD is kind of the
evolution of that message. I hope you will give it a
listen, and use it as a prospecting tool if your product
line in congruent with the message.
The CD’s are actually in house now, I hadn’t planned on
doing this, but if you want us to send you a copy, just
send 3 bucks via paypal to daletcalvert@gmail.com with
the words Vanity Wealth in the subject line and we will
get you a copy.
#2 Christmas Gift Certificates are now available. This
is the perfect gift for yourself, your upline, or your downline.
We have an easy form you can send to family members that
says, this is what I want for Christmas. Hey mlm training is
better than a fruit cake, tie, or perfume, isn’t it?
Here is the link: http://mlmhelp.com/Christmas2010
#3 I wanted to let you know about my
friend Michael Penland’s Internet Marketing
and Joint Venture conference that will be held
in Florida next weekend.
I will be speaking there, and I know many of
our subscribers will be in attendance. You can
get all the details here:
www.TinyUrl.com/FloridaSeminar
I have received several emails from subscribers
wanting to know why I have been “out of the loopâ€.
Believe me I have been “In the Loop†in a big way.
I appreciate your support more than you know.
If I don’t talk with you before Christmas, I hope you
and yours have a wonderful holiday, and plan on
making 2011 an awesome year.
Believe in You!
Dale Calvert
Feature Article
The article below was originally published in the
July 2003 Issue of our MLM Help Ezine.
(PT’S POTION)
ARE YOUR PROSPECTS HEARING THE
WHOLE STORY, ARE YOU SURE?
Dale Calvert
I was sitting in church last Wednesday night, and
during the announcements one of our associate
pastors, PT Kemper was brought up to address
the congregation.
PT explained how the church was trying to raise
money to re-do the nursery. He then went on
to explain how that afternoon a young man from
Tennessee had stopped by the church with a
product that was the next best thing since
“Snake Oil”.
Those of you with a background or knowledge
of the Shaklee Corporation have probably heard
of Basic H. It is a phenomenal product with
1001 uses, everything from brushing your teeth,
to putting a few drops in your cake batter to
moisten your cake.
Farmers even swear that if you mixed it in
your irrigation system your crops would grow
better! The product the young man was selling
was called “Upper Hand” All Purpose Cleaner
and is similar to Basic H.
Over the years most of you have probably had
a door-to-door sales person stop by selling a
similar type product.
Evidently, PT and our pastor took this young
man around to every spot in the church that
had been deemed “Uncleanable” and no test
was too hard and no spot too tough for this
“magic potion” to remove.
To make a long story short, PT decided to
invest his own money in the entire inventory
the young man had, with the idea to resale it
to church members to raise money for the
nursery.
Knowing our pastor, what probably happened
was he made a statement to the young man,
something like “If you can get out “granddaddy
spot” I will buy all you have, because I have
been looking at “granddaddy spot” for 10 years!
Can you imagine how the kid felt as he left
the church with no product and a pocket
full of money?
So here PT was in front of the church, a few
hours later with several cases of potion
purchased, to “talk about” in 2 minutes what
he had personally “seen, witness and
experienced” that afternoon.
PLEASE REREAD THAT SENTENCE, I will refer
to that again in a minute.
As PT was trying to explain the unexplainable,
I got tickled as I realized this is exactly what
so many new distributors do. They experience
the entire recruiting PROCESS.
They see a video; they attend a local meeting
or listen in on a conference call. They are then
placed on a 3-way with a competent upline
associate, and perhaps they even attend a
live training seminar or company event.
After the process, after they have had the
opportunity to see, hear and experience the
potential and value of the opportunity,
they make a decision.
However, when they are ready to start
prospecting, recruiting and building their
organization, do they give their prospects
the same opportunity to EXPERIENCE the
same recruiting process?
Do they go through a specific, systematic
series of events?
Such as:
Play 1 Video
Play 2 Conference Call
Play 3 3-Way with Upline
Play 4 Live event
Unfortunately, more often than
not, the answer is NO.
They immediately go out and run
off their best prospects trying to
explain the entire program in two
minutes.
They never give their prospects
the opportunity to hear the
whole story & experience the
process.
They then come back and inform
us that they “talked to” 9 people
and nobody was interested. How
predictable is that? My response
is always the same.
“I tried to warn you not to talk
or try to explain, just to hand
out the video! Now with the next
9 people, shut up and just hand
them the videotape.
As PT was going through his
2-minute sales, pitch I was
laughing. Not at him, but at
the predictability of people.
He noticed me, and made some
comment such as Mr. Calvert is
back there laughing, maybe this
is a hoax.
Now think about this, this is very
important. What happened to PT
was the exact same thing that
happens to new people when they
enter the market place….doubt creeps
in their mind.
PT Witnessed truth! He saw the
“granddaddy spot” removed. He saw the
Snake Oil work with his own two eyes, yet
he mistakenly read my reaction, which
immediately created doubt.
The exact thing happens to your new
distributors when they enter the
market place.
Many of you have heard me talk about
the 4 beliefs that must be developed in
new distributors.
(Company, products, industry and themselves)
You have also heard me talk about how we
are all made up of Opinions, Attitudes and Beliefs.
Pt had a positive opinion about the product, but
that opinion had not had time to develop into an
attitude, much less a belief. So any “perceived”
resistance or negativity immediately started to
sway his opinion and create doubt.
The exact same thing happens to our new
associates! As leaders we must develop our
belief strong enough that our new members
can rely on our belief system until they have
time to develop their own.
I hope you also understand that 90% of your
distributors, who quit your organization, quit
in the first 72 hours. Maybe they don’t announce
to you that they have quit. However mentally and
psychologically they go out into the market place,
DO EVERYTHING WRONG, and then doubt creeps
in and mentally they are DONE!
If you want to be a better leader for your people
than 95% of the network marketers in the world,
here is my advice. We teach a concept we call
Monitor New Distributors.
The first 10 business prospects they contact, and
the first 20 retail sales, you need to be there to
direct them play-by-play, step-by-step.
Too bad the kid from Tennessee didn’t have a
long term, repeat customer mentality. If he knew
of PT’s plans to raise money for the church nursery
he should have hung around and volunteered to
do the pitch for PT in front of the congregation.
Then if he were smart, he would have labels on
each bottle saying:
—TO RE-ORDER THIS PRODUCT CONTACT-
Mr. Tennessee
Mr. Tennessee’s Phone#
You must be there for your new distributors
immediately; before doubt sinks too deep in
their mind. It is your responsibility to make
certain that they are giving their prospects
the opportunity to go through a specific,
systematic series of events and not
a 2-minute spill!
I really felt bad that PT misread the meaning
of my amusement. I must say he did recover
nicely. As he walked back up the isle from
the front of the church he tossed the bottle
in my lap and said, “there, I have just sold
the first bottle”.
Now that I think about it, I still haven’t paid
him his 30 bucks yet. I need to do that!
END OF ARTICLE
I did pay PT and helped him sell a couple of
bottles. I feel this story is a classic in the
predictability of people.
I love people like Andy Rooney, and those who
express common sense in a way that makes
those bound by what is considered politically
correct have flashes of their own ignorance.
A friend sent me the email below, and I
wanted to share it with you. I thought
it was awesome!
Yes, I know it has nothng to do with business,
but if you think about it, it has everything to
do with Free Enterprise.
Pray if you want to!
CBS and Katie Couric et al must be in a panic
and rushing to reassure the White House that
this is not network policy-
-re: Andy Rooney’s commentary on prayer.
Folks, this is the year that we RE-TAKE
AMERICA & CANADA
********* Get Ready *********
Keep this going around the globe. Read it
and forward every time you receive
it.. We can’t give up on this issue.
Andy Rooney and Prayer
Andy Rooney says:
I don’t believe in Santa Claus, but I’m not
going to sue somebody for singing a
Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don’t
agree with Darwin , but I didn’t go out and
hire a lawyer when my high school teacher
taught his Theory of Evolution.
Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness
will not be endangered because
someone says a 30-second prayer before
a football game. So what’s the big
deal? It’s not like somebody is up there
reading the entire Book of Acts.
They’re just talking to a God they believe
in and asking him to grant safety to
the players on the field and the fans
going home from the game.
But it’s a Christian prayer, some
will argue.
Yes, and this is the United States of America
and Canada , countries founded on Christian principles.
According to our very own phone book, Christian churches
outnumber all others better than 200-to-1. So what
would you expect — somebody
chanting Hare Krishna?
If I went to a football game in Jerusalem , I
would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.
If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad , I
would expect to hear a Muslim
prayer.
If I went to a ping pong match in China ,
I would expect to hear someone pray
to Buddha.
And I wouldn’t be offended. It wouldn’t
bother me one bit.
When in Rome ……
But what about the atheists? Is another
argument!
What about them? Nobody is asking them to
be baptized. We’re not going to pass
the collection plate. Just humor us for
30 seconds. If that’s asking too much,
bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs.
Go to the bathroom. Visit the
concession stand. Call your lawyer!
Unfortunately, one or two will make that call.
One or two will tell thousands
what they can and cannot do I don’t think
a short prayer at a football game is
going to shake the world’s foundations.
Christians are just sick and tired of turning
the other cheek while our courts
strip us of all our rights. Our parents and
grandparents taught us to pray
before eating, to pray before we go to sleep.
Our Bible tells us to pray without
ceasing. Now a handful of people and their
lawyers are telling us to cease
praying.
God, help us. And if that last sentence offends
you, well, just sue me.
The silent majority has been silent too long. It’s
time we tell that one or two who scream loud enough
to be heard that the vast majority doesn’t care what
they want. It is time that the majority rules! It’s time
we tell them, “You don’t have to pray; you don’t have
to say the Pledge of Allegiance; you don’t have to
believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That
is your right, and we will honor your right; but by golly,
you are no longer going to take our rights
away.
We are fighting back, and we WILL WIN!”
God bless us one and all…Especially those who
denounce Him, God bless America and Canada , despite
all our faults, We are still the greatest nation of all.
God bless our service men and women who are fighting
to protect our right to pray and worship God.
Let’s make 2011 the year the silent majority is heard
and we put God back as the foundation of our families
and institutions. And our military forces come home
from all the wars.
Keep looking up.
If you agree with this, please pass it on.
If not delete it.
15 years ago, I wrote an article that was published in
a Network Marketing magazine that was published for
company owners and executives. The title
of the Article was
“Cater to Mediocrity or Inspire Greatness; that
is the Questionâ€
You can read it here if you would like:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030210043819/www.mlmhelp.com/executive.asp
The basic idea behind this article was as an industry we have
to quit catering to the mediocrity of people and not leave the
culture of personal development and personal accountability
that the industry was built upon. At the time, you were seeing
companies lowering their monthly qualification levels to what
we see today which ultimately lowered everyone’s check.
I never have understood why people don’t seem to understand
that if you have a $40 monthly volume level to qualify for your
check instead of $200, you will need 5 times more downline
members to make the same income!
That is why I always believed in having a hot product that
people could retail and not just order to qualify for a check.
The bottom line is people will do what THEY HAVE TO DO, and
very little more. Anyway at the time, companies were Catering
to mediocrity.
That message is still alive and well with Attraction Marketers
constantly telling distributors, their upline doesn’t know what
they are doing and the proven lead generation methods of
the past for some reason no longer work today so buy my
magic bullet.
Oh……don’t get me started!
In my opinion this trend has been very detrimental to the
industry. Over the past 15 years we have seen a ton of
distributors that cannot distinguish the difference between
affiliate marketing, internet marketing and a true career
network marketing opportunity.
Anyway virtually every new internet marketing product
launched today is telling everyone the same story.
• Other courses and ebooks you have purchased
have been a rip off
• The gurus don’t want you to succeed
• Everything you have learned is nothing more
than rehashed, unworkable information
• I am the only honest marketer online
• Look at all the money I have made, and
my software, course, ebook is the answer.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
HERE IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND, REGARDLESS
OF WHAT EVERY SALES PAGE YOU VISIT SAYS ……….
Every nickel you spend on Self-Education is worth it,
as long as you persist.
“Formal education makes you a living, if you become
self educated you make a fortuneâ€
Jim Rohn http://www.3BasicLaws.com
Have I personally invested in courses, ebooks and software
that I felt over promised big time and under delivered? Yes,
absolutely, dozens of times. Have I ever requested a refund?
Only once in the last 10 years that I can recall. I can’t
even tell you what the product was but I did feel like it
was a BLATENT rip off and fulfilled zero of what was
promised.
My philosophy has always been if I can get one good idea,
concept, method or philosophy, it is worth it, if it helps me
add to my personal education and base of knowledge.
Yes, I have ordered multiple products were GEEK Types
have talked way over my head, but I don’t necessarily
feel that is their fault.
I truly believe that most entrepreneurs are sincere and
want to help others. There are few rip off artist out there.
Understand that you learn and move forward, don’t become
cynical, negative and develop a victim mentality! If that
happens you are guaranteed to fail.
My first 30 years I have invested hundreds of thousands
of dollars in books, courses, DVD’s, CD’s and other
educational material. I plan to the next 30 years also.
SIDENOTE: If you are involved in network marketing and
you are not spending at least 5% of your income on
training RIGHT NOW…You need to go to
http://www.MLMEgo.com RIGHT NOW and log in to
the pre-registration list. If your making 5K a month
or more right now, and not investing at least 5% of
your income your monthly income is 1/2 of what it
should be, and I will reveal why when this report is
released in the near future.
Sorry, I am back on point now. When you are Green
you Grow, when you ripe you rot.
Knowledge is what you learn, AFTER you know it all!
By all means if you are marketing anything online, don’t
tell people that everybody they have ever bought from
in the past has ripped them off. I understand this is
the trend right now, and for people with a victim mentality
this works, but ultimately this message will come back
and bite all marketers in the rump.
Sometimes we have to tell people what they need to
hear instead of what they want to hear. Making a sale
is never more important than telling the truth, and why
I am thinking about it if you tell them the website is
coming down, or there is a limited number of your
widget available, you better be telling the truth, or people
like me and others will never buy from you again.
I understand that all the copy writing courses tell you
to add scarcity to your message. I also understand that
fear of loss is the most powerful motivator on the planet.
If you lose trust, you have lost. Tell people the truth and
whatever you do STAY GREEN!
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