![]() Marketing has always been my nemesis. I delete and block so many marketing emails I have a hard time believing others don't do the same. They now charge for guarantee Twitter & Facebook connections. Are they real customers or fake numbers? Everyone has a way for the numbers to appear MORE impressive, but the numbers are not what is getting noticed. We are learning that they can be faked. Fiver sells 250 Facebook connects for $5. I got an email saying get 50000 twitter followers for a few hundred dollars, but are they real people searching for your services or blank accounts set up in India for professional "Clickers". I started to try a Facebook ad and even though it said it did not go through.. around 2am in the morning Facebook did put it through and I saw within 2 min my entire budget get spent from professional "clickers" that never have and never will actually read my posts or books. Google Ad Words set up 73,000 impressions and I got clicks which maxed out my budgeted allowance, but were they anything but professional "clickers"? Sales didn't show it. There is a global economic recession and everyone is trying to find a way to make money, and claiming the golden goose on the web can never be disproved, so why not? But the more we flood the view ports of our genuine target market with rubbish numbers, the more we will get ignored and the information glut will be the end of the medium. Over saturation will kill us, just like junk mail most often finds the trash bin without being opened. Target marketing is suppose to actually target those you have a need for our product or service, but that targeting has been replaced by huge numbers that even our customers are learning to ignore. If companies really want a low cost marketing that actually works, it is with relationships. Online relationships have value, but they have to be genuine, people to people link ups. So the best possible marketing is to hire those who live online, mostly cause they are handicapped or restricted from leaving home... and make them liaisons for your company. Give them over-the-internet training, with the instruction that they are to strike good will and help bolster sales and respond to reviews and write comments on blogs with the goal to have 800 real people they know the names to and their Facebook information and work that group for the company. When I see Press Releases that flood the market, or twitter feeds that just retweet your stuff for a fee... I am not going to follow them? Why would I? When I want something I just have to search, even though search engines rank now for money and it is almost impossible to get into the top 10 of your field, unless you have a headline saying you are a mass murderer or a YouTube video of an non-faked stupid occurrence that just happens to hit the viral scene. What is true on the web... that is my focus. When we accept numbers as validations only, we are going to be hurt and taken. Value is in content. If you don't value what is being offered, please don't look at just the numbers. Now where is my Aleve, my headache is killing me.. Hugs! |