No Excuses – 6 Reasons You Resist Online Marketing
ODX Fusion is asked to speak to many businesses and professional groups about how Internet Marketing can help boost a brand and ultimately bring more sales. It’s fun, we love to do it and further love seeing the “ah-ha!” moments on our audience members’ faces when they begin to realize what we’re saying.
But make no mistake, the one question that’s been asked Every. Single. Time. is… “How do I find the time?”
It’s a good question on the surface, we agree. It appears that gaining any ground in the social media and online environment takes an inordinate amount of time. Aside from being untrue, we believe the question is disingenuous even if the asker doesn’t realize how.
We make time for our books, we make time for our employees. Let’s make time for our business marketing.
The real question then becomes: “Why am I resisting the internet marketing plunge?”
Read on to see the answers we believe businesses are resisting online marketing.
1. Fear of Change
You’re doing your offline marketing, you’re out there shaking hands and kissing babies and you get a few sales. You’re comfortable with that. Internet Marketing / Social Media brings a whole new set of headaches that you just don’t need, right?
Wrong. Marketing online has given us a forum to engage our customers and put information out to them in real-time. REAL-TIME! When was the last time your direct mail campaign did that?
Marketing is a necessary evil of doing business and the landscape is always evolving. You need to keep up.
2. Fear of Marketing
If you’re in business, you NEED to market your product! In some way or another, you need to get the word out. Too many business owners believe that their product or service speaks for itself. I’m here to tell you – it’s not speaking to anyone if not a soul knows about it.
As with any other type of marketing, a good strategy is all you need. Once you have that in place, it’s not so much a fear as much as a project to be treated as such.
3. Fear of Competition
Some folks are not comfortable in dealing with competition. Marketing online puts you in front of a lot of people, including your competitors. Be confident in your craft and let your competitors see you. Ever thought they might fear you?
What you’re doing by not using the internet to your advantage is allowing your competitors to use it to theirs. You’re letting them speak to your past and present customers. And forget about future customers. You may not have any (maybe a bit harsh).
4. No Idea Where to Start
This is common and completely understandable. It’s a big online world out there and you have no idea how to get started. Check out our recent series of posts on Getting Started on Social Media for Beginners. If you don’t want to hire someone, you’re going to have to look around to determine where to start. This blog is by no means the only one out there interested in helping you. Sign up for a social media account. Buy a book. Start learning about search engine optimization. Read about Pay-Per-Click marketing. Start a blog (it’s free!). If you don’t want to do all that leg work, we know someone who would love to help with your internet marketing efforts <wink>!
5. You Hate Your Website
Internet Marketing is really about bringing qualified (primed to purchase) customers to your website. But your neighbor’s 11th grade son built your website a few years ago and frankly you’re embarrassed to send anyone to it.
When you can’t afford a professionally designed website, it’s an even better argument for using social media. While customizable, your profile can give you a look that’s on par with everyone else. For the record – a Facebook page does not replace the need for a well-designed website, but it can act as a lead generator in the absence of one or until you can afford one.
6. Fear of Leads
Make no mistake about it, some people have anxiety attacks when it comes to following up on leads. “what do I say to put my company in the best light?” or “what if they ask me a question I can’t answer?” and you might be surprised how scary it is for some people to ask for money.
When your internet marketing efforts are working and generating qualified leads for you, these people WANT to give someone their money, it’s your job to convince them that someone should be you. They’ve reached out to you, now go shake your money-maker.
Any questions?
This is just the surface of why you’re resisting online marketing and social media. If we’ve missed the boat then we want to hear from you. Why ARE you resisting? If “time” is all you come up with, look deeper and really ask yourself what’s keeping you. If you can’t answer the question, let us know and we’ll get you there.
Tags: internet marketing, online marketing questions, reasons, small business, social media, Social Networking Posted in
August 7th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Great post. Internet marketing takes time, effort, and persistence. Doing it right doesn’t just happen. I had some trouble myself, but recently I’ve found a lot of help from AdWido, especially for online video marketing.
August 9th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I think you hit it mostly on the head, based on the question you’ve been asked. What I also find, and I know you have as well, is we talk to people and they stare at us because they have absolutely no idea what we’re talking about, even after we’ve been talking for an hour. Those are the technophobes that, with some encouragement, could become clients.
August 9th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Thanks @Mitch – I have learned time and time again that it is best to take baby steps with customers that up to that point have been “in the dark” about marketing their wares online.
Wow them with all you know at your own peril – while you’re packing your stuff to go, your customer is picking their collective jaw off the table trying to figure out how to stop their head from spinning.
Been there…