What Viral Marketing is Not…
I’ve had numerous conversations with people at Seminars about how difficult it is to explain to people, friends and family, what exactly is Internet Marketing…?
Best case: Me: I sell software online
Them: Oh! Clever you. You must be one of those geeks… how nice!
Me: …..!
Worse case:
Me: I sell software online
Them: Oh! How do you market it?
Me: With affiliate marketing mainly…
Them: What’s that?
Me: Its like when your customers act as your salespeople
Them: Oh – so its like pyramid selling.… you’re one of those are you?
Me: Well er no, not really…!
If you’ve ever had trouble explaining what Internet Marketing is, then you’ll understand what I’m talking about here. I even remember hatching loose plans with someone I met at a seminar because we were both at a loss about how we could make what we do, sound real to people who don’t know Internet Marketing.
Its not a major problem if its an acquaintance or a friend, but if its your wife, or your husband who needs to understand just how you spend your time, then it can get a bit more … tricky!
So how can we discuss affiliate marketing, without it sounding like a pyramid scheme? If anyone knows the answer, please let me know here…
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post... nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.
How is ‘the cloud’ affecting business?
Hi Tim,
Here’s Pavel from Prague(Czech Republic).I’m 34 and I’ve had lots of experience in selling offline in Belarus,Russia,Cz,UK and Germany.And now that I’ve had tough times doing business, I decided to turn to Internet for opportunities as I see huge perspectives there.I can’t tell you enough how big a challenge it was to persuade your wife that its worth a try,because she thinks that’s a pyramid,that’s some shadowy kind of thing and evetually it;s gonna be a waste of time. We had some hot disputes on that one,balancing on the verge of fighting. Its when I realized I should do something to about it or we would wind up having that permanent hostility in the air – hardly a right environment for starting something new.
Surprisingly enough,after an hour of thorough thinking I came up with something persuasive.At least my wife bought into it.Here’s what I said.
“Imagine yourself running a company.You have a top notch product.You have a perspective market for it.But the market don’t know about you having this product.Thus you’re not having any sales.So you’ll wanna hire some sales agents to spread a work about your product.To get them interested you’ll offer,say, a 50/50 split of the money everytime they make a sale.That’s how it works in real world!To top this off,you’ll even promise them further 20% from the sales made by the other sales agents attracted by them.You’ll probably also go for some TV or magazine ads to boost your compaign.But one day you’ll realize that due to the extreem success of your pay-per-sale and pay-per-your recruits’ sales- plan,you’re having so many people selling your product that you don’t have to spend on advertising anymore.What do we call it? Yes, a SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS!
Now imagine that you’re doing exactly the same on the internet.The same product,the same sales agents and the same paying strategy.No pyramid! A company, a manager , a product and people selling it. If you can find fault with that, go ahead!”
Our dispute was over.
I’ll be glad if my explanation will be of any help to you,your friends and your customers.Just let me know in case it really helps somebody you know,Tim!
P.S.:I’ve watched your video and even downloaded your viralspiralsecret to read it. So far thinking of joining – so many opportunities out there,my head id spinning.
Have a nice day,
Pavel.
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Hi Tim,
nice your invented conversation on explaining your ‘unvisible’, ‘unimaginary’, ‘pyramid scheme’ but time consuming dreamjob. That made me smile as I observe even more reservation and boycott even in my family.
Wanting to find some proof I looked for some info in Wiki and Googles, German version. There were about 6 -10 articles and referrals to some institutions, industry, societies, no public interest or discussion. I found e.g 4 bands at MySpace, three lonely adventourous people and a note by ‘Tom’ that the main page was to be reconstructed and that he asked any interested person to reoccur some time later.;=)
Only that info had been posted s o m e time ago the day before.
Perhaps someone can advise me how to change that somewhat medieval situation?
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As is the case with many trends of modern thinking th comparison of infrastructure with a pyramid does not hold water.
You need to turn your thinking on its head to arrive at the truth.
Thinking about your MVS moment when you had to pull over and write it down, I myself have many of these types of moments in fact you could say they are one of my specialties but I lack many of your marketing and computing skills. I also think that I can see aspects of MVS where you are leaving millions if not billions of dollars on the table, its all about
thinking outside the box.
Contact me and I will explain.
Yours faithfully
Peter Stokes
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