If you’ve been a subscriber to my blog or newsletter for a while then you know I’m a tried, tested, and true strategic business communicator. Online marketing is my jam too.
But did I ever tell you that my father was a journalist? A real old-school one at that too. I never saw him use a computer. He wrote his stories using a vintage Cannon typewriter and kept all his interview notes on reels of paper in handwriting only he could understand.
These were strewn all over the house, so much so I thought they were just part of the decor.
Anyway, words were his trade, and among all the copywriting lessons he passed on to me, we butted heads on this one the most.
My father always used to say: ” You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.”
Though he was strictly a journalist, I still think about those words deeply today as a copywriter, communicator, and digital marketer.
In essence, back then he was teaching me that it was difficult to reach people who didn’t want to listen to what you have to say. And harder still to convince someone wedded to a personal belief that they should consider an alternative viewpoint or think differently about something.
If I stretched the lessons of my father what he told me was that it would always be always difficult to get people to open their eyes. Buy your work. Hear you and see you. If they have no interest in your message you cannot get them to drink your Kool-Aid.
Is Online Marketing Any Different From Traditional Marketing?
I disagreed.
That Masters on my wall said Marketing Communications and for the first two decades of my professional career, I was convinced that a horse led to water could over time, become a lapdog.
Surely, I could use words to cajole, find a different approach, and move it in a different direction by message repetition. I could change the timing and tone and the cadence of what I said. I could shift the message itself.
Good communication could make anyone act the way you wanted them to. Put it on repeat like an ad campaign. Give folks the WHY and watch mountains move.
All one had to do was peel away until the right message was unearthed.
I prided myself on this type of thinking and had the communication chops to back it up. I practiced it in my career as a journalist, a copywriter, a business communicator, and a marketer. I used it in my personal life as a friend, a sister, a spouse (well that didn’t work out), and as person who uses words in emails, text messages, calls to actions, DMs, and conversations.
But eight years ago I shifted my thinking, particularly as I got way deeper into digital marketing.
There is something, after all, that stops people from listening to words in a message if they really don’t want to hear it.
It all boils down to another one of my father’s lessons he passed on: “You can’t go barking up the wrong tree.”
Nowhere is that more true than with online marketing.
Online Marketing Is About Finding the Right People
For instance, there is no amount of “pitching” me on playing J’Ourvert that’s going to convince me to do it year after year. ***Sorry. Not Sorry.***
Really good friends visiting Trinidad for Carnival might persuade me to get up at 4:00 am on Carnival Monday, lather myself in mud, and chip to the sound of a music truck.
But I’m not into J’Ourvert as I am fully and 100% committed to pretty mas, so my participation will happen once every five years if my friends are lucky.
Nothing about the above scenario has anything to do with the messaging, or the persuasion tactic my BFFs use (errrr friendly blackmail).
Nor does it have anything to do with me not loving them or not wanting to be in their company or not being open to trying out things I don’t like.
My father was right.
There are some moments when a horse won’t budge and my friends, well, they are simply barking at the wrong tree with their pleas.
No. 1 Effective Online Marketing Requires That You Find Your Perfect People
Now let’s take it back to a core principle that I’ve been alluding to since I started this post.
It’s not your product that sucks, it’s your marketing!
So, can you persuade people to buy tickets to your concert? Is it possible to convince masses of people to purchase your digital products and register for your course, or subscribe to your blog?
Sure. Just make sure you’re pitching to the people who want to listen to what it is you have to say.
In other words, lead only the thirsty horses to the water, at least in the first instance when your marketing dollar is scarce and you need to get traction as soon as you begin your communication. That happens only when you’ve spent some time attracting the right people to your platforms.
That’s online marketing tip 1 that I want to share whether you as a writer, female entrepreneur, content creator, creative, pioneer, agent of change, buster of the norms, or chaser of dreams.
To be effective at online marketing make sure you’re leading the right horse to the water sprout and bark up the right tree while letting go of the illusion that you can, in fact, “reach” everyone.
Because in fact, you can’t.
In online marketing, if you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no one. There are people who aren’t your people and they never will be.
You will get told “thanks, but no thanks.”
Crickets will sing.
That’s simply how the game goes sometimes.
And it’s ok
Releasing them will give you the energy to go find the audience that matters. This is one of the core things I teach my students in Simplify, my paid-for social media membership platform.
7 Other Facts To Know About Online Marketing That Will Help You With Sales
Now that I’ve shared my PRO TIP for becoming better at online marketing, I’m going to give you seven more.
FUN FACT: before I did this whole online thing, I studied journalism/PR, worked in corporate marketing, and strategic communications, and led a successful PR agency working for clients like Samsung and Microsoft, Petro Canada. So I know what it’s like to use messages to achieve positive outcomes which also include increased sales, which is what online marketing is all about.
In a quotable nugget:
GOT IT?
Here is your online marketing dream list. There is no rocket science in here but you know me, I’m all about systems. The more you can turn these practicalities into systems the more sales you’ll make. Let’s Go!
MUST READ: HOW TO BUILD A CONTENT SYSTEM
N0. 2 | Create One Offer Only
Keeping things simple is the way you can win at marketing. When you’re just starting out, doing a ton of courses, absorbing everything, and listening to every expert can make you want to chase every single, sparkly, penny.
This is often to the detriment of being consistent with building out one simple offer or one ecosystem that drives the sales.
So what I really need you to do is to keep things simple. Create one offer and solve a significant pain point by making sure your solutions have proven results. Build one ecosystem that leads to your offer. Make sure it is automated. Work on these core things and that will be half of your online marketing strategy is completed.
Well, not half, but you know what I mean
N0. 3 | Show Off Your Expertise
With online marketing, nothing will stop your potential customers in their tracks than you just showing up and talking about who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and how you can help.
Don’t ever stop talking about these things. Talk about your team, talk about your experience, results, your WHY! Don’t stop talking, sharing, and showing. And then do it again and again.
NO. 4 | Ask Why Not
I recently bought close to a $3000 course from Facebook ads expert Lorrell Lane. It’s fantastic, by the way.
Anyway, one of the things her salesperson asked me was ” How do you feel about spending so much money on Facebook ads and not scaling the way you should?”
BOOM. That question right there was asking me to consider if I’d rather spend money on ads or money on ads and get massive results and sales. That’s a no-brainer. Clearly, I want sales. We all do.
Here’s the lesson.
With online marketing, you have to frame your offer as something your people will miss out on if they don’t purchase it. Describe a missed opportunity. Language matters.
I want to share another example from one of the best email marketers I know, Chase Dimond. He was booking a flight and after saying “no” to about 500 upsells, there was one that got to him. It said:
“Would you like to add trip insurance?”
Option 1: Yes, I’ll add trip insurance for only $19.99.
Option 2: No, I choose not to spend $19.99 to protect my $350 trip.
Which would you choose? If you said 2, then go look at your offer and frame it up in a similar way. Actually, even if you said No. 1, go do it anyway.
N0. 5 | Add Social Proof
On your offer page, you can show people buying your product in real-time. There are many apps for this. Typically they present themselves as a pop-up saying person X from country Y bought your product 10 minutes or 5 days ago. That’s social proof.
But don’t stick on collecting a bunch of relatable and convincing testimonials. Keep updating them too and make sure they are relevant to the specific offer.
Showcasing social proof allows you to provide scenarios where your product/service has produced amazing results.
N0. 6 | Build A Story Bank
Make sure your story bank has different narratives from which you can pull out to talk about your product/ services and the impact they have on people who have already bought them and gotten results.
Those results can be tiny or big because your audience comprises both groups of people and each will want a different story that speaks to the success they hope to achieve.
I have a HUGE tp for you.
Never talk about features and if you do, make sure you are closely aligned to the BENEFITS of what you’re selling.
These kinds of Stories (benefits) allow you to connect more quickly + motivate all those folks waiting in the wings to take the desired action.
Sell stories, not product
N0. 7 |Remembers That The Law Of Reciprocity Works
Don’t knock a freebie/giveaway or the offer of a significant discount as hooks. I do this for two reasons, my potential customers get to test drive the quality of my product and service and the loyalty begins from there.
Also, it fosters reciprocity with a boomerang effect.
N0. 8 | Play Off Your Buyer’s FOMO
Don’t forget to play on scarcity and convey time-limited and limited quantities. This is important because timeframes set things up in a way that allows the people you’re selling to know they should take up your offer NOW.
Just remember to be 100% authentic so when the door close keep them so or you will lose credibility over time.
Lessons Learned
Alright, I hope you learned a thing or 8 about all that you can be doing to sell online. Now, I need to hear from you. What is the one thing you can start today or this week from all the tips I’ve shared?
I’d love to hear below!
Now you know a little bit more about marketing online, make sure to check this post about setting up content systems and why they matter more than doing daily social media posts —especially as a female entrepreneur—who wants to put profit on repeat so you can live life fully and joyfully.
Until next time, remember to set up sustainable systems for planning, posting, and profiting.
Photo: via Simplify.
2 Comments. Leave new
The truth I’ll love to implement all 8!! Nos 2,3 & 5 works magic! I offer my customers free alterations ,in a lot of cases they buy more because they don’t have to worry about tailoring. I’m working on the perfect 8 plan . I take comfort in your words “ start where u are, it don’t have to be perfect” No 6 I’m working on.This is hard work Judith!!
It’s so hard but it’s worth it. I see you putting in the effort, reading, learning, and implementing. Even more success is coming Kimo