Dear Forum, I have been using lots of Internet marketing for over 3 years (on the net for 11) and it just seems mind boggling the amount of Internet Ads that are now proliferating the Net! It used to be that you could buy a "Spaminator 3000" and blast a message to 100,000 leads and get a decent 1-3% response. Not any more. You would be lucky to get a single click out of that same group now (I said "click" not "buy"). And that still isn't talking about pay-per-clicks. How can we cut through all the clutter? There are just SO many BizOp ads anymore that I don't know how anyone is going to find mine! The more I spend, the less they see. I may have to go back to the old-fashioned methods like Direct Mail. Any suggestions? Thanks, Kelly http://www.20000aMonth.com

You're right, Kelly!
Direct mail and print-publications are better than internet advertising.  People like to have something tangible to hold onto, such as a sales letter or magazine or newspaper, and people DO keep printed materials for awhile and re-read them.  Online ads zoom past us all day long and are gone in a moment.

P.S.  The founder of Lotto Magic, Richard Moore, published a mail-order newspaper called Emerald Coast News for several years.  Lotto Magic is now in it's 12 year of business, most of those years it gained much of it's popularity from postal mail and print advertising.  Richard still says mail is the best way of reaching new prospects.  Lotto Magic mails out free booklets to everyone who calls, 1-877-526-6957 mention ID # V5188. 

Their booklet is their most powerful sales tool.  There's also a website but most Lotto Magic members bring in the majority of new members by mail. http://www.flalottomagic.net/?=V5188

 

Hi Kelly,

Ad blasting to people I don't know has never worked for me.  I do much better just networking and being helpful, asking questions, offering my expertise and interacting with others so they can get to know me. 

What I find is that once they get to know me and see value in what I share, they want to know what I do and that leads them to the products and services I offer.

Just networking with a sincere desire to be of service.

I spend very little money advertising.  I have a couple of ads on the work at home biz op ad sites and people find me through those.

Mostly it's just networking like we're doing here... not advertising, just sharing and helping.

With all the online communities, networks, forums and discussion lists available, they can become very passive generators of people interested in your business.

The only people I talk to are those who ask me to call them.... and they're actually glad to hear from me because they asked.

It's a great way of doing business.

Youi must do this too as you are HERE at this network, right?

In gratitude,

 

Hello Kelly,

I couldn't agree more with Kathleen and Lisa s wise words - the Web is so full of a million adverts, which are duplicated and duplicated and then duplicated, that sometimes it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack!  AND the ads get pushier and pushier until many people just have a mental shut down. lol

Nowadays the personal touch works best - slower but better.

Networking, in its truest sense of the work it about making contacts not necesarily doing direct business and Linda's comment

"With all the online communities, networks, forums and discussion lists available, they can become very passive generators of people interested in your business."

makes good sense.  and her other one, is an experience that I share
(the underlining is mine)

What I find is that once they get to know me and see value in what I share, they want to know what I do and that leads them to the products and services I offer.

Just networking with a sincere desire to be of service.

If you do not treat a Community as a market place, but as a place to build long term relationships, some very positive things can come out of it.  It may be the friend of a friend, who is the one who eventually comes to you or a friend who has what you need in the future.

Good luck
Love
Jenny

I too must add my vote of approval for what everyone before me has said. In treading through your post Kelly a couple of things jumped out at me: "It used to be that you could buy a "Spaminator 3000" and blast a message to 100,000 leads and get a decent 1-3% response." and "How can we cut through all the clutter?" I think if you read....not between the lines....but 'the' lines, you should see the exact reason why that form of marketing doesn't work any more. As society becomes more used to the internet and spam and the likes the less these forms of marketing are going to work. So much so, to the point where most if not all people will experience the same thing you have. It is actually marketing like that (spamming people) that has forced us to re-learn marketing strategies. We are slowly moving in the direction of an off line business in that we will have to bring people into our business through the old method of marketing .... Word of Mouth....and everyone will have to earn someones respect before they will buy anything from you. Just my two cents worth.....:-)