Marketing - Nouveau Marketing: Community Based Marketing To The Power Of X

It happened again today. Call me jealous or call me envious, but when I get marketing advice from a 13 year old, I get mad. Not like I want to throw a chair mad but more angry at myself for letting my intellectual capital shrink to an all-time low. It's time for me to catch up.

I don't consider myself a classic marketer but when I think about making money and getting business, I think locally. Physical territories fill my head and visions of knocking on doors, blanketing a community with mailers and joining the local rotary. I'm not old, I just don't know anything else. If you are like me you probably have a website but have no clue how to make it anything more than a digital business card. Meanwhile, I see others who are getting paid for Google Ads and have a first page ranking on Google.

I do have my moments. This year I developed two online/offline campaigns that were wildly successful. However, I find myself still in awe when I talk to small business owners who are being successful using only virtual means to generate sales.

Let's get back to the 13 year old. While I've been sleeping in my own backyard, a whole world of community based marketing has taken place. Social networks and groups have sprung-up all over the internet. Sites like MySpace, Friendster, Squidoo and YouTube are connecting people according to their interests, creating virtual niche markets. 9 year-old entrepreneurs are making $50,000 a year on the internet. Young people aren't the only ones getting in the act, I've seen many seniors getting savvy and promoting their products and services through these free websites.

Getting started can be daunting, so along with my 13 year-old friend, I've created a list of 7 must-haves for anyone who is going to change the way they think about communities and start Nouveau Marketing.

1. Think Niche. The internet creates opportunities for infinite diversity. Find areas where your products or services can be tailored for a specific group or audience that has a burning desire to buy your solution. Online niches are going to be much larger than any local market niche.
2. Get involved. Join groups on various social networking sites and begin developing relationships globally. If you can't find a group for your business, start one.
3. Automate. Online relationships are much less intimate than face to face selling and take more time to develop. Have strategies that keep your message in front of prospects in an automatic way. A good example is a drip email campaign.
4. Acquire email addresses. Building a list online is like gold, just like in the offline world. Develop promotional drip campaigns and stick strategies that raise the propensity to buy or make repeat purchases.
5. Create virtual products. Even if your product or service is offline and tangible, information products about your business can be inexpensive giveaways that build trust and move a prospect closer to a sale. Examples are free reports, consumer guides, newsletters and other media.
6. Learn conversion. Forget about traffic until you first learn how to make sales. If you know how many sales you can expect from a certain number of visitors, you can build an ROI model and justify buying traffic.
7. Create an experience. People are willing to pay more for an experience, just like at Starbucks. Learn how to create an experience for your online prospects and you'll sell more at a higher price.
These must-haves are just broad strokes and the devil is in the details. Start by educating yourself by researching internet marketing sites and learning about tools that make virtual business a reality.