It seems that every one and his dog is looking for the magic pill that will catapult him or her to instant online success.
Places on webinars fill up quickly, new product launches are enthusiastically supported, each element of on line marketing has it’s turn as flavour of the week, SEO, PPC, email marketing, free ads, articles, SMM – the list goes on.
So what’s missing here, so many resources, free training, articles, videos, newsletters, seminars, webinars, huge amounts of time spent learning and studying, but little success. Is the Paretto principle alive and well? 20% of internet entrepreneurs taking in 80% of the profits, leaving the struggling majority to share the 20% scraps left over. (My guess is it’s even higher)
My view on what’s missing – three things, two closely related and feeding each other, the third a symptom of effective marketing.
1) Focus
There is so much information available, that it becomes overwhelming,
instead of starting with a simple marketing plan, improving on it and putting it into action, it is too easy to adopt the “flavour of the week” strategy, never getting proficient at any single strategy.
2) Action
Lack of action and lack of focus have an incestuous relationship, two sides of a coin, they feed, and feed off, each other. Not being sure of the ability to get started, it’s too easy to spend more time learning, then when thinking that the latest webinar / article / product listened to / read / bought has the ultimate secret to on line success, at last action, but the business is not an immediate success, so what happens? Back into the learning stage, find something else to try, the result, no effective and consistent action.
3) Unrealistic Expectations
Conventional wisdom indicates that it takes 10 000 hours or around 10 years to become an expert in a profession, lets accept that in many fields of endeavour, a person can become successful well before becoming an expert. Many athletes, sports stars and entertainers start bringing in big money well before 10 years.
But very, very, few people in any field of endeavour are wildly successful in their first year.
Unfortunately, too many hopeful and desperate, internet novices accept all the suggestions in the sales copy and become discouraged when success does not come immediately.
Are the marketers of systems and programs to blame? I don’t think so
Will the new FTC regulations change this? Maybe to some extent, but it’s up to each one of us to recognise that no matter how good the programs and systems that we buy might be, it’s up to us to put in the effective, consistent action to make our businesses work.
Perhaps the best product to market on the internet is hope, it’s what so many people are buying.
Wishing you success in all your endeavours.