Online Marketing Axioms

After a lifetime in advertising, I've noticed how the landscape of advertising and marketing has changed, not just technically, but also culturally and conceptually. It used to hold true that reach and frequency was the only thing that mattered in advertising. If you could get into people's face with your brand, that in itself could be enough to get sales. Today, all that has changed and advertising is driven by these facts:

• Nobody cares about your brand
• Nobody cares about your company
• Nobody cares about you, what you've done, what you're doing or plan to do
• Nobody cares what you have to say

  UNLESS...

• You can GIVE something of tangible value for free
• You can EDUCATE your audience with something of importance
• You can ENTERTAIN your audience with something virally engaging

In short, this is called Content Marketing. There is simply too much competition for the consumer's attention and consumers have more options and information to help them make a purchase decision than ever before in history. Even if you can give something away for free, to do so successfully requires you to establish credibility first, as nobody wants to be taught by a fool (so why are you reading this? You ask yourself). People don't even want to take something for free unless they know it has value. Try walking down the street handing out coupons and see what kind of reaction you get.

Establishing value comes from credibility; that you can be trusted and have a track record to prove you know what you're talking about or have something valuable to offer.

Bragging Works

So you don't have a Nobel Prize yet? No PhD? Hmmm, that could be a problem. However, I've noticed how powerful an enthusiastic testimonial is in advertising. If I told you that I made $5,000 online in one week starting with nothing, I'm pretty sure you'd be interested to know how I did it. If  I told you the general strategy, you'd probably want to hear the specifics. This is how a lot of online marketing works, particularly in the world of SEO where everyone has a secret to sell. When you watch a video of an eighteen year-old kid telling you how much money he made overnight, nobody is going to research his credentials because it's obvious he doesn't have any. Enthusiasm and a good story of how you solved a problem can still be very persuasive.

 To that end, I'm embarking on my own journey to share with you what works and what doesn't. I am now in the process of launching my own product site C4Depot, and rather than trying to sell you some 3D models for Cinema 4D,  I'll journal my success and failure so you can learn from my effort. It will be interesting.

 Cheers

 James Steidl