Make Your Message Matter: The Simple Secret for Becoming a REAL Guru in Your Niche
Every successful marketer, business builder, or online entrepreneur has a message they want to share.
I don't care if you are an affiliate marketer, a JV partner, an email marketer, a blog builder, an online agency, a coach, consultant, teacher, trainer, mentor or passion professional.
If you are trying to make money online through SELLING something, you've got to have a meaningful message.
The truth is, I don't care how much traffic you get, how many online marketing courses you buy or how many gurus you believe will make you rich.
None of that really matters.
What does, is your ability to communicate PASSIONATELY with people who share your values, and have a genuine need for whatever it is that you sell.
I can't begin to tell you how much time, energy, effort and income I've lost trying to convince, convert or persuade people who were NOT open to my message, to try to buy something I wanted to sell.
And while I'm really lucky to have gotten where I have...
If I had all of that time back...
and would have focused on my ideal audience instead, my blog, my brand, my business and my bank account would have been much different today.
Here are some simple rules I wish I would have learned earlier.
If you apply, assimilate and approach your marketing with the ethos below, you will stack the odds in your favor, I promise.
Believe in something BIG.
If you are genuinely trying to build a business around affiliate marketing, or selling digital downloads you don't own, or pushing and promoting products you've never even tried...
your marketing, by definition doesn't matter.
(You also have about a 1 in 1000 chance of having any real success...
NOT odds I'd want to take to the bank) Instead - pick something to promote you feel PASSIONATE about.
Believe in something big...
and share it with the world.
Align your income around what you're interested in.
Find what it is that makes YOU come alive...
and build your business, and your bank account around that.
- You're not going to appeal to everyone.
Don't try.
Understand who your ideal audience is...
and speak to them.
Ignore everyone else.
I know that sounds harsh, and counter intuitive...
but the more you try to pacify and satisfy everyone, the more watered down your marketing (and message) becomes.
Knowing your niche, and then crafting a conversation that compels, cajoles and coerces them to take action you truly believe will benefit their lives...
is the absolute BEST way to make a contribution, influence your audience and make a living around something you love.
Period.
- Invite opposition.
This is sort of a natural outgrowth of #1.
The more people object to your point of view, the more your ideal audience will resonate with it.
The irony? Some of your staunchest critics can become your greatest salespeople - because they help create solidarity in the community you care most about.
I don't tell you to focus on encouraging controversy, or confrontation for it's own sake.
Focus on being true, authentic and meaningful, and let those that disagree, build your buzz.
States and Stages: People go through different stuff at differently times.
A message that appealed to you in your 20's might not be so persuasive at 40.
States of mind, and stages of life are really important when thinking about your ideal audience, and building your community.
Try to speak to people where they are NOW - not where you want them to be.
Lastly...
Control what you Create: Own your own content.
Create communities that you control.
Don't publish your best stuff to free blog platforms or social media sites that can take you down, remove your stuff, or get undue benefits from your hard work.
It's good to augment and supplement your stuff with social media...
but I've seen no less than 10 significantly sized online businesses lose their entire marketing message literally overnight, because the community conversation got too heated, or some reader or member violated a TOS, and the overall community got punished.
Said differently - in 2012 it's imperative to own your own blog, and your own community, with your own domain and NOT piggyback off of free services because they make it easy.
The bottom line? Passion equals profit.
Contribution equals cash.
And good marketing is more about MEANING than it is about selling...
and I challenge you to try the above and PROVE it to yourself, starting today.
I don't care if you are an affiliate marketer, a JV partner, an email marketer, a blog builder, an online agency, a coach, consultant, teacher, trainer, mentor or passion professional.
If you are trying to make money online through SELLING something, you've got to have a meaningful message.
The truth is, I don't care how much traffic you get, how many online marketing courses you buy or how many gurus you believe will make you rich.
None of that really matters.
What does, is your ability to communicate PASSIONATELY with people who share your values, and have a genuine need for whatever it is that you sell.
I can't begin to tell you how much time, energy, effort and income I've lost trying to convince, convert or persuade people who were NOT open to my message, to try to buy something I wanted to sell.
And while I'm really lucky to have gotten where I have...
If I had all of that time back...
and would have focused on my ideal audience instead, my blog, my brand, my business and my bank account would have been much different today.
Here are some simple rules I wish I would have learned earlier.
If you apply, assimilate and approach your marketing with the ethos below, you will stack the odds in your favor, I promise.
Believe in something BIG.
If you are genuinely trying to build a business around affiliate marketing, or selling digital downloads you don't own, or pushing and promoting products you've never even tried...
your marketing, by definition doesn't matter.
(You also have about a 1 in 1000 chance of having any real success...
NOT odds I'd want to take to the bank) Instead - pick something to promote you feel PASSIONATE about.
Believe in something big...
and share it with the world.
Align your income around what you're interested in.
Find what it is that makes YOU come alive...
and build your business, and your bank account around that.
- You're not going to appeal to everyone.
Don't try.
Understand who your ideal audience is...
and speak to them.
Ignore everyone else.
I know that sounds harsh, and counter intuitive...
but the more you try to pacify and satisfy everyone, the more watered down your marketing (and message) becomes.
Knowing your niche, and then crafting a conversation that compels, cajoles and coerces them to take action you truly believe will benefit their lives...
is the absolute BEST way to make a contribution, influence your audience and make a living around something you love.
Period.
- Invite opposition.
This is sort of a natural outgrowth of #1.
The more people object to your point of view, the more your ideal audience will resonate with it.
The irony? Some of your staunchest critics can become your greatest salespeople - because they help create solidarity in the community you care most about.
I don't tell you to focus on encouraging controversy, or confrontation for it's own sake.
Focus on being true, authentic and meaningful, and let those that disagree, build your buzz.
States and Stages: People go through different stuff at differently times.
A message that appealed to you in your 20's might not be so persuasive at 40.
States of mind, and stages of life are really important when thinking about your ideal audience, and building your community.
Try to speak to people where they are NOW - not where you want them to be.
Lastly...
Control what you Create: Own your own content.
Create communities that you control.
Don't publish your best stuff to free blog platforms or social media sites that can take you down, remove your stuff, or get undue benefits from your hard work.
It's good to augment and supplement your stuff with social media...
but I've seen no less than 10 significantly sized online businesses lose their entire marketing message literally overnight, because the community conversation got too heated, or some reader or member violated a TOS, and the overall community got punished.
Said differently - in 2012 it's imperative to own your own blog, and your own community, with your own domain and NOT piggyback off of free services because they make it easy.
The bottom line? Passion equals profit.
Contribution equals cash.
And good marketing is more about MEANING than it is about selling...
and I challenge you to try the above and PROVE it to yourself, starting today.
