A whole world of marketing exists around us trying to do that every minute of day. Do you even notice it anymore or, like your prospects, have you subconsciously set up a system of "radar defenses" against daily bombardment of marketing messages?

Take a minute and count up advertising methods which fight for your attention (and money) every day. Just basic list includes:

· Yellow page ads

· Newspaper and magazine ads

· Postcards, catalogs, and direct mail circulars in your "snail mail" box

· Radio pitches interrupting flow of your favorite songs

· TV ads - about 20 minutes worth per hour now

· Hundreds of storefronts, "mega" malls, and strip malls

· Highway billboards by thousands

· Circulars hung on your doorknob

· Illegal signs on stop signs and telephone poles

· Legitimate email messages

· Spam email or UCE (unsolicited commercial email)

Just these 11 sources can overwhelm your brain with marketing messages. Like trapped rats, people develop defenses against this never-ending onslaught. They throw up a wall or a "radar defense" that goes into action minute they smell a "pitch" or a sales job. Don't blame them. We all do it!

So how can you get around this psychological wall against constant sales and marketing messages? Well, answer does NOT lie in hitting people with more frequent and obnoxious advertising or sly, sneaky tactics. You might get them to trust you for a minute, but it will backfire in long run.

You must do two things instead:

1. First, you must establish credibility for yourself and your business as an expert.

2. Second, you must reduce their fears about doing business with you.

Doing these two things will get you past their defenses and allow you opportunity to persuade them to buy your product.

So how do you accomplish these two "simple" things? What will win someone's attention, raise your credibility, and lower their fear factor all at same time? The one-word answer really applies to most everyone.

Trust!

If a seller can get behind your defenses with information which makes you trust them, then that credibility will carry over into a sale much of time.

How can you get this credibility?

How can we predict what direction marketing will take in 2003? It's beyond my humble disposition to make a sure claim about future of Internet marketing. However, with a mixture of my personal recent discoveries and those that I've found elsewhere, I believe I have a fairly predictable idea.

It's not what you expect.

Are you ready?

I believe that future of marketing is in tangible items.

What?! How dare I make such a claim? Everything is supposed to be automated! The man in eBook told me I can spend three weeks in Bahamas, never lift a finger entire time, and come home to millions in my bank account!

I know, it's a grueling concept. But hear me out. Just when you may think you know what I'm getting at, I'll be sure to throw another twist at you.

There are two reasons why tangible items will be next big boom. First, they decrease refund rate. With an automated system, it can't be easier for a customer to order your product, download it, then drop you an e-mail saying,

"Please give me a refund for XYZ. Thanks."

Goodness knows I've done it if product didn't deliver as promised.

After pouring your sweat and blood into wonderful eBook you created, how rewarding will you find it to keep up with ever-increasing return rate?

On other hand, if you ship a tangible product, what percentage of customers want to go stand in line at their local post office, and on top of that, pay for shipping costs to return item?