Where's your focus, Money or Customer needs?

Written by Andrew henry


I had a 'rep' in yesterday who was telling me he had a website, not realising I'm a man of many talents he was telling me about allrepparttar new companies he was working with andrepparttar 120442 great products he could offer and reminded me to go to his website. When he'd finished, I asked him:-

"what isrepparttar 120443 purpose of your website?" a question which he couldn't answer.

"does your website tell me what you want me to do when I go there?" - err no wasrepparttar 120444 answer.

"Can I sign up somewhere to hear about what your latest products/services are?" No.

"Can I buy something directly fromrepparttar 120445 website?" No

"Is there a list of your products and services, or reviews of any of them or ofrepparttar 120446 companies you resell for?" No

"Are there any articles about what's happening in that industry andrepparttar 120447 issues I should be concerned about?" No

"So what'srepparttar 120448 purpose of your site?" Don't know really.

"What dorepparttar 120449 people that normally go there do?" Can I get that information?

As you can see, his website was a complete waste of time. He's running his own business and supporting his family (and driving a nice Mercedes) and his online marketing is effectively ZERO.

How many people are there online who could help this guy - Thousands? Easily.

So why are so many people failing?

My Answer = Because they putrepparttar 120450 money beforerepparttar 120451 business.

For most Internet newbies looking to start making money - that's as far as they define their model. There are thousands of people around who can tell you how to make a website, where to host it, where to get content, how to create a product, how to start a newsletter, how to buy and sell on Ebay, how to setup an affiliate program, how to arrange JVs and how to get traffic (and allrepparttar 120452 other aspects of an online business) - but even with this knowledge they're failing to achieve their goals.

They need to take action, that goes without saying and there are lots of people not becoming successful purely because they're not taking any action to move them towards their goal, but I thinkrepparttar 120453 fundamental issue even before that action isrepparttar 120454 state of mind that they're in.

I'm sure that any 1/2 decent marketer can tell you that you're not going to make money by 'selling', matching products with peoples needs is slightly different to 'selling', and that difference is responsible for more failing efforts than you can imagine.

My 'rep' yesterday could see so much improvement in his business just by thinking ofrepparttar 120455 needs of his customers (and potential customers) and there are lots of small actions he could take to improve things. Why hasn't he? because he's thinking constantly about 'selling', he's forgottent that having a website is one thing but making money from it by offering people something that addresses a need they have is a different thing.

Do you know enough about your customers?

Written by Wynn Wilder


Who are you selling too?

You have a great product, fantastic website, financial backing, andrepparttar undeniable urge to succeed. But, you are not making any money through your website. Why? The answer is you haven’t directed your product torepparttar 120441 people who are looking to buy it. You have shoe stores that sell handbags and socks, but they specialize in shoes, and that is what you’ll see displayed up front. Then you have shoe stores that sell athletic shoes along with athletic equipment and clothing, but they specialize in shoes. Every store specializes in something, that is its selling point, it’s profit maker. How do you know what a store specializes in? Just look around, do you see more teenage oriented shoe’s/clothing/jewelry or arerepparttar 120442 items geared more towardrepparttar 120443 25-35 age range?

What keeps these stores going isrepparttar 120444 fact that they know whom their audience is, specifically who they are selling to. They know their demographics. Do you know yours?

Demographics A website is no different than a storefront. You place your best products, aimed at your target audience, inrepparttar 120445 display window to draw your customers in. Then you show them your “other” products, possibly fulfilling other needs that they may not have considered. For example, you sell athletic shoes. You intice a customer into your store by placing images ofrepparttar 120446 newest and hottest shoes on your index page. You then add a blurb saying: “Freedom is faster thanrepparttar 120447 wind when you wear – such and such shoes.” They click onrepparttar 120448 blurb and are instantly taken torepparttar 120449 page that providesrepparttar 120450 details for that shoe. But wait! On that page you add images of your top selling shorts and items withrepparttar 120451 American flag imprinted on it. Their patriotism has been psychologically invoked byrepparttar 120452 word freedom and running byrepparttar 120453 phrase “faster thanrepparttar 120454 wind.” You’ve made them consider multiple products simply by adding a blurb and image.

Is that all it takes? No. Anyone can sell a product using this method, and they are likely to be successful, to a point. Everyone who sells any kind of product knows this, but what makes some companies stand out and others just get by? If you took those same shoes and built a whole page in a style that appealed to single women, age 25-35, with no children and a love of country and nature, you’ve created a site-specific sales market. You have pinpointed exactly whom you want to sell your product too.

Athletic shoes are not just gender or age specific and that’s partly why I choose them. The same concept can be adapted to a male audience, teenagers, sports enthusiasts and your everyday consumer. It is all a matter of changingrepparttar 120455 demographic styling ofrepparttar 120456 page. This can be as simple as adding baseball bats, footballs, and jerseys to intice a male audience. There is more to it than simply changingrepparttar 120457 items you offer, color, sizes, and images have to be considered as well. You wouldn’t display a pink and gray shoe on a page aimed toward men.

Let’s take a deeper look at demographic profiling.

Customer Profile Your customer isrepparttar 120458 person who will be buying your product. They are not alwaysrepparttar 120459 people who will be using your product. For example, parents buy toys butrepparttar 120460 children arerepparttar 120461 one’s who will be playing with them. The challenge is to think about how to reach both parties. What will appeal to each of them? A toy that is known to be hazardous, to children, is not likely to be purchased by an adult, this is common sense. It’s salability decreases with this knowledge.

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