Forum Moderators: skibum
My revenue route is to promote the few "CLEAN" companies that I have actual and good experience with. My problem is something along the lines of selling strategies. I am planning to promote with full transparency in mind to build my reputation as an honest broker in the middle of this very dishonest industry. Meaning bearing all, no hidden agendas. For example: "If you join this company you'll be getting XX benefits. Iam promoting this company because Iam getting XX incentive to do so. If you want to try it out investing here, Iam probably the most honest guy you can talk to. Deal? Sign here." I think this would be beneficial because people who are fed up with regular sales copies will be seeing something different and might sense my honesty more. But on the other hand, the said technique goes against practically all marketing logic we have been thought to work. When did you last see a salesman talk about his commissions to his client during a sales call?
Everything in the site is written in the first person to project a personal atmosphere. The site is well designed and looks excellent compared with the majority of "crap sites" that litter this sector.
Do I go forward with my "unconventional" selling style or go more "mainstream" and stick with the basics? Any thoughts, ladies and gentlemen, will be much appreciated.
The question would be, do you or dont you note in a site bar that some posts contain affiliate links? On the basis that most people dont know what affiliate links are, i proberly wouldnt. Make a point of every few blog posts putting in a bad apple notification eg, "today i just tried ZXY corp Inc. they were rubbish for xyz reasons, stay away". I think your reader will thank you for this, as they will perceive you as looking after their interests.
Having said all of that, I also think that a "beginners guide" approach can work, providing you get the tone of the guide spot on. Sometimes we treat consumers as being increadably stupid, when in fact their not. Let me highlight an example. - Are you familiar with the webhosting industry? Every other host says, "we offer fantastic support". The problem is, that a lot of the hosting companies saying this DONT offer great support (in the eyes of the consumer). Especially as its a buyers market, the slightest imperfection in support, and consumers change hosts. They (webhosts) put phrases on their website such as "be cautious about choosing a web host, some hosts claim to offer great support but in fact dont". The problem when everyone says basically the same thing is that it looses all impact, because there is no longer any trust there. By just making the statement, doesnt mean that your not like all the rest. you have to go the extra mile to create the trust. Only when you have that trust in a badly perceived industry can you put forward your sales pitch (some might say creating the company-consumer trust is 99% of the sales pitch completed already).
So how does that related to the idea of the beginners guide? Lots of webhosting companies have also written "how to choose the right webhost" guides, many of which all say the same thing - basically trying to convince the reader THEY are the right host. But what happened when the reader went with the last company who's "how to choose a webhost" guide they believed? They wouldnt be looking for a new webhost if they were all that good, would they?
If anyone disagrees with that (it is my opinion and doesnt mean to say that I am right), please put forward your ideas, i would love to hear them.
Your phrase "be the consumers champion" is spot on. This is exactly what I intend to do. Your observation about "everybody saying the same good thing about themselves but not living up to it" is the same problem Iam seeing. I feel people are starting to get fed up with a lot of conventional marketing BS and an alternative approach is worth taking the risk considering.
Take the MLM market for example. Affiliates are promoting left and right for the sake of commission without regard to whether the MLM company is legit or not. The result is thousands upon thousands of people ending up getting burned.
Affiliates can argue "buyer beware" but that to me is just plain refusal to take any kind of responsibility.
A typical sales copy outlines the benefits the product is to impart to the buying consumer and then solicits positive action. This is what we are thought as part of good marketing. Attaching emotional and moral arguments to the presentation is never considered good practice (at least based on my more than 10 years of offline marketing experience). But in some cases, this is exactly what is needed.
Iam not sure if I'll make good conversion using this approach, though.
Anybody here with some experience with the unconventional?
