Fool’s Gold or Real Gold?
Recently there has been a lot of chatter going round about a term that was coined by Andrew Cavanagh. This term is “Offline Gold.” Basically what this all boils down to is selling your internet marketing knowledge and skills to brick and mortar businesses. But the question is, “Is this Fool’s Gold or Real Gold?”
The answer to this question depends upon a couple of things. One is your ability when it comes to internet marketing. The second is your ability to sell to someone face to face. This is the main reason that some marketers report great success, but many more report total failure. Unfortunately, all the internet marketing knowledge in the world is useless if you can’t sell water to a fish. This article is going to go over the biggest reasons why mamu Internet marketers fail when approaching offline clients.
First and foremost, many would be offline gold marketers go in without a plan. They think they can just walk into a store, ask the owner if he has a web site and then, when he says no, give him some sales pitch about how he can make all this money by just having a site online. Many times they take the sensationalist approach when they meet a business owner. Promising them the world. It takes a little more finesse than that if you want to succeed in the offline consulting market. You actually have to form relationships and be subtle in your approach. You will have far greater success if you start out in casual conversation and show interest in that person’s business. If you can show genuine interest in their business the relationship grows much faster.
Eventually, your prospect will ask you what you do and that’s when you can tell him that you are an internet marketing consultant. Many times they will ask what that is and that is your opportunity to educate them NOT sell them. Be honest. Tell him the REAL benefits of having a web presence, specifically for HIS/HER business. Generally you don’t have to make a sales pitch if you simply educate them on the basics of internet marketing. Just like online marketing you give away value to gain trust and build relationships. When this happens you will make sales. Guaranteed! I do it all the time.
Now comes the part that no one wants to admit to. It’s quite possible that you just suck in a face to face meeting. It could stem from nerves, fear or any other reason but that fact remains that you just can’t sell in a face to face meeting. There are ways to overcome this. You can write out a script, you can interview and hire salespeople to make the sales for you. You can partner with someone who can sell while you do the online magic. There are plenty of ways to succeed in the “Offline Gold” market.
The most important thing is to have a plan. Never go into any endeavor, business or otherwise blind. Always have a plan A and a plan B. Know how you’re going to open, how you’re going to close and everything in between, if you have things mapped out ahead of time, things will take care of themselves.
Much of the information that is being sold specifically to the “Offline Gold” market, just like their online counterparts, make is seem easy to make a 6 figure income. And just like many of the online products happen just like that. Approaching offline clients, contrary to popular belief, is NOT easy. It’s a lot different interacting with real people, who have real faces than it is to interact with the faceless names online. However, once you get used to actually talking to people, I believe it’s one of the best ways to make a living with very little work on your end.
So my answer to the question, “Is it Fool’s Gold or Real Gold?” simply depends on your state of mind. Can you sell face to face, if not can you hire or partner with someone who can? Are you willing to put in the effort required of any business endeavor? Do you truly care about helping your clients succeed. These are questions that only you can answer. But as for me, I say, “There’s GOLD in them thar hills!”
What is your opinion? Do you market to any offline clients? Have you ever considered it? Comment below.
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It is good to persuade people to have a site that they can earn from. Working online is easier, after all. But expect that there will be people who don’t find the need to have websites.
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Your greatest asset when you are in business is having the ability to sale, offline or online. The future of information marketing is the “online gold” and most people do not see that. So you can encourage people all you want to start marketing online and get a web presence but most people will not participate in any opportunity until it becomes self evident and thankfully that is after the big money is made, we are in front of a trend thank god.
Thanks for the insight. I agree that there is still plenty of online gold available. However with that being said there are many things one must learn when marketing online. Things like keyword research, driving traffic, building backlinks, building websites, and a host of other things that are required if you are to be successful. If you can do all these things then the offline market is even easier to dominate because they know little or nothing about these things. So why not use one business model for two different markets? Offline and online gold.
Yes, a great marketing tactics is selling your business online or off the line.. And internet marketing is one of the best way to promote your product or services, it is a advantage to market online and getting you client by a click of the mouse.. by the way, i enjoyed reading your article, looking forward for more.. thanks!
Thanks for the comments. Almost any internet marketer that has experience can create a very comfortable living in the offline world. In my experience most small businesses have no or very little knowledge when it comes to marketing online.
I took an expensive CPA/PPC course earlier this year. I haven’t made a profit on the CPA marketing, but I had several opportunities to do PPC for third parties just fall into my lap.
So, I made it official and started marketing myself to small businesses to help them with their internet marketing. Many small businesses have tried to do PPC on their own, or hired their web designer (who usually has no clue) to do it for them. When they see both the campaign I develop using my PPC tools and experience and also see the traffic generate, they are blown away and grateful and refer me to their friends.
So, I’d have to say from what I’ve seen, it’s real gold!
Great Job ! It’s good to see that you took what you learned and found a way to apply it even if it wasn’t exactly where you thought it would be. Small businesses are hungry for an honest, reliable and knowledgeable person or company help them market themselves successfully.
it is really hard to build massive traffic on a website. you need to promote your website by blog commenting or PPC advertising`”`