Joseph Ratliff asked:


We live in a world of borders, don’t we?

There is a border between the USA and Canada…between the USA and Mexico…and so forth. Yet we continue as a society to visit both of those countries all the time.

So let’s apply this to today’s lesson…

There is a border between an online business and an offline business. This exists because of a variety of factors like the types of products sold, the people who sell them, and other factors.

But should there be a border at all?

Let’s share an example…

An online membership site sells its memberships on the typical “Free, upgrade to silver or platinum membership” model. Upfront, this membership offers a free 50 page report on a niche industry to generate leads through an opt – in page. This membership site offers this report plus the “free” membership with limited benefits.

Then it sells it’s upgraded memberships with all the bells and whistles like business packages specific to the niche industry, audio’s that give the “golden nuggets” of info, and maybe even video to “take you by the hand” and walk you through business improvement techniques.

To market this…the membership site owner might use article marketing, Pay Per Click, forum marketing, etc…

All the online marketing techniques we are familiar with.

But there is a better way, and I suggest you add this methodology to your online marketing model today. Notice I did not say to stop marketing online at all, as all of the aforementioned techniques work great when done correctly.

But the most productive way to market your online business is… offline!

That’s right, offline marketing. Direct mail, newspaper editorial – style advertisements, word of mouth offline, face to face networking, public speaking, print newsletters, etc…

I cannot go into detail about how to use each one of these techniques in this one post…but look for future posts to cover these topics.

But one question that is probably rattling inside your head is…

“Why do these techniques work better than online marketing?”

Well…that answer is multi – part to which I will present three ideas here:

1. Typically, online business owners view the Internet as the end – all of marketing their online business…and it simply isn’t. It is only one media used to market a business.

2. Audience. One example…the majority that read the newspaper do so with a different mindset. They are not the typical freebie – seeking, distracted, multi – tasking (when surfing the ‘net), individual that is using the internet. Instead, they are more focused on what is in front of them.

3. Distraction. I mentioned this in part 2 of my answer, but in detail…there are a number of distractions that present themselves on the Internet that simply are not present when someone is reading the mail, the newspaper, attending a face to face conference (congrats to those online marketers that figured that one out) etc…

There are certainly more reasons in support of offline marketing for your online business. I would encourage you to leave a comment to this post one way or another.

Leon asked:

During the new year holidays, I stumbled upon an interesting post written by Andrew Cavanagh in the Warrior Forum. The post is about how to make money by selling your online marketing skills to businesses right in you local city. This post went completely insane with thousands of views almost immediately and all kinds of positive comments.

Andrew who has over 25 years of experience in developing small businesses also written a 50-page report called “Offline Gold For Online Marketers”. and sales. When I saw his new report, I grabbed it immediately not because of its introductory low price ($19.99) but the idea of selling our online marketing skills or services offline.

The idea of offline marketing is consistent with my thinking. Like I mentioned in my website before, most online marketers are glue to their PC all the time but there are a few smart ones who also spend their time doing networking offline. Because these people know that there are gold mines in the offline world. But, the question is… how do you promote and sell your online marketing skills offline?

If you’ve experience in building a small business before, perhaps you know that the average business owner is very busy just trying to keep his business running. He doesn’t have the time to take a long hard objective look at the way he could improve his marketing strategy. But he is also acutely aware that anything that can improve his net profits will help to keep his business more stable and put real cash in his pocket! Most small business owners are well aware that they can always find time for someone who’s genuinely interested in helping them to improve their businesses and they’re willing to pay for it.

Now if you’ve some basic online marketing skills and are willing to walk into a business and just have a casual conversation about how they can improve their sales using the Internet, a good percentage of them will listen. Of course, besides having some basic online marketing skills, you also need to learn how to talk to these business owners and understand their NEEDS. That’s why I find the report “Offline Gold For Online Marketers” so valuable because it outlines step-by-step how to approach small business owners so they want to listen to you and how to sell your services to them.

Here are some tips on where to find those small business owners and how to communicate with them…

I’m sure you’ve heard about Business Networking International (BNI). If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s basically a business and professional networking organization whose purpose is to provide a structured environment for the development and exchange of qualified business referrals. It’s the largest networking organisation of its kind in the world. I’m sure you can find them in your city.

They hold regular meeting for their members and if you know someone there, you can ask him/her to invite to join their meeting (for free). It’s a great avenue for you to get to know other entrepreneurs from different fields. Make sure you bring a lot of business cards if you attend one of their gatherings.

Just get to know people and have a casual conversation with them. My favorite technique to communicate with small business owners is to always remember to ask questions! For example, let’s say he/she asks you first, “what do you do for a living?”. My normal answer for that question is… “I have a home-based Internet business. How about you?”. Always remember to end your answer with a question. You need to get to know about your potential client and a great way to do this is to talk less and listen more (ie. ask more questions).

Ask them if their businesses currently have a website? Most of them don’t. For those who have websites, they have no idea what is online marketing and they have never made any sale from their websites. You must always in a position to gather information and seek the opportunity to talk about your services. Remember not to talk too much about yourself. Focus on your potential client. it’s enough to say that you have a home-based internet business and you also help small business owners to improve their businesses through online marketing. Ask them this question: “Do you think your business will do better if you have a website?”. Then LISTEN!

I hope this article has given you some great ideas on how to sell your online marketing skills offline. Click here to find out more about “Offline Gold For Online Marketers”.